Best movies like Hail Mary
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
In this modern retelling of the Virgin birth, Mary is a student who plays basketball and works at her father's petrol station; Joseph is an earnest dropout who drives a cab. The angel Gabriel must school Joseph to accept Mary's pregnancy, while Mary comes to terms with God's plan through meditations that are sometimes angry and usually punctuated by elemental images of the sun, moon, clouds, flowers, and water.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Switzerland, UK
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: avant garde, controversial, disturbing, erotic, psychedelic, spiritual, art house, mind bending, surreal, absurd
Best tv shows and movies like Hail Mary (1985):
Similar in 88%
Oh, Woe Is Me (1993)
Plot Summary:
Romance about Simon Donnadieu and his decision to leave his ever-loving wife Rachel.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Country: France, Switzerland
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: disturbing, atmospheric, mind bending, clever, serious, realistic, experimental, contemplative, stylized, gloomy
Similar in 84%
Our Music (2004)
Plot Summary:
Jean-Luc Godard's poetic meditation on war, violence and defeat. The film is structured in three parts. The three segments are "Hell", "Purgatory", and "Heaven". The first segment is a montage of war images from documentary and fictional sources. The second concerns two young Jewish women attending a European arts conference in Sarajevo. The final segment concerns the after life.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Switzerland
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: philosophical, intellectual, meditative, atmospheric, serious, political, experimental, avant garde, clever, contemplative
Similar in 84%
Joy of Learning (1969)
Plot Summary:
Night after night, not long before dawn, two young adults, Patricia and Emile, meet on a sound stage to discuss learning, discourse, and the path to revolution. Scenes of Paris's student revolt, the Vietnam War, and other events of the late 1960s, along with posters, photographs, and cartoons, are backdrops to their words. Words themselves are often Patricia and Emile's subject, as are images, sounds, and juxtapositions.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, West Germany
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: avant garde, eros, tense, atmospheric, thought provoking, serious, realistic, disturbing, contemplative, talky
Similar in 83%
Porcile (1969)
Plot Summary:
Two dramatic stories. In an undetermined past, a young cannibal (who killed his own father) is condemned to be torn to pieces by some wild beasts. In the second story, Julian, the young son of a post-war German industrialist, is on the way to lie down with his farm's pigs, because he doesn't like human relationships.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: disturbing, controversial, experimental, erotic, art house, art film, cult classic, avant garde, atmospheric, clever
Similar in 79%
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 86%
A Hole in My Heart (2004)
Plot Summary:
In a decript apartment, a young man watches as his father and a friend shoot an amateur porn film. Issues of morality, reality TV and friendship are explored.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden, Denmark
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, serious, bleak, avant garde, sad, controversial, erotic, depressing, intense
Similar in 85%
My Life to Live (1962)
Plot Summary:
Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: art house, philosophical, intellectual, black and white, visual, atmospheric, serious, depressing, erotic, inspirational
Similar in 80%
Lost Song (2008)
Plot Summary:
Pierre and Elisabeth, a couple in their thirties, move with their baby into a cottage on a lake for the summer. The setting is idyllic, and the couple’s happiness seems within reach. Every day, Pierre goes to work in the city while Elisabeth rehearses for an upcoming voice recital. Despite the benevolent presence of her mother-in-law who lives in the neighbouring house, the young woman feels isolated and overwhelmed in her new role as a mother. Her entourage is concerned, but no one fully grasps the extent of Elisabeth’s distress. Muted violence soon takes hold and tightens its grip.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 124
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, serious, sentimental, bleak, disturbing, contemplative, gloomy, tragic ending
Similar in 86%
I Love You (1981)
Plot Summary:
Man meets woman, and invites her home. The two start an intense relationship in order to shield themselves from loneliness.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 670
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: pornochanchada, psychological, serious, realistic, sexual, sexy, weird
Similar in 87%
American Translation (2011)
Plot Summary:
A sexually ambiguous Frenchman tours his native countryside with his naive American lover in pursuit of the ultimate thrill. From the moment they meet, brooding Chris (Pierre Perrier) and the beautiful Aurore (Lizzie Brocherè) fall instantly and passionately in love but it's not long before their intense connection is consumed by Chris's dark obsession with gay men. Before long, the pair embarks on a violent and sexual journey filled with seduction and destruction of young gay hustlers. Hard-hitting, intensely sexy and wildly controversial, American Translation is a twisted Bonnie and Clyde for a new generation.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 872
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: erotic, serious, realistic, disturbing, sexual, twisted, offbeat, gloomy, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 80%
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 85%
