Looking for movies like It Ends with Us? Here are 10 films with the same emotionally charged romantic drama.
Last updated Oct 1, 2026
The best movies like It Ends with Us are The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, and After. Each delivers the same emotional intensity.
Looking for movies like It Ends with Us? Here are 10 films with the same emotionally charged romantic drama. We picked each title based on shared tone, themes, and emotional feel.

The Notebook, adapted from Nicholas Sparks's novel, follows Noah and Allie, two young people from different social classes whose 1940s summer romance is torn apart, framed by an older man reading their story aloud to a woman in a nursing home. It shares It Ends with Us's theme of a first love that never quite fades. There is no abusive relationship at its center, though; the conflict comes from class and family disapproval. It is a more classic, sweeping tearjerker.

A Walk to Remember stars Mandy Moore as Jamie, a minister's daughter, and Shane West as Landon, a troubled popular boy who falls for her after he is forced into school activities. Like It Ends with Us, it is an earnest romance that changes a character's life and builds toward heartbreak. It is much gentler and more innocent, a small-town teen story with faith and family at its heart, and it handles its sorrow without any of the darker relationship themes.

After follows Tessa, a studious college freshman who becomes involved with Hardin, a moody, secretive classmate, in a relationship marked by jealousy and hurt. It connects to It Ends with Us through its look at a consuming romance that is not always good for the woman in it. The difference is how each story frames that. After is more of a glossy young-adult romance that leans into the allure of the bad boy, while It Ends with Us pointedly examines the cost of staying.

Fifty Shades of Grey follows Anastasia Steele, a college student who becomes involved with Christian Grey, a wealthy, controlling businessman with very specific desires. Like It Ends with Us, it is a hugely popular book adaptation about a woman drawn to a magnetic, powerful man with a darker side. The emphasis is erotic rather than dramatic, and the film treats the relationship more as fantasy, without the clear-eyed focus on abuse that defines Lily's story.

Me Before You stars Emilia Clarke as Lou, a cheerful young woman hired as a caregiver for Will, a wealthy man paralyzed in an accident, played by Sam Claflin. It shares It Ends with Us's mix of romance and emotional devastation, and both follow a woman whose life is transformed by a relationship. The heartbreak here comes from illness and a painful decision about the future rather than from a partner's behavior, so it plays as a bittersweet love story.

Purple Hearts follows Cassie, a struggling musician, and Luke, a Marine, who agree to a marriage of convenience for military benefits and gradually develop real feelings. It connects to It Ends with Us through its romance between people from very different backgrounds and its heavy emotional turns. The setup is closer to a classic fake-relationship story, and the tension comes from politics, money and family, so it plays as a hopeful romance rather than a cautionary one.

The Fault in Our Stars follows Hazel and Gus, two teenagers who meet at a cancer support group and fall in love. Fans of It Ends with Us who want an emotional, cathartic cry will find it here, along with a heroine who narrates her own story with honesty. The source of pain is entirely different, as this is a story about illness and mortality, not a harmful relationship. It is younger in feel and full of witty banter.

Beautiful Disaster follows Abby, a college freshman trying to leave her past behind, who is drawn to Travis, a tattooed underground fighter with a reputation for trouble. It shares the territory of It Ends with Us in its intense, volatile romance between a determined young woman and a man with a temper. The film is a lighter, more playful campus romance that treats the bad-boy appeal as fun, so it lacks the serious reckoning that gives Lily's story its weight.

If I Stay stars Chloe Grace Moretz as Mia, a gifted cellist who is left in a coma after a car accident and reflects on her family and her relationship with her boyfriend, Adam. Like It Ends with Us, it moves between past and present to show how a love story shaped its heroine. The emotional pull comes from grief and a choice between life and death rather than abuse, making it more of a reflective, music-filled teen drama.

Twilight follows Bella Swan, a teenager who moves to rainy Forks, Washington, and falls for Edward Cullen, a mysterious classmate who turns out to be a vampire. It belongs here as the film that defined intense, all-consuming romance for a generation, the same kind of devotion It Ends with Us interrogates. It is a supernatural fantasy with a teen audience in mind, so the danger is literal and the love story is mostly treated as destiny rather than examined critically.
It Ends with Us, adapted from Colleen Hoover's novel, follows Lily Bloom, played by Blake Lively, as a passionate romance with neurosurgeon Ryle turns into a story about domestic abuse, while her first love, Atlas, reappears. Fans respond to its emotional intensity and the way it complicates a swoony love story. Our picks cover several sides of that. After, Fifty Shades of Grey and Beautiful Disaster explore intense, sometimes unhealthy relationships. The Notebook and A Walk to Remember deliver classic tearjerker romance, while Me Before You and The Fault in Our Stars go for heartbreak through illness and loss. Twilight remains the gateway intense romance.