Best movies like The Bookshop
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Set in an small English town in 1959, the story of a woman who decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, to open a bookshop, a decision which becomes a political minefield.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Spain, Germany, France
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: tense, sincere, thought provoking, captivating, intellectual, slasher, art house, period piece, costume drama, novela
Best tv shows and movies like The Bookshop (2017):
Similar in 75%
Woman of the Ganges (1974)
Plot Summary:
A man returns to the place he once lived a passionate love affair with a woman who is now dead. So powerful are the emotions that seize him that he imagines she is still alive, and begins to live as if this were the case.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 153
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: avant garde
Similar in 84%
On the Beach at Night Alone (2017)
Plot Summary:
An actress wanders around a seaside town, pondering her relationship with a married man.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea, Germany
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: melancholic, sincere, captivating, disturbing, atmospheric, realistic, art house, existential, poetic, semi autobiographical
Similar in 83%
Manifesto (2015)
Plot Summary:
An outstanding tribute to various (art) manifestos of the nineteenth and twentieth century, ranging from Communism to Dogme, in connection with thirteen different characters, including a homeless man, a factory worker and a corporate CEO, who are all played by Cate Blanchett. A striking humorous audio-visual experience.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: art house, psychological, captivating, social, disturbing, philosophical, surreal, visual, avant garde, weird
Similar in 76%
The Lesson (2014)
Plot Summary:
An honest, hard-working schoolteacher in a small Bulgarian town is driven to desperate measures to avoid financial ruin.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Bulgaria, Greece
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, spiritual, independent film, touching, no music
Similar in 76%
Silence in Dreamland (2013)
Plot Summary:
After the death of her husband, silence and loneliness reign in this old lady's house. She made routine her best friend and faith her shelter. Only in her dreams she runs away from those four walls to a timeless magic land where the sea speaks without using words. Her days go by like this; between the real life and dreams… until a street dog comes to her door.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 47
Genere: Drama
Country: Ecuador, Germany
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, captivating, realistic, slow cinema
Similar in 76%
Ladygrey (2015)
Plot Summary:
Estelle fights to maintain her sense of self while sleeping with Angus for money.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 163
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium, South Africa
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, captivating, bleak
Similar in 81%
A Sunday in the Country (1984)
Plot Summary:
In France, before WWI. As every Sunday, an old painter living in the country is visited by his son Gonzague, coming with his wife and his three children. Then his daugther Irene arrives. She is always in a hurry, she lives alone and does not come so often... An intimist chronicle in which what is not shown, what is guessed, is more important than how it looks, dealing with what each character expects of life.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, intellectual, touching, serious, light, romantic, sexy, enigmatic, bleak
Similar in 80%
Capturing Mary (2007)
Plot Summary:
A young man ushers an older woman into a dark exploration of her past - back to the time when, as a young girl, she met a stranger who affected her life forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, stylized, captivating, surreal, period piece, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Natural Enemy (2004)
Plot Summary:
Set in Brittany, a detective called Nicolas Luhel is asked to unravel the circumstances of a teenage boy's death. The main suspect is the boy's father. Shattered by the suicide of the main witness, Nicolas lets himself get snared by the strange and fascinating influence that the father exerts on everyone around him. Eventually, Luhel discovers the truth about the murder and feels that the law is inadequate to deal with it. As a consequence, he decides to destroy the evidence and keep it a secret.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 336
Genere: Drama
Country: France, UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, detective, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 85%
Under the Pines (2013)
Plot Summary:
A young widow wants to carry on with her husband's work:managing a pine plantation where they extract resin;but most of all,she wants to have electricity installed in her valuable property.In this place,it seems that 1789 never happened and that time stood still:her workers,circa 1920,do not receive any salary and ,like the peasants in the middle ages,have to bring their production to their landlady. But her progressive ideas come up against men still remembering WW1 and against her bourgeois peers.Her foreman ,first bewildered ,is finally won over by his boss' resilience and strength of character.For her own good,the young heiress is too ahead of her time though.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 115
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium, France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, serious, realistic
