Best movies like A Performance of Macbeth
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies like A Performance of Macbeth? Provide your expertise to lead others towards movies and tv shows you've watched before that they may also enjoy. Help enlarge the group of people suggesting videos to each other. We welcome your input!
Plot Summary:
Shakespeare's classic tragedy of ambition, witches and murder.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 896
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like A Performance of Macbeth (1979):
Similar in 87%
Macbeth (1982)
Plot Summary:
A Hungarian TV version of the play shot in just two takes.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 379
Genere: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 62 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 82%
Antony & Cleopatra (1981)
Plot Summary:
Octavius Caesar (later renamed Augustus Caesar, son of the murdered Julius Caesar), Marc Antony, and Lepidus form the triumvirate, the three rulers of the Roman Empire. Antony, though married to Fulvia, spends his time in Egypt, living a life of decadence and conducting an affair with Queen Cleopatra. In Antony's absence, Caesar and Lepidus worry about Pompey's increasing strength.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 154
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 170 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Stratford Festival: King John (2015)
Plot Summary:
When the King of France (Peter Hutt) demands that John (Tom McCamus) relinquish his crown in favor of his nephew, the young Prince Arthur, war is the inevitable result. Excommunication, attempted atrocity, rebellion and assassination all contribute to a political turmoil and personal grief for a mother who has lost her son.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 50
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 152 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
One Hamlet Less (1973)
Plot Summary:
The "Hamlet" in this well-mounted Italian spoof is the Danish prince, not a small town or village. The movie irreverently draws on both the Shakespeare play and the 1877 story by Jules Laforgue. In the story, Hamlet (Carmelo Bene) is a would-be playwright. He suffers from inept Freudian analysis by Polonius (Pippo Tuminelli), and Ophelia and Gertrude (Isabella Russo & Luciana Cante) are women conjured up in his erotic imagination.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 191
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: psychedelic, experimental
Similar in 87%
The Angelic Conversation (1985)
Plot Summary:
The Angelic Conversation is a lyrical, haunting film about a young man’s search for love, in a dreamlike landscape. Offscreen, Dame Judi Dench recites a sequence of Shakespeare sonnets, that counterpoint the action. Jarman called it, “My most austere work, but also the closest to my heart.”.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 894
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: experimental, atmospheric, serious, surreal, contemplative, stylized, sexual, avant garde, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 80%
Henry VI Part 2 (1983)
Plot Summary:
The life of King Henry the Sixth, in three parts.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 117
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 203 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
The Third Part of King Henry VI (1983)
Plot Summary:
The life of King Henry the Sixth, in three parts.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 112
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 211 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Henry IV Part II (1979)
Plot Summary:
The death of King Henry the Fourth and the coronation of King Henry the Fifth.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 152
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Henry IV Part I (1979)
Plot Summary:
Henry Bolingbroke has now been crowned King of England, but faces a rebellion headed by the embittered Earl of Northumberland and his son (nicknamed 'Hotspur'). Henry's son Hal, the Prince of Wales, has thrown over life at court in favour of heavy drinking and petty theft in the company of a debauched elderly knight, Sir John Falstaff. Hal must extricate himself from some legal problems, regain his father's good opinions and help suppress the uprising.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 220
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 148 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
Royal Shakespeare Company - Richard II (2013)
Plot Summary:
A monarch ordained by God to lead his people. But he is also a man of very human weakness. A man whose vanity threatens to divide the great houses of England and drag his people into a dynastic civil war that will last 100 years.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 517
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: captivating, disturbing
Similar in 87%
Macbeth (1981)
Plot Summary:
An adaptation of Shakespeare's play.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 109
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 82%
King Lear (1982)
Plot Summary:
King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear's loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 278
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: period drama
Similar in 78%
MacBeth (1961)
Plot Summary:
This is a very theatrical version, full of sound & fury, histrionics and big arm movements. Cynical audiences might not buy into it, but if you were to go back to the early 1600s this is probably the way you'd see it. The plot of Macbeth, if you were snoozing during high school English class, is about an 11th century Scottish warrior who hatches a dubious plan to steal the throne. Spurred on by his wife Lady Macbeth, who wears the pants in the household, he finds himself swiftly slipping down the path of evil.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 201
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Timon of Athens (1981)
Plot Summary:
Timon loves to give parties and objects to friends, but when he cannot pay his creditors, his "friends" refuse to help him, and he becomes a misanthropic hermit.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 137
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 81%
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale (2015)
Plot Summary:
A jealous king jeopardizes his family, friendships and succession.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 291
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
King Lear (2008)
Plot Summary:
Sir Ian McKellen gives a tour-de-force performance as Shakespeare's tragic monarch, in this special television adaptation of the Royal Shakespeare Company production of one of the playwright's most enduring and haunting works.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 644
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 156 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1984)
Plot Summary:
When Pericles discovers the dread answer to Antioch's riddle, he flees for his life straight into famine, shipwreck, love, fatherhood, and another shipwreck; he loses his wife and daughter, and doesn't find them again until the story moves us through resurrection, attempted murder, pirates, prostitution, and divine revelation.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 114
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 177 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
National Theatre Live: Hamlet (2015)
Plot Summary:
Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC’s Sherlock, Doctor Strange) plays the title role of Shakespeare’s great tragedy. Now seen by over 900,000 people worldwide, the original broadcast returns to international cinemas to mark National Theatre Live’s 10th birthday. As a country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to avenge his father’s death but paralysed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages against the impossibility of his predicament, threatening both his sanity and the security of the state.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 217 min
Plot tags: light, atmospheric, epic, captivating, emotional, entertaining, melancholic, talky, intense
Similar in 85%
Macbeth (1997)
Plot Summary:
In eleventh century Scotland, three witches foretell that Macbeth will become King, while Banquo will beget Kings. Macbeth accordingly has King Duncan slain, and is duly crowned in his place. But that's where his problems really begin.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 252
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 78%
King Lear (2017)
Plot Summary:
King Lear is an in-depth study of love, power and death. Through this film Shakespeare is saying, "Don't blame the gods or the heaven's for the horrors committed on earth. No. Blame hellish inhumanity on those who inhabit the earth.".
