5 Movies to Help With Getting Over A Breakup

Getting Over A Breakup Is Never Easy, But These Movies Will Help.

There’s no sure-fire cure when it comes to getting over a breakup. Trust me, I should know. Just over a year ago I went through a devastating breakup and like a true film geek, I turned to movies to help me get through it. When a movie is really good, it doesn’t matter who the hero is or what the circumstances might be, there’s something that touches on what it is to be human and that helped me not to feel so alone with the turmoil I was left with. I’m not going to get into the details of what happened to leave me such a mess, but I will say being able to see other people suffering and surviving through the same kind of hardship I was facing made me realize it wasn’t the end of the world for me. Just the world I had gotten so useful. With that being said, I felt like it was time to share the few movies that helped me to get past all the pain I was facing. They might not be the cure-all when it comes to getting over a breakup, but they’re cheaper than therapy. So here’s to all of you feeling lost at the thought of life without the one you loved. Put on some popcorn and give these films a chance to mend your broken heart.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

When you’re on the verge of tears, sometimes there’s nothing you can do but laugh. That’s where Forgetting Sarah Marshall comes into play. The film stars Jason Segal as a sad boi who lost the girls he thought he was meant to spend the rest of his life with. Getting over a broken heart seems like too daunting a task for him, so he runs off to get away from it all at a tropical resort. That’s when the worst happens, he runs into his ex and it seems like she’s doing great and has even managed to move on and get a new guy in her life. Running into her starts the grieving process all over for him, but fortunately, a lovely hotel clerk (Mina Kunis) comes along and rescuses him by forcing him to get out and actually start living again. In the end, it’s hard not to think the person you loved so much might not have been the right one for you, but Forgetting Sarah Marshall shows that you never know what you might find once you stop sobbing in your dark room.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

It might seem odd to include a movie that made my list of 10 Toxic Relationships from Movies among my favorite movies that help with getting over a broken heart. Well, it turns out most of the relationships we experience in life are probably going to be pretty toxic, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from them. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a movie about refusing to learn from your past mistakes. In it, a couple breaks up and have all memories of each other wiped from their mind. The problem is that once they forget, they find themselves drawn back into each other’s lives with nothing to stop them from reliving all their past mistakes. As painful as your memories might be of the one you loved, it’s not going to make it any better to forget them entirely. After all, there must have been good times at one point and those are the memories that you’ll want to keep and cherish. When all is said and done, in order to grow you need to take the good with the bad and learn from both.

High Fidelity

There’s a lot to learn about getting over a breakup from this John Cusack classic. For one thing, we always seem to remember the ones we loved and lost differently from how they actually were. In the film, Cusack revisits his old flames in an effort to find out what went wrong in his most recent failed relationship. He soon discovers the age-old saying, “the only thing all you failed relationships have in common is you,” might just be on to something. He needs to face facts that he might be the one who really screwed up this time and he might have a bit of growing up to do if he wants to have the life he truly wants. In typical movie fashion, this growth only takes about 2 hours, but you’re probably looking at a lot longer than that. It might be easy to sit there and hate your ex for what “they did to you.” But you should be taking that time to stop and look at what they taught you about yourself. Relationships are never all one person’s fault in the end, but you have to take responsibility for your faults in it and use that knowledge to grow.

500 Days of Summer

I blame this movie for the rise in the popularity of the “manic pixie dream girl.” The thing about mania is that it often hides deeper emotional (and personality) issues. The film is about yet another sad boi (this time played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who is obsessed with the idea of finding “the one.” Unfortunately, he learns over the course of a devastating relationship that there’s really no such thing as “the one.” It’s a terrible myth perpetuated by movies in order to sell princess figurines and put butts in seats. Of all the films on this list, 500 Days of Summer captures the highs and lows of a relationship from start to bloody end. Levitt is left brutalized as things start to turn south and soon he’s a shell of a man unable to accept his own mistakes that lead him to this point. Thankfully his friends, and even a run-in with his ex, help him to realize that sometimes horrible moments like this are life’s way of burning everything down so you can start over again. Take this time of turmoil to look at your life and think about where you’re meant to go after this. After all, it probably sees like things can’t get much worse.

Deadpool

Ok, so this film stands out like a sore thumb. I’ll admit that this wasn’t even on my radar when I started to think about putting together a list of movies for getting over a broken heart, but Deadpool says it himself, “this is a love story.” So many comic geeks want to have that “Joker and Harley” romance, and I honestly don’t have the time to go into all the reasons why that’s terrifying. Instead, I’ll just submit to you that Wade and Vanessa should be your future #relationshipgoals. Neither one of them is perfect by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, they’re pretty damn broken. But because they’re so broken they can get their edges to line up like puzzle pieces. That’s what you need to look for in the future. Not your soul mate, but the one who fits you. The one who has all the gaps where you’ve got parts to spare and who can help you fill in the gaps of your own. So, take a little comfort in the fact that even the crazy, broken, scared up people out there find love too.

That’s really the tip of the iceberg when it comes to films that can help with getting over a breakup. As I said, there’s no sure-fire cure, but I found comfort in the fact that what I was feeling was such a universal feeling that studios spent millions of dollars to bring the same feeling to the big screen. As always, I love hearing about the movies you think would make great additions to articles like this, and you if you a movie that helped mend your broken heart, please share it in the comments below. I’ll also update this from time to time as new movies come out, but here’s hoping I don’t find myself needing this list again anytime soon. For all of you who do, it sucks so much where you are right now, but know that a lot of people love you and while it might feel like the end of your life, this is just the beginning of the next chapter. Stay strong and don’t forget to take care of yourselves.