Best movies like Private Vices, Public Virtues
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The son of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria, Crown Prince Rudolf, is believed to have shot his female lover and himself in a tragic suicide pact in 1882 in Mayerling. Due to Imperial cover-ups, the full story may never be known. This story has been filmed several times, in French in 1935 and in English in 1968. Hungarian director Miklos Jancso recreates those events for his own purposes, continuing his favored theme of the rejection of paternal authority. In the film, which has very little dialog, Rudolf is a good-natured pan-sexual golden boy, who cavorts on his rural estate with a host of beautiful, aristocratic lovers and friends of both sexes. He refuses to leave his country idyll even though he has been ordered to by the Emperor, his father. Despite the fact that for a large part of the film, attractive young people go about unclothed and engaging in erotic encounters, the mood is one of melancholy rather than prurience.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 864
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Italy, Yugoslavia
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: erotic, manga, eros, sentimental, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Best tv shows and movies like Private Vices, Public Virtues (1976):
Similar in 79%
Lucrezia Borgia (1990)
Plot Summary:
The dreamy young Hamlet in his castle, undecided whether or not to have sexual approaches with his girls, considering that already has amorous relations with his sister Lucrezia Borgia.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 63
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Italy
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
Effi Briest (1974)
Plot Summary:
A German-made film based on one of the most famous German novels by Theodor Fontane. Effi Briest (Hanna Schygulla) is a socially ambitious, 17-year-old German girl who accepts a proposal of marriage from Baron Geert Von Instetten, a much older diplomat. Unfortunately, neither the Baron's family nor anyone in the secluded town she now calls home accept Effi as an equal. Starved for companionship, Effi begins an innocent friendship with a well-known womanizer that may jeopardize her position as the Baron's wife.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: West Germany
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: art house, black and white, postmodern, costume drama, serious, realistic, stylized, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Hungarian Rhapsody (1979)
Plot Summary:
The movie portrays a peasant revolt in Hungary in the early twentieth century.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 241
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Hungary
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Beau Brummell: This Charming Man (2006)
Plot Summary:
This BBC historical drama stars James Purefoy as Beau Brummell, the original sharp-dressed dandy of 18th-century London. A socialite responsible for inventing the modern suit, Brummell befriends and restyles Prince Regent of Wales.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 692
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: realistic, exciting, tense, sincere, touching, serious, period piece, costume drama, period drama
Similar in 88%
The King Is Dancing (2000)
Plot Summary:
Louis XIV, the French sun-king has two passions, establishing absolute rule over the realm -after decades of religious/civil wars- by divine right and artistic brilliancy as a dancer.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, Music
Country: France, Germany, Belgium
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, stylized, serious, realistic, captivating, dramatic, visual, historical drama, mesmerizing, contemplative
Similar in 82%
The Maias: Story of a Portuguese Family (2014)
Plot Summary:
The tragedy and comedy in Carlos' life begins, grows and ends like the tragedy and comedy of Portugal. In the company of his close friend, João da Ega, allegedly a brilliant writer, Carlos, with his idle existence as an aristocratic doctor, spends his time to enjoying friends and lovers. Until he falls in love. She is a new character in this revolutionary novel. It's a vertiginous passion that goes beyond that past gloominess to reach a new and darker abyss, incest.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 885
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Portugal, Brazil
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: stylized, atmospheric, serious, emotional, realistic, romantic, saga, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Harem Suare (1999)
Plot Summary:
A story of the impossible love between one of the Sultan's concubines and one of his eunuchs in a harem at the end of the Ottoman Empire.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Italy, France, Turkey
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, sexual, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 75%
Falling Star (2014)
Plot Summary:
This colourful feature debut from experienced producer Luis Miñarro offers an almost hallucinatory look at the world of Amadeo of Savoy, who was king of an ungovernable Spain for two years around 1870. This intriguing episode is transformed into a plea for beauty, creativity and joy. The film functions as a metaphor for contemporary Spain and its ongoing state of crisis.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 435
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Spain
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, stylized, captivating
Similar in 75%
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
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Angels and Insects (1995)
Plot Summary:
In Victorian England, wealthy patriarch Sir Harald Alabaster invites an impoverished biologist, William Adamson, into his home. There, William tries to continue his work, but is distracted by Alabaster's seductive daughter, Eugenia. William and Eugenia begin a torrid romance, but as the couple become closer, the young scientist begins to realize that dark, disturbing things are happening behind the closed doors of the Alabaster manor.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: costume drama, erotic, period piece, stylized, thought provoking, offbeat, historical drama, sincere, touching, serious
Similar in 89%
Maximilian (2017)
Plot Summary:
In 1477 Charles the Bold dies, his only child is a girl which cannot rule without a husband. Meanwhile in Austria, Emperor Frederick III and his antagonist Louis XI France battle over said marriage prospects, battles ensue, tragedy falls.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Austria, Germany, Hungary
Duration: 275 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, captivating, realistic, erotic, period piece, historical drama
Similar in 78%
The Last September (1999)
Plot Summary:
In 1920s Ireland, an elderly couple reside over a tired country estate. Living with them are their high-spirited niece, their Oxford student nephew, and married house guests, who are trying to cover up that they are presently homeless. The niece enjoys romantic frolics with a soldier and a hidden guerrilla fighter. All of the principals are thrown into turmoil when one more guest arrives with considerable wit and unwanted advice.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 938
