Best movies like Caravaggio
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
As influential Italian artist Caravaggio dies in exile in 1610, he recalls his short life, from his childhood to his initial artistic failures to his later triumphs as he catches the eye of a sympathetic cardinal to his destructive relationship with a dashing gambler.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, stylized, factual, spiritual, heartbreaking, artsy, art film, postmodern
Best tv shows and movies like Caravaggio (1986):
Similar in 76%
Blue (1993)
Plot Summary:
Against a plain, unchanging blue screen, a densely interwoven soundtrack of voices, sound effects and music attempt to convey a portrait of Derek Jarman's experiences with AIDS, both literally and allegorically, together with an exploration of the meanings associated with the colour blue.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, Japan
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, serious, underground film, experimental, factual, thought provoking, avant garde, absurd, existential
Similar in 76%
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 89%
Death in Venice (1971)
Plot Summary:
Composer Gustav von Aschenbach, travels to Venice for health reasons. There, he becomes obsessed with the stunning beauty of an adolescent Polish boy named Tadzio who is staying with his family at the same Grand Hôtel des Bains on the Lido as Aschenbach.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: sentimental, melancholic, scenic, art house, serious, colorful, neorealism, psychological, contemplative, realistic
Similar in 81%
I, the Worst of All (1990)
Plot Summary:
A viceroy and an archbishop take their posts in Mexico. A local nun, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695), intrigues them. The viceroy and his wife find her brilliant and fascinating. The prelate finds her a symbol of European laxity. He engineers the election of a new abbess, severe and ascetic. The virreina visits Sor Juana often and inspires her to write passionate poetry that the archbishop finds scandalous. The viceroy protects her. After he is replaced and returns to Spain with his wife, Sor Juana faces envy and retribution. A bishop betrays her, her confessor humbles her. Plague, a tribunal, and her confession as "the worst of all" end the great poet's life.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 710
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: Argentina
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: biblical, psychological, tense, serious, realistic, gloomy, sexual, crying, erotic, light
Similar in 84%
Restoration (1995)
Plot Summary:
An aspiring young physician, Robert Merivel found himself in the service of King Charles II and saves the life of someone close to the King. Merivel joins the King's court and lives the high life provided to someone of his position. Merivel is ordered to marry his King's mistress in order to divert the queens suspicions. He is given one order by the king and that is not to fall in love. The situation worsens when Merivel finds himself in love with his new wife. Eventually, the King finds out and relieves Merivel of his position and wealth. His fall from grace leaves Merivel where he first started. And through his travels and reunions with an old friend, he rediscovers his love for true medicine and what it really means to be a physician.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: factual, costume drama, intense, serious, captivating, emotional, visually appealing, period piece, sexy, erotic
Similar in 86%
Edward II (1991)
Plot Summary:
In this Derek Jarman version of Christopher Marlowe's Elizabethan drama, in modern costumes and settings, Plantagenet king Edward II hands the power-craving nobility the perfect excuse by taking as lover besides his diplomatic wife, the French princess Isabel, not an acceptable lady at court but the ambitious Piers Gaveston, who uses his favor in bed even to wield political influence - the stage is set for a palace revolt which sends the gay pair from the throne to a terminal torture dungeon.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK, Japan
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, stylized, factual, offbeat, artsy, homoerotic, costume drama, cult classic, sincere
Similar in 77%
Christopher and His Kind (2011)
Plot Summary:
In 1931 budding author Christopher Isherwood goes to Berlin at the invitation of his friend W. H. Auden for the gay sex that abounds in the city. Whilst working as an English teacher his housemates include bewigged old queen Gerald Hamilton and would-be actress Jean Ross, who sings tunelessly in a seedy cabaret club. They and others he meets get put into his stories. After a fling with sexy rent boy Caspar he falls for street sweeper Heinz, paying medical bills for the boy's sickly mother, to the disapproval of her other son, Nazi Gerhardt. With Fascism rapidly rising Christopher returns to London with Heinz but is unable to prevent his return to Germany when his visa expires. Years later Christopher, now a successful writer, returns to Berlin for a final meeting with Heinz, now married with children.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, sexual, crying, sexy, queer cinema, gay cinema, pre war
Similar in 87%
Van Gogh (1991)
Plot Summary:
In late spring, 1890, Vincent moves to Auvers-sur-Oise, near Paris, under the care of Dr. Gachet, living in a humble inn. Fewer than 70 days later, Vincent dies from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. We see Vincent at work, painting landscapes and portraits. His brother Theo, wife Johanna, and their baby visit Auvers. Vincent is playful and charming, engaging the attentions of Gachet's daughter Marguerite (who's half Vincent's age), a young maid at the inn, Cathy a Parisian prostitute, and Johanna. Shortly before his death, Vincent visits Paris, quarrels with Theo, disparages his own art and accomplishments, dances at a brothel, and is warm then cold toward Marguerite.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 158 min
Plot tags: anthology, psychological, sincere, atmospheric, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Effie Gray (2014)
