Fed Up With Sugar-Sweet Rom-Coms? Here Are 5 Movies With the Most Realistic Love Stories
Everything you need to know about healthy and toxic relationships, breaking up and falling in love, told in the most honest way possible.
Most popular melodramas and rom-coms lack realism and can be criticized for many things, from the unrealistic depiction of the first kiss to the final scene of the perfect couple cutting the wedding cake.
Stories about how to lose a guy in ten days seem frankly outdated, and if you want to see why people go through crises, break up or get back together, then these five movies are for you.
1. A Walk to Remember, 2002
Landon and Jamie fall in love, but Jamie has leukemia and the couple has little time to enjoy their relationship. Landon accepts the situation and tries to do everything he can to make these few months the happiest they can be.
Jamie and Landon respect each other's personal boundaries and find compromises that make them both happy. She does not try to make him fit her idea of beauty. He learns to appreciate every minute of life and rethinks his views.
This is possible thanks to trusting relationships and honest dialogues in which the partners do not try to make themselves look better than they really are.
2. 10.000 Km, 2014
Physical separation often leads to estrangement, and the little-known Spanish movie 10.000 Km shows this perfectly. The Skype melodrama revolves around a man and a woman who live through video calls: they cook together, play each other's favorite songs, and discuss the weather while their ambitions keep them on opposite sides of the Atlantic.
Long-distance relationships are one of the most difficult challenges for a couple that most people are not prepared for, and the movie clearly explains why we gradually stop feeling anything to the image on the screen.
3. Silver Linings Playbook, 2012
One of the most realistic movies about love with obstacles is undoubtedly Silver Linings Playbook. Director David O. Russell brought to the screen the experiences of his own son, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Outbursts of rage and the need for approval, the discomfort of proximity and the demands for personal space – the main character goes through all these stages, getting closer to a young widow in severe depression.
They are both vulnerable but determined, and most importantly, they are aware of the similarities of their situations and provide each other with psychological support.
4. The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, 2014
A breakup is believably portrayed from two perspectives in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, a three-part movie about the same couple that follows the relationship through the eyes of the husband and wife.
These are not only excellent performances by Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy, but also an accurate portrayal of two sides of the same coin – we see the story of the relationship through two different people who love each other but have different views of what is happening.
5. Blue Valentine, 2010
Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine tells about a married couple (played by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams) on the brink of divorce. Bright and happy flashbacks from the past of the main characters contrast with the sad reality of the present: love is gone and will not return.
Blue Valentine is a melancholy film that does not show the sugary-sweet Hollywood romance, and does not give you hope for a happy ending, but nevertheless touches the soul of all those who have once come in contact with the bitter feeling of emptiness and disappointment in romantic relationships.