Ryan Gosling’s Most Brutally Honest Love Story Is Quietly Streaming — And It’s Not The Notebook
Forget The Notebook — Ryan Gosling’s rawest romance is Blue Valentine, Derek Cianfrance’s intimate, heartbreaking portrait of love unraveling, now streaming on Fubo TV and available to rent on Prime Video.
If The Notebook turned Ryan Gosling into a swoon machine, Blue Valentine is the one that shows the bruises. Derek Cianfrance's 2010 gut-punch of a romance is back in the spotlight and streaming now. If you want a love story without the safety net, this is it.
Where to watch, what to know
- Now streaming on Fubo TV; available to rent on Prime Video (US).
- Directed by Derek Cianfrance; stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams as Dean and Cindy.
- Structure: a nonlinear back-and-forth between the early, giddy days and the later collapse of their marriage.
- Reception: critical favorite; Gosling scored a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor, and Williams landed an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
- Scores: IMDb 7.3/10, Rotten Tomatoes 87%.
Why it feels so painfully real
The movie isn't just tough to watch; by design, it was tough to make. Michelle Williams said on Armchair Expert in May 2025 that Cianfrance split production in two: they filmed the falling-in-love half first, then took a two-week break before shooting the difficult, falling-apart half.
During that break, Cianfrance told Williams and Gosling to live together on 'office hours' — roughly 9 to 5 — and improvise their way into friction. The goal was to undo the sweet chemistry they had built, on purpose. It wasn't the original plan, but the team realized they were struggling to play the ugliest parts of the relationship because they were still hanging on to the love story. Williams was blunt about the experience: it was horrible, and she didn't want to give Gosling reasons to hate her. The gamble paid off with her Oscar nomination and across-the-board praise for both leads.
Gosling on the vibe
Gosling has said the film doesn't make you hunt for authenticity — it soaks you in it. That pretty much sums up the experience: no glossy filters, just two people trying and failing to save something that used to be easy.
The almost-cast that changes the movie in your head
At the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, Channing Tatum revealed he was actually offered Dean before Gosling and turned it down because he was afraid of the role. He said Cianfrance believed in him early — off one of his first real acting gigs almost 20 years ago — but he couldn't take the leap at the time. Now, as the star of Cianfrance's 2025 film Roofman, he's a little wistful about it, while also giving Gosling his flowers for absolutely owning the part.
"I was absolutely terrified of that role specifically, and I didn't go."
Bottom line
Blue Valentine is the anti-fantasy romance: raw, intimate, and steadily devastating. If you can handle a slow heartbreak, queue it up on Fubo or rent it on Prime Video. And if you're a Notebook person, I'm genuinely curious — how does this one land for you?