THE ART OF loving is often shown in films as a simple “happily ever after,” where the story ends once two people settle together. But as February approaches, the big screen offers a different take. Romantic films from 2023 to 2025 reveal that love does not only define itself at the beginning, but rather it grows through conflict, change, and time.
From intense conversations by the Sydney harbour to somber reflections that stretch into eternity, these stories focus on the act of loving itself. In the spirit of the season, we celebrate three films that remind us why we keep coming back to the flame, capturing the magic of love in all its forms.
Throughout our lives, we have seen love off-screen and on-screen; romance movies have long been the pinnacle of our expectations of what a “perfect” match looks like. Yet, these recent features move beyond those expectations, showing that love is not a destination but a continuous, living practice.
The film industry has often been guilty of reducing romance to predictable gestures, undermining the complexity of human relationships into a final kiss before the screen fades to black. However, the modern era of cinema challenges this pattern, proving that the most important part of love is not merely finding it but having the courage to sustain it.
Considering this shift in cinema, The Bedan reviews three films that challenge the fairytale romance trope and show that love is a gritty act of endurance and a celebration of the “now.”
A Question of Forever – 4/5
Davide Freyne’s 2025 romantic comedy, “Eternity,” opens with a simple yet challenging question: who would you choose to spend eternity with? “Eternity” takes the spirit of Valentine’s into a new domain. While most romance movies explore the physical world and the aspects of the “here and now,” Freyne explores the transcendental weight of our emotions.
Joan, played by Elizabeth Olsen, arrives in the afterlife and is forced to make an impossible choice: the choice to spend eternity with her first husband, Luke, played by Callum Turner, who died young, or Larry, played by Miles Teller, the man she shared sixty-five years of happiness with.
Despite its comedic elements, the film delves into deep topics that are not so unfamiliar to most of us. In the movie, Joan is forced to confront not just her romantic desires but also her own understanding of fulfillment and selfhood, a feeling most of us have experienced. Through Elizabeth Olsen’s performance, Joan becomes a picture of a woman facing the challenges of love, loyalty, and personal freedom in a way that is at once relatable and liberating.
Freyne reminds us that we don’t need a fairytale afterlife to find paradise. We just need to look beyond ourselves and choose the person who has been with us through thick and thin.
By emphasizing the “lived reality” of marriage versus the “ideal romance” of first love, the film shows that even in the afterlife, the heart knows exactly where it belongs.
Love Out of Time – 4/5
Ever since childhood, the genre of romance in movies has been known for painting a happy ending in relationships. But that’s not the case for John Crowley’s “We Live in Time,” a film that abandons the typical feel-good fairytale conclusion for a devastating look at the fragility and limits of life. While the posters of Almut, played by Florence Pugh, and Tobias, played by Andrew Garfield, promised a cute, uplifting romance, the film contradicts the posters’ tropes by centering on a long struggle with cancer and the messy reality of loss.
The film employs a non-linear narrative to depict how the main characters’ relationship develops, using “time jumps” to shuffle the couple’s romantic history out of order. This choice may confuse some viewers, but Crowley intends to challenge the traditional chronological love story, emphasizing that time is precious. From the characters’ first meeting to a chaotic birth in a gas station bathroom, Crowley’s direction highlights moments of partnership that most romance films overlook.
Florence Pugh’s performance as Almut portrays a complex and powerful protagonist, refusing to let her diagnosis define her as she trains for the Bocuse d’Or championship. “We Live in Time” proves that love isn’t just about showing affection; it’s about the courage to stay present even when time is running out.
Anyone But You – 3/5
Will Gluck’s “Anyone But You” (2023) leans unapologetically into the classic rom-com formula, proving that even in a time where reinvention and revamping genres are pertinent, familiarity can still be part of love’s allure.
Drawing inspiration from Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing,’ the film follows Bea, played by Sydney Sweeney, and Ben played by Glen Powell, two strangers whose promising first encounter spirals into mutual disdain after a stream of misunderstandings. Years later, they are forced into each other’s orbit at a destination in Australia, where pretending to be a couple becomes the easiest tactic to pull through social pressure—and their own unresolved tension.
Unlike the emotionally heavy examinations of love found in the previous two movies, “Anyone But You” thrives on chaos, banter, and spectacle. The film does not attempt to deconstruct romance; instead, it recognizes its most renowned beats—fake dating, public embarrassment, explosive arguments, and inevitable reconciliations.
While such precision has stirred mixed reactions from critics, the film was nonetheless widely appreciated for its refusal to overcomplicate itself, welcoming its lighthearted energy as a refreshing return to the classic rom-com convention.
The main characters’ chemistry is what carries the film, turning exaggerated conflicts into moments of genuine charm. Their performances acknowledge the absurdity of their dilemma while still grounding the romance in emotional sincerity.
Set against sun-drenched beaches and wedding festivities, the film romanticizes timing—proving that love sometimes works not because people change, but because they meet again at a time where their situations align.
And when they are both finally ready taking that necessary leap of faith. The film shows love in its purest form—messy, immature, and often ridiculous—but it is fun.
Rather than redefining love, these movies simply reset and challenge what we anticipate from it. Modern on-screen romance no longer promises permanence as a prize, nor does it fantasize suffering as proof of sincerity. Love is shown as a choice, one that must be made repeatedly, without certainty, guarantee, nor control.
In a culture still drawn to soulmatism and cinematic absolutes, these films offer a gentler but at the same time, braver proposition. This valentines season, such tales remind us of what it means not just to feel love, but to live by it. Perhaps that is why we return to these kinds of stories–not to escape reality, but to see ourselves in it, and to learn, even for a brief moment, how to stay present in love as it happens.
(with Catherine Botalon)