The best love stories are the ones that don't provide any easy answers. The ones that make us reflect long after the end credits roll; the ones that show us that being in a relationship is no child's play; the ones that dare to experiment with form. Suffice it to say, you'll not find, in this list, Twilights or 50 Shades.
Before Sunrise/Before Sunset/Before Midnight (1995/2004/2013)
Any Valentine's Day movie watchlist would feel incomplete without this one. Richard Linklater's trilogy, which spans a couple of decades, sparked cinephiles' interest with its innovative narrative structure that, instead of offering easy resolutions, portrayed the intricacies of human emotions most impressively. Linklater benefitted from a fruitful creative collaboration between the trio that comprises himself and actors Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, who load the material with vastly thought-provoking conversations enhanced by a strikingly improvisational style and depicted the various ebbs and flows of mature relationships.
Mississippi Masala (1991)
Mira Nair's 1991 film starring Denzel Washington and Sarita Chaudhary is powered by the sizzling chemistry of the two actors, playing characters from different cultures — she a Ugandan Indian forced to relocate to the United States; he an African-American running a housekeeping business. While the complicated love story of the couple is the focus of this beautifully shot film, Mississippi Masala also tells a thought-provoking tale of chaotic race relations and touches upon the inherent hypocrisy of those who indulge in the same behaviour that once made them suffer.
Loves Jones (1997)
Here's a romantic drama not directed by Richard Linklater but could be mistaken for one of his films. Theodore Witcher's film is one-of-a-kind, with its striking sensuality, groovy soundtrack, and dreamy visuals. The actors relay, with much vividity, their characters' most intimate thoughts and moments, oscillating between indecisiveness, confusion, and intense longing. It possesses the quality of dropping us in the middle of the characters' interactions without making us lose our grip.
The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
Based on James Robert Waller's novel of the same name, the film starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep was directed by Eastwood with utmost sensitivity and passion, breathing life into the incredibly poignant love story of a couple who navigate, albeit briefly, a period marked by tenderness, comfort, and liberation but ultimately is forced to reckon with the reality of their social circumstances and their innermost conscience. If that one rainy sequence with Streep and Eastwood doesn't bring you to tears, then perhaps you should start wondering if you are really human.
Once Again (2018)
Talk about a film that loves its characters — played by Neeraj Kabi and Shefali Shah — and the city in which they live. I've not seen Mumbai photographed this beautifully in any other film. The city is pictured as something out of a dream, with the two central characters going about their own business, deeply immersed in their professions, while grappling with the nagging sense of loneliness. The film catches these characters at a complicated time in their lives, and you can't help but feel a strong urge to see them spend the rest of their lives together.