Best movies like David Copperfield
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
An orphan with a rough childhood becomes a barrister.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland, USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, captivating, costume drama, juvenile, period drama
Best tv shows and movies like David Copperfield (2000):
Similar in 79%
The Making of a Lady (2012)
Plot Summary:
1901:- Poor but intelligent Emily Fox Seton accepts a marriage proposal from the older Lord James Walderhurst,a widower pushed into providing an heir by his haughty aunt Maria,.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: stylized, captivating, suspense, tense, sexy, period piece, costume drama, romantic drama, realistic, clever
Similar in 88%
A Hidden Life (2001)
Plot Summary:
Young girl, born and raised in an isolated farm, is brought to a small town to live with her cousins, her only relatives. Once in town, she encounters great difficulty adapting to city life.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 92
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, sincere, captivating, realistic
Similar in 76%
The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019)
Plot Summary:
A fresh and distinctive take on Charles Dickens’ semi-autobiographical masterpiece, The Personal History of David Copperfield, set in the 1840s, chronicles the life of its iconic title character as he navigates a chaotic world to find his elusive place within it. From his unhappy childhood to the discovery of his gift as a storyteller and writer, David’s journey is by turns hilarious and tragic, but always full of life, colour and humanity.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: costume drama, atmospheric, touching, sentimental, captivating, semi serious, enigmatic, satirical, period piece, cult classic
Similar in 78%
The Old Curiosity Shop (2007)
Plot Summary:
A kindly shop owner whose overwhelming gambling debts allow a greedy landlord to seize his shop of dusty treasures. Evicted and with no way to pay his debts, he and his granddaughter flee.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 765
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA, Ireland
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, serious, emotional, costume drama, period piece, historical drama, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 89%
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1982)
Plot Summary:
Young Nicholas Nickleby sets out to make his fortune in order to prevent his mother and sister from depending upon his uncle, Ralph Nicklby. But he finds his first job as master at a Yorkshire school to be cruel, and runs away with one of the students. Meanwhile, Kate is subjected to the unwanted attentions of Sir Mulberry Hawk, aided by her uncle. Nicholas and his new friend, Smike, begin their adventures and eventually set out to rescue Kate, with the usual Dickensian twists, turns and asides.
IMDB Rating: 9.1
IMDB Votes: 541
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 540 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, period drama
Similar in 90%
The Mayor of Casterbridge (2003)
Plot Summary:
Adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel. At a country fair, young hay-trusser Michael Henchard quarrels with his wife Susan, and in a drunken fit decides to auction off his wife and baby to a sailor for five guineas. The next day, realising his loss, he swears not to touch liquor again for as many years as he has lived so far. Eighteen years later, Henchard has become Mayor of Casterbridge, a man well respected but not well liked. The unexpected return of his wife and daughter Elizabeth Jane sets off a turn of events that force him to face the consequences of his selfish impulses and violent temper.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 196 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, costume drama, historical drama, period drama
Similar in 86%
Oliver Twist (1999)
Plot Summary:
Based on Charles Dickens' novel, this adaptation traces the childhood of an orphan whose mother dies giving birth to him in an English work-house in the 1820s.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 829
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 386 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 80%
The Black Velvet Gown (1991)
Plot Summary:
In the 1830's in northern England, Riah Millican, a widow with three children, takes a job as housekeeper to a reclusive former teacher, Percival Miller. Miller makes Riah the gift of a black velvet gown, and even educates her children. But when Riah discovers the reason behind Miller's gifts, she vows to leave his house, but Miller has a hold on her, even after his death, when he leaves his house to her on the condition that she never marry. Riah's daughter, Biddy, grows up and becomes a laundress in a large house where her education keeps her from fitting in and makes her a target. But it also catches the eye of a son of the house, and with Miller's legacies, Biddy may yet find her way to happiness.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 647
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: serious, costume drama, historical drama, realistic, period drama
Similar in 81%
Little Dorrit (1987)
Plot Summary:
A drama based on the novel by Charles Dickens which tells the story of Arthur Clennam who is thrown into a debtor's prison. There he meets a young seamstress whose father has been imprisoned for twenty-five years. A film in originally released in two parts.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 357 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, epic, independent film, period drama, masterpiece
Similar in 82%
Great Expectations (1974)
Plot Summary:
Charles Dickens' classic tale of Pip, a poor orphan who befriends an escaped convict and who grows up in the company of a bitter old woman, Miss Havisham, and her haughty young ward, Estella. Pip learns the rewards of both vindictiveness and gratitude as a result of these events.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 494
