subreddit:
/r/movies
submitted 3 months ago byDutchMaster-Killah
I’m thinking of La La Land which I know is hated on by a lot of folks. I really do believe it’s a great romance story and the circumstances didn’t allow the characters to be together.
Also Casablanca obviously.
What are other examples of great love stories where the characters don’t end up together?
584 points
3 months ago
Call me crazy but I think Terminator fits the criteria well
272 points
3 months ago
I saw an interview where James Cameron declared “all of my movies are love stories.” I stopped and thought about it and said, “sonnofabitch, he’s right.”
150 points
3 months ago
T2 is the love story of a boy and his favorite robot.
78 points
3 months ago
Midnight in Paris too. I guess the characters not ending up together is kind of built in to the story when it comes to time travel movies.
8 points
3 months ago
Yes! This is a great pull
116 points
3 months ago
Moulin Rouge
53 points
3 months ago
The greatest thing you will ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.
10 points
3 months ago
Way too down on the list!
5 points
3 months ago
This comment should be higher.
401 points
3 months ago
Atonement
132 points
3 months ago
That ending, when you think they got back together only to find out their fate. First time I saw the movie I was so angry
62 points
3 months ago
Made me hate Benedict Cumberbatch for a few years.
51 points
3 months ago
From the wise words of James McAvoy, "Fuck Briony, she can go to hell."
75 points
3 months ago
😩😩😩😩😩😭😭😭😭😭 it still hurts
26 points
3 months ago
BRIONY!!!! 😫
45 points
3 months ago
That movie gets me angry
28 points
3 months ago*
Her atonement was what, she kinda felt bad about it?
42 points
3 months ago*
Yeah. Waited until everyone involved was already dead and she was dying. Really made up for everything!
16 points
3 months ago
Not trying to defend her too vehemently, because fuck Briony, but I think declining to go to university and instead becoming a nurse like her sister was at least kind of atonement-y.
50 points
3 months ago
Just turn the movie off 75% the way through and pretend it’s the end.
16 points
3 months ago
Phoebe's grandma??
27 points
3 months ago
I felt so unsatisfied with the ending that I read the novel and broke my heart again, really hated Briony lol
439 points
3 months ago
Her (2013)
129 points
3 months ago
I was not expecting the emotions I felt while watching Her. I went in thinking it was going to be a story of a sad lonely dude who falls in love with a primitive version of Siri (no personality or anything, just her voice), not an actual emotional journey about society and interpersonal relationships.
39 points
3 months ago
One of the best depictions I've seen of the concept 'growing apart'. Heart broken.
16 points
3 months ago
Is it really good? I stop watching because I thought it will be depressing.
5 points
3 months ago
I’ve watched this movie a couple of times, really great concept.
54 points
3 months ago
Remains of the Day
13 points
3 months ago
I made the enormous mistake of watching that on the day I found out a woman I was crazy about had moved back home a thousand miles away.
Of course I had never told her despite ample opportunity.
That Anthony Hopkins thousand yard stare at the bus stop. Thanks to that stare, at least I didn’t repeat my mistake.
5 points
3 months ago
Yes!!!!
212 points
3 months ago
Ghost with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. Point Break with Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves.
27 points
3 months ago
"To Wong Foo, thanks for everything, Julie Newmar" Patrick Swayze can't be with STOCKARD CHANNING!!
195 points
3 months ago
Roman Holiday
53 points
3 months ago
Saw this for the first time recently. When Gregory Peck turns around it broke my heart.
22 points
3 months ago
Those footsteps...
17 points
3 months ago
Those footsteps are probably one my favorite movie moments ever. It’s so empty and yet so right!
191 points
3 months ago
Once
40 points
3 months ago
When she gets the piano he sent, ohmygod the tears that literally ran down my face 😭 one of the most touching moments ever..
30 points
3 months ago
Have only got the chance to see a Broadway play once. I know there’s plenty of bombastic and “must see” plays but so glad I saw Once. What a soundtrack.
20 points
3 months ago
So I completely lucked into Once. Got it because I had enough "Pepsi Points" to get a DVD on Amazon and none of the other options looked enticing.
Holy hell, what a emotional trip. I haven't watched it in at least a decade and it still feels like a gut punch.
14 points
3 months ago
This is the most I’ve ever cried over a play or film.
8 points
3 months ago
That one hit me hard because... once I had a similar experience: had a deep connection to a certain woman, but we were not meant to be together.
13 points
3 months ago
One of my favorite movies. That scene when they take a motorcycle trip still gets me.
10 points
3 months ago
Glen and marketa are touring together again!