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 27
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 233 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Macbeth (1983)
Plot Summary:
Macbeth and his wife murder Duncan in order to gain his crown, but the bloodbath doesn't stop there, and things supernatural combine to bring the Macbeths down.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 381
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 148 min
Plot tags: artsy
Similar in 83%
Richard III (1983)
Plot Summary:
Richard Duke of Gloucester, youngest brother of King Edward IV, will stop at nothing to get the crown. He first convinces the ailing King that the Duke of Clarence, his elder brother, is a threat to the lives of Edward's two young sons. Edward has him imprisoned in the Tower of London; killers in Richard's pay then drown Clarence in a barrel of wine. When news of Clarence's death reaches the King, the subsequent grief and remorse bring about his death. Richard is made Lord Protector, with power to rule England while his nephew (now King Edward V) is still a minor. Before the young king's coronation he has his two nephews conveyed to the Tower, ostensibly for their safekeeping. Richard's accomplice, the Duke of Buckingham, then declares the two boys illegitimate and offers Richard the crown, which after a show of reticence he accepts. After Richard's coronation, he and Buckingham have a falling-out over whether or not to assassinate the two children.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 226
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 239 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
Hamlet (2015)
Plot Summary:
From its sell-out run at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre comes a film version of this unique and critically acclaimed production of Hamlet with BAFTA-nominee Maxine Peake in the title role. This ground-breaking stage production, directed by Sarah Frankcom, was the Royal Exchange's fastest-selling show in a decade.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 129
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 184 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, serious, captivating, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Hamlet (2009)
Plot Summary:
David Tennant stars in a film of the Royal Shakespeare Company's award-winning production of Shakespeare's great play. Director Gregory Doran's modern-dress production was hailed by the critics as thrilling, fast-moving and, in parts, very funny.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Japan, USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, emotional, stylized, crying, sincere, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 89%
Hamlet (1969)
Plot Summary:
Tony Richardson's Hamlet is based on his own stage production. Filmed entirely within the Roundhouse in London (a disused train shed), it is shot almost entirely in close up, focusing the attention on faces and language rather than action.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 849
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: fairy tale, psychological, tense, atmospheric, serious, independent film
Similar in 81%
The Tragedy of Coriolanus (1984)
Plot Summary:
BBC rendition of Shakespeare's Coriolanus.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 136
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
The Dresser (2015)
Plot Summary:
One fateful night in a small English regional theatre during World War II a troupe of touring actors stage a production of Shakespeares King Lear. Bombs are falling, sirens are wailing, the curtain is up in an hour but the actor/manager Sir who is playing Lear is nowhere to be seen. His dresser Norman must scramble to keep the production alive but will Sir turn up in time and if he does will he be able to perform that night? The Dresser is a wickedly funny and deeply moving story of friendship and loyalty as Sir reflects on his lifelong accomplishments and seeks to reconcile his turbulent friendships with those in his employ before the final curtain.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, sad, touching
Similar in 83%
King Lear (1983)
Plot Summary:
An aging King invites disaster when he abdicates to his corrupt, toadying daughters and rejects his one loving, but honest one.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 853
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 158 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, talky
Similar in 89%
Henry V (1979)
Plot Summary:
The life of King Henry the Fifth.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 158
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 170 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
National Theatre Live: Macbeth (2013)
Plot Summary:
Performing from within the walls of a deconsecrated Manchester church, Kenneth Branagh takes the lead role in this ambitious production of William Shakespeare's tragic tale of ambition and treachery.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 415
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, tense, atmospheric, period drama