TV series and films that immediately evoke the feeling of autumn Autumn is not a season, it is an aesthetic
The first of September doesn’t just mark the end of summer: it’s a kind of emotional New Year. The sea starts to feel like a memory, supermarkets fill up with pens and notebooks, and even those who no longer study sense that familiar nostalgia of the "first day of school." You don’t need yellow leaves to feel it: just a sweatshirt, a new planner, and the desire to start over slowly. It’s in this suspended transition that the irresistible craving for comfort screen kicks in: stories that wrap us like a light blanket, carrying the warmth of the first teas, the slow rhythm of rain on windows, and that melancholy which, let’s admit it, sometimes feels sweeter than any summer rom-com.
The fall 2025 rewatches
The comfort zone: Stars Hollow and beyond
The show that embodies the season more than any other is Gilmore Girls. It’s not just a TV series: it’s a collective ritual, a mood, almost an art form. The town festivals in Stars Hollow, the steaming cups of coffee, the oversized sweaters, and the lightning-fast dialogues of Rory and Lorelai: every September rewatch feels like coming home. It’s the series that most reminds us that fall is about rhythm and ritual, not just weather.
The season of introspection
Fall isn’t only about comfort: it’s also the season that invites us to look within. Movies like "Dead Poets Society" (the charm of schoolrooms steeped in poetry and tragedy) or "Good Will Hunting" (between genius, pain, and academic redemption) carry the same emotional density as the shortening days. These are stories that work best with the rarefied September light, when we allow ourselves not to have immediate answers and linger in the questions. Watching them now feels like opening a diary with blank pages left unwritten in June.
September as a new beginning
Fall is also the time of new beginnings. It’s no coincidence that so many films and series set in schools and universities focus on this very moment of the year: restarting, anticipating, testing oneself. "Mona Lisa Smile," with Julia Roberts challenging conventions in a women’s college, embodies the energy of transformation. Just like "Little Women" in Greta Gerwig’s version, which evokes lit fireplaces, handwritten projects, and dreams that ripen slowly, like late-season fruit. One of the most beautiful films of recent years: just keep tissues close at hand.
The autumn playlist of romantic cinema
And then there’s New York, the city that becomes the absolute protagonist in autumn. "When Harry Met Sally" is the perfect celebration: Central Park glowing orange, sparkling dialogue, and the certainty that some stories need the right time, just like chestnut season. The same goes for “You’ve Got Mail,” which today carries the nostalgic flavor of the early days of email, love letters disguised as pixels, and a Manhattan dressed in coats, independent bookstores, and fallen leaves. Let’s admit that, through today’s lens, the love story it tells isn’t exactly healthy, but it’s still worth watching, even if only with a critical eye.
Autumn as training for change
Cinema and series help us give shape to life’s transitions. Autumn, with its melancholic yet beautiful aesthetic, reminds us that change is inevitable. The leaves fall, the days shorten, the planners fill up. There’s nothing to fear: pop culture has given us enough comfort screens to make this passage not only bearable, but even desirable.
Halloween on the horizon
And then comes the most delightful part of the season: Halloween which, even if it’s a commercial holiday, still gives us good vibes. September sets the stage, but October brings the magic (and a touch of spookiness) to our screens. Series like "Stranger Things," with the orange glow of pumpkins and childhood fears lurking around the corner, or movies like "Hocus Pocus," have defined an era. In short, whatever your mood, autumn is coming.
