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IN CELEBRATION OF

Romantic Realism
 

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The Guardian describes Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise film as "Not a romcom, not a romantic drama, but just … a romance".

 

And it's that sentiment that embodies the films that focus on romance not as a plot device or a heightened fantasy, but as something we experience in everyday life.

Romantic realism is mostly associated with literature and art, and describes media that combines elements of both romanticism (an expression of personal feeling and interest in the natural world) and realism (to represent subject-matter truthfully).  

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Interestingly, if we take this notion and apply them to identify such films and class them as it's own subgenre, you'll notice that a lot of movies that depict romance realistically often have a 'bad' ending.

Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy filming Before Sunrise (1995)

Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan, Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy on the set of 'Before  Sunrise' 

Take the Before Sunrise Trilogy or Marriage Story . Both films chronicle the relationship between a couple who fall in love and fall apart throughout the story. Marriage Story ends in divorce and by the time we get to Before Midnight, Jesse and Celine's youthful attraction has turned into a bitter marriage. 

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We're so used to romantic comedies culminating in the union of the main characters, or romantic dramas centring around some obstacle that stands in the way of their happiness. So what does it say if the films that focus on real romance often depict failed, failing or tragic relationships?

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Romance in the real world is not as fantastical as we see in movies, it comes with pain, trauma and disappointment. But it also comes with hope, fulfilment and the promise of a partnership. And although a lot of romantic realism films showcase the hardships and joys that are involved when you love someone, I think it's important that in the many subgenres of romantic films, realism is also highlighted so that we may learn and reflected with our relationship with love in our own lives.

Recommended Watchlist

  • Two for the Road (1967)

  • Summertime (1955)

  • Past Lives (2023)

  • The Lunchbox (2012)

  • Love Letters (1995)

  • Marriage Story (2019)

  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

  • Losing Ground (1982)

  • Before Sunrise Trilogy (1995, 2004, 2023)

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Click to view the list from the The Criterion Channel

Learn more about the genre from these YouTube Videos below

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