Don Juan DeMarco (1995)

A young man in a cape and mask (Johnny Depp) insists he is Don Juan, the greatest lover in the world. Dr. Jack Mickler (Marlon Brando), a psychiatrist close to retirement, has ten days to evaluate him. Instead of medicating him, Mickler listens to the story of Don Juan’s adventures, and it begins to change his own marriage to Marilyn (Faye Dunaway).

What it shows about dating

DeMarco isn’t a technician. He has no routines. What women respond to is his total conviction and the way he gives each of them his full attention, speaking to her as someone special. The film is a romantic fable rather than a manual, but it makes one point clearly: attraction follows a man who is completely sure of what he feels and expresses it without apology.

What you can learn

• Give your full attention. Being really present with one person is rarer, and stronger, than any line.
• Commit to your own frame. Doubt is unattractive; conviction, even an eccentric one, draws people in.
• Romance isn’t dead in long relationships. Mickler’s marriage comes back to life when he starts treating his wife as someone worth courting.

The film is best read as an exaggeration of the master pick-up artist ideal, with a heart.