Best movies like Madame Bovary
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A young woman in her late teens, a reader of novels and with high hopes of romance and passion, marries a widowed country doctor. Although he dotes on her, she is soon bored and discontent. First, she gives her imagination to a law student in town, and next she takes a lover. When he refuses to run away with her, she takes up again with the law clerk. Her spending on dresses and furnishings mounts; these debts and her ill-advised professional counsel to her husband bring his ruin.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 994
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: period piece, emotional, psychological, serious, realistic, costume drama, historical romance, gloomy, fairy tale, period drama
Best tv shows and movies like Madame Bovary (2000):
Similar in 81%
Torrents of Spring (1989)
Plot Summary:
In 1840, a young Russian aristocrat, Dimitri Sanin, is returning home after a long tour of Europe. In Germany, he falls in love with a beautiful pastry shop girl, Gemma Rosselli, who soon starts sharing his feelings. They decide to get married and, in order to finance the wedding, Dimitri goes back to Russia to sell his family estate. Unfortunately he falls prey to a seductress, Princess Maria Nikolaevna, who pretends to be willing to buy his land to come nearer him. Now Sanin is in a fix: should he choose the pure Gemma or the evil but irresistible Maria?.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 414
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France, Italy
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: clever, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, sexual, sexy, period drama
Similar in 80%
The Bridge (1999)
Plot Summary:
Actor Gerard Depardieu co-directed this drama about a married woman who falls in love with another man. Mina is a movie buff with a husband, Georges, who's out of work, and a 15-year-old son, Tommy. While Mina works part-time as a domestic for Claire Daboval, the family is terribly short on money, so when Georges is offered construction work on a massive bridge project, he immediately accepts, even though the job site is far enough away that he'll only be able to come home on weekends. One day, while taking in a matinee screening of West Side Story, Mina meets a man named Matthias, an engineer associated with the bridge project. It's love at first sight for the both of them, and while Mina has no desire to hurt Georges, who is a good and decent man, she has found another good and decent man whom she loves even more. Tommy, on the other hand, has to deal with this crisis in his parents' marriage while he's sorting out his own infatuation with Ms. Daboval's daughter, Lisbeth.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 635
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, semi autobiographical
Similar in 75%
Anna Karenina (1985)
Plot Summary:
Tragic Anna leaves her cold husband for dashing Count Vronsky in 19th-century Russia.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 365
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, psychological, epic, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 85%
Madame Bovary (2014)
Plot Summary:
The classic story of Emma Bovary, the beautiful wife of a small-town doctor in 19th century France, who engages in extra marital affairs in an attempt to advance her social status.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Germany, Belgium, USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: period piece, costume drama, serious, captivating, psychological, emotional, sentimental, stylized, existential, historical drama
Similar in 82%
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 76%
Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1998)
Plot Summary:
Thomas Hardy's classic epic remains one of the most popular novels, this TV adaptation vividly depicts the powerful tale of a peasant girl whose life is torn apart by the love and jealousy of two men. Justine Waddell stars as the hapless Child of Nature who is tossed around by the dark forces of fate. Jason Flemyng is the dark and sinister Alec D'Urberville whose relentless pursuit of Tess triggers the heroine's downfall. Oliver Milburn plays the handsome young Angel Clare, the caring rebel who falls deeply in love with Tess.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: period piece, romantic, costume drama, historical drama, atmospheric, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 75%
The Woodlanders (1997)
Plot Summary:
The story is set in late 19th century rural corner of South England. The daughter of timber merchant Melbury, Grace, returns to the town after finishing school. Her father now believes she can find a better husband than her childhood sweetheart, woodsman Giles. She marries handsome young doctor Fitzpiers, but soon finds out he's not the man of her dreams and she still loves Giles.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 741
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: costume drama, serious, realistic, independent film, period piece, period drama
Similar in 89%
Far from the Madding Crowd (1998)
Plot Summary:
This powerful adaptation of Thomas Hardy's classic novel spins a story of passion and destruction set in the nineteenth century. The proud, flighty and bewitching Bathsheba Everdene finds herself entangled into the passions of three men and her impulsive nature pushes her into a web of deceit and destruction.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 955
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 54 min
Plot tags: costume drama, historical drama, serious, realistic, period drama
Similar in 88%
La séparation (1994)
Plot Summary:
