0% · Best Romance Movies

genre collection

Best Romance Movies

Love stories with something at stake.

50 movies Updated today 4 minute read The Nutevio Editors

Curated by Nutevio Editors

Most Influential
Most Rewatchable
Great First Watch

50 ranked entries

From the editors

Why this collection exists

A ranked collection selected from across the Nutevio catalogue.

What defines these movies. The entries here run from the 1930s to the 2020s, and cover romance, science fiction, drama, comedy filmmaking across 44 directors. A film only earns a place if it does something the rest of the list cannot: a formal idea, a performance, an ending, or an influence you can still trace in the films being made today. Popularity gets a film considered. It never gets one ranked.

Who should explore it. If you have watched the obvious titles and want to know what sits underneath them, start at the top and read the notes rather than skimming the posters. If you are new to Best Romance Movies, use the filters to narrow by decade or runtime and pick one film for tonight — every card tells you who it is for before you commit two hours.

How the ranking was determined. Each editor scores a film on craft, influence, rewatch value and how completely it delivers on its own premise. Those scores are argued out in full — the Nutevio Score you see on each card is the settled result, not an average of opinions. Where our score diverges from the audience consensus, the card says so and the note explains why. The ranking is revisited whenever a new release genuinely changes the conversation.

#romance

Personality

Collection DNA

Twelve attributes averaged across every film here — the fingerprint of this ranking.

This collection reads as emotion-first, with romance and rewatch value close behind. Violence is the one register it deliberately leaves alone.

Hover an attribute to see which films drive it

Suspense: 16
Action: 15
Violence: 14
Mystery: 15
Humor: 26
Emotion: 95
Darkness: 21
Romance: 79
Mind-Bending: 16
Pacing: 32
Accessibility: 69
Rewatch value: 75

Chronology

How this collection evolves

Hover a year to preview the film, click to jump straight to its entry.

1931City Lights8.0#22
1936Modern Times8.2#12
1939Gone with the Wind7.9#43
1943Casablanca8.1#15
1952Singin' in the Rain8.0#25
1958Vertigo8.1#14
1959Some Like It Hot8.0#28
1960The Apartment8.0#27
1988Cinema Paradiso8.3#6
1990Edward Scissorhands7.9#38

50 of 50 movies

GenreDecadeRuntimeLanguageCountryDirectorActorStreamingIMDbNutevio

Showing 1–25 of 50 entries

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2004 The number oneEditor's pick

RomanceScience FictionDrama 1h 48m

Nutevio Score

8.3Ⓝ

IMDb: 8.1
Rotten Tomatoes: 83%
Metacritic: 76

Love remembered backwards, one erased room at a time.

Why it's ranked here — The rare romance that argues the pain is part of the point.

The number one — extended editorial

Legacy

22 years on, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is still the title the rest of Best Romance Movies is measured against. The entries below it share something with it — a structure, a silence, a way of holding a shot a beat past comfortable.

Cultural impact

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is unusually confident about what it asks of an audience: 108 minutes of romance storytelling that never explains itself twice.

Michel Gondry on the material

Michel Gondry treats the material as if the audience is already paying attention, which is the whole trick. Nothing is repeated for the slow row at the back, and that trust is what makes the ending land.

Awards summary

No Academy Awards on record for this title — its standing here comes from how well it holds up, not from a ceremony.

The rare romance that argues the pain is part of the point.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and science fiction filmmaking
Michel Gondry admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame
First-timers looking for the essential entry point

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films
You are looking for something light

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

Editor's note
“Watch the first ten minutes of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with the sound up and no distractions. If it has not got you by then, this collection may not be for you — and that is genuinely fine.”
Nutevio Editors

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Before Sunrise

1995

RomanceDrama 1h 41m

Nutevio Score

7.9Ⓝ

IMDb: 8.0
Rotten Tomatoes: 79%
Metacritic: 73

One night in Vienna, two people talking.

Why it's ranked here — Proof that conversation alone can carry a love story.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and drama filmmaking
Richard Linklater admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame
First-timers looking for the essential entry point

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films
You are looking for something light

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

Editor's note
“We nearly moved Before Sunrise three places in either direction, twice. It stayed because Richard Linklater does one thing here that nobody has improved on since, and you will know it when you reach it.”
Nutevio Editors

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Forrest Gump

1994

RomanceComedyDrama 2h 22m

Nutevio Score

8.7Ⓝ

IMDb: 8.5
Rotten Tomatoes: 87%
Metacritic: 79

A man with a low IQ has accomplished great things in his life and been present during significant historic events—in each case, far exceeding what anyone imagined he could do. But despite all he has achieved, his one true love eludes him.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and comedy filmmaking
Robert Zemeckis admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame
First-timers looking for the essential entry point

Skip if

You prefer action-heavy films

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

Editor's note
“We nearly moved Forrest Gump three places in either direction, twice. It stayed because Robert Zemeckis does one thing here that nobody has improved on since, and you will know it when you reach it.”
Nutevio Editors

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Your Name.