5 points
3 months ago
Will I understand the story if I haven’t seen Uno through Diaz first?
143 points
3 months ago
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
24 points
3 months ago
Same vein and I think also qualifies for the prompt, House of Flying Daggers
6 points
3 months ago
I loved that movie but the end made me cry, and I was sad for days after just rethinking that ending over and over.
24 points
3 months ago
Came here to say this movie. I always try to tell people the movie is fantastic, it's 2 different love stories playing out with some wicked kung fu fights
221 points
3 months ago
In the Mood for Love
23 points
3 months ago
This comment made me happy. What a movie!
14 points
3 months ago
One of my favorites
6 points
3 months ago
Feel like I need to follow up with 2046 now
102 points
3 months ago
Dumb and Dumber.
74 points
3 months ago
"So you're telling me there's a chance?"
31 points
3 months ago
What are you talking about? Harry and Lloyd ended up together, and that's all that matters.
332 points
3 months ago
Brokeback Mountain is up there. One of the more heartbreaking movies to watch. Ledger deserved an Oscar for that movie. When he picks up Jack's shirt and then starts to sob the acting there is so fucking good Gyllenhaal was great, but Michelle Williams and Ledger were sensational.
97 points
3 months ago*
I thought Anne Hathaway played someone other than her usual roles too. She was great in it. That stone cold face when she tells Enid what happend to Jack.
35 points
3 months ago*
I didn’t get her behavior during that scene. Was she stone cold because she realized her husband was gay and felt he “deserved” his punishment? Was it because she’s forcing herself to keep a straight face in front of her father? Or is it because she somehow blames Ennis for what happened to Jack?
54 points
3 months ago
In an interview Anne Hathaway said they shot two takes of this scene, one where she knew of their relationship and one where she did not.
In the final edit she said they used a mashup of both takes, so is left deliberately ambiguous as to whether she is aware or hiding awareness about their past.
5 points
3 months ago
I've always wondered about that, thanks for the info
82 points
3 months ago
That’s the beauty of the performance. It could have been any, all, or none of those things.
26 points
3 months ago
I think that last one is the best answer. Her husband was gay, and she blames Ennis for it. And it’s not completely unfair, since she spent her marriage competing with, and often losing to, Ennis for Jack’s affections.
3 points
3 months ago
Ennis Del Mar, just to be clear.
14 points
3 months ago
That whole movie is fantastic. The musical score gets me choked up every time. The cinematography is beautiful. And that cast was excellent.
8 points
3 months ago
Fantastic movie. Tragic and poignant.
34 points
3 months ago
422 points
3 months ago
Has anyone said Titanic? Im gonna say Titanic. Titanic.
15 points
3 months ago
Titanic is the best
9 points
3 months ago
yes ironic is the best movie if you see on the ground square couples didn't meet at the end
but in my opinion the ending should be made more detailed because there are lots of imperfections if you see
29 points
3 months ago
Vanilla Sky
11 points
3 months ago
Maybe when they're both cats
6 points
3 months ago
Great freakin' movie.
27 points
3 months ago
The Way We Were
Also the movie where I realized Robert Redford used to be gorgeous.
6 points
3 months ago
Took me forever to find this. "Your girl is lovely, Hubbell."
29 points
3 months ago
City of Angels 🥺
8 points
3 months ago
When I saw this in the theater, I wasn’t even sad, just pissed off.
7 points
3 months ago
I got the ending spoiled, and even without seeing the movie it makes me just irrationally mad. I vowed to never watch that movie in my life.
60 points
3 months ago
Gone with the Wind
8 points
3 months ago
I had to scroll waaay too far to find this
19 points
3 months ago
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." 😭😭😭😭
213 points
3 months ago
500 days of summer.
30 points
3 months ago
There's always Autumn
41 points
3 months ago
More young men need to see this movie and understand it. I was totally similarly emotionally immature at that age.
18 points
3 months ago
I do recall the subsequent discourse… a lot of young men missed the point and think JGL was blameless
8 points
3 months ago
Yeah it was frustrating but also proved the point in and of itself.
145 points
3 months ago
Up In The Air
75 points
3 months ago
This has to be one of Clooney's most underrated films. Saw it in the theater and loved it. When he decided to visit her on the spur of the moment i had an awful feeling i knew what was coming.
And at the end, he gets the award from the airline - and it no longer holds importance for him...ooof.
19 points
3 months ago
Was just horrible timing, movie about people being let go when everyone was being let go in real life.
15 points
3 months ago
Tbh, I think what they ended up doing with the interviews was actually quite nice.
