Best movies like About Joan
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Overwhelmed when a figure from her past reemerges, Joan Verra retreats to the countryside with her son Nathan. There she experiences fragmented recollections of her past romantic encounters.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 407
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Germany, Ireland
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: non-linear
Best tv shows and movies like About Joan (2022):
Similar in 86%
I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere (2019)
Plot Summary:
In the beautiful family home, at the end of the summer, Monique celebrates her 70th birthday, surrounded by her 4 children, all of whom have come for the occasion. There is Jean-Pierre, the elder, who took on the role of head of the family after the death of his father; Juliette, pregnant with her first child at 40 and who still dreams of becoming a writer; Margaux, the family’s radical artist, and Mathieu, 30, anxious to seduce pretty Sarah. Later, one day, one of them will make a life-changing decision.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 427
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Valley of Love (2015)
Plot Summary:
A story of two famous actors who used to be a couple. They reunite after the son's death and receive a letter asking them to visit five places at Death Valley, which will make the son reappear.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: captivating
Similar in 80%
Sweet Dreams (2016)
Plot Summary:
Turin, 1969. Nine-year-old Massimo’s idyllic childhood is shattered by the mysterious death of his mother. The young boy refuses to accept this brutal loss, even if the priest says she is now in Heaven. Years later in the 90s, adult Massimo has become an accomplished journalist. After reporting on the war in Sarajevo, he begins to suffer from panic attacks. As he prepares to sell his parents’ apartment, Massimo is forced to relive his traumatic past. Compassionate doctor Elisa could help tormented Massimo open up and confront his childhood wounds….
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: tense, touching, suspense, suspenseful, non-linear, exciting
Similar in 88%
Return to Montauk (2017)
Plot Summary:
During a book tour in the United States, Max meets and falls in love with a young woman. Many years later, Max returns to the United States, hoping to reunite with his young lover.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Germany, France, Ireland
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: sincere, romantic, captivating, touching
Similar in 77%
The Wild McCullochs (1975)
Plot Summary:
A story about the rich McCulloch Family, their overbearing father and the children's misguided blaming him for everything that doesn't go right.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 111
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: saga, independent film
Similar in 81%
The Inmate (2007)
Plot Summary:
Set in two contrasting enivronments that undeline the same premise of imprisonment, Selda tells the story of Rommel (Sid Lucero), a young man who accidentally kills a boy, resulting in his incarceration. Inside the jail, he befriends another inmate, Esteban (Emilio), who becomes his rock and protector. Seven years later, Rommel is living in the province as a farmer together with Sita (Ara Mina) his wife. Esteban tracks down Rommel in hopes of renewing a brewing love affair. Rommel and Sita welcome Esteban into their lives, until their intimacy crosses borderlines and results in the undeniable scourge of self-discovery.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 207
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Philippines
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, psychological, rough, suspense, crying, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 84%
Frankie (2019)
Plot Summary:
About three generations of a family grappling with a life-changing experience during one day of a vacation in the historic town of Sintra, Portugal.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Portugal
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
Everyone Else (2009)
Plot Summary:
While on a Mediterranean vacation, a seemingly happy boyfriend and girlfriend find their connection to one another tested as they bond with another couple.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Germany
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, humorous, talky, semi serious, sexy, mumblecore, realistic, witty, contemplative
Similar in 90%
Julia(s) (2022)
Plot Summary:
Paris 2052. Julia, 80 years old, had a fulfilled life. On her birthday, she reflects on the decisions and circumstances that could have led her on different paths. From the age of 17 to this day, her life was full of small but critical moments. Each was a turning point with dramatic consequences. What would have happened if she had forgotten her passport, chosen a different line at the store, driven the scooter this one time...? Is her life a succession of coincidences and accidents or a ready-made path?.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 475
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
A Son (2003)
Plot Summary:
Selim, a young man adrift, is a transvestite and a prostitute who desperately longs for his father's love. Omar, his father, lives a secluded life of grief and has never recovered from the loss of his wife. Like two lonely ships, they pass silently without ever really connecting. Only destiny will bring father and son together... a little too late.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 202
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 58 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
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 90%
The Trout (1982)
Plot Summary:
The sexual and social dysfunctional behaviour of the corporate elite are further aggravated when a naive married woman becomes the obsession of two wealthy suitors.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 852
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: neo noir, psychological, clever, realistic, witty, cynical, semi serious, biting, sexual, art deco
Similar in 87%
Indignation (2016)
Plot Summary:
In 1951, Marcus Messner, a working-class Jewish student from New Jersey, attends a small Ohio college, where he struggles with anti-Semitism, sexual repression, and the ongoing Korean War.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, China, Brazil, Germany
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: intellectual, melancholic, exciting, stylized, spiritual, social, novela, existential, historical drama, crying
Similar in 89%
The Things of Life (1970)
Plot Summary:
Pierre, a successful expert in building highways has a traffic accident. Being seriously wounded, he is lying waiting for death and remembering his past in flashbacks.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Switzerland, France, Italy
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, philosophical, existential, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 83%
Ismael's Ghosts (2017)
Plot Summary:
The film tells the tale of a widowed film director who is in the middle of making a film about an atypical diplomat inspired by his brother. While he has started a new life with Sylvia, he still mourns the death of a former lover, Carlotta, who passed away 20 years earlier; then Carlotta returns from the dead, causing Sylvia to run away.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: erotic, exciting, enigmatic, captivating, suspenseful, disturbing, art house, sensual
Similar in 90%
Flirt (1995)
Plot Summary:
The same situation is played out in different cities (New York, Berlin and Japan). A lover has to choose whether to commit to a partner who is returning home. In each case there are other people involved, an ex-partner and someone else in a "permanent" relationship, what do they choose to do?.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Germany, Japan
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: art house, clever, witty, talky, anthology, independent film, retro, offbeat, humorous, realistic
Similar in 90%
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 88%
Loulou (1980)
Plot Summary:
This 1980 French film features Isabelle Huppert as a restless young woman who ditches her boring, tempramental boyfriend for a wild, leather-clad bad boy (played by an incandescent, youthful Gerard Depardieu).
