It’s no surprise that films often delight in breaking our hearts, presenting two characters who seem so impossibly and perfectly suited for one another, only for the narrative to pull them apart. There’s a particular kind of soul-wrenching experience reserved for romance movies where love undeniably exists, yet circumstances, duty, or simple terrible timing ensure that it can never last.
As expected, these movies aren’t feel-good romances that celebrate happily-ever-afters; they end quietly and leave you sitting in silence with what could have been. Curiously, though, it’s often the stories where love doesn’t conquer all that make romance infinitely more memorable. To celebrate their timeless appeal and greatness, we look back at some of the greatest romance films about impossible love and missed chances, from the modern favorite Past Lives to the beloved classic Casablanca.
10
‘Past Lives’ (2023)
Directed by Celine Song, this Academy Award-nominated film follows Hae Sung and Nora, two very close childhood friends left with no other choice but to part ways before her family immigrated to North America. The movie portrays their lives as adults, particularly shedding light on a weekend when the two meet after Hae Sung travels to New York. What unfolds is a meditation on time, destiny, and the impossibility of turning back time.
Whether it’s the masterful acting performances by Greta Lee and Teo Yoo — as well as John Magaro, who delivers an authentic portrayal of Nora’s likable husband you can’t help but sympathize with — or the simplistic cinematography that makes this slice-of-life feel deeply personal, Past Lives is a must-see in the genre essentially for how it refuses melodrama and offers something more devastating instead: the tender realization that some people change us forever.
9
‘La La Land’ (2016)
Directed by Damien Chazelle, the visually striking La La Land follows Ryan Gosling‘s Sebastian, who clings to his dream of opening a traditional jazz club in modern-day Los Angeles. When he meets Emma Stone‘s Mia, an aspiring actress flogging lattes between auditions, the sparks ignite between the two. However, success often demands sacrifice, and as Sebastian’s band gains momentum and Mia lands her big audition, their dreams pull in different directions.
Beyond its dazzling cinematography, what’s captivating about La La Land is how it presents the bittersweet reality that sometimes loving someone isn’t enough when your inner compass points elsewhere. Anchored by amazing chemistry between Gosling and Stone and Justin Hurwitz‘s haunting score, Chazelle’s meditation on missed chances feels achingly real, cementing its place as one of the most beloved musicals of recent times.
8
‘Brokeback Mountain’ (2005)
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger in career-defining roles, Ang Lee‘s Brokeback Mountain is based on Annie Proulx‘s short story and follows two cowboys who meet in the summer of 1963, hired to herd sheep on a remote Wyoming mountain. What begins as a tentative physical encounter blossoms into something neither anticipated, which is genuine love. But the 1960s American West tolerates no such thing, so they return to their separate lives, marry women, have children, and, for twenty years, return to that mountain each summer for a week.
Brokeback Mountain touches audiences with its restraint, fundamentally redefining how cinema represents queer love. Before Lee’s groundbreaking film, missed-chance romances belonged, for the most part, to heterosexual couples hamstrung by social obligation. Despite the strong acting performances and technical achievements, Lee’s accomplishment was partly in arguing that this trope was the lived experience of countless gay men at the time. It’s no wonder, then, that it ranks so high among LGBTQ+ cinema and romance films in general.
7
‘Atonement’ (2007)
Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan and James McAvoy fascinate in this heart-shattering period drama illustrating the devastating consequences that follow thirteen-year-old Brioney’s (Saoirse Ronan) accusation of her sister’s lover of assault. After he’s arrested and sent to war, Cecilia and Robbie’s connection extinguishes slowly, with both parting ways.
Atonement is essentially about lies that cascade across decades and its rippling effects. Unlike other missed romances born from circumstances or duty, Joe Wright’s film showcases a love story destroyed by pure mistake, irreversible and undeserved. For many reasons, Atonement remains a must-see regarding tragic love stories. Its catastrophe essentially lies in how it tricks audiences into believing a much happier ending, but ultimately has them reach for the tissues by its ending. All in all, it’s the perfect pick for those who like their romance stories sour, haunting, and undeniably unforgettable.
6
‘Roman Holiday’ (1953)
Audrey Hepburn charms audiences as a European princess, bored stiff by protocol and suffocating under duty, as she bolts off her official schedule and spends a single day in Rome with an American (the ever-charming Gregory Peck). The two ride Vespas, dance, eat gelato… and ultimately fall irrevocably in love. But then morning arrives and with it reality.
