7 Movies Like ‘The Notebook’ That Will Make You Swoon

Valentine’s Day may now be in our rearview, but The Notebook remains a swoon-worthy hit film you can enjoy all year long. Based on Nicholas Sparks’s 1996 novel of the same name, the 2004 romantic-drama follows the budding connection between lumber mill worker Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) and teenaged heiress Allison “Allie” Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) from when they first meet at a carnival in 1940 through the end of their lives many decades later.

Though forces like Allie’s disapproving parents, World War II, and 365 intercepted letters temporarily tear the two apart, Allie and Noah eventually find their way back to one another, making this a moving film that has cemented itself as a celebrated love story we can’t help but want to consume again and again.

Looking for more movies featuring on-screen couples with epic love stories that span time and space? Continue reading for seven movies that will make you swoon like the unforgettable romance depicted in The Notebook.

1. When Harry Met Sally

   Much like The Notebook, this beloved 1989 romantic comedy-drama features two very different protagonist whose story spans many years. But unlike Noah and Allie, our protagonists carefree Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and type A Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) start off on the wrong foot when they first meet in 1977 carpooling from Chicago to New York City. It’s only over years of chance run-ins that the two are able to find friendship and eventually love, with plenty of highs, lows, and endlessly quotable moments along the way.

   WHERE TO WATCH WHEN HARRY MET SALLY

3. Before Sunrise

   Before Sunrise is the first installment of director Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy, which chronicles the relationship of American man Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and French woman Céline (Julie Delpy) at three different stages in their lives, with each one nine years apart in real-time. But it all began with this initial 1995 romantic-drama, in which strangers Jesse and Céline strike up a conversation aboard a Eurail train from Budapest on June 16, 1994. Deciding to take a chance and disembark at Vienna, the young adults spend an unforgettable evening wandering the historic city and finding a surprising yet meaningful connection in one another before parting ways to return to their respective lives.

   WHERE TO WATCH BEFORE SUNRISE

4. Love & Basketball

   Much like The Notebook, this 2000 romantic sports-drama reflects a complicated yet undeniable lasting love that is challenged by various factors and circumstances in each of the protagonists’ lives. Love & Basketball is fittingly split into four quarters, beginning in 1981 as Quincy McCall (Omar Epps) and Monica Wright (Sanaa Lathan) become childhood friends by bonding over their shared love of basketball. Over the years, their relationship takes on new meaning, trials, and layers as they grow feelings for one another while also attempting to pursue their respective dreams and goals as athletes.

   WHERE TO WATCH LOVE & BASKETBALL

5. Pride & Prejudice

   Swooning and the Regency Era seem to go hand-in-hand, so we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Pride & Prejudice in this lineup. Adapted from Jane Austen’s classic 1813 novel of the same name, the 2005 romantic-drama takes place in late 18th century England, where Mr. and Mrs. Bennet (Donald Sutherland and Brenda Blethyn) live with their five daughters. Mrs. Bennet hopes to soon set her daughters up into advantageous marriages but receives pushback from second-eldest daughter, Elizabeth (Keira Knightley). Even with Elizabeth’s reticence to go along with her mother’s plans, she can’t help but get tangled up in Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen, long before he became Tom on Succession), a prideful gentleman of means whom she instantly dislikes. Despite our protagonists’, well, pride and prejudice, they manage to eventually see past initial impressions and build a love as epic and memorable as Noah and Allie’s in The Notebook.

   WHERE TO WATCH PRIDE & PREJUDICE

6. Brooklyn

   This sweet 2015 romantic period drama has some of the same central ingredients as The Notebook, including a fateful connection between two very different people, a love triangle, and some heartfelt letters. But Brooklyn also stands on its own as a tender tale of new beginnings as young Irish woman Eilis Lace (Saoirse Ronan) leaves her family and home country to pursue a new life in America in the 1950s. In between battling home sickness and trying to get her bearings in Brooklyn, Eilis meets Italian-American plumber Tony Fiorello (Emory Cohen), and they begin seeing one another. With Tony grounding her in Brooklyn but her past tying her to Ireland, Eilis is torn trying to determine where home and her heart truly lie.

   WHERE TO WATCH BROOKLYN

7. If Beale Street Could Talk

   Based on James Baldwin’s 1974 novel of the same name, If Beale Street Could Talk is a gorgeous and powerful film about a love tested by time and trying circumstances. The 2018 romantic-drama tracks the story of lifelong best friends Clementine “Tish” Rivers (KiKi Layne) and Alonzo “Fonny” Hunt (Stephan James) as their relationship turns romantic in young adulthood. In looking for a place to live together, they struggle to find a landlord who will rent to them as black people living in 1970s, New York. Even after finding an apartment, the couple continue to deal with racism that comes to a boil Fonny is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit, with little hope of police cooperation to get justice. In the face of all this strife, Tish and Fonny will rely on their unwavering love for one another to weather the storm.

   WHERE TO WATCH IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

8. Past Lives

   Lastly, we have a film that’s slightly unconventional as far as love stories go. Like The Notebook, Past Lives portrays a complex love triangle with heart-wrenching bonds that span years and seem to transcend our reality, but unlike the 2004 film, this 2023 romantic-drama ends perhaps a bit more realistically. Celine Song’s evocative feature directorial debut follows the journey of Nora Moon (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) from childhood friends in Seoul, South Korea to long-distance friends conversing over video calls 12 years later, to finally meeting again another 12 years later when Hae Sung visits Nora in New York City, where she now lives as a playwright with her author husband, Arthur (John Magaro). It’s beautiful, complicated, and human in the way all of the best romance movies are, so if you loved The Notebook, you’re probably going to enjoy Past Lives too!