Best movies like From the Life of the Marionettes
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Made during Bergman's tax-related exile in Germany, the film continues the story of Katarina and Peter Egermann, the feuding, childless, professional couple who appear in one episode of "Scenes From A Marriage." After Peter perpetrates a horrendous crime in its first scene, the rest of the film consists of a non-linear examination of his motivations, incorporating a police psychological investigation, scenes from the Egermanns' married life, and dream sequences.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: West Germany, Austria
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: disturbing, art house, black and white, suspense thriller, psychological, bleak, serious, realistic
Best tv shows and movies like From the Life of the Marionettes (1980):
Similar in 75%
The Rite (1969)
Plot Summary:
A judge in an unnamed country interviews three actors, together and singly, provoking them while investigating a pornographic performance for which they may face a fine. Their relationships are complicated: Sebastian, volatile, a heavy drinker, in debt, guilty of killing his former partner, is having an affair with that man's widow. She is Thea, high strung, prone to fits, and seemingly fragile, currently married to Sebastian's new partner, Hans. Hans is the troupe leader, wealthy, self-contained, and growing tired. The judge plays on the trio's insecurities, but when they finally, in a private session with him, perform the masque called The Rite, they may have their revenge.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: art house, clever, serious, surreal, contemplative, sexual, sexy
Similar in 77%
Macho Dancer (1988)
Plot Summary:
A former American soldier becomes an exotic dancer and male prostitute in Manila.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 445
Genere: Drama
Country: Philippines
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: erotic, rough, sexy, serious, realistic, disturbing, sexual, independent film, queer cinema
Similar in 80%
Our Country (2006)
Plot Summary:
Set in Milan, where people's lives are invisibly lead by money in its different shapes: too much, too little, stolen, earned, visible and even impalpable. The money flows from one story to the next, from one person to the other, becoming the engine of the film.Everything moves around two antagonist characters: Ugo and Rita. Ugo is a banker involved in a not really clean business. Rita, the Finance Police officer, is a strong and obstinate woman in charge of capturing Ugo. Other characters wander around them, with their weaknesses and fragility, their goodness, their evil and their contradictions. Characters meet, clash, love and hate each other, their lust for money becomes intense feelings.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 440
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: serious, rough, bleak, realistic
Similar in 80%
The Frost (2009)
Plot Summary:
A couple's marriage falls apart after the death of their son. Based on Henrik Ibsen's "Little Eyolf".
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 170
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway, Spain
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, bleak, psychological
Similar in 79%
Face to Face (1976)
Plot Summary:
A sensitive exploration of the tragic irony of the psychiatrist suffering with mental illness.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy
Country: Sweden
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: art house, mind bending, psychedelic, offbeat, depressing, surreal, action adventure, psychological, atmospheric, serious
Similar in 86%
The Passion of Anna (1969)
Plot Summary:
Andreas, a man struggling with the recent demise of his marriage and his own emotional isolation, befriends a married couple also in the midst of psychological turmoil. In turn he meets Anna, who is grieving the recent deaths of her husband and son. She appears zealous in her faith and steadfast in her search for truth, but gradually her delusions surface. Andreas and Anna pursue a love affair, but he is unable to overcome his feelings of deep humiliation and remains disconnected. Meanwhile, the island community is victimized by an unknown person committing acts of animal cruelty.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: art house, surreal, cerebral, psychological, bleak, spiritual, philosophical, mind bending, psychedelic, postmodern
Similar in 88%
A Man's Job (2007)
Plot Summary:
Juha is 38 years old and has three small children and a depressed wife. He sees himself as strong and believes a man should provide for his family. But one day Juha is fired from his job. Ashamed, he weaves a web of lies to hide the fact from his family. With the help of his friend Olli, Juha begins prostituting himself to support his wife and children. With this he makes in two hours what it took him two days to earn before. The shame and deception mushroom, but the pay from the new profession seems to offset the downside.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Finland
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, realistic, psychological, serious, sexual, crying, sexy
Similar in 80%
A Perfect Day (2008)
Plot Summary:
Antonio and Emma have been separated for years, but he does not accept when Emma dates other men. Indeed Antonio proves obsessive, aggressive and intrusive, and again threatens Emma to hurt the children: little Kevin, shy and introverted, and the adolescent Valentina.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, psychological, suspense, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? (1970)
Plot Summary:
Herr Raab is a technical draftsman. His wife pushes him to seek a promotion, which may be a long shot after he gives a dull and tipsy toast at an office dinner. But why would Herr Raab run amok?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: West Germany
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: art house, controversial, existential, cult classic, psychological, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 85%
