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Tatler Asia
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Tatler Asia
11 films with love triangles to get you ready for ‘Materialists'
Past Lives (2023) Above The film stars Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro (Photo: IMDb) In Materialists director Celine Song's feature film debut, two childhood friends contemplate the nature of their relationship as they grow apart, live separate lives and finally reunite. The film stars Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro. The Notebook (2004) Above The film stars Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Marsden and James Garner (Photo: IMDb) A young couple in the 1940s falls passionately in love despite obstacles trying to keep them apart. Directed by Nick Cassavetes, the film stars Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Marsden and James Garner. The Dreamers (2003) Above Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, the film stars Eva Green, Louis Garrel and Michael Pitt (Photo: IMDb) Set against the backdrop of the 1968 Paris student riots, a young American student becomes entangled in a strange dynamic with a French brother and sister. Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, the film stars Eva Green, Louis Garrel and Michael Pitt. Y Tu Mamá También (2001) Above The film stars Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal and Maribel Verdú (Photo: IMDb) In this seminal coming-of-age drama, two teenage best friends embark on a road trip with an older woman across rural Mexico. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, the film stars Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal and Maribel Verdú. Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) Above The film stars Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant (Photo: IMDb) Bridget Jones, a thirty-something single woman in London, decides to start keeping a diary while she searches for love. Directed by Sharon Maguire, the film stars Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) Above The film stars Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney and Cameron Diaz (Photo: IMDb) A New York City food critic attempts to sneakily sabotage her lifelong best friend's wedding to a wealthy college student. Directed by PJ Hogan, the film stars Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney and Cameron Diaz. The Age of Innocence (1993) Above The film stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer (Photo: IMDb) Based on the novel by Edith Wharton, this Gilded Age romance follows a wealthy lawyer drawn to a mysterious countess despite his engagement to her cousin. Directed by Martin Scorsese, the film stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer. Sabrina (1954) Above The film stars Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden (Photo: IMDb) A chauffer's daughter returns home from Paris and catches the attention of both a playboy bachelor and his business-minded brother. Directed by Billy Wilder, the film stars Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden. The Earrings of Madame de… (1953) Above The film stars Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux and Vittorio de Sica (Photo: IMDb) An aristocratic woman sets off a series of unexpected events after she sells a pair of earrings given to her by her husband. Directed by Max Ophüls, the film stars Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux and Vittorio de Sica. Gone with the Wind (1939) Above The film stars Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable and Leslie Howard (Photo: IMDb) This historical epic follows a manipulative Southern belle and a roguish bachelor as they endure the collapse of their high-class society during and after the American Civil War. Directed by Victor Fleming, the film stars Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable and Leslie Howard. NOW READ 12 best Hollywood films about Hollywood 10 inspirational sports films to watch 7 times that 'Oscar baiting' worked for films
Cosmopolitan
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
What Is 'Broke Man Propaganda?'
Summer is here and 'Broke Man Propaganda' is in the air—at least according to certain Materialists viewers who have taken to social media to air some grievances re: the hit movie's supposedly happy ending. (Spoiler alert: This article obviously contains spoilers on the ending of Materialists.) For those just tuning in, here's an exceptionally brief rundown of the plot: Dakota Johnson plays Lucy, a professional matchmaker whose career in setting up high-networth individuals seemingly reflects her own views of romantic relationships as inherently transactional. A single gal looking for a wealthy partner to support her, Lucy's head is naturally turned by Harry (Pedro Pascal), a successful tech founder, at a client's wedding. But guess who's also at the wedding? Lucy's ex-boyfriend John (Chris Evans), a struggling actor who's working a catering gig. And guess why they broke up? Money troubles. More standard romance movie plottage ensues and in the end, Lucy breaks things off with the wealthy new love interest she thought she always wanted and marries her broke ex-boyfriend, because it turns out relationships aren't transactional and love really does conquer all! This 'love is greater than money' message is a well-established trope, one that's existed for eons and has appeared in everything from fairytales and Christmas specials to The Notebook (justice for Lon). Hence why some viewers—specifically those calling 'Broke Man Propaganda' on the