Best movies like Madame Butterfly
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Cio-Cio-San, a young Japanese geisha, seeks to fulfill her dreams through marriage to an American naval officer. Her faith in their future is shattered by his empty vows and the loss she endures touches something deep within us all.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 635
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France, UK, Germany
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, stylized, touching, serious, captivating, realistic, gloomy, light, romantic
Best tv shows and movies like Madame Butterfly (1995):
Similar in 75%
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%
Don Giovanni (1979)
Plot Summary:
Screen adapatation of Mozart's greatest opera. Don Giovanni, the infamous womanizer, makes one conquest after another until the ghost of Donna Anna's father, the Commendatore, (whom Giovanni killed) makes his appearance. He offers Giovanni one last chance to repent for his multitudinious improprieties. He will not change his ways So, he is sucked down into hell by evil spirits. High drama, hysterical comedy, magnificent music! (and unfortunately poor direction by film maker Joseph Losey. The final scene looks more like an industrial mishap than a supernatural event.).
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France, Italy, West Germany
Duration: 176 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, emotional, realistic, stylized
Similar in 76%
Once Upon an Angel (2002)
Plot Summary:
A grief-stricken man who just lost his mother has a one night stand with a maid. What he doesn't know is that she's a virgin. He returns to his sad world of perfume business while she, unable to forget her first lover, follows him.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 227
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: humorous, serious, realistic, touching, light
Similar in 79%
The Conductor (1980)
Plot Summary:
A violinist in a provincial Polish orchestra, whose husband is the director of the ensemble, on a visit to the US ties up with the world- renowned symphony conductor. As it turns out he was once in love with violinist's mother. The conductor, a slightly unstable hypochondriac, returns to Poland to lead the provincial orchestra. He also tries to revive old love affair using the violinist as a surrogate of her mother. Her husband is resentful of the conductor for both personal and professional reasons.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 674
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Poland
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 80%
Tosca (2001)
Plot Summary:
Benoit Jacquot's acclaimed 2002 film of Puccini's opera stars Angela Gheorghiu in the title role, with Roberto Alagna, Ruggero Raimondi and the Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, under Antonio Pappano.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 448
Genere: Musical, Drama
Country: Italy, France, UK, Germany
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: emotional, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, sexy, sexual
Similar in 76%
A Love Bewitched (1986)
Plot Summary:
In a Gypsy village, the fathers of Candela and José promise their children to each other. Years later, the unfaithful José marries Candela but while defending his lover Lucía in a brawl, he is stabbed to death. Carmelo, who secretly loves Candela since he was a boy, is arrested while helping José and unfairly sent to prison. Four years later he is released and declares his love for Candela. However, the woman is cursed by a bewitched love and every night she goes to the place where José died to dance with his ghost.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 960
Genere: Music, Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: art house, serious, captivating, realistic, sexual, sexy
Similar in 90%
Raja (2003)
Plot Summary:
Raja is a nineteen year old orphan literally and figuratively scarred by life. Fred is an emotionally bankrupt westerner living amid his plush gardens and palm trees. Set against the backdrop of contemporary Marrakech, Raja is a cross-cultural drama about a wealthy middle-aged Frenchman's complex relationship with this poor local girl. Fred's attempts to seduce Raja, and their mutual attempts at manipulation, are fractured by their gross disparity of income, age and cultural sophistication.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 431
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Morocco
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 80%
The Voyage (1974)
Plot Summary:
Adriana De Mauro loves Cesar Braggi, but Cesar, honoring his father's dying wish, allows his brother, Antonio, to marry Adriana. As fate wills, Antonio dies in an automobile accident. Adriana's mourning for Antonio ends when Cesar steps in to rekindle her lust of life. Soon, Adriana begins having dizzy spells. Cesar helps her to a specialist, and the diagnosis is not good. She has an incurable disease. For the rest of their time together, Cesar woos Adriana and eventually proposes to her on a gondola. Yet, for some reason or other, Signora De Mauro, Adriana's mother, is not pleased with the relationship and argues bitterly with Cesar.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 664
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 77%
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 77%
Carmen (1984)
Plot Summary:
A film version of the famous Bizet opera, where a soldier (Don Jose) falls in love with a beautiful factory worker (Carmen), but she does not reciprocate his feelings.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 152 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, sexual, erotic, light, romantic, atmospheric, sexy
Similar in 85%
Love Never Dies (2012)
Plot Summary:
