Oscar-Nominated Love Story PAST LIVES Chosen as One of the Top 50 Romantic Movies of All-Time

Past Lives Cracks Top 50 List of the Most Romantic Movies of All Time

Past Lives is in good company with films like Titanic when considering the acclaimed A24 film made Variety‘s list of the Top 50 Romantic Movies ever made.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Variety released its list of the top 50 romance movies of all-time as curated by its chief film staff. Past Lives, the heartbreaking masterpiece from last year (and FilmBook‘s choice as the number one movie of 2023), weighs in at number 34 on the list which puts it ahead of such widely loved romances like The Princess Bride, Pretty Woman, Dirty Dancing and The Notebook.

It’s true that the legendary filmmaker, Martin Scorsese, himself, greatly admired Past Lives and, now its inclusion on the list of the 50 most romantic movies ever made makes it a bona-fide all-time classic. When considering some of the movies ahead of it which rank higher up, one realizes that the Oscar-nominated Past Lives may not be the most romantic movie of all-time but it certainly ranks up with the best of on-screen romances that have ever graced the silver screen.

What beats out Past Lives, in terms of being a more romantic movie, you ask? Titanic and Casablanca were the number two and number one choices, respectfully, and understandably so. Who could forget those beautifully rendered love stories? Titanic with its main characters, Jack and Rose, and Casablanca with its memorable dialogue (“Here’s looking at you, kid.”) were bound to make it to the very top of the list. However, Past Lives isn’t as showy a romance. It’s a bit more subtle and makes valid points on the true nature of love, especially between its husband and wife characters played by John Magaro and Greta Lee.

What other movies made the cut as some of the best romance movies of all-time? Well, certainly, too many films to go over all of them in this short space. However, 1990’s Ghost proved to be a winner with its memorable love story between Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. Brokeback Mountain also seems to have made the cut with its heartbreaking male love story. Moulin Rouge!, the great Baz Luhrmann musical, also ranked very highly on the list, placing at number four. La La Land, another musical, was also on the chart as were the much loved Before films (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight).

I’d like to single out two Cameron Crowe films which made the cut: Jerry Maguire and …Say Anything which had some of the most memorable romantic moments in cinematic history. Jerry Maguire‘s featured line of dialogue, “You had me at hello,” which Renee Zellweger told Tom Cruise was a real gem of a line. …Say Anything included the famous scene of John Cusack holding up his boombox to impress and win over his love, Ione Skye. Those films were pure works of romantic genius, to be certain.

While Past Lives is in the running for Best Picture this season, feel free to check it out and see if you can feel the magic we here at FilmBook and those Academy members who voted it in for a Best Picture nod felt! Happy Valentine’s Day one and all!

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