In Paris, Pierre and Anne have been living together for a couple of years and they have the eighteen months son Loulou, who stays with the nanny Laurence during the day while they work. Their best friends are the couple Victor and Claire, who also is not married but live together. Out of the blue, Pierre feels Anne estranged with him and sooner she discloses that she is in love with another man. Pierre seems to accept her affair but their relationship rapidly deteriorates, and Pierre becomes violent with her.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, realistic, light, sexy, thought provoking, enigmatic, bleak, unusual plot structure
Similar in 76%
Madame Bovary (1991)
Plot Summary:
Bored with the limited and tedious nature of provincial life in 19th-century France, the fierce and sensual Emma Bovary finds herself in calamitous debt and purses scandalous sexual liaisons with absolute abandon. However, when her volatile lifestyle catches up to her, the lives of everyone around her are endangered.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: realistic, melancholic, sexy, costume drama, intense, romantic, erotic, spiritual, art house, romantic drama
Similar in 86%
Washington Square (1997)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1870's New York, a spinster heiress is courted by a much younger, penniless man, much to the chagrin of her over-protective father, and must decide whether to spend the rest of her life alone, or marry a man who is interested in her only because of her inheritence.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: costume drama, romantic, stylized, sex comedy, romantic drama, historical drama, psychological, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Lady Chatterley's Lover (2015)
Plot Summary:
An early-20th-century tale of love across class boundaries which tells the legendary and romantic story of Lady Chatterley’s affair with her gamekeeper. Jed Mercurio’s adaptation of DH Lawrence’s classic.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, erotic, costume drama, sentimental, captivating, disturbing, period piece, romantic drama, historical drama
Similar in 85%
Under the Greenwood Tree (2005)
Plot Summary:
Set in a rustic English village in the mid 19th century, Under The Greenwood Tree tells the story of a poor young man who falls for a middle-class schoolteacher and attempts to win her over.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, semi serious, costume drama, captivating, period piece, historical drama, sexual, sexy, period drama
Similar in 76%
The Last Mistress (2007)
Plot Summary:
Secrets, rumors and betrayals surround the upcoming marriage between a young dissolute man and virtuous woman of the French aristocracy.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: erotic, serious, stylized, realistic, sensual, sexy, disturbing, erotic drama, sexual, crying
Similar in 76%
The Inheritance (1997)
Plot Summary:
At the lush Evenswood estate in Concord, Massachusetts, Edith Adelon, a beautiful orphan, lives as the paid companion to the daughter of the wealthy Hamilton family, although they regard her as one of their own. Years ago, Henry Hamilton saved Edith from an Italian orphanage at the request of his long-deceased brother. Now, Edith is his daughter Amy's prized friend and confidante. As the Hamiltons await a trio of visitors for the annual Greens Cup horse race, Beatrice Hamilton asks for Edith's help in finding a suitable husband for a cousin, Ida Glenshaw, with one of two visiting eligible bachelors. But when it becomes clear that both the young men have affection for Edith and not Ida, jealousy soon develops, leading to malicious conniving and brutal backstabbing.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: period piece, touching, serious, realistic, period drama
Similar in 85%
Mayerling (1968)
Plot Summary:
Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria (Omar Sharif) clashes with his father, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria (James Mason), over implementing progressive policies for their country. Ava Gardner plays his mother Empress Elisabeth. Rudolf soon feels he is a man born at the wrong time in a country that does not realize the need for social reform. The Prince of Wales (James Robertson Justice), later to become Britain's King Edward VII, provides comic relief. Rudolf finds refuge from a loveless marriage with Princess Stéphanie (Andréa Parisy) by taking a mistress, Baroness Maria Vetsera (Catherine Deneuve). Their untimely demise at Mayerling, the imperial family's hunting lodge, is cloaked in mystery, but the film's ending suggests the two lovers made a suicide pact when they decided they could not live in a world without love or prospects for peace.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK, France
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, independent film, costume drama, period drama
Similar in 86%
Onegin (1999)
Plot Summary:
In the opulent St. Petersburg of the Empire period, Eugene Onegin is a jaded but dashing aristocrat - a man often lacking in empathy, who suffers from restlessness, melancholy and, finally, regret. Through his best friend Lensky, Onegin is introduced to the young Tatiana. A passionate and virtuous girl, she soon falls hopelessly under the spell of the aloof newcomer and professes her love for him.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, period piece, romantic, costume drama, romantic drama, realistic, art house, historical romance, contemplative, clever
Similar in 81%
Ethan Frome (1992)
Plot Summary:
Based on the novel of the same name by Edith Wharton, it is about a husband and wife (Ethan and Zeena), who need an extra hand around the house due to Zeena's debilitated body and constant illness. The young woman who joins them is a beautiful, spirited person. She and Ethan fall in love much to the dismay of Zeena. Written by Jason Ihle.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: emotional, intense, costume drama, sentimental, captivating, serious, realistic, contemplative, independent film, light
