Beyond 'When Harry Met Sally': 8 Most Touching Romantic Movies Set During Christmas Season
The best miracle isn't a gift under the tree – it's a chance encounter that can change your whole life.
When we think of Christmas romantic flicks, classic films like When Harry Met Sally invariably come to mind. However, the magic of the holidays is present in many other beautiful love stories.
Our list features eight touching movies in which the main characters find each other amid Christmas carols and twinkling lights.
1. 'While You Were Sleeping', 1995
IMDb Score: 6.8/10
Lucy has only two companions in this world: her beloved cat and an annoying neighbor. Aware of her complete loneliness, he begs her to take the Christmas shift every year.
In a tragic coincidence, Lucy saves a man who has fallen onto the subway tracks. At the hospital, the victim's family mistakes Lucy for their future daughter-in-law, and the groom, Peter, is in a coma.
His family invites Lucy to celebrate Christmas with them and her desire to celebrate the holiday surrounded by loved ones at least once in her life overpowers her pangs of conscience.
2. 'Christmas, Again', 2014
IMDb Score: 6.7/10
Every December, quiet construction worker Noel opens a Christmas tree lot. He sleeps in his trailer during the day and greets customers in the late afternoon. They joyfully anticipate snatching up their treasured trees and rushing home to their loved ones.
Noel is lonely, so Christmas isn't magical for him, but rather a way to make money. The days pass one after another until one day a stranger wearing one shoe and with chewing gum in her hair interrupts his routine.
3. 'Last Christmas', 2019
IMDb Score: 6.5/10
Christmas Eve is a time of both joy and seasonal depression and soul-searching. Kate works as an elf in a gift shop and has put her dream of becoming a singer on hold after being hospitalized last Christmas, following her mother's advice.
However, a stranger named Tom appears and helps her cope with a personal crisis.
Die-hard fans of George Michael and the hit Last Christmas will especially enjoy the movie, which not only takes its name from the song, but is also partially based on its lyrics.
4. 'The Apartment', 1960
IMDb Score: 8.3/10
Baxter is a modest clerk at a major insurance company who lives in New York City. He spends most of his salary on rent for a West Side apartment and dreams of a promotion.
Eager to impress his superiors, he offers his apartment to executives for secret rendezvous while he spends his nights on a park bench or hanging out on the porch.
One day, shortly before Christmas, he meets Fran, a charming elevator operator who works at the same place. What Baxter doesn't know is that Fran has repeatedly visited his apartment in the company of Jeff, his director.
5. 'Little Women', 2019
IMDb Score: 7.8/10
The movie follows the four March sisters as they come of age during the Civil War. Despite the hardships and deprivations they face, the girls deal with typical teenage challenges, such as earning respect at school and winning the love of a neighbor boy.
Under the loving care of their mother, the sisters learn to be generous and compassionate. As they grow up, the young women gradually drift apart, but their sisterly love and support prove stronger than distance.
6. 'You've Got Mail', 1998
IMDb Score: 6.7/10
Kathleen Kelly has an enviable life: a loving fiancé, an apartment in Manhattan, and her own bookstore, which she inherited from her mother.
The only thing marring her cloudless existence is the opening of a new supermarket chain next door. The greedy magnate Joe plans to sell bestsellers for pennies, which threatens Kathleen's business. Kathleen realizes that her cozy bookstore won't survive the competition, so she shares her woes with a pen pal.
However, she soon discovers that her online friend is none other than the heir to the book empire – Joe.
7. 'Four Christmases', 2008
IMDb Score: 5.7/10
For those who don't experience the holidays as a romantic time but rather as a pre-weekend neurosis, the 2008 comedy Four Christmases is a perfect choice.
When a flight to a warmer climate is canceled due to bad weather, a young, happy couple is forced to spend the holidays visiting both sets of parents, who are divorced. Instead of one Christmas, they have four: four Christmases and four feasts.
8. 'An Affair to Remember', 1957
IMDb Score: 7.4/10
The carefree playboy Nickie Ferrante meets the singer Terry McKay aboard a luxury ocean liner. Paparazzi lurk around every corner, following Nickie, the heartthrob who recently got engaged to Lois, a millionaire who surpasses Ferrante in both status and wealth.
Terry is also single – her husband is waiting for her in New York. Their mutual attraction proves stronger than common sense, and they make a pact: if they still have feelings for each other in six months, they will meet on the roof of the Empire State Building.