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 86%
The Mill (2013)
Plot Summary:
Powerful historical drama series, based on the lives of real people, telling the story of young 19th-century apprentices taking their lives into their own hands for the first time.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, stylized, psychological, rough, period piece, costume drama, grim, historical drama
Similar in 89%
Our Mutual Friend (1998)
Plot Summary:
Intertwining tales of love, greed, and secret identities in Charles Dickens's 1860s London.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 350 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, historical drama, serious, captivating, realistic, period drama
Similar in 88%
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (2001)
Plot Summary:
Adaptation of the Dickens novel.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags: serious, sentimental, atmospheric, uplifting, touching, captivating, juvenile, historical drama, emotional, realistic
Similar in 90%
David Copperfield (1970)
Plot Summary:
A made for TV movie of the Charles Dickens' classic novel, turns Dickens' picaresque tale into an extended flashback, with David Copperfield Robin Phillips as a young man, brooding on a deserted beach, recalling his youth. The characters are all trotted out in choppy flashbacks as David remembers his life as a young orphan, brought to London and passed around from relatives, to guardians, to boarding school.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 585
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 89%
Boy Called Twist (2004)
Plot Summary:
The harrowing tale of a South African street-kid's search for love, based on Dickens' classic story. Growing up neglected in a rural orphanage, Twist escapes to the unpredictable freedom of Cape Town, where he falls in with Fagin's gang of street urchins. With a gritty honesty steeped in its vibrant characters, Boy called Twist superbly captures the contemporary equivalents of Dickens' seedy individuals as it shadows the timeless tale in its own inimitable style.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 165
Genere: Drama
Country: South Africa
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 77%
Little Men (1998)
Plot Summary:
In this adaptation of the classic novel by Louisa May Alcott, two street kids from Boston find themselves at Plumfield, a rural boarding school run by Jo and her husband -- and they soon learn academic and life lessons they won't ever forget.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 615
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: juvenile, independent film, sentimental, uplifting, touching, feel good, serious, realistic, romantic, clever
Similar in 81%
Master Harold ... and the Boys (2010)
Plot Summary:
This movie is of Hally, an adolescent white South African. He is stuck between his intolerant father's outlook of him and those of his caretaker, Sam. Sam is a black waiter and Hally's friend and teacher. Hally is required to laugh at his father's racist jokes, by contrast, Sam exposes Hally to uplifting experiences. One day Hally was terribly humiliated by his father and Sam shows Hally how to be proud of something he can achieve.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 580
Genere: Drama
Country: South Africa
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 86%
A Simple Heart (2008)
Plot Summary:
Unable to forget her first love, Félicité, a simple and kind maid, devotes herself completely to her new master, Mathilde Aubain. As the passing of time doesn't heal her wounds, she gives love to all those who surround her: Mathilde's children, her nephew Victor. But fate seems to always deny her from any love in return. Still she tries to find someone who'll accept her unconditional love.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 342
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, touching, emotional, realistic
Similar in 75%
Oliver Twist (2005)
Plot Summary:
Oliver Twist the modern filmed version of Charles Dickens bestseller, a Roman Polanski adaptation. The classic Dickens tale, where an orphan meets a pickpocket on the streets of London. From there, he joins a household of boys who are trained to steal for their master.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France, UK, Czech Republic
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: emotional, costume drama, atmospheric, sentimental, touching, serious, suspense, period piece, melancholic, stylized
Similar in 86%
Great Expectations (1999)
Plot Summary:
A young boy called Pip stumbles upon a hunted criminal who threatens him and demands food. A few years later, Pip finds that he has a benefactor. Imagining that Miss Havisham, a rich lady whose adopted daughter Estella he loves, is the benefactor, Pip believes in a grand plan at the end of which he will be married to Estella. However, when the criminal from his childhood turns up one stormy night and reveals that he, Magwitch, is his benefactor, Pip finds his dreams crumbling. Although initially repulsed by his benefactor, Pip gradually becomes loyal to him and stays with him until his death.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 168 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, sincere, captivating, period piece, costume drama, realistic, period drama, weird
Similar in 77%
Buddenbrooks (2008)
Plot Summary:
Mid-19th-century, Baltic Sea port city of Lubeck, Germany. Follows the fourth generation of the Buddenbrook mercantile family as Tony and Thomas reach the age of marriage. Fatefully impeded every step of the way, the Buddenbrooks struggle as economic hardship and personal defeats weigh down family relations.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 151 min
Plot tags: saga, realistic, emotional, psychological, captivating, political, family saga, sad, costume drama, sentimental
