Best movies like Diary for My Children
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A semi-autobiographical story of a young woman's life in Budapest under Stalin.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 981
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: art house, masterpiece, banned
Best tv shows and movies like Diary for My Children (1984):
Similar in 80%
The Bell Jar (1979)
Plot Summary:
Adaptation of the 1963 novel by Sylvia Plath. Details a young woman's summer in New York working for a Mademoiselle-like magazine, return home to New England, and subsequent breakdown all amidst the horrors of the fifties, from news of the Rosenbergs' execution to sleazy disc jockeys and predatory college boys.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 289
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 83%
Diary for My Father and My Mother (1990)
Plot Summary:
Directed by Márta Mészáros.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 245
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: art house
Similar in 84%
Zina (1985)
Plot Summary:
Zina, the daughter of Leon Trotsky by his first wife, is undergoing freudian analysis in Berlin in the 'thirties. Meanwhile Trotsky is in exile in Prinkipo having been driven from power by Stalin. The Nazis rise to power in Germany and Austria and Zina commits suicide.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 124
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 82%
Love (1971)
Plot Summary:
Luca regularly visits her bedridden mother-in-law. Luca's husband, János, has been arrested on a trumped up political charge, and Luca does not know if he is still alive. Luca hides this from his mother by making up letters purporting to be from János who is directing a big film in New York. Luca discovers that János is alive, and is dismissed from her teaching job because of her husband. The dying mother anxiously awaits the return of her son from New York.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 88%
Adoption (1975)
Plot Summary:
Single factory worker Kata, 43, wants to have a child with her long-time secret lover, a married man called Joska. He doesn't like the idea. Kata befriends teenage schoolgirl Anna, abandoned by her parents at the age of six. Anna runs away from the local children's home and moves in with Kata so that she can keep on seeing her boyfriend Sanyi. Kata goes to see Anna's parents and persuades them to give the young lovers their permission to marry. Through Anna, Kata becomes interested in neglected children and decides to adopt a baby from the children's home.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: social, touching, emotional, realistic, sexual, sexy, masterpiece
Similar in 76%
Coming Out of the Ice (1982)
Plot Summary:
Victor and his family moved to the USSR in the mid '30's. When he refused to sign his skydiving accomplishment as a citizen of the USSR, he was not tried but simply sent to prison. His horrific imprisonment, beating and torture culminated with his being sent to the Gulag for many years. He was in the Soviet Union, according to the film, for a total of 45 years.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 213
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
Diary for My Loves (1987)
Plot Summary:
A continuation of "Diary for My Children," the film picks up in 1950, when Juli, the diarist, is 18 and determined to become a movie director.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 311
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: art house
Similar in 87%
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1979)
Plot Summary:
Based on writer Maya Angelou's childhood, this story is about a young girl in the South who is sent to live with her grandmother after her parents divorce.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 327
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Edith Stein: The Seventh Chamber (1995)
Plot Summary:
An expressionist biography of Edith Stein, who converted from the Jewish faith to the Catholic one and became a Carmelite sister. She would die in a German concentration camp.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 231
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: Italy, Hungary
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: christian film, intellectual
Similar in 87%
The Story of Piera (1983)
Plot Summary:
This sometimes confusing erotic drama about the incestuous relationship of a mother and daughter is based on the autobiography of Italian theater actress Piera Degli Esposti though it focuses more on her mother Eugenia.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 821
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Italy, France, West Germany
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: erotic, neorealism, independent film, psycho sexual, grotesque
Similar in 82%
My Childhood (1972)
Plot Summary:
The first part of Bill Douglas' influential trilogy harks back to his impoverished upbringing in early-'40s Scotland. Cinema was his only escape - he paid for it with the money he made from returning empty jam jars - and this escape is reflected most closely at this time of his life as an eight-year-old living on the breadline with his half-brother and sick grandmother in a poor mining village.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 46 min
Plot tags: bleak, inspirational, depressing, art house, sincere, touching, offbeat, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 89%
