This just in — cuffing season has arrived, that time of year when everyone has seemingly acquired a boyfriend.
It can be an exhausting time of the year, from seeing people cling to their partner on your walk to class, to that obnoxious one-month anniversary post that makes you go, “What’s the big deal about four weeks of dating?” You can’t help but pity your single self.
While it’s usually seen as an achievement to get “cuffed” before the winter months, recent popular culture counters this idea, with a recently viral Vogue article reading, “Is having a boyfriend embarrassing now?” You might be better off facing the winter alone.
Although there is inevitable shame in not securing a boyfriend for the winter, these films will make you feel grateful for not falling into the obsessive trap that is love.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
You can’t help but think of the picturesque image of a lover saving you from your loneliness, but this film shows how it can bring disaster.
[Guillermo del Toro gives new life to ‘Frankenstein’ in latest adaptation]
Protagonists Clementine and Joel form a bond in their mutual distaste of life’s hardships, only to end up in a fatal heartbreak, culminating in a life-changing procedure to even attempt to move on from one another.
Seasonal depression is made a lot tougher while holding grudges against everyone who managed to secure a partner. But the thought of being enamored with someone to the point of needing all memories of them erased when it’s over is a little excessive, embarrassing even.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)
Nothing spells out yearning more than Bella Swan staring out her window as fall passes into winter with a panoramic view of her depressing bedroom, Edward Cullen nowhere in sight.
While uncomfortably relatable, a post-breakup Bella was the most down bad anyone has ever been in film history. I mean, she literally jumps off a cliff because she wants to be with Edward again.
While being single is nothing less than difficult during cuffing season’s peak, you’ll always be better off than Bella screaming every night in her sleep because her vampiric boyfriend left her. Her dad even told her she needed to move out!
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
No character more perfectly depicts the deadweight of boyfriends than Andrea Sachs.
She let her insecure loser chef boyfriend make her feel bad about … being employed!
[2026 Grammy nominations signal Recording Academy’s disconnect from pop culture]
Imagine working for the top fashion magazine under the final boss of micromanagement, wearing off-runway clothes to work every day and getting front row seats to Paris fashion week — all for your boyfriend to deem it laughable and claim you’re losing yourself to some vain industry.
Talk about traditional sexist standards.
Lost in Translation (2003)
It’s all smiley faces, loving hugs and dinner dates under ambient lighting for the couples on your Instagram feed, or is it?
While there’s no denying some people might truly find their soulmate, this sentiment is likely untrue for everyone. It’s definitely not true for just recently married Charlotte, whose insomnia is caused by nothing more than her insecurity in her relationship.
Unimpressed by the culturally immersive and scenic sights of Japan, Charlotte mopes around, letting her ignorant and workaholic husband ruin what could’ve been an amazing vacation.
Slightly biographical of how Sofia Coppola — the queen of sad girl films — felt in her first marriage, her storytelling excellently depicts uncertainty when Charlotte holds back tears while phoning a friend, trying to pretend she’s happy and unable to be honest about the mess that is her life.
Honestly? Not an entirely rare experience for those in relationships.
