So, it’s Valentine’s Day, and you don’t feel like flaunting your love out in public or being surrounded by couples smooching over a plate of spaghetti. Staying home with your special someone or kicking back solo are perfect ways to celebrate the holiday — so long as you have a good movie to watch!
Whatever your feelings are about Valentine’s Day, here are four movies to keep your heart full this weekend.
For a transformative adventure – Now, Voyager
Casablanca is widely considered one of the greatest movies ever made — and for plenty of good reasons. It has an incredible cast, a message that resonates across generations and, at the center of it all, a beautiful romance between two people who can’t be together. Well, what if I told you that another movie made the same year checked all those boxes, too?
Enter: Now, Voyager. This 1942 romantic melodrama stars Bette Davis at the peak of her powers. She plays an emotionally abused spinster who transforms into a sophisticated and independent woman after escaping the grip of her unaffectionate mother. With her newfound freedom and confidence, she boards a South American cruise, where she falls in love with a married man, played by the delightfully charming Paul Henreid.
Together, the pair creates the iconic scene in which Henreid lights two cigarettes in his mouth and hands one to Davis. It’s an irresistibly romantic moment that may already be familiar to modern moviegoers, thanks to an homage in the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet.
For a joyous, zany good time – Hello, Dolly!
Fans of the Pixar film WALL-E might recognize Hello, Dolly! as the musical the lovelorn robot faithfully watches on repeat after being stranded on Earth. And honestly, it’s a pretty good pick for lifting your spirits in a post-apocalyptic world.
Whether you’re in love, ready to mingle or marching to the beat of your own drum, this 1969 romantic comedy is sure to make your heart sing. After all, the movie not only stars Barbra Streisand; it was also directed by the legendary Gene Kelly!
Streisand — decked out in an array of lavish hats — plays Dolly Levi, a bold and boisterous matchmaker who’s out to find love and make trouble wherever she goes. While dancing through the streets of 1890s New York, she hatches an elaborate plot to marry a “half-a-millionaire,” played by the always grumpy (yet begrudgingly charming) Walter Matthau.
With an endlessly catchy set of songs and a powerhouse performance from Streisand (not to mention a wonderful Louis Armstrong cameo), Hello, Dolly! will have you strutting down the street and singing your heart out.
Watch it on Disney+.
For a charming chatroom affair – You’ve Got Mail
Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Nora Ephron. If those aren’t the perfect ingredients to bring a heart-melting rom-com to a boil, then throw in Parker Posey, a Golden Retriever and a cozy little bookstore, and you’ve got a full meal with You’ve Got Mail.
In this late ‘90s, New York City-based story, two people fall in love online after chatting anonymously via AOL (queue dial-up beeps). When they plan to take their love affair into the real world, their true identities get in the way. Why? She’s the proprietor of a small neighborhood bookshop, and he’s the heir to a major bookstore chain that’s threatening to eat up her business.
Under the playful direction of Ephron, Hanks and Ryan serve up a delightfully combative chemistry that rivals the original pairing of Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan in Hollywood’s first take on the story, 1940’s The Shop Around the Corner.
Watch it on Netflix.
For a forbidden romance – Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Have you ever held onto a picture of an ex for a little too long? In the 2019 film Portrait of a Lady on Fire, an 18th century French art teacher named Marianne is forced to confront the scars of a past relationship when a student asks about a particular painting in her classroom.
The student’s inquiry prompts a flashback to years earlier, when Marianne was commissioned to paint a portrait of Héloïse, a young aristocrat being married off against her wishes. At first, their encounters are distant, and the two women are suspicious of each other. But as they begin to bond, their painfully restrained glances ignite a passionate romance.
With striking cinematography that itself is like a painting, director Céline Sciamma captures the essence of the period, while breathing life into the mysterious figures confined to canvas and oil.
Watch it on HBO Max.
