If you’re anything like me, you possibly spent early 2026 watching multiple times (or “Reheated Rivalry” as it’s called by those who agree the show benefits from at least three viewings). Eventually, however, we were all forced to move on from these jacked hockey players embroiled in the longest situationship of all time – at least until season two lands next year (according to reports, the HBO show’s second outing is officially in production). Indeed, we’re a few months away at least from being reunited with Shane (Hudson Williams) and Ilya (Connor Storrie) and their intense smouldering glances.
But look, in the meantime, there are plenty of on-screen depictions of slow-burn romance that actually manage to do “yearning” even better than . Indeed, writer Rachel Reid didn’t invent the will-they-won’t-they genre – though she does a very good job of it – nor did she invent the where-will-they-go-next sequel. To that end, and if you want something different but spiritually similar, here are the slow-burn romances that walked so could cruise across the ice. And if you’re feeling particularly masochistic, why not just watch them all, one after the other, in no particular order?
Forgive me for sounding cynical, but I feel like cinematic and genuinely affecting romantic movies are harder to come by in the 2020s, for some reason – maybe because love stories feel increasingly culturally out-of-reach? One exception remains 2023’s Celine Song-directed , of course, which is the favourite film of a large majority of the office. Following two childhood sweethearts, Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) who find themselves torn apart by circumstance, chance and choice, is a love story in the purest sense of the word. I watched it twice at the cinema when it came out and remember audience members sobbing.
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The first time I watched I didn’t actually know anything about the ending and was so shocked – nay, devastated – that I don’t think I got over it for a good few days afterwards. There is of course a movie from 2011 starring Anne Hathaway, but the 2024 Netflix series is probably the better adaptation of the famous David Nicholls book. Following Emma Morley (Ambika Mod) and Dexter Mayhew (Leo Woodall) from the late 1980s through to the mid-2000s, is slow-burn at its most “slow” and “burn”. And what at first starts out as quite a fun, light watch very rapidly sucks you in until you’re deeply emotionally invested.
I actually think it was – based on the Sally Rooney novel of the same name, in which two characters engage in an on-again/off-again romance from secondary school to college and beyond – that really kickstarted the yearning renaissance when everyone watched it over lockdown and became weirdly obsessed with Connell’s (Paul Mescal) little chain. The main thing I remember about this exceptional BBC drama is that the sex scenes were both horny and believable and it somehow managed to bottle all of the intricacies of the book. It’s no wonder that Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones have since become bonafide stars.
Okay so Todd Haynes’s doesn’t unfurl over a number of years like some others on this list, but it would be remiss of me not to include it, particularly as lesbians practically invented the art of yearning from a distance. Stolen glances, forbidden desire and a lost glove that means so much more than a glove, has it all. There is also, in my opinion, such a degree of tension between the two protagonists Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett) and Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) that it practically crackles through the screen. How many times have I watched this film? Yes.
In The Mood For Love
There are plenty of Wong Kar-wai films that I, and everyone else I know, is obsessed with. While one of my favourite films of all time will always be 1995’s , In The Mood For Love is perhaps the Hong Kong director’s most famous, oft-cited and visually influential. Released in 2000 and set in 1962, this delicious, red-hued fever-dream follows Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) who discover that their spouses are having an affair. To the surprise of no one, they gradually develop feelings for one another. Come for the slow-burn romance, stay for the unmatched atmosphere.
It’s been 10 years since Barry Jenkins’s critically-acclaimed three-part coming-of-age film following the life of its main character – Little (Alex R. Hibbert), Chiron (Ashton Sanders) and Black (Trevante Rhodes) – over several decades. The film deftly explores race, masculinity and sexuality in modern America, but it’s also absolutely shimmering with longing. The subject of the protagonist’s desire is Kevin (played by André Holland, Jharrel Jerome and Jaden Piner), an old friend and enduring flame. Widely considered one of the best movies of the 2010s, and winner of three Oscars, is obviously a must-watch.
The trilogy
It’s rare that we get to see the same characters, played by the same actors, over a number of years (in this case, from 1995 until 2013) – which is partly why Richard Linklater’s beloved film trilogy (, and ) remains so beguiling. The sizzling chemistry of its leads – Celine and Jesse, played by Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke – is a huge part of its appeal, too. Following a couple as they first meet, lose touch, reconnect years later, and eventually – in the third film – navigate life as a married couple trying to recapture the spark, the trilogy is years-long romance unfolding in real time.
Portrait Of A Lady On Fire
Did I mention that lesbians invented yearning? Yes, yes I did. Enter: 2019’s late 18th-century-set Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, in which an adventurous young artist, Marianne (Noémie Merlant), is tasked by a French countess with painting the portrait of her sullen and reluctant daughter, Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) without her knowledge, having refused all attempts beforehand. You can sort of guess what happens next (though description hardly does this tactile, passionate and visually sumptuous film justice). There’s a reason Céline Sciamma’s mesmeric romance won both the Queer Palm and Best Screenplay at Cannes.
