Best movies like Heat and Dust
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The parallel story of Anne and her grand-aunt Olivia in their experiences in India.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: realistic, costume drama, romantic drama, historical drama, serious, contemplative, crying, independent film, baroque, period drama
Best tv shows and movies like Heat and Dust (1983):
Similar in 85%
Darling (1965)
Plot Summary:
A beautiful but amoral model sleeps her way to the top of the London fashion scene at the height of the Swinging Sixties.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: independent film, clever, witty, cynical, biting, psychological thriller, humorous, realistic, semi serious, crying
Similar in 76%
Petulia (1968)
Plot Summary:
An unhappily married socialite finds solace in the company of a recently divorced doctor.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sentimental, cult classic, serious, emotional, realistic, witty, psychedelic, crying, black comedy, postmodern
Similar in 83%
Cotton Mary (1999)
Plot Summary:
A British family is trapped between culture, tradition, and the colonial sins of the past.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 542
Genere: Drama
Country: France, UK, USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, contemplative
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Similar in 78%
Quartet (1981)
Plot Summary:
Quartet is the story of a girl who, adrift with her feckless husband amidst the literati of glittering Paris in the 1920s, becomes entrapped by a rich and sybaritic English couple. Adapted from the wistful, melancholy autobiographical novel by Jean Rhys, Quartet is full of intense confrontations dazzlingly acted by Alan Bates, Maggie Smith, Anthony Higgins, and Isabelle Adjani. This is one of the Merchant Ivory team’s darkest and most compelling dramas of dangerously intertwined relationships.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: costume drama, romantic drama, independent film, atmospheric, clever, serious, realistic, talky, stylized, gloomy
Similar in 86%
The Go-Between (1971)
Plot Summary:
Tale of torrid and forbidden love between Christie and Bates in the English countryside.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: sexy, disturbing, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Gabrielle (2005)
Plot Summary:
A seemingly ideal marriage is thrown into embarrassing turmoil in Patrice Chéreau's period drama, based on the short story The Return by Joseph Conrad.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Italy, Germany
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, clever, emotional, realistic, contemplative, stylized, gloomy, crying, beautiful
Similar in 76%
Swann in Love (1984)
Plot Summary:
Swann (Jeremy Irons), an eligible bachelor in the best circles of fin-de-siècle Paris, has also some more vulgar but rich friends, the Verdurins. Through them he meets Odette (Ornella Muti), a courtesan, with whom he falls hopelessly in love. She seems to enjoy his company, for which he pays, but considers herself free to socialise and sleep where she pleases, particularly with a rival called de Forcheville. Swann’s passion turns to consuming jealousy, which leads him eventually to accept the social stigma of marrying her. One old friend, the overtly gay Charlus (Alain Delon), stays sympathetic.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, West Germany
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, sexual, neurotic, sexy, period drama
Similar in 89%
The Europeans (1979)
Plot Summary:
Based on Henry James' novel with the same title. It's the fall of 1850, a few miles outside Boston. The household of the dour Mr. Wentworth receives two unannounced visitors from Europe, Eugenia and Felix, the daughter and son of his half sister. Gertrude, one of Wentworth's two daughters, is instantly infatuated with her cousins, thinking them sophisticated and worldly. She turns her back on the local Unitarian minister, Mr. Brand, who has been calling on her, to delight in the pleasure and amusement Felix offers. Another wealthy neighbor, Mr. Acton, is attracted to Eugenia, who is going through a divorce with a European aristocrat. Are the Americans being used by the penniless Europeans? Or is there real affection?.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: romantic drama, historical drama, realistic, stylized, semi serious, biting, independent film, costume drama, suspense, period drama
Similar in 89%
The Woodlanders (1997)
Plot Summary:
The story is set in late 19th century rural corner of South England. The daughter of timber merchant Melbury, Grace, returns to the town after finishing school. Her father now believes she can find a better husband than her childhood sweetheart, woodsman Giles. She marries handsome young doctor Fitzpiers, but soon finds out he's not the man of her dreams and she still loves Giles.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 741
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: costume drama, serious, realistic, independent film, period piece, period drama
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Similar in 76%
Besieged (1998)
Plot Summary:
When an African dictator jails her husband, Shandurai goes into exile in Italy, studying medicine and keeping house for Mr. Kinsky, an eccentric English pianist and composer. She lives in one room of his Roman palazzo. He besieges her with flowers, gifts, and music, declaring passionately that he loves her, would go to Africa with her, would do anything for her. "What do you know of Africa?," she asks, then, in anguish, shouts, "Get my husband out of jail!" The rest of the film plays out the implications of this scene and leaves Shandurai with a choice.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Italy
