Movie Couples You Actually Want to Have a Happy Ending

High Art (1998)

Lisa Cholodenko’s groundbreaking 1998 queer drama follows Syd (Radha Mitchell) a seemingly straight editorial assistant at a prestigious New York photography magazine as she tries to get together material for the next issue.

One day, she’s in the bath when a leak from upstairs leads her to the apartment of Lucy Berliner (Ally Sheedy), a once-famous photographer who moved to Germany with her faded, Fassbinder-era actress lover Greta (Patricia Clarkson) but who has recently come back to town.

Syd is captivated by Lucy’s recent work and brings it to the attention of the magazine’s editors, who are keen to promote the ‘rediscovery’ of Lucy Belinger. But they can’t be bothered to collaborate on producing new art.

Anyhow, Lucy only wants to work with Syd, who’s she’s become infatuated with. And so a romantic entaglement begins as Syd becomes Lucy’s new muse, and they travel Upsate on an intimate weekend.

However, Syd’s boyfriend, Greta, and drugs all prove to be romantic obstacles, and sadly, the last one is unexpectedly fatal not for Greta but for Lucy. Leaving a distraught Syd but nothing but the memories of photos taken for the new issue, and a Radha Mitchell character once again bereft.

Run Lola Run (1998)

This daring German action film is a pure classic of foreign crime/romance cinema, made all the more interesting by its surprisingly philosophical approach to a simple yet expansive narrative.

On a seemingly ordinary day In Berlin, Lola (Franka Potente), the wild-haired and improbably free-spirited daughter of a stern bank manger, gets a desperate call from her criminal boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), who has botched a job and lost a bag of money (in an iconic scene the pair repeat “die tasche” “die tasche” to each other over the phone.)

He has 20 minutes to come up with the cash before his superiors realize and do something nasty to him. So he tells Lola he plans to rob a nearby supermarket. Allthough she insists she’ll be there in 20 minutes with the cash and to stay put.

So, Lola, having had her moped stolen, goes into serious action mode and (as the title promises) races across the city to get to her beau in time, passing nuns, an alcoholic woman with a stroller, and a guy on an bike, among others, on her way. But there’s a twist, we actually get to see three versions of this story play out.

Each time, we see, in animation, Lola run down the stairs of her apartment block and then her mission in live-action, dodging various obstacles as she makes for the obvious first destination: her father’s bank branch. But, basically, her dad’s severly unpleasant, and she’s not getting the money from him.

After things don’t go exactly to plan, she, somehow, miraculously, resets her own narrative two times (with piercing shrieks) before she gets the desired resolution. Each time, we see through shapshots the outcomes of fates of the various characters she bumps (or doesn’t) into.

Even then, she barely makes it to Manni. In the first ending, Lola is shot by police after becoming Manni’s accomplice in the robbery. And in the second Manni gets hit by an runaway ambulance.

In the final, miraciously happy ending, not ony does Manni manage to get the bag back, but Lola forgoes the bank and wins a shit ton of cash in a casino. And they happily walk off together down the streets of Berlin, newly minted. So, at least one positive outcome for this list so far!

Show Me Love (1998)

Set in a rural Swedish town where not much happens (hence the Swedish title of Fucking Åmål, which one of the characters excalims in frustration at one point, and locals were not happy about!), this tender, awkward, and very funny coming-of-age story centers on two teenage girls at opposite ends of the social spectrum.

Anges is lonely, shy and insecure, annd shunned or bullied by most over speculation that she may be a lesbian. Her parents try thier best to encourage her to make friends, but she has little luck.

Indeed, she is secretly in love whith a popular girl. Elin (Alexandra Dahlström) is outspoken, restless, and desperate for more fun in what she sees as a boring small town. So, popular.

One day in the school cafeteria, Elin despairs over how bored she is, as mean girls tease Agnes over her birthday, mockingly asking her if she’s having a party. She storms out, but not before flipping them the bird.

That night, Elin and her sister Jessica (Erica Carlson), with whom she has a love-hate relationship, decide to go to a party. But their mother catches them in the elevator, and Elin, in a comic mishap, is only wearing her underwear. So she forbids them from leaving.

But once she leaves to go to work, and after trying in vain to get high on prescription meds from the cabinet, the girls sneak out anyways. On a search for booze to bring to the ‘cool’ party, Elin remembers that Agnes is supposedly having a celebration, so they find themselves on her doorstep.

What follows is an awkward series of mishaps, cruel pranks, and misunderstandings that leave Agnes in a state of despair. But Elin, seeing the error of her ways, eventually tries to make amends. And the girls embark on a night of misadventures.

