Best movies like Promise at Dawn
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
From his childhood in Poland to his adolescence in Nice to his years as a student in Paris and his tough training as a pilot during World War II, this tragi-comedy tells the romantic story of Romain Gary, one of the most famous French novelists and sole writer to have won the Goncourt Prize for French literature two times.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance, War
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: touching, lyrical, tragic ending, fairy tale, art house
Best tv shows and movies like Promise at Dawn (2017):
Similar in 88%
Lisa (2001)
Plot Summary:
Stumbling across an uncompleted 1939 film called "Princess Marushka", filmmaker Sam becomes intrigued with the young actor Sylvain Marceau, who last appeared in the film. Hoping to discover the mystery behind Sylvain's disappearance, Sam decides to make a documentary and sets off to interview those who knew Sylvain, including elderly Lisa Morain. Through her interview, Sam learns the story of Lisa and Sylvain's doomed love affair on the eve of World War II.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 206
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: France, Switzerland
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 86%
The Origin of Violence (2016)
Plot Summary:
A French teacher makes a startling discovery while on a trip to Buchenwald.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 121
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Germany
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: psychological, exciting, romantic, touching, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 88%
Lost Illusions (2021)
Plot Summary:
Taking place between the years 1837 and 1843, Balzac’s classic novel focuses on the young poet Lucien de Rubempré, who leaves Angouleme for Paris in the pursuit of becoming an author.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 149 min
Plot tags: art house
Similar in 77%
Antonieta (1982)
Plot Summary:
Anna is a psychologist undertaking research about famous suicidal women. She takes a specific interest in the case of Antonieta Rivas Mercado, who killed herself in 1931 in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 396
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: France, Mexico, Spain
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Marcel Proust's Time Regained (1999)
Plot Summary:
Marcel Proust (1871-1922) is on his deathbed. Looking at photographs brings memories of his childhood, his youth, his lovers, and the way the Great War put an end to a stratum of society. His memories are in no particular order, they move back and forth in time. Marcel at various ages interacts with Odette, with the beautiful Gilberte and her doomed husband, with the pleasure-seeking Baron de Charlus, with Marcel's lover Albertine, and with others; present also in memory are Marcel's beloved mother and grandmother. It seems as if to live is to remember and to capture memories is to create a work of great art. The memories parallel the final volume of Proust's novel.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: France, Italy, Portugal
Duration: 169 min
Plot tags: philosophical, atmospheric, spiritual, psychological, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, crying, intellectual
Similar in 87%
Our Patriots (2017)
Plot Summary:
After the French defeat of summer 1940, Addi Ba, a young Senegalese rifleman escapes and hides in the Vosges. Aided by some villagers, he gets false documents that allow him to live openly.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 299
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspense, suspenseful, tense, touching, captivating
Similar in 84%
Balzac: A Passionate Life (1999)
Plot Summary:
He burned with ambition. He lusted for life. He lived for passion. This is the sprawling saga of Honoré de Balzac (Gérard Depardieu), a man who created a great literary oeuvre from the dramas and adventures of his own life - a life that he shaped into one spectacular and unforgettable blaze of passion. At the heart of the story are the women in Balzac's life. Although gruff, unsophisticated, and far from handsome, Balzac exerts an irresistible fascination on women.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 648
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: France, Italy, Germany
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: clever, serious, realistic, contemplative, stylized, crying
Similar in 81%
The Last Metro (1980)
Plot Summary:
In occupied Paris, an actress married to a Jewish theater owner must keep him hidden from the Nazis while doing both of their jobs.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: France
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: sincere, art house, thought provoking, manga, anthology, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 85%
Free Men (2011)
Plot Summary:
In Paris during WWII, an Algerian immigrant is inspired to join the resistance by his unexpected friendship with a Jewish man. Based on not very known facts about the Muslim community in Paris during WWII, when the Paris Mosque and its dynamic leader played a pivotal role in supporting the resistance and rescuing Jews.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: France
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 76%
At First Sight (1983)
Plot Summary:
In 1942 in occupied France, a Jewish refugee marries a soldier to escape deportation to Germany. Meanwhile a wealthy art student loses her first husband to a stray Resistance bullet; at the Liberation she meets an actor, gets pregnant, and marries him. Lena and Madeleine meet at their children's school in Lyon in 1952 and the intensity of their relationship strains both their marriages to the breaking point.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, queer cinema
