Entertainment
The Best Period Romance Movies
There's just something swoon-worthy about period pieces. Maybe it's the star-crossed love in these stories that wins over movie-watchers. Or perhaps it's the rules of courtship, keeping the couples – and audiences – on the edge of their seats as the characters patiently woo one another. The best period romantic movies feature memorable figures fighting to stay together despite differences in class and societal norms. This is a list of the top romantic period movies including everything from Pride & Prejudice to The English Patient to Ever After.
What films will you find on this list of the best period romance films? The modern classic Titanic – set against the backdrop of the real-life disaster – finds Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) falling in love despite their very different stations in life. James Cameron's tear-jerking film took home a whopping 11 Academy Awards.
Gone with the Wind may have been set in the Civil War, but its primary plot was focused on love rather than war. The headstrong Scarlett O'Hara and dashing Rhett Butler fought, kissed, and smoldered their way through this timeless epic. Other good films found on this best period romances list include The New World, First Knight and Sense and Sensibility.
Which romance story makes you swoon? Give the best movies a thumbs up and share some of your favorite scenes in the comments section.Ranked by
- 1
Keira Knightley, Matthew McFadyen, Judi Dench- Released: 2005
- Directed by: Joe Wright
In this adaptation of Jane Austen's beloved novel, Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley) lives with her mother, father and sisters in the English countryside. As the eldest, she faces mounting pressure ...more - 2Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet
- Released: 1995
- Directed by: Ang Lee
When Elinor Dashwood's (Emma Thompson) father dies, her family's finances are crippled. After the Dashwoods move to a cottage in Devonshire, Elinor's sister Marianne (Kate Winslet) is torn between ...more - 3Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell
- Released: 2011
- Directed by: Cary Joji Fukunaga
As an orphaned child, Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska) is first cruelly abused by her aunt, then cast out and sent to a charity school. Though she meets with further abuse, she receives an education, and ...more - 4Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany
- Released: 2009
- Directed by: Jean-Marc Vallée
As the only legitimate heir of England's King William, teenage Victoria (Emily Blunt) gets caught up in the political machinations of her own family. Victoria's mother (Miranda Richardson) wants her ...more - 5Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen
- Released: 2015
- Directed by: Thomas Vinterberg
A headstrong Victorian beauty (Carey Mulligan) has her choice of three different suitors: a sheep farmer (Matthias Schoenaerts), a dashing soldier (Tom Sturridge) and a prosperous, older bachelor ...more - 6Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Bill Nighy
- Released: 2020
- Directed by: Autumn de Wilde
Beautiful, smart and wealthy, Emma Woodhouse navigates her way through misguided matches, romantic missteps and the challenges of growing up -- all to finally realize the love that has been there all ...more - 7Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard
- Released: 1939
- Directed by: Victor Fleming
Presented as originally released in 1939. Includes themes and character depictions which may be offensive and problematic to contemporary audiences. Epic Civil War drama focuses on the life of ...more - 8Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Huston, Dougray Scott
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Andy Tennant
This updated adaptation of the classic fairytale tells the story of Danielle (Drew Barrymore), a vibrant young woman who is forced into servitude after the death of her father. Danielle's stepmother ...more - 9Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane
- Released: 1997
- Directed by: James Cameron
James Cameron's "Titanic" is an epic, action-packed romance set against the ill-fated maiden voyage of the R.M.S. Titanic; the pride and joy of the White Star Line and, at the time, the largest ...more - 10James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Romola Garai
- Released: 2007
- Directed by: Joe Wright
This sweeping English drama, based on the book by Ian McEwan, follows the lives of young lovers Cecilia Tallis (Keira Knightley) and Robbie Turner (James McAvoy). When the couple are torn apart by a ...more - 11Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce, Dagmara Dominczyk
