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Anti romantic movies


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There are some lists on this forum of movies without romantic stories in them. I feel like there's also another category which aros could enjoy which is movies with messages against romantic love. Movies where the protagonist is in a bad romantic relationship and then leaves for the freedom and personal growth of being single. I know many examples of this but one that comes to mind, because I watched it last night, is 28 days with Sandra Bulock, where she is sentenced to rehab and has to confront her past and her addictions. She has this destructive romantic relationship which she holds on to because he is the only person that cares about her.

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On 7/28/2017 at 9:42 AM, Holmbo said:

I know many examples of this

More examples, please!!! :)

 

A movie with anti-romantic elements in a different sense is probably “James Bond: Moonraker” (yes, the super campy one :D).

 

If you haven't watched this gem…

  • cliché Bond villain in Nehru jacket tries to create his own master race
  • wants to kill off the whole world population to repopulate the planet from a space station
  • James Bond + Bond girl (luckily, she's an astronaut) sneak into one of the Space Shuttles flying to the station
  • in orbit he takes a look into the freight room
  • the passengers are all beautiful couples (part of the breeding stock), deeply in love with each other.

take home message: you can be capable of feeling the deepest romantic love and still be such a deranged monster that you're willing to be complicit in a plot where all of humanity gets killed.

 

And in the end, the not-so-romantic Bond saves the day, of course.

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On 28/07/2017 at 9:42 AM, Holmbo said:

 I know many examples of this

 

I would love to have some of these examples too , please :) 

 

But I could quote you at least two movies  with anti-romantic elements : 

 

Blue Valentinea  film which depicts the life of a married couple, Dean and Cynthia , and  shifting back and forth in time between their courtship and the dissolution of their marriage several years later. (so no "Happy Ending" and a message where love can't always win while facing the hardships of the real life)

 

The War of the roses : This one is about the life of wealthy couple with a seemingly perfect marriage. But their marriage begins to fall apart and their material possessions become the center of a very bitter divorce battle. (You can see the protagonists humiliating each other in every way possible while hurting others )

(little info : in the movie, the married couple's family name is Rose sreferring to the battles between the Houses of York and Lancaster at the end of the Middle Age)

 

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On 2017-08-21 at 5:20 PM, DeltaV said:

More examples, please!!! :)

 

 

Now when I actually think about it I realize some of them are books and most have "the other guy" as a new love interest for the woman. I always forget about the other guys because I don't care about them. A few examples though:
Sliding doors
Legaly Blond

Tina - What's Love Got To Do with It
Her ( :D )

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On 24/08/2017 at 5:20 AM, Holmbo said:

Legally Blonde

:arolove:

 

Possibly The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert? one character's partner just died, and the other two have issues but are single. At the end of the movie they have begun healing because of friendship and understanding. Most of the pain in the movie is based on failed romantic relationships.

John Tucker Must Die? maybe that is less anti-romance and more anti-heteronormative dating and cheating reactions?  

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On 2017-08-25 at 5:57 PM, Apathetic Echidna said:

John Tucker Must Die? maybe that is less anti-romance and more anti-heteronormative dating and cheating reactions?  

 

I was thinking about that one too but wasn't sure if I'd put it in the same category. I think it do belongs to it.

On 2017-08-25 at 6:25 PM, DeltaV said:

I don't think this qualifies as anti-romantic. But it was surely painful.

 

Spoiler

She leaves him in the end though to fulfill her potential :D 

 

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I thought of some other ones .. kind off :D

The way way back (though the kid is the protagonist)
Uptown girls (I think she does get together with the guy at the end but he's not important)

Ex machina :D:D

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Maybe Blade Runner 2049 is anti-romantic? There's a romantic subplot between the human replicant “K” and the holographic AI “Joi”, and Denis Villeneuve shamelessly recycles ;) an idea from Spike Jonze's Her in it, namely what happens in the surrogate-scene; but in the end it's all deconstructed / subverted1.

 

1 At least in the “standard interpretation”; Blade Runner 2049 is very opaque (yet boldly so – not resulting from artistic infighting as its predecessor). Like taking the hints in the Final Cut of Blade Runner (1982) seriously would give the movie a dramatically different meaning, here already the theatrical cut is thoroughly suffused with paranoia that will not get dispelled.

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I saw Phantom Thread (2018) and it may have a place on this list. I certainly came away from that movie thinking romance is bad and unhealthy as the two main characters are surprisingly twisted. I have read reviews of the movie and one particular reviewer read a ridiculous amount of sexual tension into the story and another seemed to think it was just a drama about an intense beginning of a romantic relationship so I guess the ambiguity over some of the scenes allows the watcher to see what they want. So basically it is a drama about people getting to know each other, there is very little recognisable stereotyped romance and things start getting messy when (non-familial) love is introduced into the story. I certainly left the cinema thinking that romance had made the characters mentally unstable.......not that they were probably that stable to begin with. 

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Does Ready or not count? A woman get married and bam! everybody wants to kill her in a murderous hide and seek game.

Here's the trailer :

 

And to quote the end of the movie https://i.pinimg.com/originals/db/fe/e8/dbfee8d0c6bde34ee7fe3908fceb26bf.jpg 

Marriage is dangerous.

Edited by nonmerci
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Gone Girl. 

It goes without saying that the book is better, but the film is pretty good too. I won't say too much about the plot because it's twisty, but basically it's about a couple who get together and everything's good, and then one of them mysteriously disappears.

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Sonu and Titu and Sweety / Sonu ke Titu ki Sweety (2018)

It is a Hindi romance comedy. If you like Bollywood (it isn't a solid musical) or Indian movies definitely one to see. 

For everyone else who can't find it or don't want to sit through the hours....

Spoiler

Two best friends (like brothers) live together, Titu is a hopeless romantic and Sonu likes the single life. Sonu is protective of Titu and has a history of breaking him up from unsuitable women. Titu agrees to an arranged marriage meeting and agrees to marry Sweety. Sweety buts heads with playboy Sonu constantly, she seems to want the traditional white picket fence and 2.5 kids while Sonu just wants his best friend back. 

You think they have worked out a truce them BAM! Sweety admits she is manipulating everyone and will use Titu (and his family) for money and security and banish Sonu from everyone's lives. Hijinks ensue.

Sonu goes from being protagonist to antagonist to protagonist again.  At the end of the movie you really want Titu to pick friendship over romance....

Spoiler

...and he does! ?

 

 

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