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: erotic, romantic, psychological, sexy, serious, realistic, contemplative, stylized, gloomy, sexual
Similar in 85%
Boomerang (2015)
Plot Summary:
Antoine Rey looks for a special gift for his sister Melanie on her 40th birthday. He decides to surprise her with a trip to the French Island of Noirmoutier, where they spent many summers as children until their mother's death. On the drive back to Paris, Melanie is seriously injured in a car accident.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 80%
The Young Lovers (2021)
Plot Summary:
Elegant, retired architect Shauna (70) crosses paths with Pierre, a happily married doctor in his 40s, who first made an impression on her in a brief meeting 15 years previously. Both are quite troubled to meet again and begin an affair. While Pierre’s family life is soon turned upside down, Shauna struggles with feelings she thought belonged to the past.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 760
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
La séparation (1994)
Plot Summary:
In Paris, Pierre and Anne have been living together for a couple of years and they have the eighteen months son Loulou, who stays with the nanny Laurence during the day while they work. Their best friends are the couple Victor and Claire, who also is not married but live together. Out of the blue, Pierre feels Anne estranged with him and sooner she discloses that she is in love with another man. Pierre seems to accept her affair but their relationship rapidly deteriorates, and Pierre becomes violent with her.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, realistic, light, sexy, thought provoking, enigmatic, bleak, unusual plot structure
Similar in 83%
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 77%
Cactus (1986)
Plot Summary:
A woman who injured her eyes in car accident and a young blind man fall for each other.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 234
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, crying, independent film
Similar in 89%
His Brother (2003)
Plot Summary:
Thomas has been estranged from his brother Luc for several years, due in part to his difficulties in dealing with Luc's homosexuality. But when Thomas is diagnosed with a rare blood disease, which is difficult to treat and impossible to cure, he decides he wants to bring Luc back into his life. The brothers soon become inseparable, with Luc constantly at Thomas' side as he vainly struggles against the disease and confronts the indignity of treatment. As Thomas and Luc become closer, their new relationship begins to alienate their significant others, and Thomas' father cannot understand why his son doesn't fight against his illness with great vehemence.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: sincere, emotional, serious, realistic, romantic, captivating, contemplative, gloomy, crying, entertaining
Similar in 86%
Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (1998)
Plot Summary:
Friends of painter Jean-Baptiste Emmerich gather at a Paris railroad station for a four-hour journey to Limoges, where Emmerich wanted to be buried. The dozen travelers include art historian François and his lover Louis, who develops an interest in teenage Bruno. Traveling parallel with the train is a station wagon with Jean-Baptiste's body, and this vehicle is driven by Thierry, husband of Catherine, who's on the train with their daughter. François plays a taped interview with Jean-Baptiste, revealing his sexual appeal to both men and women. Lucie is convinced that she was his main love. Also on board is his nephew, Jean-Marie and Jean-Marie's estranged wife Claire. After the funeral in "Europe's largest cemetery," the story continues in the mansion of Jean-Baptiste's brother Lucien.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, psychological, realistic, talky, anthology, touching, serious, crying, romantic
Similar in 87%
After the Rain (1999)
Plot Summary:
Steph, an Afrikaner, struggles with his past and heritage in the new South Africa. When his girlfriend befriends a black South African man called Vusisizwe trouble brews.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 278
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Africa, USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, crying, tragic
Similar in 86%
The Great Gatsby (1974)
Plot Summary:
Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor, the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: captivating, period piece, stylized, visual, serious, spiritual, social, realistic, crying, sentimental
Similar in 90%
My Mother (2004)
Plot Summary:
Based on George Bataille's posthumous and controversial novel: When his father dies, a young man is introduced by his attractive, amoral mother to a world of hedonism and depravity.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Portugal, Austria, Spain
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: disturbing, sexual, contemplative, controversial, sexy, thought provoking, offbeat, anthology, sensual, perverse
Similar in 88%
Three Dancing Slaves (2004)
Plot Summary:
Annecy is no tourist destination for three working-class Algerian brothers and their father, in the months after their mother has died. Marc is deeply troubled: he tries to stiff drug dealers and then plots revenge. Christophe is released from jail, lands a job, and must overcome various temptations in order to keep it. Olivier, nearing 18, may be falling in love with Hicham.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, lgbt cinema, realistic, gloomy, crying, queer cinema
Similar in 88%
Summer of 85 (2020)
Plot Summary:
What do you dream of when you're 16 years old and in a seaside resort in Normandy in the 1980s? A best friend? A lifelong teen pact? Scooting off on adventures on a boat or a motorbike? Living life at breakneck speed? No. You dream of death. Because you can't get a bigger kick than dying. And that's why you save it till the very end. The summer holidays are just beginning, and this story recounts how Alexis grew into himself.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: touching, thought provoking, captivating, sincere, aesthetic, stylized, novela, cute, sexy, independent film