One in four marriages will end within the first three years. New research from the University of Rochester may help newlyweds beat the odds. According to the study, which was published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, couples can dramatically reduce the likelihood of divorce by watching five movies about long-term relationships.

In the study, 174 couples watched five movies depicting long-term relationships over the course of a month. By simply viewing and discussing well-known titles, including Gone With the Wind, She’s Having a Baby, Indecent Proposal, and Move Over, Darling, newlyweds decreased their chances of divorce from 24% to 11% over three years, researchers said. The couples chose from a list of 47 movies. The University of Rochester added to the list, tacking on more recent pictures, like American Beauty, Her, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and The Notebook.

Moreover, the study confirms that the movie nights are just as effective as marriage preparation classes and counselor-administered couples’ therapy. “The results suggest that husbands and wives have a pretty good sense of what they might be doing right and wrong in their relationships. Thus, you might not need to teach them a whole lot of skills to cut the divorce rate. You might just need to get them to think about how they are currently behaving. And for five movies to give us a benefit over three years—that is awesome,” said Ronald Rogge, head author of the study and Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Rochester.

Increased self-awareness may be all that’s necessary to hold marriages together, Rogge adds. “The sad truth is that when life knocks you down, you come home and the people you are most likely to lash out at in frustration are the ones you love the most. For these couples to stop and look and say, ‘You know, I have yelled at you like that before. I have called you names before and that’s not nice. That’s not what I want to do to the person I love the most.’”

The findings may not simply preserve marriage, but also promote overall happiness and well-being. Although 95% of marriages end with a distinct settlement or division of assets, the process is not as easy as that data might suggest. Divorced partners continue to feel negative effects years later. “Waite and co-author Mary Elizabeth Hughes, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, found that divorced or widowed people have 20 percent more chronic health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes or cancer than married people,” CNN reports.

The University of Rochester research is generating a lot of excitement. Instead of devoting at least 20 hours a month to marriage skills-building programs, couples can set aside enough time to watch five major motion pictures. Watching movies is just as effective “plus a whole lot cheaper, and probably more fun,” The Radio Times adds. Rogge explains that introverted couples are also much more likely to benefit from film-based discussion: “Watching a movie together and having a discussion, that’s not so scary. It’s less pathologizing, less stigmatizing.”

Rogge plans to continue studying long-term relationships, marriage, and the therapeutic promise of film. Couples can enroll in a follow-up study on Rogge’s website, www.couples-research.com, or simply try the movie discussions at home using interactive tools, a list of discussion questions, and the University of Rochester’s list of recommended films (also available on the site).