Similar in 87%
Due East (2002)
Plot Summary:
The movie spotlights an intelligent high school senior and National Merit Scholar (Bryant) who has never been part of the "in crowd." She teaches a high school equivalency night class, tends to the needs of her widower father, Jesse (Forster), and pretty much stays to herself. But when she meets a loner who recently moved to the town of Due East, she feels a sense of belonging for the first time in her life.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 295
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, touching, contemplative
Similar in 84%
Jane Eyre (1996)
Plot Summary:
Jane Eyre is an orphan cast out as a young girl by her aunt, Mrs. Reed, and sent to be raised in a harsh charity school for girls. There she learns to be come a teacher and eventually seeks employment outside the school. Her advertisement is answered by the housekeeper of Thornfield Hall, Mrs. Fairfax.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Italy, UK, USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: romantic, costume drama, melancholic, period piece, emotional, intense, realistic, gothic, serious, romantic drama
Similar in 87%
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (2002)
Plot Summary:
In the later years of the nineteenth century Latin master Mr. Chipping is the mainstay of Brookfields boys boarding school, a good teacher and a kindly person but he is considered to be married to the job so that it is a surprise when, on a walking holiday, he meets and marries the vivacious Kathie,who becomes his helpmate at the school but sadly pre-deceases him. Just before World War One insensitive new headmaster Ralston tries to edge Chipping out but the boys rally and Sir John Rivers, an old pupil of Chipping's and now head of the board of governors, invites him to stay and,when the war breaks out and Ralston joins up, Chipping becomes the new head.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 898
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 87%
David Copperfield (1999)
Plot Summary:
Charles Dickens' haunting semi-autobiographical tale of a boy who is sent away by his stepfather after his mother dies but manages to triumph over incredible adversities.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 185 min
Plot tags: costume drama, atmospheric, uplifting, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, spiritual, period piece
Similar in 77%
Great Expectations (2011)
Plot Summary:
'Great Expectations' opens with Pip as a boy (played as an young man by newcomer Douglas Booth, 'The Pillars of the Earth') on the marshes near his home, where he encounters the desperate escapee Magwitch (Winstone). Pip is coerced into stealing a metal file to break Magwitch's chains, but the boy willingly snares a piece of meat pie to feed the famished man. So begins a classic coming-of-age story about innate kindness and learned indifference. Young Pip expects no more from life than to join his brother-in-law Joe at the blacksmith's forge. But fate intervenes when the neighboring rich eccentric Miss Havisham (Anderson) seeks Pip out as a playmate for her adopted daughter, Estella (Vanessa Kirby, 'The Hour'). This sets Pip on a course that sees him tested in many ways, not least in being thrown into a wish-fulfillment paradise for a young man, where he has the pleasures of London at his disposal and true love - and great expectations - in his future. Or so he thinks.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, historical drama, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, costume drama, period piece, gothic, stylized
Similar in 78%
Jane Eyre (1997)
Plot Summary:
Charlotte Bronte's classic novel is filmed yet again. The story of the Yorkshire orphan who becomes a governess to a young French girl and finds love with the brooding lord of the manor is given a standard romantic flare, but sparks do not seem to happen between the two leads in this version.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: costume drama, gothic, atmospheric, emotional, spiritual, sincere, serious, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 90%
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 80%
Toe to Toe (2009)
Plot Summary:
Out on the lacrosse pitch, wealthy but troubled Jesse and poor but driven Tosha form an easy and deep bond, but their relationship is threatened once they enter the hallways of an elite prep school they attend in Washington, D.C. There, they must work to overcome racial and other tensions in their classmates, and in themselves, if they hope to keep their friendship alive.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 517
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, psychological, sentimental, sexy, sincere, thought provoking, touching, serious, emotional
Similar in 81%
Surviving with Wolves (2007)
Plot Summary:
In 1942, the young Jewish girl Misha, her Russian mother Gerusha and her German father Reuven hide from the Germans in a small house in Ardennes, Belgium. Misha is very connected to her mother that advises her that if one day a person comes to her saying "love of my life", she would follow him or her without any question. When her parents are captured by the Nazis, Misha is delivered to a German family and the abusive matriarch gives a bad treatment to the girl. However, she finds support in the family of Ernest and his deranged wife Marthe that supplies groceries to foster family. Misha loves Ernest's dogs and the old man gives a compass to her and tells that her parents have been sent to East to forced labor. When the old couple is denounced for sheltering the girl and arrested by the Germans, Misha flees through the woods heading east. Along her journey seeking out her parents.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium, Germany
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: touching, uplifting, realistic, serious, emotional, bleak