Modern Love, premiering on Amazon Prime Video October 18, is not as romantic as the star-studded trailer, featuring a moony-eyed Dev Patel and an Anne Hathaway meet-cute, wants you to believe. It’s even better.
Adapted from the New York Times’ weekly Modern Love column, each of the show’s eight episodes continue past where a rom-com might end. Modern Love is a show about complicated relationships — not a roadmap to a happy ending.
Modern Love is still romantic, though. As the hysteria over Fleabag season 2 proved, the most affecting depictions of love are often the messiest. What, then, does modern romance look like?
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At the Modern Love junket, Refinery29 asked stars Anne Hathaway, Gary Carr, Andrew Scott, Brandon Kyle Goodman, Cristin Milioti, and Laurentiu Possa the most romantic thing a person could do.
Though their characters’ journeys are incredibly varied, many of the actors gave the same answer — which is fitting for Modern Love. The weekly column takes many paths toward the same conclusion: Be kind to one another.
Here’s how the Modern Love cast members define the ultimate act of romance.
Anne Hathaway, "Take Me As I Am, Whoever I Am"
Most romantic thing a person can do: “Listen. Listen so well. Being listened to and having what you say be valued and remembered, it’s a life-changer. All of the things that don’t sound romantic become, over a long enough timeline, so precious. Being able to grow together is so hugely important.”
Gary Carr, "Take Me As I Am, Whoever I Am"
Most romantic thing a person can do: “Anyone that’s by your side and listening to you, committed to you, that’s the most romantic thing. I feel love the most that way.”
Andrew Scott, "Hers Was a World of One"
Most romantic thing a person can do: “I’m hopelessly romantic. Without genuinely sounding too sappy, [the most romantic thing a person can do] is to really listen. To really listen to what they’re saying.”
Brandon Kyle Goodman, "Hers Was a World of One"
Most romantic thing a person can do: “I’m hopelessly romantic. Without genuinely sounding too sappy, [the most romantic thing a person can do] is to really listen. To really listen to what they’re saying.”
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Cristin Milioti, "When the Doorman Is Your Main Man"
Most romantic thing a person can do: “Human to human, the best thing we can do is to listen to each other. Maybe if we did more of that, there would be more room for discourse, compassion, and less gripping onto ‘I’m right and you’re wrong.’”
Laurentiu Possa, "When the Doorman Is Your Main Man"
Most romantic thing a person can do: “This is the most romantic thing I’ve done for my wife. We were dating at the time. We were in a beautiful place. It was summer, evening. We were dancing. Earlier that day, she asked me to buy her a present. I bought her a bracelet. It was beautiful. We were dancing, and she said, ‘I want another present from you. You should know what I want from you.’ I didn’t know, then I realized. I said, ‘Close your eyes and turn around.’ She turned around and there was the full moon. And then we were married.”