By Steven Hartman · February 19, 2024
Love stories have been around for millennia, going back further than The Odyssey when Odysseus spent ten years trying to return to his love. Love stories, in fact, were likely told long before they were written down. But let’s fast forward to the recent past and look at some movies that make us believe in all kinds of love, from romantic to familial to friendship.
Read More: Four Ways of Expressing Love in Your Screenplay
Considered the number one greatest love story of all time, according to the American Film Institute, the movie follows an American named Rick who opens a bar in Casablanca and is stuck between helping those wanting to escape the war in Europe and the Nazis who control the territory. It’s not until a former love reenters his life that he questions his neutrality to the war and considers what he would sacrifice for the woman he adores.
It also shows how you can handle an unbelievable coincidence in a story by blatantly pointing it out. As Rick famously states, “Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.”
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Ghost is a truly unique type of love story that involves the spirit of a murdered man forced to roam the earth, wallowing in the life taken from him. As he unravels the mystery of his death, with the help of a psychic (who is a con artist) who learns she can hear ghosts, the deceased man discovers the girlfriend he left behind is in danger. Ghost shows how love can transcend everything, even death.
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If Casablanca is considered the greatest love story in cinema, Romeo + Juliet is likely the most famous love story in history. Based on the Shakespeare play of the same name, the film follows two star-crossed lovers whose adoration for each other transcends the deadly feud between two powerful families.
The 1996 film, written and directed by the up-and-coming Baz Luhrmann, modernizes the play and sets it in Verona Beach. In the mid-1990s, there were no more iconic American teenagers than Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes to take on the title characters.
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At the time, Titanic was the most expensive film ever made, and its box office dominance was never a sure thing. But the undying love between two people aboard the ill-fated ship found its ability to transcend the naysayers, become the first film to make over a billion dollars at the box office, and turn James Cameron into the self-proclaimed king of the world.
Titanic is the epic love story of two different people from separate socioeconomic classes who discover true love, if only for a short time. This leading role made the former Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio) the heartthrob of millions worldwide.
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In the late 1990s, the independent film scene was where moves regarding unconventional (for the time) romances took place. Chasing Amy was Kevin Smith’s third film and is considered one of his most well-written pieces. It explores the friendship between two comic book creators and long-time friends whose relationship is tested when one falls in love with a woman with a complex history.
This love story is more than between a man and a woman and encompasses the love of longtime friendships.
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Since Monica and Quincy were kids, they have had two things in common: a love of basketball and each other. Love and Basketball spans nearly two decades, focusing on four significant periods in their life (broken into quarters like a basketball game), with each one having them crossing paths and overcoming personal conflicts.
A combination of ambition, desire, and family drives these two together in one moment and tears them apart the next. As Quincy says, “All’s fair in love and basketball.”
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Baz Luhrmann’s second film to make it on this list is Moulin Rouge, a musical romantic comedy that centers around Christian, a young writer, who falls in love with Satine, the star of Moulin Rouge. A duke wants Satine for himself and will go to great lengths to ruin lives to get what he wants. Christian and Satine continue their affair, and the duke gets closer to discovering the secret, which puts Christian’s life on the line to be with the woman he loves.
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With an ensemble cast of characters who discover love and loss in the month leading up to Christmas, this holiday favorite is filled with humor and heart. Perhaps what makes the characters so fun and relatable is how different they all are but how the audience can find a piece of themselves in each one.
From a father/son bonding to lost love to hopeless romanticism, the love in Love Actually goes beyond the romantic kind. As the Prime Minister says, “If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around.”
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Leave it to Disney to take out the mom and nearly the entire family of the movie. That’s the beginning of Finding Nemo, which leaves little clownfish Nemo and his dad, Marlin, to fend for themselves in the wide-open ocean.
Marlin is so nervous about his son going out and exploring (who wouldn’t be after the trauma of losing his wife and family?) that it pushes Nemo away. After witnessing Nemo snatched by a diver, Marlin embarks on a perilous journey across the ocean, determined to reunite with and save his son.
This movie shows the lengths parents will go and risk their lives to protect their children.
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Brokeback Mountain is the heartbreaking tale of forbidden love between two men in the rugged Wyoming backdrop of the 1960s. In Brokeback Mountain, a ranch hand and a rodeo cowboy are thrown together for a summer job, develop a passionate, lifelong romance.
However, societal pressures force them to live separate lives, marrying others and raising families, all while harboring their secret love. This well-crafted film shows personal struggles and the lengths they’ll go to hide who they truly are.
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Todd Haynes is one of today’s masters of drama. His 2015 Oscar-nominated film Carol looks at the lives of two women in 1950s New York who begin a relationship with one another. Carol, however, is in a loveless marriage whose husband learns of the affair, decides to divorce, and uses her infidelity with the young Therese to help win custody of his daughter.
Regardless of the impact on their lives, the love between Carol and Therese remains strong, and Carol will stop at nothing to ensure she can be a part of her daughter’s life.
Download the script!Read More: A Spectrum of Light & Love: Celebrating Pride Month
Imagine a world where not only is it illegal to marry the person you love, but you end up going to jail for doing so. Loving is the true story of a white man and a black woman in the 1960s who fell in love and decided to cross state lines to marry.
However, going back to Virginia, where they live, they end up going to jail because of the laws against interracial marriage. Two people in love defy segregation laws and take their fight all the way to the Supreme Court, ultimately striking them down.
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Moonlight might be known for the infamous confusion at the Academy Awards when presenters announced the wrong winners for Best Picture. However, the film is a rich and emotional portrayal of a young black kid in Miami who struggles with his identity and sexuality.
This coming-of-age film shows several variations of love, including the young boy and the man who chooses to guide him, a best friend, and even how one can learn to love themselves.
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Belle and her father live in a poor provincial town where the girls fawn over the rugged Gaston, who only has eyes for the one woman he can’t obtain: Belle. After her father goes missing, she seeks him out by traveling through the dark woods and finds him imprisoned by a beast in a castle where everything from the candle to the clock is alive.
Taking her father’s place, Belle gets a little Stockholm Syndrome and falls in love with her captor, which is good because if she doesn’t, the Beast will remain in his hideous form for the rest of his life.
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Valentine’s Day is often a celebration of love. Screenwriters and film fans, watch these diverse films—from animation to comedy to drama—to witness the relationships that make us believe in love. The scripts are rich in character, dialogue, and plot, and make you believe that love still exists on-screen and in real life.
Read More: How To Go From Platonic to Romantic in Your Screenplay
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