From time to time, I like to ask people about the romances they love best, the stories that changed their lives or made them think about love and connection a bit differently. After meeting Danielle and Wolfgang from the Hello, I'm Listening podcast, I immediately wanted to ask them this question. Turns out that we all love a good coming-of-age story —plus their real-life romance started out with a meet cute, too, so I liked them immediately.
https://www.confessionsofaclosetromantic.com
Wolfgang and Danielle talk about everything from how they met and relationships to mental health and trauma in their podcast Hello, I'm Listening. It's like a delightful and intimate chitchat with friends.
Named one of the American Film Institute's Top 100 American Films, The Philadelphia Story (1940) is also one of the best romantic comedies from the first golden era of romcoms. Awarded an Oscar for Best Screenplay, this story of a rich privileged East Coast woman learning hard truths about herself on the eve of her second marriage, with the help of her ex-husband and a down-to-earth reporter, never gets old. The acting, the sets, the costumes, the script, the snappy banter —it's all covered in fairy dust. Magical.
Juno is a moving coming-of-age story about a sharp, sarcastic high school student forced to confront very adult situations after she gets pregnant, and decides to give the baby to a local adoptive couple. It's authentic, warm-hearted and emotional, thanks to a magical combo of music, acting, direction and semi-autobiographical script by Diablo Cody, which also won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar.
Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight is a movie trilogy and collaboration between Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy and director Richard Linklater, tracing the ongoing story of how Jesse and Celine fell in love one night in Vienna, reconnected years later in Paris and then finally got married. The trilogy is another magical story about getting to know yourself in relationship, and how one important connection can change you forever. I would be perfectly happy if we followed these characters into old age.
One of my early episodes, All the Words Romance, included the first two films in the Before trilogy.
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