film—find it rather reductive. Essentially, this critique argues that the movie's moral privileging of 'true love' over financial stability neglects the economic realities women face under patriarchy and reinforces a narrative that encourages women to sacrifice their needs and desires for the sake of some kind of moral purity supposedly preserved by partnering with a man who does not, in fact, meet those needs and desires. In other words, it encourages women to settle. While others have praised the film's message—which comes to some as a welcome pushback against a transactional view of relationships that has gained traction in recent years via TikTok trends like hypergamy and 'dating up'—many find it frustratingly unrealistic. Because while this moralistic ideal of love over money may be baked into societal mores, it is not one that's actually supported under our capitalistic society itself—particularly for women. As I've previously written, 'It's a bit of an open secret that while society decries blurring the lines between love and money, it remains structured in a way that financially rewards romantic partnership—particularly of the legal, governmentally recognized variety. From tax benefits to the possibility of finally clearing the wage gap by saying 'I do' to a man's salary, the allure of patriarchally sanctioned partnership is strong.' Our current era may mark the first time in recent history that financial stability independent of a male partner is a possibility for women as a class, but the reality is that this level of fiscal security remains out of reach for many, if not most, women as individuals. This is not to argue that love is or should be transactional, but rather to point out that this idea of 'true love' unadulterated by financial or other seemingly less 'pure' considerations is a myth—and it remains a myth because of the very patriarchal systems that were literally designed to render women dependent on men in the first place. To women who lack the financial freedom to access the romantic freedom required to pursue relationships based purely on love without regard for survival or stability, the apparent moral of the Materialists story being that we should choose the poor man over the rich one can feel like a slap in the face. Hence, Broke Man Propaganda. The frustration with this apparent display of Broke Man Propaganda currently playing out online is not about women being 'golddiggers,' wanting to marry for money, or foisting their unreasonable fiscal demands upon men. It's about the exhaustion of existing under a patriarchal society that was literally built to keep us financially dependent on romantic relationships with men yet simultaneously shames us for making financially advantageous choices in our love lives. For many of us, the financial freedom to choose the poor man based on love alone is the dream. And for too many of us, it's one that remains out of reach.
Buzz Feed
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
11 Actors Who Took Breaks From Hollywood And Why
Whether it's to focus on their personal lives or because they're incredibly burnt out, it's not uncommon for celebrities to take hiatuses from Hollywood. Here's a look at 11 actors' reasons for temporarily stepping back from the big screen: 1. Tom Holland took a year off from acting after his role in the series The Crowded Room took a huge toll on his mental health. 'I really enjoyed it, but then again, the show did break me… I'm now taking a year off, and that is a result of how difficult this show was,' he shared in 2023. 2. Post-Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio took a break for a couple of years to escape the 'intense' public attention he was receiving. 'It was a very surreal time period. It was bizarre. I took a break for a couple of years because it was so intense. I needed to recharge and refocus,' he recalled in 2016. 3. In 2021, Jennifer Lawrence recalled stepping back from the spotlight after feeling like the public had gotten 'sick' of her. 'I just think everybody had gotten sick of me. I'd gotten sick of me. It had just gotten to a point where I couldn't do anything right,' she said. 4. Rachel McAdams took a 2-year break from acting in the 2000s after starring in a string of super successful films, like Mean Girls and The Notebook. 'I felt guilty for not capitalizing on the opportunity that I was being given, because I knew I was in such a lucky spot. But I also knew it wasn't quite jiving with my personality and what I needed to stay sane,' she shared. 5. In 2022, Sandra Bullock revealed that she was 'going to not spend time in front of the camera for a while' due to feeling 'so burnt out' and exhausted. 'I don't want to be beholden to anyone's schedule other than my own. I'm so burnt out. I'm so tired, and I'm so not capable of making healthy, smart decisions, and I know it,' she said. 6. Brendan Fraser stepped away from the spotlight after experiencing sexual assault in 2003 by the former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Phillip W. Berk. The HFPA found that Berk 'inappropriately touched' Brendan but it was "intended to be taken as a joke and not as a sexual advance." Brendan eventually made his comeback in the 2022 film The Whale, which landed him a Best Actor Oscar nomination. 7. Cameron Diaz took a 10-year hiatus from acting, focusing on her personal life. After marrying Good Charlotte singer Benji Madden in 2015 and becoming a mom of two, Cameron eventually made her return to screens, starring in the 2025 Netflix film Back in Action. 