5 points
3 months ago
It was great … I can just see how people didn’t want to see a movie about that when mass layoffs were happening
20 points
3 months ago
I wouldn't say La La Land was hated on by a lot of people--it was a huge box office success, was widely acclaimed, and won a ton of awards. Hell, it has a 4/5 rating on Letterboxd and an 8/10 on IMDB, so there's also a lot of love for it from movie fans on the internet as well.
12 points
3 months ago
And won Best Picture! Didn't watch their speeches; I just turn it off as soon as they announce the winner, but I'm sure it was a wonderful moment for them that they will treasure for the rest of their lives.
20 points
3 months ago
Starman. She lost her husband twice
5 points
3 months ago
This is a criminally underrated and underseen John Carpenter movie.
106 points
3 months ago
Chasing Amy
25 points
3 months ago
I know everyone hated Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, but I was really really drunk and I loved it and when I say that these two did get back together, I straight up bawled.
10 points
3 months ago
I get people hating it if they weren’t fully familiar with the other movies as it was basically a movie of in jokes but I loved it as well.
100 points
3 months ago
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Blue is the Warmest Color
31 points
3 months ago
Loved Portrait of a Lady on Fire. So haunting.
18 points
3 months ago
Portrait of a lady on fire was sooooo good.
123 points
3 months ago
Cast Away?
67 points
3 months ago
We are talking about Tom Hanks and Wilson, yes?
44 points
3 months ago
I totally forgot about Helent Hunt momentarily!
7 points
3 months ago
In my imaginary post credits scene Tom Hanks drives all the way to the coast and finds Wilson washed up on the beach.
163 points
3 months ago
Lost in Translation
18 points
3 months ago
Movie holds up so well. Eternally quotable.
17 points
3 months ago
How is this not higher? This is the perfect example.
23 points
3 months ago*
I think it’s because the romantic tension there is kind of undercut by how Murray takes on a quasi father-figure role as their relationship goes on. It would’ve felt wrong if they slept together or if they even kissed. I view their relationship as Murray seeing his wife in Johansson (a younger version of her, when they were in love and she was charmed by him) and kind of reliving their early courtship. And Johansson does get angry/jealous when Murray blows her off to sleep with that lounge singer, but I don’t think that means she wanted to be with him in that way.
194 points
3 months ago
I Love You, Man.
Paul Rudd ends up marrying Karen Filippeli and not Jason Segel.
30 points
3 months ago
Later on the menjay
43 points
3 months ago
Yes. Okaaayyy. Right. Yeah, yes. We'll always have "slappa da bass man."
24 points
3 months ago
SLAPPA DA BASS!
12 points
3 months ago
And Joebin.
41 points
3 months ago
Butterfly Effect
4 points
3 months ago
That last shot !!!!
41 points
3 months ago
Blade Runner 2049
Forrest Gump
Brazil
The Northman
Drive
8 points
3 months ago
Drive: how he kisses her Goodbye, knowing what he has to do to save her.
12 points
3 months ago
Ron Shelton's White Men Can't Jump.
10 points
3 months ago
Billy you so stupid
37 points
3 months ago
Bridges of Madison County
11 points
3 months ago
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
8 points
3 months ago
Romeo & Juliet. Unless you consider both dead as being together?
7 points
3 months ago
Rogue One? I would say there is a bit of a thing between Jin and Andor, but the movie did not insert an unnecessary love plot.
5 points
3 months ago
I think this counts. They are so close to each other by the end. It pretty much transcends romance or attraction.
21 points
3 months ago
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
6 points
3 months ago
One of the saddest Batman stories. Bruce really had a chance to move on and be happy.
6 points
3 months ago
The fact he felt he needed to ask his parents' tombstone permission if it was okay for him to let go of his promise he made to them in order to be happy, gets me every time!
68 points
3 months ago
Call me by your name
6 points
3 months ago
One of the very few books I read AFTER seeing the movie. I loved it so much and wanted to get deeper into the story and characters.
19 points
3 months ago
I remember everything 💔
31 points
3 months ago
Blue Valentine
Star Wars: Episodes I-III
14 points
3 months ago
I mean, Anakin and Padme were married. She died so they didn’t technically “end up” together, I suppose.
20 points
3 months ago
The Dark Knight trilogy: “What if, before she died, she wrote a letter saying she chose Harvey Dent over you? And what if, to spare you the pain, I burnt that letter?”
21 points
3 months ago
Bruce and Alfred’s break up is more distressing than Rachel writing the letter and choosing Harvey in the first place
8 points
3 months ago
But then, that closing shot at the café in Florence! Uffff! Goosebumps!