Set 10 years later, the Phantom has escaped from Paris to New York where he lives amongst the joyrides and freak shows of Coney Island. He has finally found a place for his music to soar, all that is missing is his love Christine Daaé. In a bid to win back her love, the Phantom lures Christine, her husband Raoul, and their young son Gustave from Manhattan, to the glittering and glorious world of Coney Island... they have no idea what lies in store for them... You truly haven’t experienced Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies until you see this spectacular new Australian production, filmed at Melbourne’s iconic Regent Theatre.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Music, Musical, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: gothic, sentimental, stylized, captivating, serious, realistic, fairy tale
Similar in 75%
Romeo and Juliet (1966)
Plot Summary:
Classic ballet by Kenneth MacMillan to the music of Prokofiev.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 173
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, stylized, independent film
Similar in 77%
Fanny (2013)
Plot Summary:
"Fanny" is the second part of the "Marseille trilogy", made by Marcel Pagnol with the generic name of "Marius, Fanny and César". Fanny falls in love and is abandoned by Marius. Now she discovers she is pregnant. Her mother and Marius's father, César, persuade her to accept the romantic advances of a much older man. To save face, Fanny accepts to marry Honoré Panisse, a rich merchant of the Vieux Port, 30 years her senior who will recognize her son.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, touching, realistic, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Manon of the Spring (1986)
Plot Summary:
In this, the sequel to Jean de Florette, Manon (Beart) has grown into a beautiful young shepherdess living in the idyllic Provencal countryside. She plots vengeance on the men whose greedy conspiracy to acquire her father's land caused his death years earlier.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: Switzerland, France, Italy
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: surprise ending, atmospheric, touching, sincere, thought provoking, depressing, educational, family saga, saga, anthology
Similar in 85%
Bye Bye Blackbird (2005)
Plot Summary:
A period drama set in the early years of the 20th century. Josef, a former construction worker who delighted in dancing on girders high above the city, who now sweeps up at the circus. Once the big top's owner spots the young roustabout defying gravity on the trapeze, however, he endeavors to pair Josef with his aerialist daughter Alice in a perilous sky-high pas de deux. Offers a romantic view of big top life, with a moth-eaten angel in his feathered, tattered costume.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 260
Genere: Drama
Country: Austria, Luxembourg, Germany, UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, realistic, captivating, romantic, serious, stylized
Similar in 77%
Anna Karenina (2000)
Plot Summary:
To help her brother mend his failing marriage, young Russian beauty Anna Karenina - who's married to eminent nobleman Alexei Karenin - leaves St. Petersburg for Moscow, where she meets the dashing Count Vronsky. They soon fall madly in love, but the scandal of their illicit affair and Alexei's vengeance give rise to tragedy in this faithful adaptation of author Leo Tolstoy's immortal novel.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 598
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 360 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, emotional, realistic, serious, historical romance, epic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 85%
Trishna (2011)
Plot Summary:
When her father is killed in a road accident, Trishna's family expect her to provide for them. The rich son of an entrepreneur starts to restlessly pursue her affections, but are his intentions as pure as they seem?.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Sweden, India
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, serious, realistic, ambiguous ending, erotic, hot
Similar in 89%
Brooklyn Babylon (2001)
Plot Summary:
A charismatic rapper falls in love with a young Jewish girl despite the confines of her religious background.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 335
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA, France
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, crime drama, independent film, emotional, realistic
Similar in 86%
Anna Karenina (2013)
Plot Summary:
Anna and Kitty. Two lives. One of desperate passion that ends in tragedy, the other, an existence made real through love. Two destinies that interweave, giving rise to two, so very different stories, yet lived in pursuit of the same desire- to find a love that lets them fully be themselves, to live without having to conform to society’s pretenses.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 627
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France, Spain, Lithuania
Duration: 354 min
Plot tags: sentimental, captivating, emotional, stylized, serious, realistic, fairy tale
Similar in 77%
One Love (2003)
Plot Summary:
Kassa a free-wheelin rasta man, falls for a straight laced gospel singer Serena, when they both meet as they enter a music contest. Serena's father the pastor forbids her to see him and wants her to marry one of his church members. Meanwhile the record boss organizing the contest, tries to get Kassa's band to sign to his label on his terms not theirs. By using heavy tactics, he pushes the band to fight back.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 436
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: Jamaica, Norway, UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, captivating, emotional, realistic, touching, serious, stylized
Similar in 87%
Women or Children First (2002)
