Good Love Stories Without a Happy Ending
By "without a happy ending" I simply mean that the couple in love don't end up together. Of course, some of the best love stories end that way, in movies as in real life.
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- DirectorDrake DoremusStarsFelicity JonesAnton YelchinJennifer LawrenceA British college student falls for an American student, only to be separated from him when she's banned from the U.S. after overstaying her visa.True love pitted against bureaucracy. One of the saddest, most realistic movie portrayals of how real life can wear away at a relationship.
- DirectorJohn CarneyStarsGlen HansardMarkéta IrglováHugh WalshA modern-day musical about a busker and an immigrant and their eventful week in Dublin, as they write, rehearse and record songs that tell their love story.
- DirectorDavid YatesStarsBill NighyKelly MacdonaldMeneka DasLawrence, an aging, lonely civil servant falls for Gina, an enigmatic young woman. When he takes her to the G8 Summit in Reykjavik, however, their bond is tested by Lawrence's professional obligations.
- DirectorSofia CoppolaStarsBill MurrayScarlett JohanssonGiovanni RibisiA faded movie star and a neglected young woman form an unlikely bond after crossing paths in Tokyo.
- DirectorRuba NaddaStarsPatricia ClarksonAlexander SiddigElena AnayaA romantic drama about a brief, unexpected love affair that catches two people completely off-guard.
- DirectorJohn MaddenStarsGwyneth PaltrowJoseph FiennesGeoffrey RushThe world's greatest ever playwright, William Shakespeare, is young, out of ideas and short of cash, but meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsGregory PeckAudrey HepburnEddie AlbertA bored and sheltered princess escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman in Rome.
- DirectorFranco ZeffirelliStarsLeonard WhitingOlivia HusseyJohn McEneryWhen two young members of feuding families meet, forbidden love ensues.
- DirectorSydney PollackStarsBarbra StreisandRobert RedfordBradford DillmanDuring post-WWII McCarthyism, a diametrically opposed couple come together only to find out that genuine friendship and physical attraction is not enough to overcome fundamental societal beliefs.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonMariel HemingwayThe life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.
- DirectorJerome RobbinsRobert WiseStarsNatalie WoodGeorge ChakirisRichard BeymerTwo youngsters from rival New York City gangs fall in love, but tensions between their respective friends build toward tragedy.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonTony RobertsAlvy Singer, a divorced Jewish comedian, reflects on his relationship with ex-lover Annie Hall, an aspiring nightclub singer, which ended abruptly just like his previous marriages.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsHumphrey BogartIngrid BergmanPaul HenreidA cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.
- DirectorJulian JarroldStarsAnne HathawayJames McAvoyJulie WaltersA biographical portrait of a pre-fame Jane Austen and her romance with a young Irishman.
- DirectorJohn CurranStarsNaomi WattsEdward NortonLiev SchreiberDr Walter gets married to the beautiful Kitty but soon finds out that she is cheating on him. Battling his way through problems, he heads to China to fight a dreaded disease spread in a small village.
- DirectorSarah PolleyStarsMichelle WilliamsSeth RogenSarah SilvermanA happily married woman falls for the artist who lives across the street.A beautiful, painful story.
- DirectorMarc WebbStarsZooey DeschanelJoseph Gordon-LevittGeoffrey ArendAfter being dumped by the girl he believes to be his soulmate, hopeless romantic Tom Hansen reflects on their relationship to try and figure out where things went wrong and how he can win her back.Perhaps the most creative and entertaining movie depiction of a failed relationship and its aftermath.
- DirectorJames GrayStarsJoaquin PhoenixGwyneth PaltrowVinessa ShawA Brooklyn-set romantic drama about a bachelor torn between the family friend his parents wish he would marry and his beautiful but volatile new neighbor.Does this movie have a happy ending, or an unhappy one? That's the question.
- DirectorAdam RodgersStarsAndy GarciaVera FarmigaTaissa FarmigaTwo parents fall in love over the course of a single day while playing hooky from their children's college tour.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsNatalie WoodWarren BeattyPat HingleThe love of high school sweethearts Deanie and Bud is weighed down by the oppressive expectations of their parents and society in smalltown Kansas in 1928, threatening the future of their relationship.
- DirectorAsghar FarhadiStarsPayman MaadiLeila HatamiSareh BayatA married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.Not a love story in the strict sense, but a great study of family relationships and it certainly provides a poignant ending.
- DirectorDrake DoremusStarsFelicity JonesGuy PearceMackenzie DavisWhen a foreign exchange student arrives in a small upstate New York town, she challenges the dynamics of her host family's relationships and alters their lives forever.A love triangle in which the happy ending is not what one would typically expect in a movie.
- DirectorRitesh BatraStarsIrrfan KhanNimrat KaurNawazuddin SiddiquiA mistaken delivery in Mumbai's famously efficient lunchbox delivery system connects a young housewife to an older man in the dusk of his life as they build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox.
- DirectorDon McKellarStarsDon McKellarSandra OhRoberta MaxwellA group of very different individuals with different ideas of how to face the end come together as the world is expected to end in six hours at the turn of the century.The couple, in this case, are two characters drawn together by random circumstances on the earth's last day of existence. The unique combination of chance, fear, desperation, unintended connection, and hopeless romance make their brief relationship unique. I won't describe their situation, as that truly would be a spoiler.
- DirectorKate Barker-FroylandStarsAnne HathawayJohnny FlynnBen RosenfieldA young woman strikes up a relationship with her ailing brother's favorite musician.