8. A few years ago, Emma Watson recalled taking a long break from the industry after she began feeling 'caged' and limited. Admitting that she 'wasn't very happy,' Emma explained, 'I think I felt a bit caged. The thing I found really hard was that I had to go out and sell something that I really didn't have very much control over. To stand in front of a film and have every journalist be able to say, 'How does this align with your viewpoint?' It was very difficult to have to be the face and the spokesperson for things where I didn't get to be involved in the process.' 9. In 2022, Chris Hemsworth revealed he was taking a break from acting after discovering that he had a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer's disease. 'I'm going home, and I'm going to have a good chunk of time off and just simplify. Be with the kids, be with my wife,' he said, later adding, 'I wanted to take off because I've been working for 10 years, and I've got three kids that I want to spend more time with.' 10. Matthew McConaughey once stepped away from the spotlight after feeling like he was being typecast in Hollywood and therefore struggling to bag the roles he wanted. After a 2-year hiatus, he eventually made his return in films like Dallas Buyers Club and The Wolf of Wall Street. 11. In 2023, Emily Blunt revealed she was taking a year off from acting to spend more meaningful time with her children. 'This year, I'm not working. I worked quite a bit last year and my oldest baby is 9, so we're in the last year of single digits,' she said. 12. Josh Hartnett — who was literally everywhere from the late 90s to mid 00s — stepped away from the limelight after finding his immense fame 'overwhelming.' He shared in 2021, 'I really enjoy making films, but the industry itself was overwhelming for a 21-year-old kid. The press was a little bit different back then; there was paparazzi around every corner — you couldn't really go anywhere without being sort of harassed.' 13. And finally, Daniel Kaluuya revealed that he took a break from acting for a year and a half after feeling 'disillusioned' by the lack of jobs he was being offered due to racism. 'I checked out, because I was just like, this isn't working. I wasn't getting roles, because racism and all this kind of stuff—so [Jordan Peele] reaching out was like, 'Okay, I'm not crazy. It's proper. It's going to be all right,'' he shared during an interview with Essence. Can you think of any more examples? Let me know in the comments.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Growing Belief in ‘Love at First Sight'
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. The idea seems so old-fashioned, so sentimental: that you could fall for someone 'at first sight,' deeply and instantly. It's straight out of the classic romance dramas—Jack's gaze freezing when he sees Rose on the Titanic's deck; The Notebook's Noah lighting up and asking, 'Who's this girl?' when he spies Allie across the amusement park. As a general rule, the stuff of popular love stories is not the stuff of real life. We know this, right? Not right, I guess. This year's 'Singles in America' survey—conducted annually by the dating company Match and the Kinsey Institute, and released today—found something surprising: Of the roughly 5,000 single American adults polled, 60 percent said they believe in love at first sight, a nearly 30 percent increase from 2014. Almost half of the respondents (people ages 18 to 98, from all over the country) said they'd experienced the phenomenon themselves. I didn't expect this, not only because the validity of the concept has been questioned for years, but also because it's such a dreamily romantic notion—a hopeful one, really. And these days, the common narrative about dating (and what I've found, to some degree, in my own reporting) is that many people are burned out, tired of the apps, and generally feeling pessimistic. This spike in belief even startled some of the researchers: Amanda Gesselman, a Kinsey Institute psychologist, told me that the results 'sort of blew me away.' [Read: The people who quit dating] But once Gesselman stepped back and thought about the finding, she said, it made some sense to her. In 2014, dating apps were relatively new. Couples tended to meet through friends or family; people would get to know each other for a while before pairing off. In more recent years, Gesselman has consistently found that swipe-based dating apps are the main way that partners meet—across age, gender, race, income, and geographic region. That style of dating has people in the habit of making quick calls, judging whether they have chemistry with a stranger after just one date. Paul Eastwick, a UC Davis psychologist who studies romantic attraction and wasn't involved with the survey, told me the same thing: 'Online dating has a lot of 'We met—no. We met—no. We met—no. We met—no. We met—oh, that was a good one!'' In other words, the slow burn has become less common. Instead, two other experiences may have become more common: the plainly bad first date, where a lack of connection is immediately apparent; and the kind of date about which a person might one day say: 'We knew right away.' Whether that latter scenario is truly love at first sight depends on what you mean by love—and, okay, also what you mean by sight. Eastwick has found that some people do feel strongly about a romantic prospect from the get-go: if not at first glance, then straight from the point of a first conversation. And when things click, he said, those feelings can run deeper than physical attraction. (If love at first sight was just thinking someone was hot, I'd experience it every day walking down the streets of