Fear of Fear (1975)
Plot Summary:
After having her second child, a German housewife suffers from post-partum depression before inexplicably falling into a continually misdiagnosed mental state, befuddling her relatives.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: West Germany
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: philosophical, depressing, art house, dread, psychological, serious, emotional, realistic, disturbing, avant garde
Similar in 76%
The Touch (1971)
Plot Summary:
A seemingly happy Swedish housewife and mother begins an adulterous affair with a foreign archaeologist who is working near her home.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden, USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: art house, independent film, psychological, serious, realistic
Similar in 82%
Life Love Death (1969)
Plot Summary:
François Toledo, married businessman and father, falls head-over-heels in love with Janine, a work colleague. However, he is soon found out: after three dates, he strangles some prostitutes, when, the victim of blackmail, he becomes dishonored. He is taken to court, and sentenced to be killed by a guillotine.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 151
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: neo noir, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Knifer (2010)
Plot Summary:
After his father death, Nikos moves from Ptolemaida to Athens. His uncle offers him food and shelter while he starts taking care of his dogs. Alone in an isolated suburb, he's wearing down into his misery routine, till the moment his relationship with his aunt changes everything.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Cyprus, Greece
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, psychological, captivating, disturbing, bleak, realistic, stylized, gloomy, weird
Similar in 87%
Shame (1968)
Plot Summary:
Ingmar Bergman's psychological study of how humans react in a situation of war. The film takes place on Gotland, where invasion forces arrives.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: psychological, art house, political, cerebral, bleak, biting, existential, allegory, spiritual, contemplative
Similar in 80%
Prague (2006)
Plot Summary:
Christoffer and Maja's trip to Prague to bring back Chistoffer's deceased father, evolves into the story of a brake-up. With the dead father lurking in the background, secrets gradually emerge threatening to destroy their marriage.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, psychological, captivating, serious, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 87%
After the Rehearsal (1984)
Plot Summary:
Rational, exacting, and self-controlled theater director, Henrik Vogler, often stays after rehearsal to think and plan. On this day, Anna comes back, ostensibly looking for a bracelet. She is the lead in his new production of Stindberg's "A Dream Play." She talks of her hatred for her mother, now dead, an alcoholic actress, who was Vogler's star and lover. Vogler falls into a reverie, remembering a day Anna's mother, Rakel, late in life, came after rehearsal to beg him to come to her apartment. He awakes and Anna reveals the reason she has returned: she jolts him into an emotional response, rare for him, and the feelings of a young woman and an older man play out.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden, West Germany
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: mind bending, psychedelic, surreal, art house, psychological, clever, serious, realistic, contemplative, talky
Similar in 89%
The Silence (1963)
Plot Summary:
Traveling through an unnamed European country on the brink of war, sickly, intellectual Ester, her sister Anna and Anna's young son, Johan, check into a near-empty hotel. A basic inability to communicate among the three seems only to worsen during their stay. Anna provokes her sister by enjoying a dalliance with a local man, while the boy, left to himself, has a series of enigmatic encounters that heighten the growing air of isolation.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: art house, black and white, sexual, erotic, philosophical, atmospheric, surreal, cerebral, disturbing, psychological
Similar in 82%
Signs & Wonders (2000)
Plot Summary:
Under the influence of signs and premonitions, a man allows himself to veer in and out of a love affair with his colleague.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 692
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Greece
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: clever, serious, emotional, realistic, independent film, psychological, talky, gloomy, biting, suspense
Similar in 84%
Suburban Madness (2004)
Plot Summary:
Based on the real story of Clara Harris, the Houston, Texas dentist who made headlines in July 2002 when she killed her adulterous husband by repeatedly running over him with her car.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 317
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, disturbing, psychological
Similar in 90%
The Kreutzer Sonata (2008)
Plot Summary:
A film by Bernard Rose, based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy with music by Ludwig Van Beethoven. Edgar Hudson meets Abby, a concert pianist, at a dinner party. Abby is involved with someone else but that doesn't stop the two from acting upon their strong attraction to one another. They start to sneak around but it's not long before they realize they should be together. Soon after Abby breaks up with her boyfriend, she becomes pregnant with Edgar's child - something that was not planned.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 392
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, serious, captivating, suspenseful, rough, bleak, realistic, sexual, psychological thriller
Similar in 82%
Open Window (2006)
Plot Summary:
The engagment between a struggling photographer and an assistant professor is marred by an act of violence.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 77%
Married/Unmarried (2001)
Plot Summary:
Obsession and doubt control four friends' relationship.