Similar in 83%
Return to Peyton Place (1961)
Plot Summary:
Residents of the small town of Peyton Place aren't pleased when they realize they're the characters in local writer Allison MacKenzie's controversial first novel. A sequel to the hit 1957 film.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 983
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: retro, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, soap opera
Similar in 87%
The Mayor of Casterbridge (2003)
Plot Summary:
Adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel. At a country fair, young hay-trusser Michael Henchard quarrels with his wife Susan, and in a drunken fit decides to auction off his wife and baby to a sailor for five guineas. The next day, realising his loss, he swears not to touch liquor again for as many years as he has lived so far. Eighteen years later, Henchard has become Mayor of Casterbridge, a man well respected but not well liked. The unexpected return of his wife and daughter Elizabeth Jane sets off a turn of events that force him to face the consequences of his selfish impulses and violent temper.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 196 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, costume drama, historical drama, period drama
Similar in 85%
Like Dandelion Dust (2009)
Plot Summary:
A compelling drama that explores the different meanings of being a parent through the gritty, realistic lives of a struggling family, and a privileged family. Their lives intersect, intertwine and collide, all for the love of a little boy. This film bravely exposes the humanity in each character reminding us that we each have the potential to be the best and worst versions of ourselves at any time.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, serious, captivating, emotional, sexy, therapeutic, realistic, independent film, gloomy
Similar in 82%
The Runaway (2000)
Plot Summary:
At the birth of two boys, one white and one black, a mysterious and powerful Conjure Woman (Maya Angelou) prophesies that they will start the change. Growing up as best friends in rural Georgia in the 1940s, the boys make a discovery that leads the town's new sheriff, Frank Richards (Dean Cain), to reopen the investigation of the unsolved murders of three black men. While the town would prefer that the truth remain hidden, the sheriff pursues the case, determined to see justice prevail. The Runaway is a stirring story of how friendship, determination and conviction can generate racial change in one heart or an entire town.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 322
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: tense, atmospheric, captivating, suspenseful, serious, realistic
Similar in 77%
Women Without Men (2009)
Plot Summary:
Against the tumultuous backdrop of Iran's 1953 CIA-backed coup d'état, the destinies of four women converge in a beautiful orchard garden, where they find independence, solace and companionship.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Ukraine, Morocco, Iran
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, stylized, art house, atmospheric, captivating, contemplative, inspirational
Similar in 85%
The Wife (2017)
Plot Summary:
A wife questions her life choices as she travels to Stockholm with her husband, where he is slated to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 42000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Sweden, USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, lyrical, intellectual, serious, emotional, sad, art house, novela, independent film
Similar in 88%
Stella Days (2011)
Plot Summary:
A priest stationed in Tipperary, Ireland, is eager to return to Rome. Told he cannot do so until he has raised enough money for the building of a new church, he decides to open a cinema in the local town.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 468
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland, Norway, Germany
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: realistic, captivating, sincere, serious, intellectual
Similar in 77%
Vanity Fair (2004)
Plot Summary:
Beautiful, funny, passionate, and calculating, Becky is the orphaned daughter of a starving English artist and a French chorus girl. She yearns for a more glamorous life than her birthright promises and resolves to conquer English society by any means possible. A mere ascension into the heights of society is simply not enough. So Becky finds a patron in the powerful Marquess of Steyne whose whims enable Becky to realise her dreams. But is the ultimate cost too high for her?.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, UK, India
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: period piece, costume drama, emotional, melancholic, stylized, serious, realistic, romantic, witty, satirical
Similar in 77%
Almayer's Folly (2011)
Plot Summary:
A tale of an occidental merchant, Kaspar Almayer, whose dreams of riches for his beloved daughter, Nina, collapse under the weight of his own greed and prejudice.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 808
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium, France
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, psychological, captivating, bleak, serious, emotional
Similar in 90%
Blood Done Sign My Name (2010)
Plot Summary:
A drama based on the true story in which a black Vietnam-era veteran is allegedly murdered by a local white businessman who is later exonerated. The plot focuses on the role of a local high school teacher and the civil unrest that followed the acquittal.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 635
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: disturbing, serious, captivating, realistic, thought provoking, tense, bleak, contemplative, entertaining