New York City.) In a 2018 study of undergraduate students, Eastwick asked participants to reflect on their past relationships and describe how they'd felt at different points over the course of their time with their former partners. About a fifth of people said they'd been smitten upon meeting; they'd felt an instant bond, found some niche shared interest, couldn't stop talking. To be fair, that's the same portion of people who felt 'when I first met this person, I thought they were trash'—Eastwick's words, not mine! Nonetheless, he concluded that something like love at first sight, though not the norm, 'is real. It happens.' Of course, these were prior relationships; evidently, falling in love quickly doesn't mean that a relationship is going to last. What psychologists refer to as 'passionate love'—the buzzy, dizzying rush of early infatuation; the feeling of craving, even addiction—is neurologically distinct from 'compassionate love,' which tends to set in after a year or two and doesn't involve the same elevated cortisol and serotonin levels. And besides, maybe the participants who reported experiencing love at first sight were simply projecting that narrative retroactively. Capturing people's feelings in real time, as they first get together, is difficult, Eastwick said. He has tried asking participants in other studies to tell him as soon as they've met someone promising—and they have. But, he said, 'what you mostly get is: 'I'm really excited about this person!' And then when you check in a week later, they're like, 'Who now?'' Right around this point in our interview, the 'Singles in America' finding started to sound a little concerning to me; love at first sight, however possible, didn't seem like something to bank on. I imagined a nation full of people going on first date after first date: thirsty people crawling on their hands and knees, longing for a feeling that only a fifth of Eastwick's participants experienced and that hadn't even kept them together. A world with this many first dates is not a world I want to live in. 'I'm screaming into the void, being like, 'Hey, everybody, there was a way we used to date,'' Eastwick told me. ''You just kind of hung out with people and saw what happened.'' Relative to our era of snap judgments, he said, the old way of dating was 'democratizing.' [Read: No, you shouldn't 'date 'em 'til you hate 'em'] But Gesselman remains optimistic. Online dating may have primed people to expect too much too soon, but at least it hasn't destroyed their romantic idealism. Ten trillion swipes later—I'm guesstimating—the 'Singles in America' participants haven't given up. 'The overwhelming majority of singles in our survey reported that they believe that love can last forever,' Gesselman told me. 'They believe there's someone out there for them.' Those ideas fit under an umbrella that psychologists call 'destiny beliefs,' a faith in predetermined bonds (as opposed to 'growth beliefs,' or the idea that a relationship requires maintenance and labor). Gesselman knows that such mystical thinking might set up unrealistic expectations. She also suspects that it can motivate people to commit to a relationship. Eastwick found that the participants who reported feeling the most romantic interest at the very start of a relationship also described feeling romantic interest for the longest amount of time. They were also less likely to have initiated the breakup. If you believe you've found your soulmate, after all, you might try especially hard to make it work. Love at first sight may be a high bar to clear. And holding such an ambitious standard could mean staying single for longer, or forever. But maybe fewer people these days are worried about that. Maybe they have full lives and want a relationship only if it's extraordinary. Partnership used to be a stricter societal norm than it is today; different possibilities for how to live a 'good life' are, little by little, opening up. Today's singles may know that love at first sight isn't all that likely. Perhaps more of them have the luxury of holding out for it anyway. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
The Growing Belief in ‘Love at First Sight'
The idea seems so old-fashioned, so sentimental: that you could fall for someone 'at first sight,' deeply and instantly. It's straight out of the classic romance dramas—Jack's gaze freezing when he sees Rose on the Titanic's deck; The Notebook 's Noah lighting up and asking, 'Who's this girl?' when he spies Allie across the amusement park. As a general rule, the stuff of popular love stories is not the stuff of real life. We know this, right? Not right, I guess. This year's 'Singles in America' survey —conducted annually by the dating company Match and the Kinsey Institute, and released today—found something surprising: Of the roughly 5,000 single American adults polled, 60 percent said they believe in love at first sight, a nearly 30 percent increase from 2014. Almost half of the respondents (people ages 18 to 98, from all over the country) said they'd experienced the phenomenon themselves. I didn't expect this, not only because the validity of the concept has been questioned for years, but also because it's such a dreamily romantic notion—a hopeful one, really. And these days, the common narrative about dating (and what I've found, to some degree, in my own reporting) is that many people are burned out, tired of the apps, and generally feeling pessimistic. This spike in belief even startled some of the researchers: Amanda Gesselman, a Kinsey Institute psychologist, told me that the results 'sort of blew me away.' But once