Lonely Planet: The Older Woman Renaissance Continues
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1 month ago
This Netflix film is the latest in an intriguing trend
Older women are finally getting their time in the limelight, after generations of shunning once an actress exceeds 40 years old. As Kirsten Dunst said earlier this year, promoting Civil War: ‘I haven’t worked in two years. [After The Power of the Dog], every role I was being offered was the sad mom.’ And Civil War was certainly a step change: she portrayed photojournalist Lee Smith, who regularly risks her life covering a war zone. Just a month earlier, Amanda Seyfried spoke to the same trend: ‘It seems like once I popped out a baby, I was just playing mothers, and that’s Hollywood for you.’
But a certain genre seems to have bucked the trend in 2024: the rom-com. With a plethora of films centring on an older woman in an age gap relationship with a younger man released just this year, it’s practically a renaissance. After The Idea of You and A Family Affair, the latest is Lonely Planet. Here’s what to expect from that film, plus 10 more feel-good films like it to watch afterwards (we’ve excluded the horrors and thrillers, we hope for obvious reasons).
Older Woman Age Gap Movies
Lonely Planet (2024)
Starring Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth, Lonely Planet centres on a reclusive novelist (Dern) who arrives at a prestigious writer’s retreat in Morocco, hoping the remote setting will defeat her writer’s block. While there, she meets a young man (Hemsworth), and what starts as an acquaintanceship evolves into an intoxicating, life-altering love affair.
Lonely Planet is free to watch with a Netflix subscription.
The Idea Of You (2024)
Based on Robinne Lee’s novel of the same name, The Idea of You stars Anne Hathaway as a 40-year-old single mum who begins an all-consuming yet unexpected romance with a 24-year-old boy band singer (Nicholas Galitzine).
The Idea of You is free to watch with a Prime Video subscription.
A Family Affair (2024)
In a similar vein, A Family Affair stars Nicole Kidman as a widowed writer and single mum who strikes up a surprising romance with a younger, arrogant movie star (Zac Efron) – who also happens to be the boss of her daughter (Joey King).
If you’re a Kidman fan, keep your eyes peeled for Babygirl (coming at the end of 2024), in which she stars as a high-powered CEO who embarks on a forbidden romance with a young intern (Harris Dickinson).
A Family Affair is free to watch with a Netflix subscription.
Good Luck To You, Leo Grande (2022)
Daryl McCormack’s breakout role came in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, a 2022 sex dramady that just pipped this whole trend to the post. Directed by Sophie Hyde and written by Katy Brand, the film stars Emma Thompson as a widower who has never had an orgasm and has vowed never again to fake one. She hired a young sex worker (McCormack) to help her experience pleasurable sex.
Rent Good Luck to You, Leo Grande for £3.49 on Prime Video.
The Dressmaker (2015)
Before Liam Hemsworth featured as the younger man in Lonely Planet, he starred opposite Kate Winslet in The Dressmaker. The film centres on Tilly (Winslet), a beautiful dressmaker who returns to her hometown in Australia and captures the attention of multiple men, including younger man Teddy (Hemsworth). Perhaps the least cheery film on this list – you’ve been warned.
Rent The Dressmaker for £3.49 on Apple TV.
The Proposal (2009)
One of the stealthier older woman age gap movies is The Proposal, where the protagonists’ ages are never really in question. The Proposal stars Sandra Bullock, 12 years older than her love interest played by Ryan Reynolds. Bullock plays a high powered editor at a publishing firm, and convinces her assistant (Reynolds) to marry her in order to avoid deportation to Canada.
The Proposal is free to watch with a Disney+ subscription.
I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007)
Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd join forces in this rom-com directed by Amy Heckerling (starring a young Saorise Ronan as Pfeiffer’s teenage daughter, might we add). I Could Never Be Your Woman centres on divorced 45-year-old woman called Rosie, who is raising her 13-year-old daughter Izzie (Ronan) alone. Rosie is insecure about her age and uses cosmetics to maintain her appearance, but age doesn’t bother love interest Adam (Rudd).
I Could Never Be Your Woman is free to watch with a Prime Video subscription.
The Graduate (1967)
When it comes to older woman age gap movies, The Graduate is a classic of the genre – and the root of the ‘Mrs Robinson’ trope. The Graduate was scandalous when Charles Webb published it in 1963, salacious still when Mike Nichols transformed it into a movie in 1967, and remains a cultural touch stone even now. Launching the career of Dustin Hoffman and soundtracked by Simon & Garfunkel, the film centres on Benjamin Braddock (Hoffman), a young man who loses all sense of purpose after graduating from university. Returning home to live with his parents, he embarks on a spontaneous, ill-advised affair with his parents’ friend, Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft).
The Graduate is free to watch with a Prime Video subscription.
How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)
Angela Bassett shines as the lead in How Stella Got Her Groove Back, a rom-com centred on high powered stock broker Stella. So busy with work and life (Stella is a single mum to an 11-year-old son) she’s almost forgotten to live. Stella takes herself off on a trip to Jamaica, which turns into a voyage of self discovery. She also finds love – with a man 20 years her junior (Taye Diggs).
How Stella Got Her Groove Back is free to watch with a Disney+ subscription.
Harold and Maud (1971)
This is more of an extreme case… Harold and Maud centres on the titular unlikely duo. Harold (Bud Cort) is a young man obsessed with death, driving a hearse, attending funerals for people he doesn’t know and even staging elaborate fake suicides. One day, he meets 79-year-old Maude (Ruth Gordon) at a funeral and is entranced by her carefree outlook on life. As the duo grow closer, their friendship blossoms into romance.
Rent Harold and Maud for £3.49 on Prime Video.