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: emotional, erotic, melancholic, meditative, serious, stylized, sensual, realistic, contemplative, romantic
Similar in 77%
Madame Bovary (1991)
Plot Summary:
Bored with the limited and tedious nature of provincial life in 19th-century France, the fierce and sensual Emma Bovary finds herself in calamitous debt and purses scandalous sexual liaisons with absolute abandon. However, when her volatile lifestyle catches up to her, the lives of everyone around her are endangered.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: realistic, melancholic, sexy, costume drama, intense, romantic, erotic, spiritual, art house, romantic drama
Similar in 90%
Solomon & Gaenor (1999)
Plot Summary:
A young Jew in 1911 Wales tries to make his living by selling fabrics door to door, but to do so he must hide his nationality. On one of his sales he meets and falls in love with a demure young woman with a strong-willed father and a Jew-hating brother. The two fall in love and she becomes pregnant, but only then does she learn of his ethnic background. When anti-Jewish riots break out, the two are forced to flee and become separated.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sad, independent film, historical drama, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, period drama
Similar in 77%
Valmont (1989)
Plot Summary:
Set in Baroque France, a scheming widow and her lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman. The lover, Valmont, bets that he can seduce her, even though she is an honorable woman. If he wins, he can have his lover to do as he will. However, in the process of seducing the married woman, Valmont falls in love. Based on the same novel as "Dangerous Liaisons.".
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, UK
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: stylized, period piece, sensual, costume drama, sexy, realistic, erotic, historical drama, independent film, captivating
Similar in 82%
Angel (2007)
Plot Summary:
Edwardian England. A precocious girl from a poor background with aspirations to being a novelist finds herself swept to fame and fortune when her tasteless romances hit the best seller lists. Her life changes in unexpected ways when she encounters an aristocratic brother and sister, both of whom have cultural ambitions, and both of whom fall in love with her.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Belgium, UK
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: clever, serious, realistic, witty, talky, period piece, romantic, costume drama, crying, period drama
Similar in 75%
Basil (1998)
Plot Summary:
A lonely young aristocrat in turn-of the century England struggles to meet the approval of his over-bearing, class-conscious father while trying to please the selfish woman he loves.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, realistic, light, sincere, period piece, gothic, crying, independent film, period drama
Similar in 83%
The Wings of the Dove (1997)
Plot Summary:
Kate is secretly betrothed to a struggling journalist, Merton Densher. But she knows her Aunt Maude will never approve of the match, since Kate's deceased mother has lost all her money in a marriage to a degenerate opium addict. When Kate meets a terminally ill American heiress named Millie traveling through Europe, she comes up with a conniving plan to have both love and wealth.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sexy, atmospheric, period piece, serious, costume drama, romantic, visual, visually stunning, stylized, retro
Similar in 89%
Love in the Time of Cholera (2007)
Plot Summary:
In Colombia just after the Great War, an old man falls from a ladder; dying, he professes great love for his wife. After the funeral, a man calls on the widow - she dismisses him angrily. Flash back more than 50 years to the day Florentino Ariza, a telegraph boy, falls in love with Fermina Daza, the daughter of a mule trader.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Mexico, UK, Colombia
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: psychological, sexy, romantic, costume drama, emotional, serious, sentimental, atmospheric, realistic, erotic
Similar in 87%
The Bostonians (1984)
Plot Summary:
Based on Henry James's novel of the same name. This bittersweet tragicomedy centers on an odd triangle of characters: Basil Ransom, a political conservative from Mississippi; Olive Chancellor, Ransom's cousin and a Boston feminist; and Verena Tarrant, a pretty, young protégée of Olive's in the feminist movement. The storyline concerns the struggle between Ransom and Olive for Verena's allegiance and affection, though the film also includes a wide panorama of political activists, newspaper people, and quirky eccentrics.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: serious, stylized, realistic, talky, political, romantic drama, historical drama, clever, contemplative, independent film
Similar in 79%
The Golden Bowl (2000)
Plot Summary:
An intricately plotted tale of thwarted love and betrayal, "The Golden Bowl" tells the story of an extravagantly rich American widower and his sheltered daughter, both of whom marry only to discover that their respective mates, a beautiful American expatriate and an impoverished Italian aristocrat, are entangled with one another in a romantic intrigue of seduction and deceit.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, France, UK
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: period piece, serious, stylized, realistic, costume drama, suspense, romantic drama, historical drama, clever, biting
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Similar in 78%
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
Plot Summary:
In this story-within-a-story, Anna is an actress starring opposite Mike in a period piece about the forbidden love between their respective characters, Sarah and Charles. Both actors are involved in serious relationships, but the passionate nature of the script leads to an off-camera love affair as well. While attempting to maintain their composure and professionalism, Anna and Mike struggle to come to terms with their infidelity.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: romantic, emotional, costume drama, scenic, stylized, atmospheric, clever, postmodern, erotic, retro
Similar in 87%
The House of Mirth (2000)
Plot Summary:
A woman risks losing her chance of happiness with the only man she has ever loved.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Romance, Drama
Country: UK, France, Germany, USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, atmospheric, emotional, melancholic, witty, talky, intense, thought provoking, independent film
Similar in 77%
The Great Gatsby (2000)
Plot Summary:
Stock broker Nick Carraway consents to play Cupid for his rich married first cousin Daisy Buchanen and her former love, successful bootlegger and forger Jay Gatsby.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, captivating, stylized, serious, realistic, gloomy, period drama
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Similar in 86%
Chinese Box (1997)
Plot Summary:
The story of Hong Kong, from New Year's Day to June 30th, 1997, when the British left their colony and turned it over to the People's Republic of China.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Japan, USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, independent film, sentimental, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, philosophical, sexy, thought provoking
Similar in 90%
A Room with a View (1985)
Plot Summary:
When Lucy Honeychurch and chaperon Charlotte Bartlett find themselves in Florence with rooms without views, fellow guests Mr Emerson and son George step in to remedy the situation. Meeting the Emersons could change Lucy's life forever but, once back in England, how will her experiences in Tuscany affect her marriage plans?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 47000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: scenic, touching, period piece, atmospheric, costume drama, romantic, sweet, captivating, visually appealing, clever
Similar in 82%
Howards End (1992)
Plot Summary:
A saga of class relations and changing times in an Edwardian England on the brink of modernity, the film centers on liberal Margaret Schlegel, who, along with her sister Helen, becomes involved with two couples: wealthy, conservative industrialist Henry Wilcox and his wife Ruth, and the downwardly mobile working-class Leonard Bast and his mistress Jackie.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 35000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Japan, USA
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: romantic, costume drama, emotional, period piece, stylized, light, melancholic, talky, compassionate, realistic
Similar in 85%
The Governess (1998)
Plot Summary:
When the father of privileged Rosina da Silva violently dies, she decides to pass herself off as a gentile and finds employment with a family in faraway Scotland. Soon she and the family father, Charles, start a passionate secret affair.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: enigmatic, emotional, colorful, period piece, costume drama, atmospheric, scenic, serious, historical drama, realistic
Similar in 83%
The Heart of Me (2002)
Plot Summary:
Drama set in 1930s London with two sisters, Madeleine married to Rickie, and Dinah, who falls in love with him. Rickie and Dinah begin an affair which is to have repercussions throughout all their lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Germany
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, romantic drama, clever, erotic, romantic, spiritual, cult classic
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Similar in 79%
The Painted Veil (2006)
Plot Summary:
A British medical doctor fights a cholera outbreak in a small Chinese village, while also being trapped at home in a loveless marriage to an unfaithful wife.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 95000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: China, Canada, USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, scenic, captivating, heartbreaking, melancholic, costume drama, romantic, period piece, atmospheric
Similar in 85%
A Passage to India (1984)
Plot Summary:
The film is set during the period of growing influence of the Indian independence movement in the British Raj. It begins with the arrival in India of a British woman, Miss Adela Quested (Judy Davis), who is joining her fiancé, a city magistrate named Ronny Heaslop (Nigel Havers). She and Ronny's mother, Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft), befriend an Indian doctor, Aziz H. Ahmed (Victor Banerjee).
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, History
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 164 min
Plot tags: epic, scenic, suspense, talky, captivating, costume drama, period piece, exciting, social, sad
Similar in 79%
Jefferson in Paris (1995)
Plot Summary:
His wife having recently died, Thomas Jefferson accepts the post of United States ambassador to pre-revolutionary France, though he finds it difficult to adjust to life in a country where the aristocracy subjugates an increasingly restless peasantry. In Paris, he becomes smitten with cultured artist Maria Cosway, but, when his daughter visits from Virginia accompanied by her attractive slave, Sally Hemings, Jefferson's attentions are diverted.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: USA, France
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: dramatic, costume drama, historical drama, political, romantic drama, serious, realistic, contemplative, stylized, erotic