Best movies like Manon of the Spring
Last updated March 2024
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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
Best tv shows and movies like Manon of the Spring (1986):
Similar in 85%
Zandy's Bride (1974)
Plot Summary:
Zandy Allan purchases a mail-order bride, Hannah Lund. He treats her as a possession, without respect or humanity, until their shared ordeal as they struggle to survive develops in him a growing love.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: spaghetti western, sincere, atmospheric, thought provoking, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, technicolor, cult film
Similar in 87%
Madame Butterfly (1995)
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
Similar in 87%
Young Aphrodites (1963)
Plot Summary:
Parallel stories of Eros set in 200 B.C. Nomadic shepherds, plagued by drought, happen on a fishing encampment with plentiful fresh water. The local men are away but will return when it rains; the shepherds stay to refresh their flock until the rain comes. A shepherd lad and a local girl, both on the verge of puberty, start a mating dance. Also, one of the shepherds approaches a beautiful local woman, inviting her to sleep with him. How will she respond? She's married, her husband at sea for the week. Is love forever or temporary?.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 839
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Greece
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: black and white, tragic ending, avant garde, allegory, independent film, sexy, hot
Similar in 88%
The Well-Digger's Daughter (2011)
Plot Summary:
It's the beginning of the WWII. South of France. Patricia, 18, is the oldest daughter of a well-digger, Pascal, who considers her a princess because of her moral qualities. She's kind, devoted. One day, she briefly meets a young man, Jacques, the son of Mazel, owner of the shop where her father buy his material. He's handsome and teasing. Her father's friend, Felipe, would love to marry her, and he invites her to an aviation show. She accepts his invitation only because she knows Jacques is a pilot and will be there. Soon, she'll carry his child, and he'll be gone, and the family will have to deal with this out-of-wedlock pregnancy.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, romantic, surprise ending, sentimental, serious, realistic, tragic, period drama
Similar in 84%
The New Land (1972)
Plot Summary:
Continuation from Utvandrarna (1971): The Swedes arrive in the USA. They still have a long journey to Minnesota where they expect to find other Swedes. When they arrive there, each family searches a place to build a home. Kristina and Karl-Oskar live a better life than in Sweden, even though Kristina is very homesick in the begin. Karl-Oskar's brother and his friend Arvid go to California to follow the gold rush. However, Robert returns sick without Arvid who died on the way to California. Robert gets no better and dies. Later, Kristina dies while being pregnant. Karl-Oska r gets much older than her but feels very lonely during his last years.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: Sweden
Duration: 202 min
Plot tags: epic, sentimental, atmospheric, touching, serious, captivating, intercultural, period drama, inter cultural
Similar in 87%
Marius (2013)
Plot Summary:
"Marius" takes place in Marseilles' Old Port, at the La Marine Bar, owned by César and his son Marius. Marius' biggest dream is to embark on one of the boats passing by his dad's bar and to set off to a faraway land. Fanny, a young and pretty seafood peddler, has secretly been in love with Marius since her childhood; Marius, never admitting it, has always loved Fanny. One day, a sailor drops by La Marine and offers him a job on an exploratory ship. Trying to hold him off and to make him jealous, Fanny confesses his love to him and provokes a fight between Marius and one of César's old friends, Panisse, a boat merchant, who despite his old age, has been courting Fanny for a while. Torn between the call of the sea and his love for her, Marius abandons his dream to be with Fanny who gives herself to him. As César and Honorine, Fanny's mother, are getting ready for the wedding, Marius changes his mind, drawn back to the call of the sea.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, touching, realistic, captivating, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 75%
Jean de Florette (1986)
Plot Summary:
In a rural French village, an old man and his only remaining relative cast their covetous eyes on an adjoining vacant property. They need its spring water for growing their flowers, and are dismayed to hear that the man who has inherited it is moving in. They block up the spring and watch as their new neighbour tries to keep his crops watered from wells far afield through the hot summer. Though they see his desperate efforts are breaking his health and his wife and daughter's hearts, they think only of getting the water.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Switzerland, France, Italy
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, emotional, independent film, realistic, sincere, thought provoking, feel good, depressing, educational, family saga
Similar in 88%
Someone I Loved (2009)
Plot Summary:
One night, Pierre decides to reveal his painful secret to his daughter-in-law, who's just been abandoned by her husband. Pierre's secret is about his secret love to Mathilde, the woman he left to instead follow an easier path in life.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Italy, Belgium, Hong Kong
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: serious, touching, realistic, captivating, melancholic, contemplative, gloomy, crying
Similar in 82%
Zorba the Greek (1964)
Plot Summary:
An uptight English writer traveling to Crete on a matter of business finds his life changed forever when he meets the gregarious Alexis Zorba.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Greece, USA
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: inspirational, philosophical, black and white, existential, retro, funny, sad, poetic, exciting, sentimental
Similar in 84%
Blood from a Stone (2011)
Plot Summary:
The day his bank refuses to finance him, Georges will do everything he can to save his shipyard and his employees.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 258
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, serious, cynical, captivating, bleak, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
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 76%
The Grand Highway (1987)
Plot Summary:
Louis, a nine-year-old boy from Paris, spends his summer vacation in a small town in Brittany. His mother Claire has lodged him with her girlfriend Marcelle and her husband Pelo while she's having her second baby. There Louis makes friends with Martine, the ten-year- old girl next door, and learns from her about life.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: anthology, touching, realistic, semi serious, feel good
Similar in 90%
The Proud Ones (1980)
Plot Summary:
In early twentieth-century Brittany, two peasants marry, have a son, and live in traditional Breton ways: three generations under one roof, a division of labor between the sexes, elders' stories at night, politics and religion during their little free time. Times are hard: la Chienne du Monde drives some to suicide; Ankou (death) is close at hand. Pierre is born into this republican family, his lyric childhood interrupted by the outbreak of war and his father's conscription. He learns his catechism and, as a child of a Reds, also reveres school. His grandfather and father often put him on their shoulders, giving him a ride on the horse of pride.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 294
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, saga, contemplative
Similar in 80%
The Invisible Circus (2001)
Plot Summary:
After learning that her sister, Faith (Cameron Diaz), has committed suicide in Portugal, Phoebe (Jordana Brewster), an 18-year-old hippie, decides to uproot from her San Francisco home to travel to Europe. Phoebe hopes to discover and experience the life that led to her sister's death by retracing her footsteps, which eventually leads to Wolf (Christopher Eccleston) -- Faith's boyfriend. However, as Phoebe's journey continues, a series of visions of Faith pushes her mind to the brink.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sexy, touching, emotional, romantic, sentimental, erotic, serious, realistic, independent film, road movie
Similar in 82%
Love's Enduring Promise (2004)
Plot Summary:
In this Janette Oke sequel to "Love Comes Softly," the eldest child in an 1800s frontier family, Missie Davis is a bright and beautiful elementary schoolteacher whose love for the prairie is matched only by her passion for books. When Missie encounters Grant, a handsome New England railroad executive, she feels as though shes met a hero from one of her novels.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Family, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: uplifting, sentimental, serious, touching, emotional, realistic, romantic, saga, historical romance, christian film
Similar in 88%
The Hired Hand (1971)
Plot Summary:
Harry Collings returns home to his farm after drifting with his friend, Arch. His wife, who had given up on him, reluctantly allows him to stay, and soon believes that all will be well again. But then Harry has to make a difficult decision regarding his loyalties and priorities.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, gloomy, vintage
Similar in 87%
Heartland (1979)
Plot Summary:
Disarmingly realistic in its depiction of the realities of frontier life, Heartland is a strong antidote to the cliches of traditional Westerns. This semi-documentary slice of life is based on the diaries of Elmore Randall Stewart about her days on the Wyoming frontier in the early 20th century. It's a strongly feminist statement about a woman raising her small daughter alone and scrapping for a living by working for a shy Scottish rancher. Director Richard Pearce brings an endearing touch to a film that is helped greatly by the dazzling cinematography of Fred Murphy. Conchata Ferrell and Rip Torn star in this small film that substitutes veracity for a high-powered plot.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: historically accurate, independent film, sincere, bleak, serious, realistic, contemplative, factual, wild
Similar in 75%
Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1987)
Plot Summary:
This suspenseful Italian crime drama is set in a Colombian river town and chronicles the series of events that led up to murder. Based on a novel by distinguished author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the tale begins in the present as a middle-aged doctor returns to the village after a twenty-year absence to investigate the murder that occurred just before he left.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France, Colombia
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 81%
The Beautiful Troublemaker (1991)
Plot Summary:
The former famous painter Frenhofer lives quietly with his wife on his countryside residence in the French Provence. When the young artist Nicolas visits him with his girlfriend Marianne, Frenhofer decides to start again the work on a painting he long ago stopped: La Belle Noiseuse. And he wants Marianne as model. The now starting creative process changes life for everyone. It is a struggle for truth, life and sense, and the question where the limits of arts are or whether art is limitless.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Switzerland
