Best movies like Farinelli
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Farinelli is a 1994 biopic film about the life and career of Italian opera singer Farinelli, considered one of the greatest castrato singers of all time.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: France, Italy, Belgium, UK
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: realistic, heartbreaking, factual, sexy, emotional, disturbing, touching, erotic, dramatic, visual
Best tv shows and movies like Farinelli (1994):
Similar in 75%
The Bohemian (2022)
Plot Summary:
The year is 1764. For over a year, Josef has been leading a precarious life in Venice. He hopes to become an opera composer. The city, full of talented and already-established composers, seems closed to him. Looking for work as a violinist, he comes into the orbit of a rich young woman. Thanks to her, he gets the opportunity to play at salons. But his real opportunity arises when he becomes the lover of a libertine marquise. She teaches him worldly manners, rids him of signs of a provincial upbringing and introduces him to a hedonistic existence free from religious intolerance. Thus transformed, Josef gets an incan incredible commission: to write an opera for the San Carlo, Europe's largest theatre.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 448
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Music
Country: Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Don Giovanni (1979)
Plot Summary:
Screen adapatation of Mozart's greatest opera. Don Giovanni, the infamous womanizer, makes one conquest after another until the ghost of Donna Anna's father, the Commendatore, (whom Giovanni killed) makes his appearance. He offers Giovanni one last chance to repent for his multitudinious improprieties. He will not change his ways So, he is sucked down into hell by evil spirits. High drama, hysterical comedy, magnificent music! (and unfortunately poor direction by film maker Joseph Losey. The final scene looks more like an industrial mishap than a supernatural event.).
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France, Italy, West Germany
Duration: 176 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, emotional, realistic, stylized
Similar in 84%
The Music Teacher (1988)
Plot Summary:
Aging opera singer Joachim Dallayrac retires from the stage and retreats to the countryside to school two young singers, Sophie and Jean. Although the rigorous training takes its toll on both teacher and students, there is plenty of time for relationships to develop between the three. Based on their teacher's reputation, Sophie and Jean are invited to participate in a singing contest staged by Prince Scotti. Scotti's protege is set up to get revenge for Scotti's defeat at the hands of Dallayrac in a similar competition many years ago. The young students overcome Scotti's trickery to win the competition. Written by Kevin Kraynak.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 961
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Belgium, France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: visual, serious, realistic, period piece, baroque, period drama, learning
Similar in 81%
Paganini (1989)
Plot Summary:
Kinski believed that he lived through the same experiences as the legendary "devil violinist" Niccolo Paganini, who set whole Europe of the 19th century into frenzy and through whose personality Kinski offers us an incredibly profound and honest insight into his own life; a life of extremities.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, sincere, touching, melancholic
Similar in 82%
I, Don Giovanni (2009)
Plot Summary:
A drama based on the life of 18th century Italian lyricist Lorenzo da Ponte, who collaborated with Mozart on his "Don Giovanni" opera.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 617
Genere: Drama, History, Music
Country: Italy, Spain, France
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, weird
Similar in 78%
The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968)
Plot Summary:
Using letters Anna Magdalena Bach wrote to her husband, seminal composer Johann Sebastian, filmmakers Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet created one of the most precise, rewarding biopics ever put to screen. CHRONICLE OF ANNA MAGDALENA BACH's intense emotional pull can be understood by its status as a musical film in the most thorough sense: its performances – staged as extended sequences set within the very spaces once occupied by Bach himself, with trained performers both donning and playing items accurate to the period – are immense, bringing us closer to the sound than was ever thought possible. Immaculately restored on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, CHRONICLE OF ANNA MAGDALENA BACH invites viewers to experience a bygone age.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Music
Country: West Germany, Italy
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: contemplative, spiritual, atmospheric, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy, baroque, concert film
Similar in 84%
The King Is Dancing (2000)
Plot Summary:
Louis XIV, the French sun-king has two passions, establishing absolute rule over the realm -after decades of religious/civil wars- by divine right and artistic brilliancy as a dancer.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, Music
Country: France, Germany, Belgium
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, stylized, serious, realistic, captivating, dramatic, visual, historical drama, mesmerizing, contemplative
Similar in 81%
Mozart's Sister (2010)
Plot Summary:
A re-imagined account of the early life of Maria Anna 'Nannerl' Mozart, five years older than Wolfgang and a musical prodigy in her own right.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, captivating, entertaining, heartbreaking, period piece, historical drama, gloomy, crying
Similar in 83%
Callas Forever (2002)
Plot Summary:
A fictionalized account of the last days of opera singer Maria Callas (Ardant).
