In the mood for love? Here are five Valentines films for the Edinburgh singletons

For my first two years of university, the Edinburgh Omni Centre would do a yearly showing of Titanic for the Valentines season. I was newly single in my second year, so this was a godsend. It killed two birds with one stone. It satisfied the post-breakup craving for a fantasy of perfect romance while also satisfying the urge to watch another love story crash and plummet. Quite literally. In the mood for love (or heartbreak)? Here are my five picks of films you should watch this Valentines Day.

Anyone But You

This is for the romantics who haven’t had a good relationship in a while. You too can watch Glen Powell jump off a helicopter and rush wheezingly up a huge staircase to ask out Sydney Sweeney, knowing that someone as devoted as that is still out there for you somewhere. Or you can just go along for the story.

For those who haven’t seen this Gen Z classic, it is a modern revamp of Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado’ set in Sydney, Australia. Powell and Sweeney are wedding guests and former lovers who have fallen out over the most ridiculous misunderstanding possible. Much like every flat argument ever, this spat could have been immediately fixed with one adult conversation, but for the sake of the film, they keep hating each other until the glorious finale.

Wuthering Heights

Jokes aside, for those who do fancy a proper cinema trip, the Omni is showing this one on Valentines.

The first trailer didn’t exactly do the film any favours (“Heathcliff 50 Shades Lighter”, as a YouTube commenter described it), and it gives very strong ‘first half of the novel’ vibes. However, Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi…do I even need to say more?

Most Read

I’m in prison with Lucy Letby right now and this is what she’s really like

Here’s why people are so freaked out about that super creepy Ring Doorbell advert

Here are Bad Bunny’s translated Super Bowl lyrics, so you know why people are angry

Don’t let the trailer put you off, it could be great. Besides, nothing can distract you from your lovesick friends who ‘found love outside of Hive’, like a weird-as-hell Emerald Fennell movie.

You can sometimes take drinks into the film with you…

The Twilight Saga

Don’t roll your eyes – we’ve all watched it. We all know it’s brilliant, even if we participated in the mandatory performative Reddit bashing.

Like ‘Anyone But You’, it kills two birds with one stone. It’s swoonworthy enough to help you look forward to your next relationship, but also ludicrous enough that you don’t actually yearn for your life to be any different.

Based on the bestselling novels by Stephenie Meyer, these romantic fantasy classics are iconic for all the right reasons, and easily hold their own against other canonical young-adult franchises like ‘Harry Potter’ or ‘The Hunger Games’. It’s an oversight that the Edinburgh English Department didn’t include this in their ‘Fiction and the Gothic’ course.

R.I.P Edward Cullen you would’ve loved an Icee

Emma

Now we’ve moved beyond romance. Yes, technically, there’s always a love story in Jane Austen, but ‘Emma’ is not about the romance. It’s about a young person going out into the world, making mistakes, and learning from them. If you’re looking for a film to relate to as you skip another 9 am lecture and choose to do a food shop at Newington Lidl in peak hours, this movie has your back.

Starring Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit) and Miranda Hart, of all people, you’ve got a treat on your hands. Not to mention, this has also been released on Prime.

For an after-film snack?

No Other Choice

If you couldn’t care less about love and just want a good story, give this one a go. It’s a new release by Park Chan-Wook (Stoker, The Handmaiden) and is showing at Edinburgh’s Cameo Picturehouse all week.

It’s about a man who can’t get a job, so he goes around killing the other applicants (Edinburgh graduates, we know the job market is precarious, but don’t get any ideas).

Anyone who’s watched Park Chan-Wook knows his signature weirdness. Moreover, for anyone who’s not been there, the Cameo is a fabulous place. Every Edinburgh student needs to go there at least once before they graduate.