IMDB Rating: 4.0
IMDB Votes: 126
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: realistic, sincere, serious, captivating, semi serious
Similar in 86%
A Streetcar Named Desire (1995)
Plot Summary:
Blanche Dubois goes to visit her pregnant sister and husband Stanley in New Orleans. Stanley doesn't like her, and starts pushing her for information on some property he know was left to the sisters. He discovers she has mortgaged the place and spent all the money, and wants to find out all he can about her. Even more friction develops between the two while they are in the apartment together.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 156 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, touching, serious, emotional, atmospheric, realistic
Similar in 83%
Woyzeck (1979)
Plot Summary:
Having fathered an illegitimate child with his lover, Marie, feckless soldier Franz Woyzeck takes odd jobs around his small town to provide some extra money for them. One of them is volunteering for experiments conducted by a local doctor, who puts Woyzeck on a diet of peas. This serves to drive him close to madness, and the discovery that Marie is involved in an affair with the local drum major exacerbates the situation. Pushed too far, Woyzeck resorts to violence.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama
Country: West Germany
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, bleak, disturbing, dark comedy, social, sad, tense, serious, realistic
Similar in 83%
Winter Light (1963)
Plot Summary:
A Swedish pastor fails a loving woman, a suicidal fisherman and God.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: philosophical, psychological, depressing, art house, emotional, black and white, cerebral, christian film, spiritual, existential
Similar in 82%
Belonging (2004)
Plot Summary:
Jess (Brenda Blethyn) and town handyman Jacob (Kevin Whately) have been happily married 20 years, recently taking in a trio of Jacob's elderly relatives, including his mother (Rosemary Harris). Though the relations are demanding, kindhearted Jess -- who selflessly quit her job -- enjoys looking after them. But when Jacob disappears one day, Jess' life falls apart, and she must learn to cope with things on her own in this touching drama.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 299
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, touching
Similar in 82%
Samaritan Girl (2004)
Plot Summary:
Yeo-jin and Jae-yeong are two teenage girls who are trying to earn money for a trip to Europe. To reach this end, Jae-yeong is prostituting herself while Yeo-jin acts as her pimp, setting her up with the clients and staying on guard for the police. Things take a turn for the worse when Yeo-jin gets distracted from her duty and the police raid the motel where Jae-yeong is meeting with a client. To avoid getting caught, Jae-yeong jumps out of a window, fatally injuring herself.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, realistic, erotic, psychological, sincere, romantic, depressing, spiritual
Similar in 82%
Cries & Whispers (1972)
Plot Summary:
As Agnes slowly dies of cancer, her sisters are so deeply immersed in their own psychic pains that they can't offer her the support she needs. Maria is wracked with guilt at her husband's suicide, caused by his discovery of her extramarital affair. The self-loathing, suicidal Karin seems to regard her sister with revulsion. Only Anna, the deeply religious maid who lost her young child, seems able to offer Agnes solace and empathy.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 36000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, depressing, psychological, serious, bleak, surreal, disturbing, art house, cerebral
Similar in 82%
Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
Plot Summary:
Karin hopes to recover from her recent stay at a mental hospital by spending the summer at her family's cottage on a tiny island. Her husband, Martin, cares for her but is frustrated by her physical withdrawal. Her younger bother, Minus, is confused by Karin's vulnerability and his own budding sexuality. Their father, David, cannot overcome his haughty remoteness. Beset by visions, Karin descends further into madness.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, philosophical, art house, black and white, serious, surreal, cerebral, spiritual, existential, atmospheric
Similar in 89%
I Only Want You to Love Me (1976)
Plot Summary:
The story of the young man Peter, who grew up during the economic miracle, bereft of parental care and love. Learning early on that interpersonal relationships are based on the principles of exchange or purchase, he abides by these rules and gives generous presents to his family and his wife Erika. But when he is unable to keep up this life-style, his story takes a horrendous turn.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: West Germany
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: art house, psychological, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing, gloomy