Perfect Period Dramas for Valentine’s Day

♥ Happy Valentine‘s Day! ♥

Whether you are spending Valentine’s with your significant other, or Galentine’s with your girlfriends, or spending SAD (singles awareness day) at home, here are my top 20 favourite romance period dramas (mostly movies and TV movies without sad endings)!

Ever After (Movie: 1998) – One of my favourite versions about Cinderella set in Medieval France. If only she did exist!
Northanger Abbey (TV Movie: 2007) – This is my favourite film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. I loved the chemistry between Felicity Jones and JJ Field. Mr Tilney is my kind of gentleman!
Young Victoria (Movie: 2009) – Who wouldn’t want a romance like Queen Victoria’s and Prince Albert’s? ?
The Sissi Trilogy (Movies: 1955-1957) – Let’s just pretend Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) and Emperor Franz Joseph I lived happily ever after.
Pride & Prejudice (Movie: 2005) – I was hoping for an ending with a wedding and felt like the movie was incomplete without one. But the OST made up for it!
BBC’s Pride & Prejudice (TV Series: 1995) – I think Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth were perfectly cast for this beloved classic by Jane Austen.
Emma (with Gwyneth Paltrow – Movie: 1996) – I prefer the casting from this movie, as well as the soundtrack by Rachel Portman.
Emma (with Romola Garai – TV Series: 2009) – This is a much longer Emma and I enjoyed it as much as the 1996 film. Romola Garai is superb!
When Calls the Heart S1 (TV Series: 2014) – Elizabeth the school teacher & RCMP Jack are just so cute in Series 1!
Dangerous Beauty (Movie: 1998) – A bittersweet love story based on the life of a real courtesan, Veronica Franco, with a happy ending (sort of).
Casanova (Movie: 2005) – A heroine who can turn a rogue into a devoted man deserves praise.
Jane Eyre (TV movie: 2006) – I preferred the ending in this film adaptation by Charlotte Bronte.
Kate & Leopold – This romantic comedy is partly set in 20th Century New York but wouldn’t it be nice to meet a gentleman from the 19th Century?
Lost in Austen (TV Miniseries: 2008) – Another time-travelling drama, you’ll wish you were this heroine!
The Edge of Love (Movie: 2008) – One of my favourite movies with Keira who has a lovely singing voice. For the first time, Cillian Murphy plays a romantic character unlike his other (often creepy) characters.

Sad but still sweet?

Anna Karenina (Movie: 2012) – Yes, we know how it ends but who can resist Aaron Taylor-Johnson in his military outfit?
Romeo and Juliet (Movie: 1968) – This is still the best R&J adaptation with beautiful heart-wrenching OST.
Romeo and Juliet (Movie: 2013) – This has the best OST and setting but I think it could have been better (with accents and speech).
Wuthering Heights (1992) – This is my favourite adaptation of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. Juliette Binoche plays the mother (Cathy) and daughter (Catherine)!
Moulin Rouge! (2001) – All you need is love – and a good cast!

‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.‘ – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

‘Find the person who will love you because of your differences and not in spite of them and you have found a lover for life.‘ – Leo Buscaglia