- Released: 2002
- Directed by: Kevin Reynolds
The classic story of an innocent man wrongly, but deliberately imprisoned and his brilliant strategy for revenge against those who betrayed him. Dashing young sailor Edmond Dantes (Jim Caviezel) is a ...more - 12Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Russell Means
- Released: 1992
- Directed by: Michael Mann
The last members of a dying Native American tribe, the Mohicans -- Uncas (Eric Schweig), his father Chingachgook (Russell Means), and his adopted half-white brother Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis) -- live ...more - 13Winona Ryder, Gabriel Byrne, Trini Alvarado
- Released: 1994
- Directed by: Gillian Armstrong
In this 1994 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's classic, the March sisters confront growing pains, financial shortages, family tragedies and romantic rivalries in mid-19th-century Massachusetts. Jo ...more - 14Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, James Cromwell
- Released: 2007
- Directed by: Julian Jarrold
Though Jane Austen's (Anne Hathaway) financially strapped parents (James Cromwell, Julie Walters) expect her to marry the nephew of wealthy Lady Gresham (Maggie Smith), the young woman knows that ...more - 15Heath Ledger, Mark Addy, Rufus Sewell
- Released: 2001
- Directed by: Brian Helgeland
Peasant-born William Thatcher (Heath Ledger) begins a quest to change his stars, win the heart of an exceedingly fair maiden (Shanynn Sossamon) and rock his medieval world. With the help of friends ...more - 16Amanda Root, Ciarán Hinds, Susan Fleetwood
- Released: 1995
- Directed by: Roger Michell
As one of three daughters of the wealthy Sir Walter (Corin Redgrave), Anne (Amanda Root) is a privileged but lonely member of the English aristocracy. When her father leaves on a trip, he rents out ...more - 17Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington
- Released: 1993
- Directed by: Kenneth Branagh
In this Shakespearean farce, Hero (Kate Beckinsale) and her groom-to-be, Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard), team up with Claudio's commanding officer, Don Pedro (Denzel Washington), the week before their ...more - 18Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling
- Released: 2008
- Directed by: Saul Dibb
Though adored by the people, the Duchess of Devonshire (Keira Knightley) is not content to sit as a pretty figurehead. Determined to be a major player in affairs of state, she rises to the forefront ...more - 19Keira Knightley, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jude Law
- Released: 2012
- Directed by: Joe Wright
Anna Karenina (Keira Knightley), the wife of a Russian imperial minister (Jude Law), creates a high-society scandal by an affair with Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a dashing cavalry officer ...more - 20Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini
- Released: 1997
- Directed by: Roberto Benigni
A gentle Jewish-Italian waiter, Guido Orefice (Roberto Benigni), meets Dora (Nicoletta Braschi), a pretty schoolteacher, and wins her over with his charm and humor. Eventually they marry and have a ...more - 21William Hurt, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Joan Plowright
- Released: 1996
- Directed by: Franco Zeffirelli
An orphaned young girl, Jane Eyre (Anna Paquin), suffers humiliation and abuse at the hands of her aunt (Fiona Shaw) and is subsequently banished to a strict boarding school for several years. Upon ...more - 22Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi
- Released: 2000
- Directed by: Ang Lee
In 19th century Qing Dynasty China, a warrior (Chow Yun-Fat) gives his sword, Green Destiny, to his lover (Michelle Yeoh) to deliver to safe keeping, but it is stolen, and the chase is on to find it. ...more - 23Naomi Watts, Ed Norton, Liev Schreiber
- Released: 2006
- Directed by: John Curran
Caught in an affair with another man (Liev Schreiber), a scientist's callow wife (Naomi Watts) accompanies her husband (Edward Norton) to mainland China in the 1920s to fight a cholera epidemic. ...more - 24Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, James Fox
- Released: 1993
- Directed by: James Ivory
During the 1930s, James Stevens (Anthony Hopkins) serves as a proper English butler to the doltish Lord Darlington (James Fox). Stevens is so dedicated that he forgoes visiting his father on his ...more - 25Nicole Kidman, Ozzy Osbourne, Kylie Minogue
- Released: 2001
- Directed by: Baz Luhrmann
Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 Australian–American pastiche-jukebox musical film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It tells the story of a young English poet/writer, Christian, who falls ...more