Similar in 88%
The Golden Bowl (2000)
Plot Summary:
An intricately plotted tale of thwarted love and betrayal, "The Golden Bowl" tells the story of an extravagantly rich American widower and his sheltered daughter, both of whom marry only to discover that their respective mates, a beautiful American expatriate and an impoverished Italian aristocrat, are entangled with one another in a romantic intrigue of seduction and deceit.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, France, UK
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: period piece, serious, stylized, realistic, costume drama, suspense, romantic drama, historical drama, clever, biting
Similar in 86%
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
Plot Summary:
In this story-within-a-story, Anna is an actress starring opposite Mike in a period piece about the forbidden love between their respective characters, Sarah and Charles. Both actors are involved in serious relationships, but the passionate nature of the script leads to an off-camera love affair as well. While attempting to maintain their composure and professionalism, Anna and Mike struggle to come to terms with their infidelity.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: romantic, emotional, costume drama, scenic, stylized, atmospheric, clever, postmodern, erotic, retro
Similar in 75%
The House of Mirth (2000)
Plot Summary:
A woman risks losing her chance of happiness with the only man she has ever loved.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Romance, Drama
Country: UK, France, Germany, USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, atmospheric, emotional, melancholic, witty, talky, intense, thought provoking, independent film
Similar in 78%
Anna Karenina (1997)
Plot Summary:
Anna (Marceau) is a wife and mother who has an affair with the handsome Count Vronsky (Bean). Based on the novel by Tolstoy.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Russia, UK
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: costume drama, romantic, psychological, atmospheric, emotional, romantic drama, sentimental, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 89%
Anna Karenina (2012)
Plot Summary:
Trapped in a loveless marriage, aristocrat Anna Karenina enters into a life-changing affair with the affluent Count Vronsky.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 105000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, sentimental, emotional, stylized, romantic, colorful, surreal, talky, visual
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 89%
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 89%
Mansfield Park (1999)
Plot Summary:
This fun and sexy comedy tells a timelessly entertaining story where wealthy, secret passions and mischievous women put love to the test.. When a spirited young woman, Fanny Price, is sent away to live on the great country estate of her rich cousins, she's meant to learn the ways of proper society. But while Fanny learns "their" ways, she also enlightens them with a wit and sparkle all her own!.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: period piece, witty, costume drama, romantic, sexy, atmospheric, breathtaking, educational, happy, romantic drama
Similar in 77%
Far from the Madding Crowd (2015)
Plot Summary:
Based on the literary classic by Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd is the story of independent, beautiful and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene, who attracts three very different suitors: Gabriel Oak, a sheep farmer, captivated by her fetching willfulness; Frank Troy, a handsome and reckless Sergeant; and William Boldwood, a prosperous and mature bachelor. This timeless story of Bathsheba's choices and passions explores the nature of relationships and love – as well as the human ability to overcome hardships through resilience and perseverance.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 53000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: romantic, period piece, emotional, costume drama, sexy, visually stunning, scenic, talky, historical drama, inspirational
Similar in 86%
Mansfield Park (2007)
Plot Summary:
In Mansfield Park, poverty-stricken Fanny Price is sent away to live with her wealthy uncle and aunt at Mansfield Park. As she struggles to adapt to her new lifestyle she begins to attract the attentions of suitors, learning about the sexual politics of high society along the way.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: period piece, costume drama, realistic, witty, stylized, romantic, historical drama, touching, gloomy, semi serious
Similar in 77%
The Portrait of a Lady (1996)
Plot Summary:
Ms. Isabel Archer isn't afraid to challenge societal norms. Impressed by her free spirit, her kindhearted cousin writes her into his fatally ill father's will. Suddenly rich and independent, Isabelle ventures into the world, along the way befriending a cynical intellectual and romancing an art enthusiast. However, the advantage of her affluence is called into question when she realizes the extent to which her money colors her relationships.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: psychological, intellectual, period piece, costume drama, talky, atmospheric, serious, romantic, stylized, historical drama
Similar in 75%
The Deep Blue Sea (2011)
Plot Summary:
The wife of a British Judge is caught in a self-destructive love affair with a Royal Air Force pilot.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Australia
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: romantic, emotional, atmospheric, heartbreaking, intense, period piece, psychological, realistic, sexy, serious