Best movies like Basil
Last updated March 2024
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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
Best tv shows and movies like Basil (1998):
Similar in 78%
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 87%
Wuthering Heights (2011)
Plot Summary:
A poor boy of unknown origins is rescued from poverty and taken in by the Earnshaw family where he develops an intense relationship with his young foster sister, Cathy. Based on the classic novel by Emily Bronte.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, realistic, serious, emotional, costume drama, period piece, romantic drama, bleak, social, melancholic
Similar in 76%
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
Similar in 77%
Far from the Madding Crowd (1998)
Plot Summary:
This powerful adaptation of Thomas Hardy's classic novel spins a story of passion and destruction set in the nineteenth century. The proud, flighty and bewitching Bathsheba Everdene finds herself entangled into the passions of three men and her impulsive nature pushes her into a web of deceit and destruction.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 955
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 54 min
Plot tags: costume drama, historical drama, serious, realistic, period drama
Similar in 88%
Possession (2002)
Plot Summary:
Maud Bailey, a brilliant English academic, is researching the life and work of poet Christabel La Motte. Roland Michell is an American scholar in London to study Randolph Henry Ash, now best-known for a collection of poems dedicated to his wife. When Maud and Roland discover a cache of love letters that appear to be from Ash to La Motte, they follow a trail of clues across England, echoing the journey of the couple over a century earlier.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: romantic, clever, period piece, sentimental, serious, realistic, heartbreaking, sweet, slasher, romantic drama
Similar in 81%
Under the Greenwood Tree (2005)
Plot Summary:
Set in a rustic English village in the mid 19th century, Under The Greenwood Tree tells the story of a poor young man who falls for a middle-class schoolteacher and attempts to win her over.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, semi serious, costume drama, captivating, period piece, historical drama, sexual, sexy, period drama
Similar in 87%
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%
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 81%
Onegin (1999)
Plot Summary:
In the opulent St. Petersburg of the Empire period, Eugene Onegin is a jaded but dashing aristocrat - a man often lacking in empathy, who suffers from restlessness, melancholy and, finally, regret. Through his best friend Lensky, Onegin is introduced to the young Tatiana. A passionate and virtuous girl, she soon falls hopelessly under the spell of the aloof newcomer and professes her love for him.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, period piece, romantic, costume drama, romantic drama, realistic, art house, historical romance, contemplative, clever
Similar in 81%
Ethan Frome (1992)
Plot Summary:
Based on the novel of the same name by Edith Wharton, it is about a husband and wife (Ethan and Zeena), who need an extra hand around the house due to Zeena's debilitated body and constant illness. The young woman who joins them is a beautiful, spirited person. She and Ethan fall in love much to the dismay of Zeena. Written by Jason Ihle.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: emotional, intense, costume drama, sentimental, captivating, serious, realistic, contemplative, independent film, light
Similar in 85%
Tess (1979)
Plot Summary:
This multiple-Oscar-winning film by Roman Polanski is an exquisite, richly layered adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles. A strong-willed peasant girl (Nastassja Kinski, in a gorgeous breakthrough) is sent by her father to the estate of some local aristocrats to capitalize on a rumor that their families are from the same line. This fateful visit commences an epic narrative of sex, class, betrayal, and revenge, which Polanski unfolds with deliberation and finesse. With its earthy visual textures, achieved by two world-class cinematographers—Geoffrey Unsworth (Cabaret) and Ghislain Cloquet (Au hasard Balthazar)—Tess is a work of great pastoral beauty as well as vivid storytelling.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France
Duration: 186 min
Plot tags: period piece, scenic, costume drama, visually appealing, atmospheric, art house, epic, philosophical, psychedelic, cynical
Similar in 77%
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
Similar in 82%
Brideshead Revisited (2008)
Plot Summary:
Based on Evelyn Waugh's 1945 classic British novel, Brideshead Revisited is a poignant story of forbidden love and the loss of innocence set in England prior to the Second World War.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Italy, Morocco, USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, sincere, serious, period piece, touching, costume drama, intense, clever, epic
Similar in 77%
Summer in February (2013)
Plot Summary:
The Newlyn School of artists flourished at the beginning of the 20th Century and the film focuses on the wild and bohemian Lamorna Group, which included Alfred Munnings and Laura and Harold Knight. The incendiary anti-Modernist Munnings, now regarded as one of Britain's most sought-after artists, is at the centre of the complex love triangle, involving aspiring artist Florence Carter-Wood and Gilbert Evans, the land agent in charge of the Lamorna Valley estate. True - and deeply moving - the story is played out against the timeless beauty of the Cornish coast, in the approaching shadow of The Great War.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, retro, historical drama, realistic, stylized, costume drama, period drama
Similar in 75%
Tulip Fever (2017)
Plot Summary:
An artist falls for a married young woman while he's commissioned to paint her portrait. The two invest in the risky tulip market in hopes to build a future together.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, touching, suspense, sincere, rough, melancholic, suspenseful, exciting, sexy
Similar in 87%
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
Similar in 78%
Wuthering Heights (1970)
Plot Summary:
The Earnshaws are Yorkshire farmers during the early 19th Century. One day, Mr. Earnshaw returns from a trip to the city, bringing with him a ragged little boy called Heathcliff. Earnshaw's son, Hindley, resents the child, but Heathcliff becomes companion and soulmate to Hindley's sister, Catherine. After her parents die, Cathy and Heathcliff grow up wild and free on the Moors and despite the continued enmity between Hindley and Heathcliff they're happy-- until Cathy meets Edgar Linton, the son of a wealthy neighbor. Written by Marg Baskin.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: gothic, costume drama, atmospheric, entertaining, romantic drama, sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 75%