A Time to Live, a Time to Die (1985)
Plot Summary:
The semi-autobiographical film on director Hou Hsiao-Hsien's childhood and adolescence, when he was growing up in Taiwan, living through the deaths of his father, mother and grandmother.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: realistic, contemplative, slow cinema, aesthetic, thought provoking, touching, serious, masterpiece
Similar in 81%
Leonie (2010)
Plot Summary:
In the lush tradition of the glorious films of Merchant and Ivory, comes the true life story of Leonie Gilmour (Emily Mortimer), whose life crossed continents, wars and cultures, embodied with courage and passion in search of art and freedom. A tender and inspiring story of a remarkable woman who nurtures the amazing artistic talent of her son who has only one way to succeed and one person to guide him, as he grows into the world renown artist, Isamu Noguchi.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 573
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: France, UK, Australia, Germany, Belgium, USA, Japan, Netherlands
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: uplifting, serious, realistic, stylized, retro, crying, period piece, period drama
Similar in 85%
The Glass Castle (2017)
Plot Summary:
A young girl is raised in a dysfunctional family constantly on the run from the FBI. Living in poverty, she comes of age guided by her drunkard, ingenious father who distracts her with magical stories to keep her mind off the family's dire state, and her selfish, nonconformist mother who has no intention of raising a family, along with her younger brother and sister, and her other older sister. Together, they fend for each other as they mature in an unorthodox journey that is their family life.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 38000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: sentimental, thought provoking, emotional, sad, psychological, captivating, exciting, road movie, mind bending, dramatic
Similar in 80%
Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (1977)
Plot Summary:
The story of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt during their 12-year stay at the White House.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 337
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: historical drama, postmodern
Similar in 90%
From a Far Country (1981)
Plot Summary:
The film is a biography of Pope John Paul II. It starts in 1926 when the boy Karol Wojtila was celebrating Christmas with his father in Poland. Some years later Nazi Germany attacks Poland and invades the country while Wojtila seeks refuge at the house of Cardinal Wyszynski. Also appear all the other important stations of the life of the Pope.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 199
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Italy, UK, Poland
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: uplifting, thought provoking, bleak, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, disturbing, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 80%
Mark Twain and Me (1991)
Plot Summary:
Dorothy Quick, A young girl befriends the famous writer, Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemans during the final years of his life.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 191
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
Becoming Astrid (2018)
Plot Summary:
When Astrid Lindgren was very young something happened that affected her profoundly, and this combination of both miracle and calamity came to shape her entire life. It was an event that transformed her into one of the most inspiring women of our age and the storyteller a whole world would come to love. This is the story of when a young Astrid, despite the expectations of her time and religious upbringing, decided to break free from society's norms and follow her heart.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Sweden, Denmark
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: romantic, thought provoking, touching, captivating, retro
Similar in 77%
A Quiet Passion (2016)
Plot Summary:
The story of American poet Emily Dickinson from her early days as a young schoolgirl to her later years as a reclusive, unrecognized artist.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, Belgium, Canada, USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: historical drama, costume drama, romantic drama, period drama, queer cinema
Similar in 89%
Milada (2017)
Plot Summary:
The story of communist show-trial victim Milada Horáková. Horáková was one of the first victims of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. She opposed the communist coup in 1948 but did not leave the country. She was arrested and tried for treason on fabricated charges in a show trial that was broadcast on the radio and shown in film clips. The film focuses on the time from 1945 to 1950 when the communists took over, but also goes back a little further in Horáková's life into the late 1930s.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Czech Republic, USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, tense, touching, captivating
Similar in 87%
Mirror (1975)
Plot Summary:
A dying man in his forties remembers his past. His childhood, his mother, the war, personal moments and things that tell of the recent history of all the Russian nation.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 51000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: surreal, cerebral, atmospheric, avant garde, art house, enigmatic, serious, philosophical, psychological, thought provoking
