Best movies like Macbeth
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 31
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: UK, West Germany, France
Duration: 149 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Macbeth (1993):
Similar in 88%
Falstaff (1982)
Plot Summary:
The Graham Vicks production of FALSTAFF opened the new Covent Garden Royal Opera House, and was not to everybody's taste; the garish primary colours of the costumes. The staging is effective--the complicated counterpoint of the ensembles is reflected in unobtrusive blocking that keeps the vocal lines clear and separate, especially in the final fugue. Bryn Terfel's Falstaff is a memorable creation, self-mocking and self-aggrandising at the same time--so much so, in fact, that he almost does not need the vast prosthetic body he has to wear for the part. Desiree Rancatore is an admirably sweet-toned Nanetta; Bernadette Manca di Nissa an appropriately sardonic Mistress Quickly; Roberto Frontali as Ford, in his Act 2 scena, perfectly distils and parodies every jealousy aria ever written, including Verdi's own. Haitink's conducting is exemplary in the lyrical passages, gets almost everything out of the fast and furious comic sections.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 31
Genere: Comedy, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Madama Butterfly (1986)
Plot Summary:
Opera at La Scala Milan.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 29
Genere: Drama, Musical, Romance
Country: Italy, UK
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 81%
L'Incoronazione di Poppea (2000)
Plot Summary:
Experience Claudio Monteverdi's three-act opera in the environment it was meant to be seen with this release of a filmed performance captured live during a 2000 production staged at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in France. Mireille Delunsch, Anne Sofie Von Otter, and Sylvie Brunet star, and conductor Marc Minkowski leads the Les Musiciens du Louvre, Grenoble. Klaus Michael Grüber directs for stage.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 14
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 166 min
Plot tags: baroque
Similar in 89%
Alcina (2000)
Plot Summary:
Handel's Alcina. Anonymous libretto, adapted from the libretto of Riccardo Broschi's "L'isola d'Alcina", based on Ludovico Ariosto's "Orlando furioso" (uncredited).
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 30
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Music
Country: Germany
Duration: 159 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Madama Butterfly (2010)
Plot Summary:
The heroine of this beloved opera finds herself faced with a dreadful choice: life without dignity or death with honor. Hear some of Puccini's most soaring and captivating music in this classic story of colliding hearts and cultures.
IMDB Rating: 8.9
IMDB Votes: 9
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 165 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Stiffelio (2012)
Plot Summary:
Part of Tutto Verdi series - Stiffelio (2012) Parma. 'Stiffelio' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, from an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. The origin of this was the novel “Le pasteur d’hommes”, by Émile Souvestre, which was published in 1838. This was adapted into the French play 'Le pasteur, ou L'évangile et le foyer' by Émile Souvestre and Eugène Bourgeois. That was in turn translated into Italian by Gaetano Vestri as 'Stifellius'; this formed the basis of Piave's libretto.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 9
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: Germany, Italy
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Giuseppe Verdi: Falstaff (1982)
Plot Summary:
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IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 25
Genere: Comedy, Music
Country: Austria
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Turandot (1983)
Plot Summary:
From the world famous Arena of Verona, an international cast perform one of Puccini's best loved operas. The cruel Princess Turandot, ruler of China, will only wed a prince who can answer correctly her three riddles. Those who fail are executed. Prince Calaf, son of the exiled king of Tartary, falls in love with Turandot as soon as he sets eyes on her, and despite the protestations of his friends and family sets out to pass her test.