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: Italy, France, Spain, UK, Romania
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, realistic, serious, crying
Similar in 88%
All the Mornings of the World (1991)
Plot Summary:
It's late 17th century. The viola da gamba player Monsieur de Sainte Colombe comes home to find that his wife died while he was away. In his grief he builds a small house in his garden into wich he moves to dedicate his life to music and his two young daughters Madeleine and Toinette, avoiding the outside world. Rumor about him and his music is widespread, and even reaches to the court of Louis XIV, who wants him at his court in Lully's orchestra, but Monsieur de Sainte Colombe refuses. One day a young man, Marin Marais, comes to see him with a request, he wants to be taught how to play the viol.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Music, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: visually stunning, emotional, stylized, romantic, gothic, spiritual, anthology, historical drama, mesmerizing, crying
Similar in 82%
Mahler (1974)
Plot Summary:
The film begins on a train journey with Gustav Mahler (Robert Powell) and his wife Alma (Georgina Hale) confronting their failing marriage. The story is then recounted in a series of flashbacks (some of which are surrealistic and nightmarish), taking one through Mahler's childhood, his brother's suicide, his experience with anti-semitism, his conversion from Judaism to Catholicism, his marital problems, and the death of his young daughter. The film also contains a surreal fantasy sequence involving the anti-Semitic Cosima Wagner (Antonia Ellis), widow of Richard Wagner, whose objections to his taking control of the Court Opera were supposedly removed by his conversion to Catholicism. In the process, the film explores Mahler's music and its relationship to his life.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: road movie, psychedelic, art house, historical drama, psychological, sincere, atmospheric, serious, realistic, stylized
Similar in 86%
Immortal Beloved (1994)
Plot Summary:
The life and death of the legendary Ludwig van Beethoven. Beside all the work he is known for, the composer once wrote a famous love letter to a nameless beloved and the movie tries to find out who this beloved was. Not easy as Beethoven has had many women in his life.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Mystery, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: emotional, visual, costume drama, informative, dramatic, visually stunning, touching, epic, intellectual, gothic
Similar in 80%
Marina (2013)
Plot Summary:
The true story of Rocco Granata, an Italian coal miner's son who followed his passion for music against his father's wishes and social barriers.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: Belgium, Italy
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, sincere, realistic, feel good, sad, visual, serious
Similar in 90%
La Vie en Rose (2007)
Plot Summary:
A swirling, impressionistic portrait of an artist who regretted nothing, writer-director Olivier Dahan's La Vie en Rose stars Marion Cotillard in a blazing performance as the legendary French icon Edith Piaf. From the mean streets of the Belleville district of Paris to the dazzling limelight of New York's most famous concert halls, Piaf's life was a constant battle to sing and survive, to live and love. Raised in her grandmother's brothel, Piaf was discovered in 1935 by nightclub owner Louis Leplee (Gerard Depardieu), who persuaded her to sing despite her extreme nervousness. Piaf became one of France's immortal icons, her voice one of the indelible signatures of the 20th Century.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 90000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: France, UK, Czech Republic
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: touching, disturbing, atmospheric, gloomy, inspirational, depressing, melancholic, serious, period piece, sincere
Similar in 90%
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010)
Plot Summary:
A biography of Ian Dury, who was stricken with polio at a young age and defied expectations by becoming one of the founders of the punk-rock scene in Britain in the 1970s.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, semi serious, cult classic, teen, offbeat, biting, uplifting, suspense
Similar in 87%
Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009)
Plot Summary:
Paris 1913. Coco Chanel is infatuated with the rich and handsome Boy Capel, but she is also compelled by her work. Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is about to be performed. The revolutionary dissonances of Igor's work parallel Coco's radical ideas. She wants to democratize women's fashion; he wants to redefine musical taste. Coco attends the scandalous first performance of The Rite in a chic white dress. The music and ballet are criticized as too modern, too foreign. Coco is moved but Igor is inconsolable.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: France, Japan, Switzerland
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: realistic, sexy, talky, intense, period piece, sentimental, stylized, romantic, heartbreaking, costume drama
Similar in 90%
Copying Beethoven (2006)
Plot Summary:
A fictionalised exploration of Beethoven's life in his final days working on his Ninth Symphony. It is 1824. Beethoven is racing to finish his new symphony. However, it has been years since his last success and he is plagued by deafness, loneliness and personal trauma. A copyist is urgently needed to help the composer. A fictional character is introduced in the form of a young conservatory student and aspiring composer named Anna Holtz. The mercurial Beethoven is skeptical that a woman might become involved in his masterpiece but slowly comes to trust in Anna's assistance and in the end becomes quite fond of her. By the time the piece is performed, her presence in his life is an absolute necessity. Her deep understanding of his work is such that she even corrects mistakes he has made, while her passionate personality opens a door into his private world.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: Germany, UK, Hungary
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, realistic, serious, stylized, period piece, psychological, inspirational, sincere, spiritual