2016

RomanceDramaAnimation 1h 46m

Nutevio Score

8.7Ⓝ

IMDb: 8.5
Rotten Tomatoes: 87%
Metacritic: 79

High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body, and he in hers. This bizarre occurrence continues to happen randomly, and the two must adjust their lives around each other.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and drama filmmaking
Makoto Shinkai admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films
You are looking for something light

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

Editor's note
“Every revisit turns up another detail hiding in plain sight. Your Name. remains our internal benchmark — when we argue about a new release, this is the film someone inevitably reaches for.”
Nutevio Editors

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Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

1995

RomanceComedyDrama 3h 10m

Nutevio Score

8.4Ⓝ

IMDb: 8.5
Rotten Tomatoes: 84%
Metacritic: 78

Raj is a rich, carefree, happy-go-lucky second generation NRI. Simran is the daughter of Chaudhary Baldev Singh, who in spite of being an NRI is very strict about adherence to Indian values. Simran has left for India to be married to her childhood fiancé. Raj leaves for India with a mission at his hands, to claim his lady love under the noses of her whole family. Thus begins a saga.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and comedy filmmaking
Aditya Chopra admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You do not have 3h 10m to give it in one sitting
You prefer action-heavy films

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

View Movie

Chapter 1 · Romance craft

What romance does at its best

1994–2016 · five demonstrations

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Before Sunrise, Forrest Gump, Your Name. and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge are here for craft rather than reputation. Each one solves a specific romance problem — how to sustain tension, how to earn a turn, how to end — and solves it in a way the rest of the list keeps borrowing.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) is the entry we would show someone who claims the genre is formulaic.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge closes the block.

Cinema Paradiso

1988

RomanceDrama 2h 4m

Nutevio Score

8.3Ⓝ

IMDb: 8.4
Rotten Tomatoes: 83%
Metacritic: 81

A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and drama filmmaking
Giuseppe Tornatore admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films
You are looking for something light

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

View Movie

A Silent Voice: The Movie

2016

RomanceDramaAnimation 2h 9m

Nutevio Score

8.3Ⓝ

IMDb: 8.4
Rotten Tomatoes: 83%
Metacritic: 77

Shouya Ishida starts bullying the new girl in class, Shouko Nishimiya, because she is deaf. But as the teasing continues, the rest of the class starts to turn on Shouya for his lack of compassion. When they leave elementary school, Shouko and Shouya do not speak to each other again... until an older, wiser Shouya, tormented by his past behaviour, decides he must see Shouko once more. He wants to atone for his sins, but is it already too late...?

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and drama filmmaking
Naoko Yamada admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films
You are looking for something light

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

View Movie

Call Me by Your Name

2017

RomanceDrama 2h 12m

Nutevio Score

8.3Ⓝ

IMDb: 8.1
Rotten Tomatoes: 83%
Metacritic: 76

In the summer of 1983, a 17-year-old Elio spends his days in his family's villa in Italy. One day Oliver, a graduate student, arrives to assist Elio's father, a professor of Greco-Roman culture. Soon, Elio and Oliver discover a summer that will alter their lives forever.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and drama filmmaking
Luca Guadagnino admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films
You are looking for something light

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

Editor's note
“I have shown Call Me by Your Name to people who insisted they did not like romance films. It has never once failed. That is the closest thing to proof a ranking like this can offer.”
Nutevio Editors

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Titanic

1997

RomanceDrama 3h 14m

Nutevio Score

8.2Ⓝ

IMDb: 7.9
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Metacritic: 75

101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets aboard the ship. Rose tells the whole story from Titanic's departure through to its death—on its first and last voyage—on April 15, 1912.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and drama filmmaking
James Cameron admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You do not have 3h 14m to give it in one sitting
You prefer action-heavy films

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

View Movie

#10

Five Feet Apart

2019

RomanceDrama 1h 56m

Nutevio Score

8.2Ⓝ

IMDb: 8.2
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Metacritic: 76

Seventeen-year-old Stella spends most of her time in the hospital as a cystic fibrosis patient. Her life is full of routines, boundaries and self-control — all of which get put to the test when she meets Will, an impossibly charming teen who has the same illness. There's an instant flirtation, though restrictions dictate that they must maintain a safe distance between them. As their connection intensifies, so does the temptation to throw the rules out the window and embrace that attraction.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and drama filmmaking
Justin Baldoni admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films
You are looking for something light

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

View Movie

Chapter 2 · Against the grain

The entries that refuse the formula

Where the genre argues with itself

Cinema Paradiso, A Silent Voice: The Movie, Call Me by Your Name, Titanic and Five Feet Apart take the genre's expectations and decline them. That refusal is the reason they are in the list at all.