IMDB Rating: 9.2
IMDB Votes: 28
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Music
Country: Italy
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Cavalleria Rusticana (1968)
Plot Summary:
Film of the opera Cavalleria Rusticana conducted by Herbert von Karajan.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 46
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: West Germany, Austria
Duration: 76 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Orpheus (1978)
Plot Summary:
Live performance, part of Monteverdi cycle staged by Oper Zürich with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Zürich Opera House Monteverdi Ensemble. Staged and directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. Filmed 28 march - 20 April. Sound recorded 1 - 25 December 1977.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 57
Genere: Music, Drama
Country: Switzerland, West Germany
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Carmen (2007)
Plot Summary:
Georges Bizet's Carmen, filmed at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, and conducted by Antonio Pappano, tells the tragic story of a soldier who falls for the sultry Carmen and abandons his career and family to be with her.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 54
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 152 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Samson et Dalila (1981)
Plot Summary:
While the rest of the Hebrews bewail their fate, Samson alone trusts in God's promise of liberty. Abimelech, the Philistine satrap of Gaza, enters to mock the Hebrews' God, proclaiming the superiority of Dagon, and the Hebrews are afraid of him. But calls them to show some defiance, so Abimelech attacks Samson with his sword. Samson seizes the sword and strikes him dead. The Hebrews scatter and the High Priest of Dagon appears, cursing the Hebrews. When a messenger reports that the Hebrews are ravaging the harvest, the High Priest forms a plan to use Delilah to overcome Samson's strength. Delilah's beauty is such that Samson can't resist her for long. She begs to know the secret of his supernatural strength, but he refuses, though he says he loves her. Delilah betrays Samson by having some Philistine soldiers seize him and throw him into a prison in Gaza, where his hair is cut off.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 33
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: biblical
Similar in 79%
Rigoletto (2001)
Plot Summary:
Live recording at Royal Opera House, 22 September, 2001. Television live relay. In one of the Royal Opera's most celebrated and popular productions, director David McVicar mixes lavish historical costumes and dark stylized settings to highlight the savagery and excitement of Verdi's tale of misdirected revenge. Paolo Gavanelli is vocally and theatrically electrifying as the hunchback anti-hero, acclaimed soprano Christine Schaefer is his doomed daughter, and superstar tenor Marcelo Alvarez is her fickle lover. With superb playing from the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, it adds up to a thrilling Rigoletto for both opera aficionados and newcomers.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 35
Genere: Crime, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 167 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
L'Incoronazione di Poppea (1979)
Plot Summary:
Live performance, part of Monteverdi cycle staged by Oper Zürich with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Zürich Opera House Monteverdi Ensemble. Staged and directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 51
Genere: Music, Drama
Country: West Germany
Duration: 164 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
Henry VIII (1991)
Plot Summary:
Henry VIII is an opera in four acts by Camille Saint-Saëns, from a libretto by Léonce Détroyat and Armand Silvestre, based on El cisma en Inglaterra (The schism in England) by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. It was revived in 1991 at the Théatre Impérial de Compiègne in a production by Pierre Jourdan, with Philippe Rouillon as Henry VIII, Michèle Command as Catherine of Aragon and Lucile Vignon as Anne Boleyn. The production was made into this film.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 18
Genere: Drama, History, Music
Country: France
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
The Death of Klinghoffer (2003)
Plot Summary:
An adaptation from the controversial John Adams opera about the true life incident that took place in the mid 80s. The liner "Achille Lauro" is on a 12-day cruise in the Mediterranean. While the ship is docked in Alexandria, a maid discovers that four of the passengers are actually members of the Palestine Liberation Organization traveling incognito. Startled by their discovery, the PLO cadre is forced to act. They take the passengers on board hostage and demand the release of 50 Palestinian activists held in Israeli jails. As Egyptian, American, Italian, and Palestinian authorities bicker over the best way to handle the situation (and who would negotiate with the terrorists), the kidnappers find themselves dealing with rebellion among their captives, and an argument between the four PLO members and Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish-American confined to a wheelchair, eventually escalates into violence.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 144
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Un Ballo In Maschera (1991)
Plot Summary:
Verdi's opera performed by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by James Levine. Starring Luciano Pavarotti.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 45
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
Eugene Onegin (2007)
Plot Summary:
The Wiener Philharmoniker mounts, and Andrea Breth stages, this 2007 production of Pyotr Illych Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin, starring Peter Mattei, Joseph Kaiser, Anna Samuil and Renée Morloc. The Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor lends added musical accompaniment, under the baton of Daniel Barenboim.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 16
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Austria, Germany