Similar in 89%
De-Lovely (2004)
Plot Summary:
From Paris to Venice to Broadway to Hollywood, the lives of Cole Porter and his wife, Linda were never less than glamorous and wildly unconventional. And though Cole's thirst for life strained their marriage, Linda never stopped being his muse, inspiring some of the greatest sons of the twentieth century.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Musical
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: stylized, lyrical, atmospheric, captivating, sincere, historical drama, offbeat, realistic, semi serious, crying
Similar in 84%
The Music Lovers (1971)
Plot Summary:
Composer, conductor and teacher Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky struggles against his homosexual tendencies by marrying, but unfortunately he chooses a wonky, nymphomaniac girl whom he cannot satisfy.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: historical drama, psychological, atmospheric, offbeat, serious, realistic, sexual, crying, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 88%
Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life (2010)
Plot Summary:
A glimpse at the life of French singer Serge Gainsbourg, from growing up in 1940s Nazi-occupied Paris through his successful song-writing years in the 1960s to his death in 1991 at the age of 62.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: France
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: surreal, atmospheric, lyrical, visually appealing, captivating, sincere, touching, thought provoking, stylized, intense
Similar in 86%
Lennon Naked (2010)
Plot Summary:
A profile of John Lennon in the late 1960s as the Beatles are set to fall apart.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, period piece, gloomy, iconic
Similar in 82%
Amadeus (1984)
Plot Summary:
The incredible story of genius musician Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, told in flashback by his peer and secret rival Antonio Salieri – now confined to an insane asylum.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 421000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA, France
Duration: 160 min
Plot tags: inspirational, epic, costume drama, clever, period piece, visual, atmospheric, visually appealing, historical drama, captivating
Similar in 89%
The Children of the Century (1999)
Plot Summary:
True tale of the tumultuous love affair between two French literary icons of the 19th Century, novelist George Sand and poet Alfred de Musset. But their affair falls apart during an excursion to Venice, Italy where Musset is distracted by drugs and Sand by a handsome doctor.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, sexy, captivating, stylized, erotic, romantic, visual, visually stunning, serious, emotional
Similar in 81%
Bride of the Wind (2001)
Plot Summary:
A biopic of Alma Mahler, the wife of composer Gustav Mahler (as well as Walter Gropius and Franz Werfel), and the mistress of Oskar Kokoschka.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 692
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: UK, Germany, Austria
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, captivating, realistic, heartbreaking, visual, visually stunning, independent film, period drama
Similar in 87%
Modigliani (2004)
Plot Summary:
Set in Paris in 1919, biopic centers on the life of late Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, focusing on his last days as well as his rivalry with Pablo Picasso. Modigliani, a Jew, has fallen in love with Jeanne, a young and beautiful Catholic girl. The couple has an illegitimate child, and Jeanne's bigoted parents send the baby to a faraway convent to be raised by nuns. Modigliani is distraught and.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, Germany, Romania, France, Italy
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, serious, sad, factual, melancholic, psychological, inspirational, romantic, epic
Similar in 80%
Control (2007)
Plot Summary:
Control is the biography of Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis, taking his story from schoolboy days of 1973 to his suicide on the eve of the band's first American tour in 1980.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 68000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: UK, USA, Australia, Japan, France
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: depressing, atmospheric, black and white, stylized, sad, touching, melancholic, harsh, lyrical, bleak
Similar in 88%
The Mambo Kings (1992)
Plot Summary:
The Mambo Kings tells the story of César and Nestor Castillo, brothers and aspiring musicians who flee from Cuba to America in search of the American Dream.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, melancholic, serious, realistic, touching, captivating, fairy tale, romantic, sexy
Similar in 77%
Nina (2016)
Plot Summary:
The story of the late jazz musician and classical pianist Nina Simone including her rise to fame and relationship with her manager Clifton Henderson.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: captivating, touching, serious, controversial, thought provoking, anamorphic, realistic, black cinema
Similar in 84%
Bird (1988)
Plot Summary:
Saxophone player Charlie Parker comes to New York in 1940. He is quickly noticed for his remarkable way of playing. He becomes a drug addict but his loving wife Chan tries to help him.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 161 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, psychological, factual, stylized, sincere, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic
Similar in 78%
Selena (1997)
Plot Summary:
In this biographical drama, Selena Quintanilla is born into a musical Mexican-American family in Texas. Her father, Abraham, realizes that his young daughter is talented and begins performing with her at small venues. She finds success and falls for her guitarist, Chris Perez, who draws the ire of her father. Seeking mainstream stardom, Selena begins recording an English-language album which, tragically, she would never complete.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: touching, sad, factual, sincere, emotional, hispanic, sentimental, historical drama, informative, uplifting