It’s that time of year again: late dashes for the Valentine’s Day cards left on shelves, overpriced roses, and perhaps a great romantic film to watch with your loved one (it’s cheaper than the set menu special at your local restaurant).
Here’s a list of suggestions that consciously avoids the obvious Richard Curtis rom-coms (barring one lesser-seen earlier script) because you’ll know about those. It’s also British-only because Brits have a distinct feel when it comes to romance — generally, quirky or tragic. At least so it seems from these picks, your critic’s list of ten favourites. What’s yours?
10. The Light Between Oceans (2016)
Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender in The Light Between Oceans
ALAMY
Some (decidedly unromantic) critics derided this as melodramatic, but perhaps old-fashioned tales of romantic sacrifice are easy to dismiss. I’d suggest that, as Valentine’s viewing, this offers a moving, unpredictable tale balanced on a moral dilemma: Michael Fassbender is an isolated lighthouse keeper whose soul is healed when he falls for the girl (Alicia Vikander) who joins him in his remote Eden. He’ll do anything for her, but then a boat is washed up with a baby on board and the pair face a decision that will haunt them. Rakuten TV/rent
9. Atonement (2007)
Keira Knightley and James McAvoy in Atonement
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Adapted from a novel by Ian McEwan, this was never going to be straightforwardly romantic. The power of this film rests not just on the catastrophic misunderstanding of young Briony (Saoirse Ronan) witnessing the lovers Cecilia and Robbie (Keira Knightley and James McAvoy) “in the act”, but also in the way that their brief but life-defining love remains trapped in a moment. Not as good as the book, though. Prime Video
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8. Rye Lane (2023)
As a respite from tragedy, look no further than Rye Lane, where south London’s streets and eateries are a thriving backdrop for the impromptu date between nice-guy Dom (David Jonsson), reeling from a break-up, and funny Yas (Vivian Oparah). This is some way from Merchant Ivory gentility, yet as the pair wander, it gradually builds into a charming one-off. Look out for the cameo from rom-com royalty selling spicy burritos in Brixton. Clue: he’s wearing a “Love Guac’tually” T-shirt. iPlayer
7. We Live in Time (2024)
Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh in We Live in Time
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Florence Pugh will break your heart… the kind of thing emblazoned atop the film poster, but sue me if she doesn’t in this four-hankie weepie. Pugh is a figure-skater turned fusion chef who meets Andrew Garfield’s divorcee when she runs him over. It’s love! Except she has ovarian cancer — this is revealed at the start in a narrative that hops back and forth in time, cleverly deepening your connection to this loveable couple. Netflix
6. The Tall Guy (1989)
Emma Thompson and Jeff Goldblum in The Tall Guy
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Jeff Goldblum’s gangly American actor in London woos Emma Thompson’s amusingly no-nonsense nurse, leading to a — rarity, this — funny sex scene, then a montage of them taking revenge on Rowan Atkinson’s insufferable West End star to the sounds of Madness’s It Must be Love. This hoot of a Brit-com, written by Richard Curtis, is worth seeking out if only for the depiction of a musical based on the Elephant Man, titled Elephant! Rent/buy
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5. Maurice (1987)
James Wilby and Hugh Grant in Maurice
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Take your pick from the Merchant Ivory classics — while A Room with a View is perhaps the great romance in that canon, how about this underrated EM Forster adaptation? The anguish of being gay in the Edwardian era makes for a powerful, passionate study in torment as James Wilby’s young aristocrat struggles to reconcile a secret affair with Hugh Grant’s fellow Oxbridge toff. Yet the film ends on an uplifting note after Maurice falls for the freespirited gamekeeper (Rupert Graves), love eclipsing convention. “Now we shan’t never be parted.” BFI Player/ rent
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4. The English Patient (1996)
A huge deal when it came out, Anthony Minghella’s deserty Oscar-bait offered love and loss on the scale of a David Lean opus. Ralph Fiennes, burnt to a crisp in a plane crash, recalls love with Kristin Scott Thomas’s amused aristo; his nurse, Juliette Binoche, melts in lust at the Sikh officer washing his unturbaned hair. Was this quite as great as we were all thought it was? It’s a somewhat involved plot, and in truth the film is not quite British, but let’s not split hairs — it’s Ralph and Kristin! It’s an epic! Paramount+
3. Brief Encounter (1945)
Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard in Brief Encounter
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The quiet desperation of the English way is unsettlingly evoked from the minute Celia Johnson’s conflicted internal monologue says, about the gossipy friend prattling away in front of her: “I wish you were dead… no, that was silly and unkind.” Back home she reveals her misery to her boring husband: her emotional affair with Trevor Howard’s married doctor that opened up the possibility of a world of joy, of love… except David Lean’s film is startlingly sad. But what romantic yearning. Buy/ rent
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2. A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Kim Hunter and David Niven in A Matter of Life and Death
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The Second World War hero David Niven’s plane is going down after a bombing run. He knows he’s a goner, but incredibly manages to woo June (Kim Hunter), the young radio operator on his line. “I was lucky to get you, June. Can’t be helped about the parachute!” It’s the greatest display of British stiff-upper-lip in history. Thereon, the love story — he survives, but wasn’t meant to — is wrapped round his celestial court case as divine beings decide his fate. Heavenly indeed. iPlayer
1. Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen in Pride & Prejudice
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Such a list would be worthless without a Jane Austen, and while the rollicking Keira Knightley version has a whiff of the Barbara Cartlands in places, it really is a romantic delight. Knightley is a spirited Elizabeth Bennet, Matthew Macfadyen all resting glum face as Darcy, Tom Hollander a hoot as stiff Mr Collins, Judi Dench, Carey Mulligan, Donald Sutherland… the cast of stars doesn’t seem to end. In short, the perfect Valentine’s movie. Reader, she will marry him! Netflix/Prime Video
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