Duration: 238 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, realistic, psychological, atmospheric, erotic, serious, sexy, contemplative, sexual
Similar in 83%
Hell (2005)
Plot Summary:
Three sisters share a connection to a violent incident from their childhood reunite to for the chance to come to terms with their past.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Italy, Belgium, Japan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, touching, erotic, islamic, bleak, non-linear
Similar in 86%
My Father's Glory (1990)
Plot Summary:
French adaptation of Marcel Pagnol's memoirs of his childhood in the countryside, early in the century.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, uplifting, feel good, serious, realistic, crying, atmospheric, sexy, enigmatic
Similar in 82%
A Heart of Stone (1992)
Plot Summary:
Beautiful violin virtuoso Camille has two obsessions: the music of Ravel, and a friend of her husband's who crafts violins. But his heart seems to be as cold as her playing is passionate.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: psychological, heartbreaking, sincere, thought provoking, touching, anthology, art house, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 77%
A French Woman (1995)
Plot Summary:
Wed just as war breaks out, Jeanne hardly gets to know her military husband, Louis, before the debacle of 1940. While waiting for his return from a POW camp, Jeanne journeys through countless affairs with Louis' comrades- in-arms. Hoping to forget these wartime betrayls, Louis takes his wife and the infant twins he didn't father to Berlin, where she falls for Matthais, a sensitive German industrialist. When the Indochinese war sends Louis to Vietnam, Matthais follows Jeanne back to France. A subsequent move to Damascus where Louis is posted as military attache, fails to break their bond.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France, Germany
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, serious, realistic, gloomy, sexual, semi autobiographical, sexy
Similar in 90%
Cider with Rosie (2015)
Plot Summary:
A semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story set in the Cotswolds during and immediately after the First World War.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 825
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, sentimental, touching, semi autobiographical
Similar in 86%
A Month in the Country (1987)
Plot Summary:
Set in the early 1920s, the film follows Tom Birkin, who has been employed to carry out restoration work on a Medieval mural discovered in a church in the small rural community of Oxgodby, Yorkshire. The escape to the idyllic countryside is cathartic for Birkin, haunted by his experiences in World War I. Birkin soon fits into the slow-paced life of the remote village, and over the course of the summer uncovering the painting begins to lose his trauma-induced stammer and tics.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: scenic, realistic, captivating, thought provoking, costume drama, historical drama, independent film, touching, serious, romantic
Similar in 89%
Tess (1979)
Plot Summary:
This multiple-Oscar-winning film by Roman Polanski is an exquisite, richly layered adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles. A strong-willed peasant girl (Nastassja Kinski, in a gorgeous breakthrough) is sent by her father to the estate of some local aristocrats to capitalize on a rumor that their families are from the same line. This fateful visit commences an epic narrative of sex, class, betrayal, and revenge, which Polanski unfolds with deliberation and finesse. With its earthy visual textures, achieved by two world-class cinematographers—Geoffrey Unsworth (Cabaret) and Ghislain Cloquet (Au hasard Balthazar)—Tess is a work of great pastoral beauty as well as vivid storytelling.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France
Duration: 186 min
Plot tags: period piece, scenic, costume drama, visually appealing, atmospheric, art house, epic, philosophical, psychedelic, cynical
Similar in 75%
To Paint or Make Love (2005)
Plot Summary:
An affluent, middle-aged couple's uneventful lives are forever changed when they move into an isolated house in the country and befriend an odd, younger couple.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: captivating, sensual, sentimental, sincere, touching, offbeat, humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious
Similar in 83%
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
Plot Summary:
A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 277000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: sad, uplifting, inspirational, touching, emotional, realistic, feel good, atmospheric, heartbreaking, compassionate
Similar in 82%
Legends of the Fall (1994)
Plot Summary:
An epic tale of three brothers and their father living in the remote wilderness of 1900s USA and how their lives are affected by nature, history, war, and love.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 179000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: emotional, sincere, serious, scenic, sentimental, captivating, touching, romantic, epic, sad
Similar in 77%
The Homesman (2014)
Plot Summary:
When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life, the task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy. Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, George Briggs, to join her. The unlikely pair and the three women head east, where a waiting minister and his wife have offered to take the women in. But the group first must traverse the harsh Nebraska Territories marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant threat.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 35000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: France, USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, tense, bleak, realistic, depressing, harsh, emotional, suspense, serious, road movie