Similar in 81%
Memoir of War (2017)
Plot Summary:
June 1944, France is still under the German Occupation. The writer Robert Antelme, major figure of the Resistance, is arrested and deported. His young wife, Marguerite, writer and resistant, was torn by the anguish of not having her news and her secret liaison with her comrade Dyonis. She met a French agent of the Gestapo, Rabier, and, ready to do anything to find her husband, tested an ambiguous relationship with this troubled man, only to be able to help him.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: France, Belgium, Switzerland
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: romantic, heartbreaking, serious, melancholic, realistic, factual, compassionate, retro
Similar in 83%
My Wife Is an Actress (2001)
Plot Summary:
My Wife is an Actress is a French Romantic Comedy/Drama film starring real life couple Yvan Attal and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Attal plays a journalist who becomes obsessively jealous when his actress wife gets a part in a movie with an attractive co-star. Attal also wrote and directed the film.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: melancholic, disturbing, stylized, touching, semi serious, humorous, witty, erotic, romantic comedy, clever
Similar in 83%
The Americanization of Emily (1964)
Plot Summary:
During the build-up to D-Day in 1944, the British found their island hosting many thousands of American soldiers who were "oversexed, overpaid, and over here". That's Charlie Madison exactly; he knows all the angles to make life as smooth and risk-free as possible for himself. But things become complicated when he falls for an English woman, and his commanding officer's nervous breakdown leads to Charlie being sent on a senseless and dangerous mission.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, realistic, witty, funny, black and white, cute, humorous, semi serious, sentimental, light
Similar in 84%
The Land Girls (1998)
Plot Summary:
During World War II, the organisation "The Women's Land Army" recruited women to work on British farms while the men were off to war. Three such "land girls" of different social backgrounds - quiet Stella, young hairdresser Prue, and Cambridge graduate Ag - become best friends in spite of their different backgrounds.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK, France
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: period piece, sentimental, touching, realistic, retro, anamorphic, historical drama, sincere, serious, crying
Similar in 87%
A Hidden Life (2019)
Plot Summary:
The Austrian Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector, refuses to fight for the Nazis in World War II and is executed by them in 1943. Opening at Jägerstätter’s home in Austria’s countryside, the film follows Franz and his wife, Fani, along their path of resistance. Told through real wartime letters, this love story finds the couple in conflict with the members of their close-knit town, their church, their government, and even their friends — all of which brings them to a dramatic choice.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA, UK, Germany
Duration: 174 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, political, romantic, captivating, disturbing, retro, philosophical, sexy, depressing
Similar in 89%
Bethune: The Making of a Hero (1990)
Plot Summary:
True story of Norman Bethune, a medical doctor who fought for justice in China during Mao's rise to power.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 407
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance, War
Country: Canada, China, France
Duration: 168 min
Plot tags: realistic, thought provoking, serious, epic, exciting, suspense, independent film, tense, sincere, uplifting
Similar in 81%
Frantz (2016)
Plot Summary:
In the aftermath of WWI, a young German who grieves the death of her fiancé in France meets a mysterious French man who visits the fiance’s grave to lay flowers.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: France, Germany
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, black and white, inspirational, captivating, romantic, sexy, independent film, postmodern, costume drama
Similar in 83%
Safe Conduct (2002)
Plot Summary:
The film is about the French film industry from 1942 to 1944 during the Nazi occupation. The film focuses on assistant director and resistance fighter Jean Devaivre and screenwriter Jean Aurenche. Aurenche is on the move so that he doesn't have to write anything collaborationist. Devaivre is in dangerous political activity. Devaivre also works for the German production company Continental where he is respected. On the other hand, Aurenche's scriptwriting doesn't help how he lives and he is a womanizer which causes him to procrastinate.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: France, Germany, Spain
Duration: 170 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, emotional, suspenseful, uplifting, thought provoking, serious, realistic, contemplative, epic
Similar in 77%
Good (2008)
Plot Summary:
The rise of national socialism in Germany should not be regarded as a conspiracy of madmen. Millions of "good" people found themselves in a society spiralling into terrible chaos. A film about then, which illuminates the terrors of now.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK, Germany
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, disturbing, captivating, christian film, retro, political, sad, period piece, romantic drama
Similar in 75%
De Gaulle (2020)
Plot Summary:
Paris, June 1940. The de Gaulle couple is confronted with the military and political collapse of France. Charles de Gaulle joins London while Yvonne, his wife, finds herself with her three children on the road of the exodus.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: France