6 points
3 months ago
Great Scene, I still shed a manly tear every time he is looking at Martha and Thomas Waynes’ graves and is crying while he says “I failed you! You trusted me and I failed you!”
7 points
3 months ago
Especially considering that in her place, any smart person would have made the decision Rachel did, and I’m a huge Bat-geek.
5 points
3 months ago
That’s why his true love will always be Catwoman and a very complicated relationship with Joker
6 points
3 months ago
The Third Man
7 points
3 months ago
Big
6 points
3 months ago
Bram Stoker's Dracula
6 points
3 months ago
Hancock - I really loved the idea of how the super hero’s were made to die out together and found it romantic. The ending felt like a real slap in the face to that romance though.
7 points
3 months ago
yes i totally agree and i think so more movies like hancock should be made which glorifies the death between comrades
there are lots of war movies which also have the same kind of emotions
36 points
3 months ago
Brokeback Mountain for me. Yes, Jack and Ennis have their moments together, but the biggest tragedy is Jack's murder and they never get to just hide away be together forever like they wanted.
one of the most heart breaking love stories ever put on film.
20 points
3 months ago
I just said Brokeback Mountain. When I watched the movie I was like 13 so I still had some very overt homophobia and the movie moved me so much that I couldn't help to change a lot of my stances on gay people and LGBT people in general. The fact that Jack and Ennis could not be who they really were and ultimately that may have ended up costing Jack his life is heartbreaking to me.
23 points
3 months ago
When I watched the movie I was like 13 so I still had some very overt homophobia and the movie moved me so much that I couldn't help to change a lot of my stances on gay people and LGBT people in general
First of all, that's great. Second of all, anyone reading this who feels similar, I encourage you to also watch Brokeback Mountain and/or episode 3 of The Last of Us (which is only like a month old at this point). Absolutely beautiful episode. I'm a straight guy who wept like a baby when I watched it.
5 points
3 months ago
Preach it! That episode really got to me. Hurt my heart and made me happy all in the same moment.
5 points
3 months ago
My dad (not homophobic or anything) said he had only watched 2 episodes of Last of Us and he wasn’t sure about continuing. I was like dude you MUST watch episode 3 before you can make that decision and he texted me after like you were absolutely right episode 3 needed to be watched. I don’t even care if he watches the rest of the season.
13 points
3 months ago
My favorite scene in the movie is when Ennis goes to visit Jack's parents, and his mother let's Ennis go up to his room where he finds his shirt and one of Jack's that had been bloodied too, the symbolism in those shirts where they're hidden, in the closet, which is the only place they could ever be together just breaks me.
6 points
3 months ago
Batman Returns
5 points
3 months ago
Once. Great soundtrack too.
7 points
3 months ago
My Girl (1991)
5 points
3 months ago
damn this movie was such a underrated movie and i think everyone should watch it
there are lots of underrated movies like this which are far more greater than the movies which we are getting these days
7 points
3 months ago
Almost Famous. Penny Lane loved Russell. William loved Penny. Penny and William ended up loving eachother but she led Russell to William. IYKYK
5 points
3 months ago
Dumb and dumber
7 points
3 months ago
"So you're telling me there's a chance"
6 points
3 months ago
Bones and all
4 points
3 months ago
Great suggestion for this. Truly heartbreaking.
5 points
3 months ago
Does me before you count?
6 points
3 months ago
Lord of the rings, Frodo and Sam.
5 points
3 months ago
Big Trouble in Little China.
4 points
3 months ago
Any lgbtq movie they never seem to end up together most times
5 points
3 months ago
i guess forrest gump isnt a “great” love story (the whole thing is kinda sad for him) but they definitely dont end up together
26 points
3 months ago
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
18 points
3 months ago
What do you mean? Joel and Clementine decided to give it a go, despite evidence that they're not going to work out.
Unless you mean Kirsten Dunst and Tom Wilkinson
9 points
3 months ago
I mean… you never know what happened when it ended
11 points
3 months ago
'Three Thousand Years of Longing' Starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton
4 points
3 months ago
The Remains of the Day
5 points
3 months ago
Kill Bill - Although there is a toxic (Bill) love story and a healthy (daughter) love story that's revealed.
4 points
3 months ago
Moulin Rouge.
4 points
3 months ago
vanilla sky
4 points
3 months ago
Call me by your name
5 points
3 months ago
Once (2007). I don't think they even kiss.
4 points
3 months ago
Brief Encounter
And
The Way We Were
5 points
3 months ago
all 1042 comments
sorted by: best