Due to social expectations it seems like their pairing is impossible, but miracles do, somehow, come true.

Magnolia (1999)

Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 magnum opus Magnolia is full of dark storylines, but the one optimistic and sweet thread is the budding connection btween do-gooder cop Jim (John C. Reilly)and troubled cocaine addict Claudia (Melora Walters.)

As she uses copius amounts of the drug to try to block out her difficult relationship with her father (Philip Baker Hall), Jim frequently calls on her to investigate noise complaints, and, oblivious to her drug use, works up the courage to ask her on a date.

This leads to a lovely restaurant scene where the two lonely souls make a connection, though a distraught Claudia runs off.

Luckily, their future looks bright after some reflection, despite an unexpected rain of frogs and subconcious group sing-along to an Aimee Mann song alngside the likes of Julianne Moore, Tom Cruise, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

From the opening scene and haunting score alone, you know the characters are in for a rough ride in Darren Aronofsky’s harrowing drama about drug addiction.

As diet pills begin to take thier toll on the eldery Sara (Ellen Burnstyn), one ray of light comes in the form of the relationship between her son Harry (Jared Leto) and Marion (Jennifer Connely).

However, as devoted they are to each other, they are also hopelessly addicted to drugs.

This leads Harry on the hunt for more and he ends up engaed in criminal behaviour and then in hospital. While Marion has to essentially sell her body to get her next fix. So yeah, sadly not a happy ending for either. Or Sara, who hallucinates a fantasy that will never be.

Far from Heaven (2002)

In the early 00s, Julianne Moore just loved to play dissaffected 50s housewives! She did it in The Hours (2001) and then again for this Todd Haynes-directed drama abut a woman who find out her husband (Dennis Quaid) is gay.

In light of this develoment, she stikes up a budding romance with her gardener, Raymond (Dennis Haysbert). But racial tensions and disapproval from neighbors conspire to drive the two apart, and they sadly can never be a couple.

Moore would later reunite with Haynes for another story about a lonely woman seeking comfort in unwise places in May/December!

Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)

The title of this film is understandablly off-putting and insensitive for a lot of people, but if you look past the controversial moniker you will find a suprigisingly sweet dark comedy/fantasy of unpexpected second chances that is far from an endorsement of suicide.

We first meet Zia (Patrick Fgit) as he meticioulsy cleans his small, bright apartment- only to immediately kill himself by slashing his wrists in the bathroom.

But what seems like the end is only the beginning: Zia wakes up in a limbo-like, desaturated afterlife that is somehow even shittier than the real world. He soon realizes his reason for killing himself- being dumped by his girlfriend Desiree (Leslie Bibb), only makes him more lonely and depressed in this new place.

However, when he finds out that Desiree has also committed suicide, he enlists the help of eccentric Russian punk band leader Eugene (Shia Whigham) to track her down in his beat-up old car.

However on a road trip across desolate desert countryside, they pick up a chirpy and rebellious hitch-hitcher called Mikal (Sahnnyn Sossamon) who is dimayed she can’t smile in this world and is looking for the elusive ‘People In Charge’, as she believes they have put her in the wrong place.

She and Zia form a connection, although Eugene lusts after her as they listen to a Gogol Bordello tape on the road..

After rebuffing Eugene several times and coming to the realization that “most people were half-dead or completely dead before I came here”, Mikal bonds with the sensitive Zia as they stumble upon the compound of a cult leader.

A place where miracles happen and they meet eccentrics with magical abilities (including Tom Waits! And John Hawkes! And The Nun‘s Bonnie Aarons out of demon make-up!)

Mikal evntually does miraculously locate the P.I.C., who are not who you think, and Zia does find Disiree, but in a very different state of mind than expected. And it seems, after a divine intervention, they both get what they are looking for but don’t know it: each other.

Fin de Siglo (2019)

A perfect film for a Sant Jordi watch if there ever was one, this twisty modern romance set in Barcelona is an optimistic look at gay relationships!

Review also avaialble in Spanish!

Cicada (2020)

Learn about the turbulent magic and lived-in experience of this couple in my full review of Cicada. It also features Cobie Smulders in a supporting role as an eccentric therapist!

Femme (2023)

Discover why this potentially toxic pairing is unfortunately probably doomed to tragedy in my review of the excellent queer thriller Femme, starring Nathan Stewart-Jarret and George MacKay!

Got any ideas for more couples for a second list? Let me know on Instagram!