Similar in 87%
Machuca (2004)
Plot Summary:
Santiago, capital of Chile during the Marxist government of elected, highly controversial president Salvador Allende. Father McEnroe supports his leftist views by introducing a program at the prestigious "collegio" (Catholic prep school) St. Patrick to allow free admission of some proletarian kids. One of them is Pedro Machuca, slum-raised son of the cleaning lady in Gonzalo Infante's liberal-bourgeois home. Yet the new classmates become buddies, paradoxically protesting together as Gonzalo gets adopted by Pedro's slum family and gang. But the adults spoil that too, not in the least when general Pinochet's coup ousts Allende, and supporters such as McEnroe.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Chile, Spain, UK, France
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: political, sincere, touching, emotional, thought provoking, serious, realistic, social, hispanic, sentimental
Similar in 84%
Angela's Ashes (1999)
Plot Summary:
Based on the best selling autobiography by Irish expat Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes follows the experiences of young Frankie and his family as they try against all odds to escape the poverty endemic in the slums of pre-war Limerick. The film opens with the family in Brooklyn, but following the death of one of Frankie's siblings, they return home, only to find the situation there even worse. Prejudice against Frankie's Northern Irish father makes his search for employment in the Republic difficult despite his having fought for the IRA, and when he does find money, he spends the money on drink.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, UK, Ireland
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, depressing, sad, compassionate, serious, melancholic, sincere, gothic, epic
Similar in 90%
My Ain Folk (1973)
Plot Summary:
When Jamie's maternal grandmother dies, he and his brother Tommy are separated - Tommy is taken off to a welfare home and Jamie goes to live with his other grandmother and uncle. His life is far from happy, filled with silence, rejection and bouts of violence.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 989
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: bleak, depressing, art house, sincere, touching, offbeat, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 76%
Trumbo (2015)
Plot Summary:
The career of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo is halted by a witch hunt in the late 1940s when he defies the anti-communist HUAC committee and is blacklisted.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 84000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: political, talky, factual, inspirational, touching, emotional, suspense, intense, sad, depressing
Similar in 80%
Tove (2020)
Plot Summary:
Helsinki, 1945. The end of the war brings a new sense of artistic and social freedom for painter Tove Jansson. While focusing her artistic dreams on painting, the enchanting tales of the ‘Moomin’ creatures she told to scared children in bomb shelters, rapidly take on a life of their own, bringing international fame.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Finland, Sweden
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, romantic, touching, unusual plot structure, melancholic, contemplative, queer cinema, comic
Similar in 81%
The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)
Plot Summary:
Bettie Page grew up in a conservative religious family in Tennessee and became a photo model sensation in 1950s New York. Bettie's legendary pin-up photos made her the target of a Senate investigation into pornography, and transformed her into an erotic icon who continues to enthrall fans to this day.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: erotic, melancholic, factual, black and white, bleak, stylized, artsy, frightening, sentimental, touching
Similar in 85%
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994)
Plot Summary:
Dorothy Parker remembers the heyday of the Algonquin Round Table, a circle of friends whose barbed wit, like hers, was fueled by alcohol and flirted with despair.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: intellectual, clever, witty, talky, heartbreaking, serious, captivating, realistic, cynical, independent film
Similar in 79%
The Aviator (2004)
Plot Summary:
A biopic depicting the life of filmmaker and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes from 1927 to 1947, during which time he became a successful film producer and an aviation magnate, while simultaneously growing more unstable due to severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 379000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 170 min
Plot tags: realistic, epic, stylized, period piece, captivating, suspense, factual, visual, visually stunning, compassionate
Similar in 87%
Grey Gardens (2009)
Plot Summary:
Based on the life stories of the eccentric aunt and first cousin of Jackie Onassis raised as Park Avenue débutantes but who withdrew from New York society, taking shelter at their Long Island summer home, "Grey Gardens." As their wealth and contact with the outside world dwindled, so did their grasp on reality.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, depressing, compassionate, melancholic, serious, romantic, tear jerker, artsy, avant garde