The Outsider (2002)
Plot Summary:
A western love story revolving around the forbidden love between a young widow from a Quaker-like religious group and a cold-blooded gunslinger whom she takes into her home after he is wounded.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: sincere, rough, serious, realistic, spiritual, contemplative, crying
Similar in 76%
Firelight (1997)
Plot Summary:
Firelight is a period romance/drama film written and directed by William Nicholson. It was Nicholson's first, and to date only, film as director.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: uplifting, serious, touching, feel good, sexy, erotic, romantic, emotional, melancholic, realistic
Similar in 79%
The Remains of the Day (1993)
Plot Summary:
A rule bound head butler's world of manners and decorum in the household he maintains is tested by the arrival of a housekeeper who falls in love with him in post-WWI Britain. The possibility of romance and his master's cultivation of ties with the Nazi cause challenge his carefully maintained veneer of servitude.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 82000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: period piece, costume drama, emotional, romantic, breathtaking, sad, sincere, touching, depressing, romantic drama
Similar in 87%
Mansfield Park (1999)
Plot Summary:
This fun and sexy comedy tells a timelessly entertaining story where wealthy, secret passions and mischievous women put love to the test.. When a spirited young woman, Fanny Price, is sent away to live on the great country estate of her rich cousins, she's meant to learn the ways of proper society. But while Fanny learns "their" ways, she also enlightens them with a wit and sparkle all her own!.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: period piece, witty, costume drama, romantic, sexy, atmospheric, breathtaking, educational, happy, romantic drama
Similar in 76%
Far from the Madding Crowd (2015)
Plot Summary:
Based on the literary classic by Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd is the story of independent, beautiful and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene, who attracts three very different suitors: Gabriel Oak, a sheep farmer, captivated by her fetching willfulness; Frank Troy, a handsome and reckless Sergeant; and William Boldwood, a prosperous and mature bachelor. This timeless story of Bathsheba's choices and passions explores the nature of relationships and love – as well as the human ability to overcome hardships through resilience and perseverance.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 53000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: romantic, period piece, emotional, costume drama, sexy, visually stunning, scenic, talky, historical drama, inspirational
Similar in 89%
North & South (2004)
Plot Summary:
North & South is a British television drama serial, produced by the BBC and originally broadcast in four episodes on BBC One in November and December 2004. It follows the story of Margaret Hale, a young woman from southern England who has to move to the North after her father decides to leave the clergy. The family struggles to adjust itself to the industrial town's customs, especially after meeting the Thorntons, a proud family of cotton mill owners who seem to despise their social inferiors. The story explores the issues of class and gender, as Margaret's sympathy for the town mill workers conflicts with her growing attraction to John Thornton. The serial is based on the 1855 Victorian novel North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. It was adapted for television by Sandy Welch and directed by Brian Percival.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 235 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, sincere, captivating, costume drama, period piece, romantic, historical drama, romantic drama, heartbreaking
Similar in 80%
Great Expectations (2012)
Plot Summary:
Miss Havisham, a wealthy spinster who wears an old wedding dress and lives in the dilapidated Satis House, asks Pip's "Uncle Pumblechook" (who is actually Joe's uncle) to find a boy to play with her adopted daughter Estella. Pip begins to visit Miss Havisham and Estella, with whom he falls in love,then Pip a humble orphan suddenly becomes a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: captivating, emotional, sentimental, serious, realistic, costume drama, period piece, gothic, sex comedy, cult classic
Similar in 81%
Mansfield Park (2007)
Plot Summary:
In Mansfield Park, poverty-stricken Fanny Price is sent away to live with her wealthy uncle and aunt at Mansfield Park. As she struggles to adapt to her new lifestyle she begins to attract the attentions of suitors, learning about the sexual politics of high society along the way.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: period piece, costume drama, realistic, witty, stylized, romantic, historical drama, touching, gloomy, semi serious
Similar in 83%
The Portrait of a Lady (1996)
Plot Summary:
Ms. Isabel Archer isn't afraid to challenge societal norms. Impressed by her free spirit, her kindhearted cousin writes her into his fatally ill father's will. Suddenly rich and independent, Isabelle ventures into the world, along the way befriending a cynical intellectual and romancing an art enthusiast. However, the advantage of her affluence is called into question when she realizes the extent to which her money colors her relationships.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: psychological, intellectual, period piece, costume drama, talky, atmospheric, serious, romantic, stylized, historical drama
Similar in 80%
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 84%
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
Similar in 80%
Jane Eyre (2011)
Plot Summary:
After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meet the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Mr. Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Mr. Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 92000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: romantic, touching, gothic, atmospheric, captivating, costume drama, period piece, visually appealing, sexy, emotional
Similar in 80%
Miss Potter (2006)
Plot Summary:
The story of Beatrix Potter, the author of the beloved and best-selling children's book, "The Tale of Peter Rabbit", and her struggle for love, happiness and success.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, period piece, costume drama, serious, realistic, sweet, romantic drama, motivational, intellectual