Ranked below the block above only because a broken rule is easier to admire than a rule perfectly kept.

#11

Pride & Prejudice

2005

RomanceDrama 2h 8m8.1IMDb

A story of love and life among the landed English gentry during the Georgian era. Mr. Bennet is a gentleman living in Hertfordshire with his overbearing wife and five daughters, but if he dies their house will be inherited by a distant cousin whom they have never met, so the family's future happiness and security is dependent on the daughters making good marriages.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and drama filmmaking
Joe Wright admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films
You are looking for something light

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

View Movie

#12

Modern Times

1936

RomanceComedyDrama 1h 27m8.3IMDb

A bumbling tramp desires to build a home with a young woman, yet is thwarted time and time again by his lack of experience and habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time...

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and comedy filmmaking
Charlie Chaplin admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame
Classic-cinema viewers building a foundation

Skip if

You prefer action-heavy films

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

Editor's note
“Watch the first ten minutes of Modern Times with the sound up and no distractions. If it has not got you by then, this collection may not be for you — and that is genuinely fine.”
Nutevio Editors

View Movie

#13

The Handmaiden

2016

RomanceDramaThriller 2h 25m8.2IMDb

1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sook-hee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and drama filmmaking
Park Chan-wook admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You prefer action-heavy films
You are looking for something light

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

View Movie

#14

Vertigo

1958

RomanceMysteryThriller 2h 8m8.1IMDb

A retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and mystery filmmaking
Alfred Hitchcock admirers
Viewers who enjoy slow-burn tension over shocks
Puzzle-solvers who like piecing a story together
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films
You are looking for something light

Best watched: Late evening, lights off, phone in another room.

View Movie

#15

Casablanca

1943

RomanceDrama 1h 42m8.1IMDb

In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and drama filmmaking
Michael Curtiz admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame
Classic-cinema viewers building a foundation

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films
You are looking for something light

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

View Movie

Chapter 3 · Romance craft

What romance does at its best

1936–2016 · five demonstrations

Pride & Prejudice, Modern Times, The Handmaiden, Vertigo and Casablanca are here for craft rather than reputation. Each one solves a specific romance problem — how to sustain tension, how to earn a turn, how to end — and solves it in a way the rest of the list keeps borrowing.

Pride & Prejudice (2005) is the entry we would show someone who claims the genre is formulaic.

Casablanca closes the block.

#16

La La Land

2016

RomanceComedyDrama 2h 9m7.9IMDb

Mia, an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian, a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and comedy filmmaking
Damien Chazelle admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You prefer action-heavy films

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

Editor's note
“We nearly moved La La Land three places in either direction, twice. It stayed because Damien Chazelle does one thing here that nobody has improved on since, and you will know it when you reach it.”
Nutevio Editors

View Movie

#17

Me Before You

2016

RomanceDrama 1h 50m7.9IMDb

Lou Clark, a directionless 26-year-old from the English countryside, takes a job at the local castle as a caregiver and companion to a wealthy young banker, Will Traynor. Wheelchair-bound from an accident two years prior, the once adventurous Will has all but given up — that is until Lou determines to show him that life is worth living.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and drama filmmaking
Thea Sharrock admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films
You are looking for something light

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

View Movie

#18

Gabriel's Inferno

2020

RomanceDrama 2h 2m8.4IMDb

An intriguing and sinful exploration of seduction, forbidden love, and redemption, Gabriel's Inferno is a captivating and wildly passionate tale of one man's escape from his own personal hell as he tries to earn the impossible--forgiveness and love.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and drama filmmaking
Tosca Musk admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films
You are looking for something light

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

View Movie

#19

The Notebook

2004

RomanceDrama 2h 3m7.9IMDb

An epic love story centered around an older man who reads aloud to a woman with Alzheimer's. From a faded notebook, the old man's words bring to life the story about a couple who is separated by World War II, and is then passionately reunited, seven years later, after they have taken different paths.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and drama filmmaking
Nick Cassavetes admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films
You are looking for something light

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

View Movie

#20

Amélie

2001

RomanceComedy 2h 2m7.9IMDb

At a tiny Parisian café, the adorable yet painfully shy Amélie accidentally discovers a gift for helping others. Soon Amelie is spending her days as a matchmaker, guardian angel, and all-around do-gooder. But when she bumps into a handsome stranger, will she find the courage to become the star of her very own love story?

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and comedy filmmaking
Jean-Pierre Jeunet admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

Editor's note
“I have shown Amélie to people who insisted they did not like romance films. It has never once failed. That is the closest thing to proof a ranking like this can offer.”
Nutevio Editors

View Movie

Chapter 4 · Against the grain

The entries that refuse the formula

Where the genre argues with itself

La La Land, Me Before You, Gabriel's Inferno, The Notebook and Amélie take the genre's expectations and decline them. That refusal is the reason they are in the list at all.

