21 films to reflect on life and love

Cinema can also be a source of inspiration when reflecting on personal relationships. Art is still a way to capture feelings and ideas that cannot be expressed in words, and its interpretation can be very stimulating.

Furthermore, movies have long ceased to be mere entertainment; Today there are much more, and they can even be the subject of philosophical essays, as the work of the thinker demonstrates. Slavoj Zizek.

• You may be interested in: “10 philosophical films about identity”

The best movies to reflect on love and life

Below you can see a selection of recommended films to think about life, relationships and the way we experience them.

1. The Tree of Life

One of the recent films with a more obvious Judeo-Christian background. It's not just the story of a family; aspires to be a representation of the birth of love and mercy in general as elements that allow us to give meaning to life.

2. Forget about me

A man who is involved in the conflict of whether he should forget his relationship with a woman or if he prefers to keep those memories, no matter how painful they are. After all, memory is part of one's identity, as well as being the place where love lives.

3. memento

Recognized by many as Christopher Nolan's best film to date, Memento talks about the role we have in building meaning for our own existence. For this, he uses the case of Leonard, a man suffering from anterograde amnesia.

4. american beauty

One of the best-known philosophical film classics. A middle-aged man in the middle of an existential crisis sees how his life changes when he meets the young friend of his daughter. A very tragicomedy scathing and critical of the western model of life.

5. The good side of things

A man trying to get out of the worst period of his life meets a young social outcast. A film that emphasizes not being carried away by appearances. Meeting people you're compatible with requires a fair amount of critical thinking.

6. Now or never

Two men with terminal illnesses decide to undertake together the search for all those experiences that they would like to see realized before they die. Despite coming from totally different worlds, the tandem formed by both is addictive and very endearing.

7. waking life

A philosophical film basically made up of conversations that take place throughout what seems to be a dream. It shows a risky aesthetic, based on the use of rotoscoping (the film frames are painted to look like drawings).

8. into wild routes

What would happen if we tried to reduce our life to the bare minimum? This film addresses this issue from the narration of a real case, that of a young man nicknamed as Alexander Supertramp who decided to leave everything behind and start living in the middle of nature so self-sufficient

9. Untouchable

As in Now or Never, here the adventures of two very different people are also narrated. What distinguishes these two films to reflect on life is that in this second the context changes: not only is there a class difference between the two, there is also a difference generational. Also, this is not a film about what makes life unique, but rather an invitation to think about racism and discrimination.

10. Blade Runner

What is it that makes us humans? What is the nature of forgiveness? In this film of androids and humans The most ancient philosophical questions are addressed and, incidentally, a story is told that surpasses that of the book on which it is based.

11. Dead poets society

One of the most remembered films of those starring Robin Williams. The story of a teacher who encourages his students to live life to the full through his unconventional educational methods and a motto: carpe diem.

12. the arrival

One of the science fiction films that do what this genre knows best: talk not just about a universe other than ours in which technology is superior, but address big human issues through the tools available in that fictional world. In this case, love and the pain produced by the loss play a fundamental role.

13. Annie Hall

A Woody Allen classic, in which drama is mixed with large doses of humor to give rise to shrewd reflections on life and love. Or, rather, about heartbreak.

14. Fight club

What is it that gives meaning to our lives? Where do we get the strength to love? If Fight Club has become a cult movie it is because of the crudeness with which it perfectly portrays the modern way of life based on consumption and productivity understood as the source of the meaning of life and even of love.

15. Grizzly Man

One of the most famous documentaries by director Werner Herzog. Focuses on the life of Timothy Treadwell, a low-class man who decided to spend several summers in the wilderness surrounded by wild bears, to befriend them and film them.

16. Path

A very interesting film that addresses the issue of how the experience of death can be hijacked by religious fundamentalism.

17. set fire

One of Denis Villeneuve's most famous films, about the way in which the imaginary borders established by societies can become physical borders, totally palpable, maintained by hate and fear.

18. This is England

A story about the way in which a counterculture like that of the skinheads can become another that affirms the values ​​coherent with the maintenance of the power of the State thanks to racism and the xenophobia.

19. everything is lit

Elijah Wood stars in a film based on stories from the past, and the way in which they shape the way in which we experience the present both individually and collectively, focusing on the case of the collective Jew.

20. deep sea

One of Alejandro Amenábar's classics, tells the true story of Ramón Sampedro, who for years fought for the right to a dignified death, with all the moral implications that this entails.

21. Melancholia

This film by Danish director Lars von Trier is divided into two parts, and explains through narrations the story of an apocalypse that is more personal than real.