Gesselman stepped back and thought about the finding, she said, it made some sense to her. In 2014, dating apps were relatively new. Couples tended to meet through friends or family; people would get to know each other for a while before pairing off. In more recent years, Gesselman has consistently found that swipe-based dating apps are the main way that partners meet—across age, gender, race, income, and geographic region. That style of dating has people in the habit of making quick calls, judging whether they have chemistry with a stranger after just one date. Paul Eastwick, a UC Davis psychologist who studies romantic attraction and wasn't involved with the survey, told me the same thing: 'Online dating has a lot of 'We met—no. We met—no. We met—no. We met—no. We met—oh, that was a good one!'' In other words, the slow burn has become less common. Instead, two other experiences may have become more common: the plainly bad first date, where a lack of connection is immediately apparent; and the kind of date about which a person might one day say: 'We knew right away.' Whether that latter scenario is truly love at first sight depends on what you mean by love —and, okay, also what you mean by sight. Eastwick has found that some people do feel strongly about a romantic prospect from the get-go: if not at first glance, then straight from the point of a first conversation. And when things click, he said, those feelings can run deeper than physical attraction. (If love at first sight was just thinking someone was hot, I'd experience it every day walking down the streets of New York City.) In a 2018 study of undergraduate students, Eastwick asked participants to reflect on their past relationships and describe how they'd felt at different points over the course of their time with their former partners. About a fifth of people said they'd been smitten upon meeting; they'd felt an instant bond, found some niche shared interest, couldn't stop talking. To be fair, that's the same portion of people who felt 'when I first met this person, I thought they were trash'—Eastwick's words, not mine! Nonetheless, he concluded that something like love at first sight, though not the norm, 'is real. It happens.' Of course, these were prior relationships; evidently, falling in love quickly doesn't mean that a relationship is going to last. What psychologists refer to as 'passionate love' —the buzzy, dizzying rush of early infatuation; the feeling of craving, even addiction—is neurologically distinct from 'compassionate love,' which tends to set in after a year or two and doesn't involve the same elevated cortisol and serotonin levels. And besides, maybe the participants who reported experiencing love at first sight were simply projecting that narrative retroactively. Capturing people's feelings in real time, as they first get together, is difficult, Eastwick said. He has tried asking participants in other studies to tell him as soon as they've met someone promising—and they have. But, he said, 'what you mostly get is: 'I'm really excited about this person!' And then when you check in a week later, they're like, 'Who now?'' Right around this point in our interview, the 'Singles in America' finding started to sound a little concerning to me; love at first sight, however possible, didn't seem like something to bank on. I imagined a nation full of people going on first date after first date: thirsty people crawling on their hands and knees, longing for a feeling that only a fifth of Eastwick's participants experienced and that hadn't even kept them together. A world with this many first dates is not a world I want to live in. 'I'm screaming into the void, being like, 'Hey, everybody, there was a way we used to date,'' Eastwick told me. ''You just kind of hung out with people and saw what happened.'' Relative to our era of snap judgments, he said, the old way of dating was 'democratizing.' But Gesselman remains optimistic. Online dating may have primed people to expect too much too soon, but at least it hasn't destroyed their romantic idealism. Ten trillion swipes later—I'm guesstimating—the 'Singles in America' participants haven't given up. 'The overwhelming majority of singles in our survey reported that they believe that love can last forever,' Gesselman told me. 'They believe there's someone out there for them.' Those ideas fit under an umbrella that psychologists call 'destiny beliefs,' a faith in predetermined bonds (as opposed to 'growth beliefs,' or the idea that a relationship requires maintenance and labor). Gesselman knows that such mystical thinking might set up unrealistic expectations. She also suspects that it can motivate people to commit to a relationship. Eastwick found that the participants who reported feeling the most romantic interest at the very start of a relationship also described feeling romantic interest for the longest amount of time. They were also less likely to have initiated the breakup. If you believe you've found your soulmate, after all, you might try especially hard to make it work. Love at first sight may be a high bar to clear. And holding such an ambitious standard could mean staying single for longer, or forever. But maybe fewer people these days are worried about that. Maybe they have full lives and want a relationship only if it's extraordinary. Partnership used to be a stricter societal norm than it is today; different possibilities for how to live a 'good life' are, little by little, opening up. Today's singles may know that love at first sight isn't all that likely. Perhaps more of them have the luxury of holding out for it anyway.
