Best Romance Movies 2023
It’s rare for a debut director to knock it out of the park with their first film, but Celine Song did exactly that with Past Lives, a powerful, understated “what if” romance that not only served as a calling card for Song but also for its star, Greta Lee, and sits atop our list of Best Romance Movies.
#1
Adjusted Score: 112848%
Critics Consensus: A remarkable debut for writer-director Celine Song, Past Lives uses the bonds between its sensitively sketched central characters to support trenchant observations on the human condition.
Synopsis: Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. Two...
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#2
Adjusted Score: 106025%
Critics Consensus: A quirky tale of star-crossed lovers, Fallen Leaves is a life-affirming gem from Finnish filmmaker Kaurismäki.
Synopsis: In modern-day Helsinki, two lonely souls in search of love meet by chance in a local karaoke bar. However, the...
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#3
Adjusted Score: 104986%
Critics Consensus: Elevated by a remarkable Franz Rogowski performance, Passages adds another smart, deeply humanistic film to director/co-writer Ira Sachs' estimable filmography.
Synopsis: Celebrated filmmaker Ira Sachs (Love is Strange) makes a breathtaking return with PASSAGES, a fresh, honest and brutally funny take...
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#4
Adjusted Score: 102115%
Critics Consensus: With stunning honesty that's achingly bittersweet, Joyland tackles gender and sexual fluidity in a repressed patriarchal society with wisps of hopefulness.
Synopsis: The Ranas--a happily patriarchal joint family--yearn for the birth of a baby boy to continue the family line. Their youngest...
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#5
Adjusted Score: 111029%
Critics Consensus: All of Us Strangers examines profound grief and love through a fantastical lens that is always grounded on human emotion.
Synopsis: One night in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, Adam (Andrew Scott) has a chance encounter with a mysterious...
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#6
Adjusted Score: 98293%
Critics Consensus: A love story shaped by some surprising contours, The Blue Caftan surveys the hidden heart with compassion and grace.
Synopsis: Halim and Mina run a traditional caftan store in one of Morocco's oldest medinas. In order to keep up with...
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#7
Adjusted Score: 96810%
Critics Consensus: Led by a pair of powerful performances, Maestro serves as a stirring overview of a tremendous talent's life and legacy.
Synopsis: Maestro is a towering and fearless love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein....
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#8
Adjusted Score: 95822%
Critics Consensus: Moody, sensitive, and subtly layered, Falcon Lake captures the intoxicating horror of young love.
Synopsis: A shy teenager on a summer vacation experiences the joy and pain of young adulthood when he forges an unlikely...
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#9
Adjusted Score: 93761%
Critics Consensus: With a bracingly irreverent approach to its story and Emma Mackey bringing Brontë vibrantly to life, Emily is a biopic that manages to feel true while taking entertaining creative liberties.
Synopsis: EMILY imagines Emily Brontë’s own Gothic story that inspired her seminal novel, "Wuthering Heights." Haunted by the death of her...
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#10
Adjusted Score: 91469%
Critics Consensus: Narratively subtle and beautifully acted, You Can Live Forever finds soulful drama at the intersection of sexual orientation and religious faith.
Synopsis: In the early '90s, gay teen Jaime is sent to live with her devout Jehovah’s Witness relatives after the death...
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95%
