So, it’s that time of year again: the windows of every major shop will be adorned with hearts and roses and the television schedules will be chock-a-block with soppy rom-coms and period dramas reinforcing the notion that ‘love conquers all’. But does it really? There’s no denying that a large percentage of Hollywood’s greatest movies have been based around some beautiful love stories; Doctor Zhivago (1965), 90s hit Pretty Woman, and 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) are three that instantly spring to mind. For those a little more cynical about the power of love, there are a whole plethora of movies that aren’t all hearts and roses, a fair few out there that don’t even end with love conquering all.For those not feeling all that loved up, or maybe just fancy spending this Valentine’s a little differently, how about curling up on the sofa, lighting some candles and settling down with a tub of ice cream and our list of 6 movies that will make you second guess ever getting into a relationship. Be warned, though; don’t expect many ‘happily ever afters' here. Instead, these are movies that show us the pitfalls of putting your trust in love above all—these are tales of unrequited love, betrayal and all out tragedies.
6 Sid and Nancy
Based on the turbulent lives of the Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy, the movie takes viewers on a drug fueled rollercoaster of emotions that ultimately ends in tragedy. While an interesting demonstration on how not to handle relationships, it’s Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Sid Vicious that really elevates the movie to the next level. Played with an intense passion that somehow makes Sid appear repugnant and unhinged yet still relatable enough to evoke genuine empathy from to the audience. It’s been said that Sid and Nancy is like a modern retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, if Romeo and Juliet were on heroin, and Romeo may or may not have deliberately and repeatedly stabbed Juliet to death and then OD’d.
5 Gone Girl
If ever there were a movie to make you question your entire relationship with your significant other, it has got to be the great David Fincher’s 2014 box office hit Gone Girl. Not only are we treated to some good old fashion infidelity, but things are taken up a notch or ten when the wife finds out. Without giving away too much of the plot, let’s just say that Rosamund Pike’s character goes to some pretty extreme lengths to exact revenge on her husband, played by Ben Affleck and things get awfully dark. It’s the level of detail she’s had to go into to execute said plan that makes it all the more disturbing, plus the fact she has no consideration for the devastation she could and does cause to anyone around her. This all begins on their fifth wedding anniversary too, and to think, just five years before, they looked into each other’s eyes and said, ‘I Do’.
4 Sleeping with the Enemy
Like many victims, on the outside Laura Burney (Julia Roberts) appears to have a perfect life with a loving marriage to Martin (Patrick Bergin), a successful Boston investor. In reality, her life is anything but perfect. Throughout their relationship she has been subject to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Despite Martin's charming, handsome exterior, scratch below the surface and you uncover a manipulative, violent and obsessive interior. Laura manages to escape him, even going to the extreme of faking her own death, only for him to track her down sometime later and come crashing back into her peaceful new life. A taut stalker thriller that reminds viewers to never judge a book by its cover, Sleeping With the Enemy broke the record at the time for the highest domestic opening for a film with a female lead, surpassing previous record holder Alien.
3 Get Out
Widely considered a modern horror masterpiece, 2017s Get Out was Jordan Peele’s feature film directorial debut and his first foray into full-on horror. The story follows black photographer Chris Washington (played fantastically by Daniel Kaluuya) who is invited by his white girlfriend to meet her upper-middle class liberal family who she assures him are definitely not racist. Needless to say, turns out they are a bit racist…. It also transpires that there is a deeply disturbing ulterior motive for her entering into the interracial relationship and bringing Chris to meet her family. A thinking-persons’ horror that uses genre elements to highlight real world problems that perfectly captured the zeitgeist. The movie also serves as a terrifying reminder that no matter how comfortable you feel with someone, there’s always a chance of betrayal.
2 War of the Roses
This 1989 classic comedy directed and starring Danny DeVito follows Oliver and Barbara Rose (played by Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner) who, after 17 years of marriage, are ready to throw in the towel and proceed with divorce proceedings. The problem is that neither one is willing to give up their large marital house and its contents, under any circumstances. To say the whole process becomes messy is an understatement. With neither willing to budge and leave the house, it turns into all-out war among the two, as the titles implies. Petty acts to inconvenience one another soon escalate into mass destruction. If this is any indication of how marriage could end, count me out!
1 Fatal Attraction
Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) is a high-flying New Yorker at a top law firm. For all intents and purposes, he has it all: money and more importantly a beautiful, doting wife, Beth (Anne Archer) and a loving daughter. But, after a casual fling with a seductive book editor named Alex (Glenn Close), things begin to go downhill, quickly. It soon becomes apparent from Alex’s unstable behavior escalating from aggressive pursuit to obsessive stalking, that Dan is in trouble. Fatal Attraction shows us that not only does one risk their partner cheating on them, there is also the risk that their partner’s fling could be an obsessive psychopath that could put their entire family in serious danger!