Goodbye to Language (2014)
Plot Summary:
About a man who’s angry at his wife because she’s met another man on a park bench and they no longer even speak the same language.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy
Country: Switzerland, France
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: surreal, experimental, atmospheric, thought provoking, serious, stylized, avant garde, psychedelic, art house, erotic
Similar in 84%
Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream That One Calls Human Life (1995)
Plot Summary:
Jakob arrives at the Institute Benjamenta (run by brother and sister Johannes and Lisa Benjamenta) to learn to become a servant. With seven other men, he studies under Lisa: absurd lessons of movement, drawing circles, and servility. He asks for a better room. No other students arrive and none leave for employment. Johannes is unhappy, imperious, and detached from the school's operation. Lisa is beautiful, at first tightly controlled, then on the verge of breakdown. There's a whiff of incest. Jakob is drawn to Lisa, and perhaps she to him. As winter sets in, she becomes catatonic. Things get worse; Johannes notes that all this has happened since Jakob came. Is there any cause and effect?.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Japan, Germany
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: black and white, art house, surreal, cult classic, psychological, atmospheric, mindfuck, mind bending, psychedelic, spiritual
Similar in 82%
A Lake (2008)
Plot Summary:
The story takes place in a country about which we know nothing: a country of snow and dense forests somewhere in the North. A family lives in an isolated house near a lake. Alexi, the brother, is a young man with pure heart. A woodcutter. An ecstatic, prey to epileptic fits, he is entirely opened to the nature that surrounds him. Alexi is terribly close to his younger sister, Hege. Their blind mother, their father and their little brother are the silent witnesses to their overwhelming love. A stranger arrives, a young man barely older that Alexi.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 812
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, emotional, stylized, contemplative, disturbing, controversial, art house, bleak, serious
Similar in 76%
Post Tenebras Lux (2012)
Plot Summary:
Juan and his urban family live in the Mexican countryside, where they enjoy and suffer a world apart. And nobody knows if these two worlds are complementary or if they strive to eliminate one another.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico, France, Netherlands, Germany
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, serious, experimental, psychological, psychedelic, surreal, captivating, slow cinema, philosophical
Similar in 83%
A Single Girl (1995)
Plot Summary:
A young Parisian must make major decisions about pregnancy, a job and her boyfriend.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexual, psychological, sincere, atmospheric, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, rough
Similar in 81%
In Praise of Love (2001)
Plot Summary:
Someone we hear talking - but whom we do not see - speaks of a project which describes the four key moments of love: meeting, physical passion, arguments/separation and making up. This project is to be told through three couples: young, adult and old. We do not know if the project is for a play, a film, a novel or an opera. The author of the project is always accompanied by a kind of servant. Meanwhile, two years earlier, an American civil servant meets with an elderly French couple who had fought in the Resistance during World War II, brokering a deal with a Hollywood director to buy the rights to tell their story. The members of the old couple's family discuss heatedly questions of nation, memory and history.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Switzerland, Germany
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: intellectual, meditative, enigmatic, stylized, psychological, philosophical, atmospheric, serious, realistic, surreal
Similar in 81%
Gilles' Wife (2004)
Plot Summary:
Gilles' wife, Elise, who smiles when she thinks of him, cooks and scrubs and cheerfully makes love to him, suspects during her third pregnancy that he is having an affair with her coquettish younger sister, Victorine. Elise suffers, usually in silence. She listens to her husband rave; she asks her priest; she breaks picture frames; she weeps. She decides on a strategy to keep him. Will she succeed?.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 887
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Italy, Switzerland
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, sexual, crying, sexy
Similar in 89%
Hemel (2012)
Plot Summary:
Divided into chapters, the film first chronicles Hemel's many sexual conquests, but then takes on a different tone as it explores her complicated relationship with her father, Gijs. A dapper auctioneer, Gijs has dated a series of younger women since Hemel's mother's death. But when Gijs starts seeing the charming Sophie, for the first time Hemel feels that her special relationship with her father is threatened.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Netherlands, Spain
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: sexy, atmospheric, realistic, disturbing, erotic, psychological, emotional, sentimental, eros, sincere
Similar in 89%
Fat Girl (2001)
Plot Summary:
Elena is 15, beautiful and flirtatious. Her less confident sister, Anais, is 12, and constantly eats. On holiday, Elena meets a young Italian student who is determined to seduce her. Anais is forced to watch in silence, conspiring with the lovers, but harboring jealousy and similar desires. Their actions, however, have unforeseen tragic consequences for the whole family.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: bleak, erotic, psychological, sexy, tense, controversial, disturbing, sensual, stylized, sexual
