Modern love in cinema: our favorite Oscar-worthy love stories

New York Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson has a theory about movies: They’re all about relationships. No matter how great the action, the tension and tension we experience when watching a movie is often really about the feelings between the characters.

But romantic relationships often fall back on old tropes, like the long-suffering wife of an ex-cop who can’t resist that one last, risky case. (We all know her; she leaves tearful voice messages urging him to be safe.) Some of this year’s Oscar-nominated films give us fresher portraits of love. Alissa and our host, Anna Martin, discuss the relationships that defy convention or easy definitions, forcing us to rethink how we think about human connection, in three of those films: ‘Poor Things’, ‘Maestro’ and ‘Past Lives’ .

Links to episode transcripts typically appear on these pages within a week.

Modern Love is hosted by Anna Martin and produced by Julia Botero, Christina Djossa, Reva Goldberg and Emily Lang. The show is edited by Paula Szuchman and Jen Poyant, our executive producer. The show is mixed by Daniel Ramirez and recorded by Maddy Masiello. It features original music by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, Pat McCusker, Elisheba Ittop and Diane Wong. Our theme music is by Dan Powell.

Special thanks to Kate LoPresti, Daniel Jones, Miya Lee, Mahima Chablani, Nell Gallogly, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Nina Lassam and Julia Simon.

Thoughts? Email us at modernlovepodcast@nytimes.com.

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