10 Best Classic Romance Movies On The Criterion Channel

Since its inception, The Criterion Channel has offered an intellectual alternative to the more mainstream streaming services, like Hulu and Netflix. Through its sleek interface, rotating collections, and wide variety of titles available to stream from the enormous library that makes up The Criterion Collection, the service provides a platform for under-represented sectors of global cinema, as well as restored Hollywood classics and transgressive projects left behind by the mainstream.

With Valentine’s Day swiftly approaching, romance-inclined cinephiles would be wise to look into the wide array of romantic cinema currently streaming on The Criterion Channel. Though there are dozens of movies to choose from, these are a few of the best.

10 Romance (1999)

Catherine Breillat released this modern classic in 1999, shocking and impressing the global critics in the process. The film, technically a part of the notorious “New French Extreme” movement, is a contemplative and subdued erotic piece of art house that explores the sexual boundary-pushing one woman experiences after realizing her current relationship is making her unhappy.

The film’s unsimulated sex scenes created controversy upon release, but the film has since garnered a reputation for its bravery, feminism, and philosophical underpinnings. Romance was released to the service recently as a part of a larger featured collection of Breillat’s films.

9 Bell, Book And Candle (1958)

On the opposite side of the tonal spectrum, Criterion is offering a restored version of Bell, Book and Candle, the 1958 supernatural romantic comedy starring old Hollywood icons like James Stewart, Kim Novak, and Jack Lemmon.

Novak turns in one of her most charming performances as a jealous witch who uses her abilities to manipulate Stewart’s leading man into falling in love with her. A piece of vintage filmmaking and a showcase for the comedy of yesteryear, the film is a perfect example of the type of romantic comedies that Hollywood doesn’t make anymore.

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8 In The Realm Of The Senses (1976)

One of the most notorious romantic films to ever come out of Japanese cinema, In the Realm of the Senses is a sexually explicit, deeply felt exploration of power plays within physical relationships. Starring a magnetic Eiko Matsuda as Sada Abe as a housekeeper who begins a violent sexual relationship with her employer.

Their relationship continues to spiral into self-destruction, culminating in a final act that is still tremendously shocking to watch, even now. Still banned in its home country, the film is an excellent choice for the more adventurous film fans.

7 Love In The Afternoon/Chloe In The Afternoon (1972)

Released as the sixth and final installment in Éric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales, Love In the Afternoon (released in North America as Chloe In the Afternoon), is a French drama that follows the crisis of ethics that befalls a happy and successful businessman. He becomes the object of seduction of an old acquaintance that reenters his life and Rohmer’s film deftly explores the moral questions of infidelity and physical attraction that can derail an entire seemingly perfect life.

The final episode in Rohmer’s series received the lion’s share of critical and popular attention and remains a mature and subtle romance for adults.

6 The Piano Teacher (2001)

Based upon the controversial and critically lauded novel of the same name, Michael Haneke’s bold and uncompromising adaption from 2001 proved to be the director’s big breakthrough in North America and won big at international film festivals. The plot centers around a lonely, though extremely talented piano teacher who begins to unravel physically and mentally after beginning a sadomasochistic relationship with a pupil.

A nihilistic story of love and pain in the face of obsession, Haneke’s film is a singular experience and one of the best films ever about the relationship between humans and music.

5 Badlands (1973)

The Criterion Channel offers a lot of subversive and underground films, though it also has a special spot for Hollywood classics that are still relevant and important to see. Badlands is one such certified American classic. Famed filmmaker Terence Malick made a name for himself with the film, which chronicles the Bonnie and Clyde-type crime spree of a disgruntled garbage collector, and his younger girlfriend.

The film’s central romance plays a major part in the narrative of the film, elevating the violent series of murders and thefts the couple takes on as their love grows more and more intense. It’s an American classic and a disturbing look at fatal passion.

4 Loves Of A Blonde (1965)

Before he became a Hollywood powerhouse, winning Best Director twice for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus, Milos Forman introduced himself to the festival world with Loves of a Blonde, a romantic dramedy that tells the story of a woman from a tiny town in Czechoslovakia who leaves to pursue a man in the big city after sleeping with him when he was passing through the town.

Forman ably directs the chaos and philosophical musings with confidence and modesty, creating a funny, yet scathingly honest, dissection of his lead character’s carnal desires.

3 Jules And Jim (1962)

Renowned French filmmaker François Truffaut created a romantic masterpiece with his film Jules and Jim. The film’s sharp and witty screenplay follows the awkward progression of a love triangle between two the titular two best friends and the woman who has captured both of their attentions.

The film is masterful in its oscillation between laugh-out-loud funny and tear-jerking poignancy, something that helped to cement Truffaut’s reputation as a leading figure in the French New Wave movement. Charming, intelligent, timeless, and wonderfully helmed, Jules and Jim is one of the best rom-coms of all time.

2 Scenes From A Marriage (1973)

Master auteur Ingmar Bergman took time off from making brooding films about doomed individuals to work on this brooding miniseries about a doomed marriage. One of the most thorough and brutally honest analyses into the slow descent of a once-passionate marriage, the film is both hard to watch and impossible to look away from.

Bergman’s skills behind the camera and as a writer are on full display with this piece as he hones in on the small details and layers of disconnect that lead to the inevitable conclusion. It’s one of the director’s great achievements and one of the best romantic deep-dives one can get their hands on.

1 Brief Encounter (1945)

Before the contained love stories of Before Sunrise and In the Mood for Love, there was the British classic Brief Encounter. Written by legendary writer Noel Coward and directed by British great David Lean, the film beautifully details the short, but powerful affair between a married mother and a stranger she meets in a train station.

The couple, played by Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard, have palpable chemistry as they work their way to a logical but, ultimately, bittersweet conclusion. A smart and nuanced film that has stood the test time better than most of its contemporaries, Brief Encounter is a must-see for any fan of cinematic romance.

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