In Roman Holiday, the obstacle isn’t circumstance but rather institution. This endlessly fun, undeniably timeless, and clever romance understands something crucial about the missed-chance trope: it sheds light on how sometimes the tragedy isn’t that love couldn’t exist but that it did, and you must move on from it. Delivering both comedy and drama, the 1953 film has cemented its place among the most iconic rom-coms of all time.
5
‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ (2020)
Much like Brokeback Mountain, Portrait of a Lady on Fire delivers a haunting portrayal of queer love set in the past. The story follows artist Marianne (Noémie Merlant) as she arrives at a coastal château to paint a noblewoman’s portrait. However, Héloïse (Adèle Haenel), betrothed to an Italian nobleman she’s never met, resists. During painting sessions, something shifts, highlighting two people recognizing themselves in each other across an 18th-century world that’s meant to keep them apart.
For those who enjoy slow-burning love stories, this Céline Sciamma romance epic is a must-see. It’s no surprise that it has already established itself as one of the best contemporary films in the genre; not only is it achingly beautiful — almost painterly in aesthetics — with minimal dialogue and maximal emotion, but it also delivers an ending that sticks and hurts (a lot). )t’s a staggering meditation on the lovers that part irrevocably not by choice but by systems that permit no alternative.
4
‘The Age of Innocence’ (1993)
Martin Scorsese‘s one and only period romance follows Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis), a wealthy New York lawyer who falls in love with Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer), a countess separated from her husband. Rather than pursue her, he marries May Weeland (Winona Rydr) — conventional, dutiful, and much more fit to the era’s demands. For years, though, Newland and Ellen orbit each other, whether through stolen glances and unfinished conversations. Twenty-six years later, widowed and free, Newland travels to Paris to see Ellen, but chooses not to enter.
Anchored by its stunning visual restraint, The Age of Innocence is beautifully executed film that often communicates what its characters cannot say. Whether we’re talking color, costume, or framing, Scorsese’s brutal masterpiece proves that some love stories are devastating precisely because they refuse to act and materialize.
3
‘In the Mood for Love’ (2000)
Transporting audiences to 1960s Hong Kong, In the Mood for Love slowly unfolds the intimate bond between Mr. Chow (Tony Leung) and Mrs. Chan (Maggie Cheung) after they discover a cruel coincidence: their spouses are having an affair with each other. Rather than rage or revenge, they do something far more dangerous: they draw closer.
Wong Kar-wai‘s exquisite torture in the film is that their love becomes a mirror of the infidelity that torments them. To prove they’re better than their cheating spouses, Mrs. Chan and Mr. Chow refuse to consummate their feelings and find themselves trapped by an impossible moral code. In the Mood for Love is an essential film about missed chances, proving that some of the most beautiful love stories are elevated by restraint and are ultimately beautiful precisely because they never happen.
2
‘Brief Encounter’ (1945)
David Lean‘s Brief Encounter traces the special connection between respected suburban housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) and Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard), a charming married doctor, whose weekly shopping trips become anything but ordinary. Their connection unfolds quietly, almost shemefully, in tearooms and train station refreshment areas.
The British Film Institute’s #2 greatest British film understands that the most powerful love stories often happen in the space between what’s allowed. When the two almost cross the line, the film pivots on a poignant moment that decides their fate forever. The performances by Johnson and Howard are, of course, nothing short of excellent, elevating the film to higher ground in addition to its Rachmaninoff score Piano Concert No. 2. It’s no wonder it remains the gold standard for showing that the most devastating love stories are often the ones that go unconsummated.
1
‘Casablanca’ (1942)
When it comes to romances about missed chances, Casablanca is perhaps the most obvious blueprint. Michael Curtiz‘s iconic film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman follows a man who runs a swanky nightclub in wartime Casablanca. When the woman he’s never stopped loving walks arm-in-arm with her husband and asks him to help him escape the Nazis, what unfolds is a beautiful examination of emotional restraint, with the characters’ past exploding silently across the rooms.
In Casablanca, Bogart and Bergman create magic from longing, and it’s precisely their lack of constant dialogue that makes this a deeply compelling watch. Audiences see Rick confronted by the choice of choosing between his personal happiness and fighting a war bigger than himself. It endures, to this day, a masterclass in the romance genre for good reason — it’s heartbreaking, beautiful, and proof that the greatest romances often end with nobility (and plenty of tears, of course).
Casablanca
- Release Date
-
January 15, 1943
- Runtime
-
102 minutes
-
Humphrey Bogart
Rick Blaine
-
Source link