Similar in 88%
Two or Three Things I Know About Her... (1967)
Plot Summary:
The story of a housewife who must work the streets to earn an extra living - and who becomes the starting point for a larger socio-political essay.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: political, surreal, absurd, clever, talky, cynical, avant garde, mind bending, psychedelic, social
Similar in 83%
And They Call It Summer (2012)
Plot Summary:
Dino and Anna are a couple in their forties. Their relationship is hardly conventional: in fact, it is unconsummated. Dino gets out of it, gratifying himself with prostitutes and swingers. He reaches his nadir when he looks up Anna’s old boyfriends to ask about their sexual relations with her, and even begs them to take her back, as a way to end their relationship. Anna can’t find a way out herself; she can’t bring herself to end this one-of-a-kind, tormented love affair. In the end, Dino’s angst is what makes her feel loved, feel unique. No solution seems to be waiting in the wings.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 438
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, bleak, suspenseful, sexy, contemplative, gloomy, sexual, hot
Similar in 85%
Crash (1996)
Plot Summary:
After getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims who use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce to try to rejuvenate his sex life with his wife.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 65000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Canada, USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: erotic, disturbing, sexual, psychological, sexy, surreal, bleak, art house, atmospheric, serious
Similar in 76%
Anatomy of Hell (2004)
Plot Summary:
A man rescues a woman from a suicide attempt in a gay nightclub. Walking the streets together, she propositions him: She'll pay him to visit her at her isolated house for four consecutive nights. There he will silently watch her. He's reluctant, but agrees. As the four nights progress, they become more intimate with each other, and a mutual fascination/revulsion develops. By the end of the four-day "contract", these two total strangers will have had a profound impact on each other.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Portugal
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: erotic, disturbing, sexy, sexual, psychological, serious, contemplative, controversial, art house, cult classic
Similar in 78%
Destricted (2006)
Plot Summary:
A compilation of erotic films intended to illuminate the points where art meets sexuality.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: erotic, anthology, thought provoking, serious, avant garde, controversial, underground film, realistic, experimental, contemplative
Similar in 75%
Breaking the Waves (1996)
Plot Summary:
In a small and conservative Scottish village, a woman's paralytic husband convinces her to have extramarital intercourse so she can tell him about it and give him a reason for living.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 71000
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark, Sweden, France, Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Spain, UK
Duration: 159 min
Plot tags: disturbing, sad, bleak, heartbreaking, emotional, psychological, erotic, depressing, art house, touching
Similar in 83%
The Brown Bunny (2003)
Plot Summary:
Bud Clay races motorcycles in the 250cc Formula II class of road racing. After a race in New Hampshire, he has five days to get to his next race in California. During his road trip, he is haunted by memories of the last time he saw Daisy, his true love.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: road movie, independent film, controversial, sexy, serious, stylized, intense, psychological, experimental, disturbing
Similar in 76%
Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013)
Plot Summary:
A man named Seligman finds a fainted wounded woman in an alley and he brings her home. She tells him that her name is Joe and that she is nymphomaniac. Joe tells her life and sexual experiences with hundreds of men since she was a young teenager while Seligman tells about his hobbies, such as fly fishing, reading about Fibonacci numbers or listening to organ music.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 130000
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark, Germany, Belgium, UK, France, Sweden, USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexual, disturbing, art house, psychological, sexy, controversial, sensual, philosophical, surreal
Similar in 78%
Ken Park (2002)
Plot Summary:
Ken Park focuses on several teenagers and their tormented home lives. Shawn seems to be the most conventional. Tate is brimming with psychotic rage; Claude is habitually harassed by his brutish father and coddled, rather uncomfortably, by his enormously pregnant mother. Peaches looks after her devoutly religious father, but yearns for freedom. They're all rather tight, or so they claim.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Netherlands, France
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: disturbing, art house, sexual, rough, explicit, sexy, realistic, serious, independent film, erotic
Similar in 84%
Nymphomaniac: Vol. II (2013)
Plot Summary:
The continuation of Joe's sexually dictated life delves into the darker aspects of her adult life and what led to her being in Seligman's care.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 97000
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark, Germany, Belgium, UK, France, Sweden
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: erotic, disturbing, sexual, sexy, psychological, art house, controversial, philosophical, surreal, sensual