Similar in 83%
A Month in the Country (1987)
Plot Summary:
Set in the early 1920s, the film follows Tom Birkin, who has been employed to carry out restoration work on a Medieval mural discovered in a church in the small rural community of Oxgodby, Yorkshire. The escape to the idyllic countryside is cathartic for Birkin, haunted by his experiences in World War I. Birkin soon fits into the slow-paced life of the remote village, and over the course of the summer uncovering the painting begins to lose his trauma-induced stammer and tics.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: scenic, realistic, captivating, thought provoking, costume drama, historical drama, independent film, touching, serious, romantic
Similar in 83%
Great Expectations (1999)
Plot Summary:
A young boy called Pip stumbles upon a hunted criminal who threatens him and demands food. A few years later, Pip finds that he has a benefactor. Imagining that Miss Havisham, a rich lady whose adopted daughter Estella he loves, is the benefactor, Pip believes in a grand plan at the end of which he will be married to Estella. However, when the criminal from his childhood turns up one stormy night and reveals that he, Magwitch, is his benefactor, Pip finds his dreams crumbling. Although initially repulsed by his benefactor, Pip gradually becomes loyal to him and stays with him until his death.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 168 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, sincere, captivating, period piece, costume drama, realistic, period drama, weird
Similar in 78%
A Cooler Climate (1999)
Plot Summary:
Iris is broke after her divorce and takes a job working as a housekeeper for a wealthy woman named Paula. When Paula and her husband separate, an unlikely friendship blossoms between the women.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 702
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, talky
Similar in 77%
A Stranger in the Kingdom (1999)
Plot Summary:
A Vermont town in the 1950's hires a new minister based on his war record and capable presentation, but then are shocked when he shows up and is a black man. Things go completely wrong for.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 224
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: independent film, sincere, atmospheric, thought provoking, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 80%
Enchanted April (1991)
Plot Summary:
Based on Elizabeth Von Arnim's novel, four Englishwomen rent an Italian villa on holiday.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: period piece, sentimental, touching, humorous, talky, uplifting, stylized, historical drama, aesthetic, feel good
Similar in 86%
Charms for the Easy Life (2002)
Plot Summary:
The story of three women who live in a North Carolina town and defy the traditional roles set forth for them by society.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 481
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, thought provoking, captivating, atmospheric, realistic, sexual
Similar in 80%
The Neon Bible (1995)
Plot Summary:
While on a train, a teenage boy thinks about his life and the flamboyant aunt whose friendship acted as an emotional shield from his troubled family. This film evokes the haunting quality of memory while creating a heartfelt portrait of a boy's life in a rural 1940s Southern town.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Spain
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: stylized, inspirational, serious, emotional, erotic, southern gothic, independent film, sentimental, atmospheric, thought provoking
Similar in 84%
The Help (2011)
Plot Summary:
Aibileen Clark is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson is an African-American maid who has often offended her employers despite her family's struggles with money and her desperate need for jobs; and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is a young white woman who has recently moved back home after graduating college to find out her childhood maid has mysteriously disappeared. These three stories intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around "the help"; yet they are always kept at a certain distance because of racial lines.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 484000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, India
Duration: 146 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, thought provoking, uplifting, emotional, feel good, captivating, period piece, sad, sentimental
Similar in 90%
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Plot Summary:
Amidst her own personality crisis, southern housewife Evelyn Couch meets Ninny, an outgoing old woman who tells her the story of Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, two young women who experienced hardships and love in Whistle Stop, Alabama in the 1920s.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 80000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: feel good, sentimental, touching, captivating, inspirational, sad, tear jerker, heartbreaking, emotional, realistic
Similar in 87%
Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
Plot Summary:
The story of Katherine Ann Watson, a feminist teacher who studied at UCLA graduate school and in 1953 left her boyfriend behind in Los Angeles, California to teach at Wellesley College, a conservative women's private liberal arts college in Massachusetts, United States.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 89000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, romantic, sentimental, period piece, sweet, educational, thought provoking, independent film, deep