Plot Summary:
Tom, a Spaniard, is married to Sylvie and lives a quiet but a bit boring life in the Britanny countryside (west of France). Trouble comes when Tom ex girlfriend reappears, asking for help, announcing him that she had a girl from him 9 years ago.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 264
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Spain
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sentimental, captivating, sincere, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Ruby's Bucket of Blood (2001)
Plot Summary:
A Louisiana juke joint owner loses her star entertainer and hires a white singer to fill in.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 368
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, captivating, realistic, gloomy, neo noir, black cinema
Similar in 90%
My Friend & His Wife (2006)
Plot Summary:
Two young men, Ye-joon and Jae-moon, have been close friends since doing military service together. Ye-joon has lately worked his way up to becoming a successful financier, while the unambitious Jae-moon has opted for a much less conspicuous route. He now works as a cook and is enjoying family life with his wife Ji-sook and their new-born son. Ji-sook tolerates her husband’s attachment to his friend, but everything changes after the tragic death of the child, caused by Ye-joon. Ji-sook was in Paris when the tragedy occurred and isn’t aware of the circumstances; she even starts an affair with Ye-joon when her husband is imprisoned after taking the blame for his son’s death. Relationships which were originally crystal-clear begin to grow distinctly cloudy.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 153
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: emotional, serious, realistic, psychological, captivating, touching, gloomy
Similar in 86%
G (2002)
Plot Summary:
A young Hip Hop star named Summer G falls for a middle to upper class sister while in college. After she rejects him for a fellow social climber, Summer G spends ten years building a Hip Hop empire, then moves to the Hamptons where he finds the object of his affections.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 778
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, captivating, realistic, gloomy, modern day adaptation
Similar in 79%
Same Same But Different (2009)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Benjamin Prufer and Sreykeo Solvan. The unexpected and uncertain love story of Sreykeo, a 21 year old bar girl in Phnom Penh and Ben, a young German student traveling to Cambodia on a post graduation summer trip. When Ben returns home to Germany he discovers that Sreyko is sick and he takes on the responsibility to save her. On the way he discovers a world where not everyone is dealt the same cards and where motivations are not always pure.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sentimental, atmospheric, touching, realistic, sincere, offbeat, serious, captivating, gloomy
Similar in 78%
In Between Days (2006)
Plot Summary:
A Korean immigrant falls in love with her best friend while navigating her way through the challenges of living in a new country.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 609
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, South Korea, USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, sentimental, contemplative, captivating, depressing, mumblecore, sincere, touching, serious
Similar in 88%
Pilgrimage (1999)
Plot Summary:
Kunhikuttan, a famous Kathakali dancer, meets Subhadra, a woman from an upper caste family, who falls in love with his character rather than himself.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, India, Germany
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: epic, serious, emotional, realistic, stylized, gloomy
Similar in 86%
The Japanese Wife (2010)
Plot Summary:
Snehmoy (Rahul Bose) and Miyage (Chigusa Takaku) are pen friends who exchange wedding vows through letters. Fifteen years pass but they never meet. Yet the bond of marriage is strong between them. This unusual relationship comes under a cloud when a young widow, Sandhya (Raima Sen), comes to stay with Snehmoy along with her eight-year-old son Poltu. Snehmoy and the little boy bond and the arithmetic teacher discovers the joy of palpable bonds and fatherhood. There develops an inexplicable thread of understanding with Sandhya too. But Snehmoy remained loyal to his unseen Japanese wife. When Miyage was ill from cancer, he took a long leave from his school and tried his best to find a cure for the illness. Meanwhile, malaria took a toll on him and he died. Coming of Miyage in a white sari to Sunderbans after his departure was really touching.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: India
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, sentimental, captivating, philosophical, offbeat, touching, serious
Similar in 79%
The Truce (2003)
Plot Summary:
Martín Santomé has been woking in an office for the last 50 years, but his life will change when he starts falling in love with a woman named Laura Avellaneda.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 134
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: emotional, stylized, sentimental, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 83%
Farewell My Concubine (1992)
Plot Summary:
Abandoned by his prostitute mother in 1920, Douzi was raised by a theater troupe. There he meets Shitou and over the following years the two develop an act entitled, "Farewell My Concubine," that brings them fame and fortune. When Shitou marries Juxian, Doutzi becomes jealous, the beginnings of the acting duo's explosive breakup and tragic fall take root.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: China, Hong Kong
Duration: 171 min
Plot tags: visual, epic, visually stunning, atmospheric, emotional, realistic, stylized, depressing, controversial, retro