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: captivating, suspense, suspenseful, psychological, exciting, tense, interesting
Similar in 78%
The Officers' Ward (2001)
Plot Summary:
The first days of WWI. Adrien, a young and handsome lieutenant, is wounded by a piece of shrapnel. He will spend the entire wartime at the Val-de-Grâce Hospital, in Paris. Five long years, and his life will change forever.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: France
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, serious, psychological, realistic, disturbing, romantic, contemplative, period drama
Similar in 79%
The Railway Man (2013)
Plot Summary:
A victim from World War II's "Death Railway" sets out to find those responsible for his torture. A true story.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 42000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance, War
Country: Switzerland, UK, Australia
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: intense, emotional, captivating, inspirational, romantic, touching, epic, dramatic, historical drama, realistic
Similar in 82%
Tolkien (2019)
Plot Summary:
England, early 20th century. The future writer and philologist John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) and three of his schoolmates create a strong bond between them as they share the same passion for literature and art, a true fellowship that strengthens as they grow up, but the outbreak of World War I threatens to shatter it.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 45000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: bleak, suspense, suspenseful, rough, inspirational, retro, atmospheric, touching, feel good, period drama
Similar in 83%
An Impossible Love (2018)
Plot Summary:
Spans the period from 1958 to the present day and tells the story of an unconditional love between a mother and her daughter which is endangered by an unsteady and manipulative father.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: sincere, psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 80%
The Soul Keeper (2002)
Plot Summary:
In the present days, Maria Spielrein and Fraser are in Russia making a research about the life of Sabina Spielrein. In the beginning of the Twentieth Century, this Russian girl was a patient treated by Dr. Jung and later they fall in love for each other and Sabina became his lover. While the researchers read the documents, the romance between Sabina and Dr. Jung is disclosed, in a time of revolution and war.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance, War
Country: Italy, France, UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, serious, captivating, sexual, neurotic, erotic, spiritual, art house, epic
Similar in 77%
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)
Plot Summary:
Free-spirited writer Juliet Ashton forms a life-changing bond with the delightful and eccentric Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, when she decides to write about the book club they formed during the occupation of Guernsey in WWII.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 51000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK, France, USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: touching, romantic, uplifting, sincere, period piece, costume drama, feel good, sweet, historical drama, motivational
Similar in 89%
Fateless (2005)
Plot Summary:
An Hungarian youth comes of age at Buchenwald during World War II. György Köves is 14, the son of a merchant who's sent to a forced labor camp. After his father's departure, György gets a job at a brickyard; his bus is stopped and its Jewish occupants sent to camps. There, György find camaraderie, suffering, cruelty, illness, and death. He hears advice on preserving one's dignity and self-esteem. He discovers hatred. If he does survive and returns to Budapest, what will he find? What is natural; what is it to be a Jew? Sepia, black and white, and color alternate to shade the mood.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Hungary, Germany, UK, Israel, France, USA
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, disturbing, emotional, realistic, gloomy, retro, touching, educational, sad
Similar in 88%
The Truce (1997)
Plot Summary:
Although liberated from Auschwitz on January 27, 1945, Levi did not reach Turin until October 19 of that year. After spending some time in a Soviet camp for former concentration camp inmates, he embarked on an arduous journey home in the company of Italian former prisoners of war from the Italian Army in Russia. His long railway journey home to Turin took him on a circuitous route from Poland, through Russia, Romania, Hungary, Austria and Germany.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: sincere, historical drama, uplifting, bleak, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 81%
A Bag of Marbles (2017)
Plot Summary:
In occupied France, Maurice and Joseph, two young Jewish brothers left to their own devices demonstrate an incredible amount of cleverness, courage, and ingenuity to escape the enemy invasion and to try to reunite their family once again.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: France, Canada, Czech Republic
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, art film
Similar in 75%
Violette (2013)
Plot Summary:
Born out of wedlock early in the last century, Violette Leduc meets Simone de Beauvoir in postwar Saint-Germain-des-Près. An intense lifelong relationship develops between the two women authors, based on Violette's quest for freedom through writing and on Simone's conviction that she holds in her hands the destiny of an extraordinary writer.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, sincere, serious, psychological, intellectual, heartbreaking, existential, crying, queer cinema