The five most underrated movie couples of all time

The Loneliest Planet (Julia Loktev, 2011) 

To some people, the whole point of being in a relationship is to avoid loneliness – you can always have that one person who knows you better than you know yourself, and as a result, you are never truly alone. It’s a fairly romantic and flawed idea that is blown apart in the most genius way possible in Julia Loktev’s 2011 film The Loneliest Planet, exploring the dynamic between one couple and a moment that forever shatters their perceptions of each other, leaving them in a strangely isolated and in-between world.

Nica and Alex are one of my favourite movie couples of all time as a result of the starkly contrasting range of affection we see between them. The film opens with snapshots of what appears to be the most in-love and in-sync couple of all time, showing two people who seem to share great intimacy and passion for each other. However, Loktev smartly flips this after a blink-and-you-miss-it moment that reveals the truest versions of themselves, perhaps doing irrevocable damage to their relationship and showing how you can never really know anyone. It’s honest and profoundly clever, with Nica and Alex’s relationship exploring the highs and lows of intimate relationships through a slow-burning and deeply lonely drama about what it means to love.

The Vanishing (George Sluizer, 1988) 

The Vanishing was described by Stanley Kubrick as the most terrifying movie of all time, which is perhaps not a label you’d associate with romance. But despite this, the central couple remain as one of the most authentic and convincing movie relationships I’ve ever seen, with a transcendent kind of love that persists throughout the film despite disappearing within the first 20 minutes.

The film follows a madly-in-love couple called Saskia and Rex as they embark on a holiday, briefly stopping at a service station where Saskia is abducted, seemingly vanishing into thin air. It is a skin-crawling and haunting piece of work that shows one man’s struggle with uncertainty and the torture of the unknown, and how, ultimately, our desire to make sense of pain is the final nail in the coffin. While it is unbelievably dark and sadistic, it feels so incredibly painful due to the love we witness between Saskia and Rex at the beginning, making us feel as devastated as he does when she disappears, desperately rooting for her return despite knowing she probably never will. 

A Tale of Winter (Éric Rohmer, 1992) 

Over the course of his career, Rohmer became known for his exploration of romantic quandaries and indecision, following characters who either long for intimacy but cannot find it, or those who say they want it but feel suffocated by it after obtaining it. While many of his films have a fairly cynical undertone, A Tale of Winter remains one of the most overtly hopeful within his entire body of work, partly due to the miraculous ending and wonderful relationship between the main character and her lost love.

A Tale of Winter begins with a short but sweet summer romance between Felicie and Charles, who disastrously lose contact after a logistical mix-up, leaving both forever pining after ‘the one that got away’. Five years later, we see that Felicie hasn’t moved on from this loss, and despite being encouraged by her friends and family to forget him and find someone else, she hasn’t lost hope that one day they will be reunited. It’s one of the only films that left me crying genuine tears of joy, with Rohmer opting for the most glorious ending by throwing the pair back together after a chance encounter on a bus, ending with a beautiful scene as we see a couple who were meant to be, finally back together.

Palm Springs (Max Barbakow, 2020) 

Palm Springs was one of those films that was lost on many of us due to its release during lockdown, not given the luxury of a big screen arrival for people to enjoy properly. However, this didn’t stop it from making a splash, with the genius decision of combining the time-loop comedy genre with romance making it stand out as one of my favourites, something that shone through the performances of Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti. 

Set on the day of a wedding in Palm Springs, the film follows the adventures of Nyles and Sarah as they find themselves trapped in a time loop of that day, struggling to find a way out and inadvertently finding love in the process. There’s a truly perfect sequence as the couple cross paths for the first time, with Nyles dancing to Megatron Man and making come-to-bed eyes at Sarah while she looks at him with sceptical attraction. There’s an electric chemistry between the pair that makes the ensuing chaos a delight from start to finish, with this strange in-between world encouraging them to act in dangerous yet strangely erotic ways. 

Supernova (Harry McQueen, 2020) 

Weirdly, Supernova is another film that was released onto the strange media landscape that took over during 2020, something that surely would have exploded at any other time, given that it stars Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as the most wholesome on-screen couple of all time. 

Suppose you’re not in the mood for a tear-jerker. In that case, Supernova isn’t for you, following Sam and Tusker as they navigate Tusker’s early-onset dementia diagnosis and take a road trip across the UK to enjoy the little time they have left. While it is emotionally devastating, it is also tender, gorgeous and deeply moving in its exploration of what it means to love unconditionally, even when it breaks our hearts to do so. There’s such a live-in and genuinely authentic sense of intimacy between Tucci and Firth, making them one of the most loveable on-screen couples in recent years.