Duration: 210 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Rodelinda (2005)
Plot Summary:
Live from Munich 2004.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 9
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Germany
Duration: 203 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
Il Trovatore (2002)
Plot Summary:
José Cura, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Verónica Villarroel and Yvonne Naef lead the star cast of Verdi's blazingly passionate opera IL TROVATORE, in Elijah Moshinsky's new Royal Opera House production co-produced with Teatro Real Madrid, with sets by the noted film designer Dante Ferretti and costumes by Anne Tilby.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 40
Genere: Music, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
La traviata (2005)
Plot Summary:
Violetta, a courtesan much wooed by Parisian society, organizes a grand party that is attended, amongst others, by the young Alfredo Germont. He confesses his feelings to Violetta, who is already suffering from consumption. She vacillates between genuine affection and a realistic assessment of her situation as a "fallen woman", which precludes any lasting relationship with a man. The Willy Decker production of LA TRAVIATA, recorded live at the Salzburger Festspiele in August, 2005. Anna Netrebko stars as Violetta Valéry, with Rolando Villazón as Alfredo Germont and Thomas Hampson as Giorgio Germont. Carlo Rizzi conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 228
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: Germany, Japan, Austria
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Carmen on Ice (1990)
Plot Summary:
Carmen is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on a novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 101
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Germany
Duration: 76 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 87%
Rigoletto (2010)
Plot Summary:
Guiseppi Verdi's opera about Rigoletto, the unattractive, hunchbacked jester in the court of the Duke of Mantua. The Duke has noticed a young lady going to church each Sunday and he plans to seduce her. When Count Monterone confronts the Duke for seducing his daughter. Rigoletto ridicules Monterone, the Duke laughs, and Monterone casts an awful curse on both of them.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 74
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Italy, UK, France, Japan, USA, Germany
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Othello (1992)
Plot Summary:
The complete version of Verdi's Otello performed by Placido Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Gala Performance in honour of Sir Georg Solti's 80th birthday.. 27 October 1992. BBC 2 Television live relay.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 82
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 147 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Macbeth (1982)
Plot Summary:
A Hungarian TV version of the play shot in just two takes.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 379
Genere: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 62 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 88%
Othello (1986)
Plot Summary:
Having previously staged Verdi's 1887 opera Otello at the Met and La Scala, filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli committed his production to film in 1986. Starring as the fatally jealous Moor of Venice is Placido Domingo, who had also headlined Zeffirelli's 1976 La Scala staging (production on the film was briefly interrupted while Domingo participated in the rescue operations following the Mexico City earthquake). While Katia Ricciarelli as Desdemona and Justino Diaz as Iago perform their own singing, Zeffirelli's Cassio--played by real-life European prince Urbano Barberini--is dubbed by Ezio de Cesare. The director made several cuts in the original libretto and score in order to accommodate the film's two-hour time limit, but these excisions are done with taste and discretion. Because of the excessive violence in the third act--two murders, a suicide, a superficial throat-slashing--Otello was released with a PG rating.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 607
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Netherlands, Italy, USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, stylized, serious, captivating, realistic, light, inspirational, sexy, thought provoking, enigmatic
Similar in 81%
Macbeth (1981)
Plot Summary:
An adaptation of Shakespeare's play.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 109
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 88%
King Lear (1982)
Plot Summary:
King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear's loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 278
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: period drama
Similar in 84%
A Performance of Macbeth (1979)
Plot Summary:
Shakespeare's classic tragedy of ambition, witches and murder.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 896
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
Rigoletto (1987)
Plot Summary:
Rigoletto is a jester in the court of the Duke of Mantua. He has a hunch-back and he's rather unattractive, but he's good at his job of humiliating the courtiers for the amusement of the Duke. The courtiers, of course, are not amused. The Duke is a ladies man who feels his life would be meaningless if he couldn't chase every skirt he sees. In fact, we learn as the opera begins that he's recently been noticing a young lady every Sunday on her way to church, and he's vowed to have his way with her. What nobody realizes is that the girl is the jester's beloved daughter, Gilda, and that Gilda has seen the Duke every Sunday and is smitten with him. Suddenly Count Monterone appears at court, furious that the Duke has seduced his daughter. Rigoletto ridicules Monterone, the Duke laughs, and Monterone casts an awful curse on both of them. Later, the courtiers discover that Rigoletto is secretly living with Gilda.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 364
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: West Germany
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: freeze frame