Movies where two people in love don't end up together

Casablanca comes first to mind. What are some others where two people are right for each other but circumstances keep them apart?

 

The Bridges of Madison County is the first one I thought of.

There's movies like Annie Hall and 500 Days of Summer where the couple doesn't end up together but that's more because they aren't right for each other.... an all too common situation that is rarely explored in movies, beyond the typical romantic comedy scenario where some unsuitable partner has to be dealt with before the leads can get together.

 

La La Land, of course

And A Little Romance

 

Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
A Man and a Woman.

 

Crouching Tigers, Hidden Dragons. Chow-Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh are deeply in love with each other, but because her husband gave his life to save him, neither can act on that love without dishonoring his memory. This film doesn't deliver it's emotional payload until you see it the third time - the first time you've reading the words to follow the plot; the second time you've looking at the character who is speaking ; but the third time, you're watching the other character in the scene and that is when it will tear your heart out.

 

Separate cells for Leopold and Loeb.

 

West Side Story

 

There are a number of war films where the romantic leads are separated at the end (Casablanca is a special case -- Rick and Ilsa aren't really torn apart by the war, but by Rick's moral code).

In the ending of the underappreciated TV movie The Longest Hundred Miles (1967) GI Doug McClure and army nurse Katherine Ross, attempting to escape from the Japanese in the Philippines, seem ready for their happy ending when they are suddenly separated, as McClure is forced to make a Casablanca-ish self-sacrifice. However a reunion is implied by McClure's last line, where he remarks he intends to get the war over soon, as he has a heavy date back in the States.

 

Weekend , directed by Andrew Haigh. Two guys in London meet and spend the weekend together, talking, drugging, drinking and having sex. During which time they get to know each other and begin to fall in love. Doesn't seem as if it works out but the ending is a bit ambiguous. A great film by any measure.

 

It wouldn't have worked out anyway. I gave it six months.

 

I think this happens in an obscure flick called Titanic.

--Geoff

 

Serenity?

 

Harry Potter

 

The Way We Were

 

Actually, 500 Days of Summer is the first one that came to mind. It's not because she doesn't love him, it's because the timing was off. She tells him he taught her how to love, so she did. I think.

 

Rogue One - A Star Wars Story

 

The Empire Strikes Back

 

Cafe Society

 

I would say she cared for him but knew he wasn't the one.

 

I love that movie so much.

 

...and Force Awakens.

 

Broadcast News - Holly Hunter was in love with Albert Brooks on an intellectual level, but no romance bloomed.

In The Mood For Love - The anti-rom com!

 

Passengers
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