Ranked below the block above only because a broken rule is easier to admire than a rule perfectly kept.

#21

Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc

2025

RomanceActionFantasyAnimation 1h 40m8.5IMDb

In a brutal war between devils, hunters, and secret enemies, a mysterious girl named Reze has stepped into Denji's world, and he faces his deadliest battle yet, fueled by love in a world where survival knows no rules.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and action filmmaking
Tatsuya Yoshihara admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You are looking for something light

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

View Movie

#22

City Lights

1931

RomanceComedyDrama 1h 27m8.3IMDb

A tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind flower girl. His on-and-off friendship with a wealthy man allows him to be the girl's benefactor and suitor.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and comedy filmmaking
Charlie Chaplin admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame
Classic-cinema viewers building a foundation

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

View Movie

#23

About Time

2013

RomanceFantasyDrama 2h 3m7.9IMDb

The night after another unsatisfactory New Year's party, Tim's father reveals to him that the men in their family have the ability to travel through time. They can't change history, but they can change what happens and has happened in their own lives. Thus begins the start of a lesson in learning to appreciate life itself as it is, as it comes, and most importantly, the people living alongside us.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and fantasy filmmaking
Richard Curtis admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films
You are looking for something light

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

View Movie

#24

A Beautiful Mind

2001

RomanceDrama 2h 15m7.8IMDb

From the heights of notoriety to the depths of depravity, John Forbes Nash Jr. experiences it all. As a brilliant but socially awkward mathematician, he made a groundbreaking discovery early in his career and stands on the brink of international acclaim. But as the handsome and arrogant Nash accepts secret work in cryptography, he becomes entangled in a mysterious conspiracy. His life takes a nightmarish turn and he soon finds himself on a painful and harrowing journey of self-discovery.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and drama filmmaking
Ron Howard admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films
You are looking for something light

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

Editor's note
“I have shown A Beautiful Mind to people who insisted they did not like romance films. It has never once failed. That is the closest thing to proof a ranking like this can offer.”
Nutevio Editors

View Movie

#25

Singin' in the Rain

1952

RomanceComedy 1h 43m8.1IMDb

In 1927 Hollywood, a silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his paranoid screen partner struggle to make the difficult transition to talking pictures.

Imported record — imported from the Nutevio library and placed by ranking signal. A Nutevio editorial verdict has not been written for this entry yet.

Perfect for

Fans of romance and comedy filmmaking
Stanley Donen admirers
Viewers who want a film to land emotionally, not just cleverly
Viewers drawn to relationships at the centre of the frame
Classic-cinema viewers building a foundation

Skip if

You dislike deliberate, unhurried pacing
You prefer action-heavy films

Best watched: A quiet night when you can let the ending sit with you.

View Movie

Chapter 5 · Romance craft

What romance does at its best

1931–2025 · five demonstrations

Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc, City Lights, About Time, A Beautiful Mind and Singin' in the Rain are here for craft rather than reputation. Each one solves a specific romance problem — how to sustain tension, how to earn a turn, how to end — and solves it in a way the rest of the list keeps borrowing.

Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc (2025) is the entry we would show someone who claims the genre is formulaic.

Singin' in the Rain closes the block.

Page 1 of 2 — keep going to complete the collection

Highlights

Collection statistics

What this ranking is made of — eras, runtimes, ratings and accolades.

Average Nutevio Score: 8.0
Average IMDb rating: 8.1
Average release year: 2000
Oldest film: 1931
Newest film: 2026
Longest runtime: 3h 58m
Shortest runtime: 1h 24m
Oscar winners: 0
Countries represented: 1
Average runtime: 2h 0m
Most common director: Tosca Musk
Most common decade: 2010s
Languages represented: 1

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In conclusion

Why these movies matter

Why these films matter: Best Romance Movies spans 1931 to 2026, 44 filmmakers and 0 Academy Award winners, and it holds together because every entry is arguing for the same thing — that the way a story is told is the story. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind states the case most completely; My Fault proves the case is still open.

What holds them together: the entries above share a preoccupation rather than a formula, and the ordering reflects how completely each one commits to it. Where two titles were inseparable, we broke the tie on how well the film holds up on a second viewing.

Where to go next: follow a director, follow a decade, or follow a mood. The recommendations below are scored on shared films, filmmakers, genres, themes and eras rather than picked at random, so each one continues a thread this collection started.

The Nutevio Editors · updated 4 August 2026

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Why this collection exists

Collection DNA

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What romance does at its best

The entries that refuse the formula

What romance does at its best

The entries that refuse the formula

What romance does at its best

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