Watching a film that examined the complexities of marriage and discussing the issues together as a couple can be just as effective at curbing divorce rates as traditional marriage counseling methods, Newsmax Health reports.

The findings, published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, show that the movie method helped cut the divorce rate of newlywed couples from 24 percent to 11 percent at the three-year mark -- the same success rate as supervised sessions conducted by trained therapists.

"Taking time to sit down and take an objective look at your relationship with your partner is going to be helpful for any couple at any stage,” said study lead author Ronald Rogge in a statement.

“They can make it a yearly thing they do around their anniversary -- watch a movie together and talk about it."

For the study, 174 couples were divided into three groups and underwent various marriage counseling methods. Couples in the movie group were sent home with a list of film titles and instructed to watch one film a week. Using a questionnaire, participants were then asked to talk about the marital issues presented in the film and relate them back to their coupledom.

Try out the method yourself using the movies from the study:

A Star Is Born

Adam’s Rib

Anna Karenina

Days of Wine and Roses

Forget Paris

French Twist

Funny Girl

Gone with the Wind

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Hanover Street

Husbands and Wives

Indecent Proposal

Jungle Fever

Love Jones

Love Story

Made for Each Other

Mississippi Masala

Move Over, Darling

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dreamhouse

My Favorite Wife

Nina Takes a Lover

Nine Months

On Golden Pond

Pat and Mike

Penny Serenade

Pfft!

Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker

She’s Having a Baby

Steel Magnolias

Terms of Endearment

The Devil’s Advocate

The Egg and I

The Male Animal

The Out of Towners

The Thin Man

The Way We Were

Untamed Heart

When a Man Loves a Woman

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf

Yours, Mine and Ours

What main problem(s) did this couple face? Are any of these similar to the problems that the two of you have faced or might face as a couple?

Did the couple have a strong friendship with each other? Were they able to support each other through bad moods, stressful days, and hard times? Did they listen to each other like good friends? Did the couple in the movie do considerate or affectionate things for each other?

In what way was this relationship similar to or different from your own relationship in this area?