Plot Summary:
A look at the mysterious relationship between Victorian art critic John Ruskin and his teenage bride Effie Gray.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: captivating, emotional, stylized, serious, realistic, period piece, costume drama, heartbreaking, social, teen
Similar in 86%
Andrei Rublev (1966)
Plot Summary:
An expansive Russian drama, this film focuses on the life of revered religious icon painter Andrei Rublev. Drifting from place to place in a tumultuous era, the peace-seeking monk eventually gains a reputation for his art. But after Rublev witnesses a brutal battle and unintentionally becomes involved, he takes a vow of silence and spends time away from his work. As he begins to ease his troubled soul, he takes steps towards becoming a painter once again.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 56000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 205 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, breathtaking, art house, black and white, philosophical, epic, visual, visually appealing, spiritual, bleak
Similar in 81%
Nightwatching (2007)
Plot Summary:
An extravagant, exotic and moving look at Rembrandt's romantic and professional life, and the controversy he created by the identification of a murderer in the painting The Night Watch.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Mystery
Country: UK, Poland, Canada, Netherlands
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, captivating, disturbing, enigmatic, heartbreaking, art film, metafiction, avant garde, baroque
Similar in 81%
Renoir (2012)
Plot Summary:
The Côte d’Azur. 1915. In his twilight years, Pierre-Auguste Renoir is tormented by the loss of his wife, the pains of arthritic old age and the terrible news that his son Jean has been wounded in action. But when a young girl miraculously enters his world, the old painter is filled with a new, wholly unexpected energy. Blazing with life, radiantly beautiful, Andrée will become his last model, and the wellspring of a remarkable rejuvenation. Back at the family home to convalesce, Jean too falls under the spell of the new, redheaded star in the Renoir firmament. In their Mediterranean Eden - and in the face of his father's fierce opposition - he falls in love with this wild, untameable spirit... and as he does so, within weak-willed, battle-shaken Jean, a filmmaker begins to grow.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, scenic, sentimental, costume drama, historical drama, serious, realistic, stylized, period drama
Similar in 90%
Artemisia (1997)
Plot Summary:
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653) was one of the first well-known female painters. The movie tells the story of her youth, when she was guided and protected by her father, the painter Orazio Gentileschi. Her professional curiosity about the male anatomy, forbidden for her eyes, led her to the knowledge of sexual pleasure. But she was also well known because in 1612 she had to appear in a courtroom because her teacher, Agostino Tassi, was suspected of raping her. She tried to protect him, but was put in the thumb screws.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: France, Italy, Germany
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: erotic, factual, sexual, spiritual, art film, historical drama, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized
Similar in 80%
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 79%
Prick Up Your Ears (1987)
Plot Summary:
Stephen Frears directs this biographical drama focusing on controversial British playwright Joe Orton, revealed in flashback after his murder by lover Kenneth Halliwell. Born in 1933 in Leicester, in the English Midlands, John 'Joe' Orton moves to London in 1951, to study at RADA, and enjoys an openly gay relationship with Halliwell in their famous Islington flat in the 1960s. However, when Orton achieves spectacular success with such plays as 'What the Butler Saw' and 'Loot', Halliwell begins to feel alienated and the pair's future looks increasingly uncertain.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: independent film, witty, dark comedy, black comedy, period piece, tense, clever, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 88%
Goya's Ghosts (2006)
Plot Summary:
Painter Francisco Goya faces a scandal involving his muse, who is labeled a heretic by a monk.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Spain, USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: period piece, intense, factual, thought provoking, realistic, dramatic, costume drama, historical drama, spiritual, sad
Similar in 78%
Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon (1998)
Plot Summary:
Biography of the British painter Francis Bacon. The movie focuses on his relationship with George Dyer, his lover. Dyer was a former small time crook.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France, Japan, USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: cult classic, controversial, heartbreaking, art film, serious, realistic, contemplative, biting, independent film, transgressive
Similar in 79%
Klimt (2006)
Plot Summary:
A portrait of Austrian artist Gustav Klimt whose lavish, sexual paintings came to symbolize the art nouveau style of the late 19th and early 20th century.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Austria, France, Germany, UK
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, stylized, cerebral, visual, visually stunning, serious, captivating, realistic, experimental, contemplative
Similar in 81%
Surviving Picasso (1996)
Plot Summary:
The passionate Merchant-Ivory drama tells the story of Francoise Gilot, the only lover of Pablo Picasso who was strong enough to withstand his ferocious cruelty and move on with her life.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: emotional, serious, realistic, intense, romantic, heartbreaking, art film, romantic drama, historical drama, contemplative
Similar in 81%
Camille Claudel (1988)
Plot Summary:
The life of Camille Claudel, a french scupltor who becomes the apprentice of Auguste Rodin and later his lover. Her passion for her art and Rodin drive her further away from reason and rationality.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 175 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, intense, touching, heartbreaking, serious, captivating, disturbing, atmospheric, romantic
Similar in 84%
Carrington (1995)
Plot Summary:
The story of the relationship between painter Dora Carrington and author Lytton Strachey in a World War One England of cottages and countryside. Although platonic due to Strachey's homosexuality, the relationship was nevertheless a deep and complicated one. When Carrington did develop a more physical relationship with soldier Ralph Partridge, Strachey was able to welcome him as a friend, although Partridge remained somewhat uneasy, not so much with Strachey's lifestyle and sexual orientation as with the fact that he was a conscientious objector.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: costume drama, touching, emotional, talky, sexual, historical drama, independent film, sentimental, sincere, atmospheric
Similar in 82%
Total Eclipse (1995)
Plot Summary:
Young, wild poet Arthur Rimbaud and his mentor Paul Verlaine engage in a fierce, forbidden romance while feeling the effects of a hellish artistic lifestyle.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France, Belgium
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: serious, erotic, costume drama, cult classic, psychological, sexual, thought provoking, lgbt cinema, artsy, historical drama
Similar in 88%
Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)
Plot Summary:
This film, adapted from a work of fiction by author Tracy Chevalier, tells a story about the events surrounding the creation of the painting "Girl With A Pearl Earring" by 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer. A young peasant maid working in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer becomes his talented assistant and the model for one of his most famous works.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 82000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Luxembourg, France, Belgium, USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: enigmatic, period piece, costume drama, stylized, atmospheric, thought provoking, light, colorful, contemplative, serious
Similar in 80%
Wilde (1997)
Plot Summary:
The story of Oscar Wilde, genius, poet, playwright and the First Modern Man. The self-realisation of his homosexuality caused Wilde enormous torment as he juggled marriage, fatherhood and responsibility with his obsessive love for Lord Alfred Douglas.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Japan, Germany
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: homoerotic, costume drama, touching, period piece, witty, historical drama, sentimental, sincere, serious, captivating
Similar in 88%
Frida (2002)
Plot Summary:
"Frida" chronicles the life Frida Kahlo shared unflinchingly and openly with Diego Rivera, as the young couple took the art world by storm. From her complex and enduring relationship with her mentor and husband to her illicit and controversial affair with Leon Trotsky, to her provocative and romantic entanglements with women, Frida Kahlo lived a bold and uncompromising life as a political, artistic, and sexual revolutionary.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 94000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: stylized, emotional, colorful, serious, psychological, touching, independent film, visually appealing, sincere, erotic
Similar in 89%
Little Ashes (2008)
Plot Summary:
About the young life and loves of artist Salvador Dalí, filmmaker Luis Buñuel and writer Federico García Lorca.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK, Spain
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, tense, factual, art film, sincere, suspenseful, intellectual, erotic, romantic
Similar in 87%
Another Country (1984)
Plot Summary:
Set in the 1930s, Guy Bennett and Tommy Judd are friends because they are both outsiders in their own ways. Bennett is openly gay, Judd is a Marxist. It explores his homosexuality and exposure to Marxism, while examining the hypocrisy and snobbery of the English public school system. The film is loosely based on the life of the spy and double agent Guy Burgess.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, rough, psychological, captivating, factual, political, lgbt cinema, artsy, stylized
Similar in 84%
At Eternity's Gate (2018)
Plot Summary:
Famed but tormented artist Vincent van Gogh spends his final years in Arles, France, painting masterworks of the natural world that surrounds him.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 39000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Ireland, Switzerland, UK, France, USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: independent film, melancholic, psychological, rough, touching, art film, captivating, suspenseful, philosophical, atmospheric
Similar in 83%
The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965)
Plot Summary:
Charlton Heston stars as Renaissance artist Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), who begrudgingly paints the Sistine Chapel for imperious Pope Julius II in this epic adaptation of Irvine Stone's novel directed by Carol Reed. While the novel covers Michelangelo's life from birth to death, the film focuses on the battle of wills between the perfectionist artist and the impatient Pope who commissions (and eventually commands) him to paint the famed chapel.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: epic, inspirational, uplifting, serious, biblical, christian film, psychedelic, art film, technicolor, sincere
Similar in 82%
Mr. Turner (2014)
Plot Summary:
Eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner lives his last 25 years with gusto and secretly becomes involved with a seaside landlady, while his faithful housekeeper bears an unrequited love for him.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK, France, Germany, USA, Belgium
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: enigmatic, surreal, meditative, sincere, captivating, costume drama, visual, atmospheric, clever, stylized