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: France, UK, Ireland
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: period piece, psychological, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, independent film, period drama
Similar in 77%
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 83%
St. Michael Had a Rooster (1972)
Plot Summary:
Sentenced to life imprisonment for illegal activities, Italian International member Giulio Manieri holds on to his political ideals while struggling against madness in the loneliness of his prison cell.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 849
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Italy
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 87%
The Leopard (1963)
Plot Summary:
As Garibaldi's troops begin the unification of Italy in the 1860s, an aristocratic Sicilian family grudgingly adapts to the sweeping social changes undermining their way of life. Proud but pragmatic Prince Don Fabrizio Salina allows his war hero nephew, Tancredi, to marry Angelica, the beautiful daughter of gauche, bourgeois Don Calogero, in order to maintain the family's accustomed level of comfort and political clout.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 186 min
Plot tags: epic, political, visual, visually appealing, period piece, cerebral, stylized, romantic, retro, philosophical
Similar in 76%
The Supper (1992)
Plot Summary:
France, 1815. After his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon heads for exile. Royalists occupy Paris and attempt to restore the monarchy. However, the battle doesn't seem to be over. On July 6, Talleyrand, a shrewd politician of flexible convictions, invites chief of police and zealous revolutionary Fouché to supper and tries to convince him to serve the king. Over the meal they insult each other, accuse each other, and, at first sight, look like mortal enemies. But they definitely have one thing in common: they are both power-hungry.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 629
Genere: Drama, History
Country: France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: political, thought provoking, clever, serious, realistic, disturbing, contemplative, talky, cynical, biting
Similar in 81%
Caligula and Messalina (1981)
Plot Summary:
Messalina (played by gorgeous Betty Roland) is a power-hungry nymphomaniac who will stop at nothing to become Empress of Rome. She brings herself to the attention of Caligula by battling in the gladiator arena and it is not long before she achieves her goal, upsetting the Emperor's youngest sister Agrippina, who hopes that her son Nero will eventually become ruler of Rome. Agrippina successfully plots Caligula's downfall, but Messalina rains on her parade by immediately jumping into the sack with his successor, Claudius. But naughty old Messalina can't commit herself to one man, and shags everyone in sight, including a grotesque, but well-endowed, frequenter of brothels, a randy midget, her eunuch(!?!?) and an ex-lover. When she ends up pregnant, and it is obvious that the father is not Claudius (since he has been away fighting in foreign lands), Agrippina finally sees her opportunity to be rid of her nemesis once and for all.
IMDB Rating: 3.6
IMDB Votes: 700
Genere: Action, Biography, Drama, History
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: erotic, disturbing, controversial, mockbuster, sensual
Similar in 78%
Scandal (1989)
Plot Summary:
An English bon-vivant osteopath is enchanted with a young exotic dancer and invites her to live with him. He serves as friend and mentor, and through his contacts and parties she and her friend meet and date members of the Conservative Party. Eventually a scandal occurs when her affair with the Minister of War goes public, threatening their lifestyles and their freedom.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: erotic, political, intense, realistic, serious, sexy, clever, sexual, psychological, sentimental
Similar in 84%
The Viceroys (2007)
Plot Summary:
No overview found.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 386
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Italy, Spain, Germany, USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: captivating, psychological, atmospheric, epic, serious, emotional, realistic, saga
Similar in 88%
Lady Caroline Lamb (1972)
Plot Summary:
Lady Caroline Lamb, dissatisfied in her marriage, has an affair with the dashing Romantic poet Lord Byron.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 544
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK, Italy
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sexual, crying, sexy, period drama
Similar in 76%
The Lickerish Quartet (1970)
Plot Summary:
A jaded, wealthy couple watch a blue movie in their castle home along with her adult son. The son is testy, so they go into town and watch a circus-like thrill ride. The daredevil woman in the show looks exactly like one of the women in the movie, so the man invites her to join them for a nightcap. Tensions among the family seem to rise. She stays overnight, and during her 24 hours in the castle, each of its three residents involves her in a fantasy. She, in turn, keeps asking, "Who has the gun?" Will there be violence before it's over?.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, West Germany
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: erotic, psychedelic, surreal, grindhouse, sensual, atmospheric, sexy, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 86%
Full Body Massage (1995)
Plot Summary:
Nina, an art dealer, has her weekly massage appointment and is surprised to find out her usual masseur, Douglas, has sent a replacement named Fitch. The pair develop an easy rapport during the session, with talk about past relationships. As Nina lies topless on the massage table, Fitch also takes time to explain various massage techniques, including those used by Hopi medicine men.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sexy, serious, realistic, talky, sincere, erotic, mystic, clever, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 77%
Black Angel (2002)
Plot Summary:
March 1945 Asolo, Italy. Livia Mazzion, the attractive wife of a top ministry official, slips into the car of lawyer Ugo Oggiano, Livia's admirer and her husband's informer. Livia must reach Venice and her lover Helmut Schultz, a Wermacht lieutenant, as beautiful and accursed as a pagan god, with whom she is having a burning love affair. During the trip she relives the high points of her devastati.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: Italy
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: erotic, serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing, sexy, romantic, sensual, erotic drama
Similar in 88%
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%
Curiosa (2019)
Plot Summary:
A passionate love story set against a backdrop of sexual freedom, loosely based on the relationship between 19th century authors Pierre Loüys and Marie de Régnier.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: France
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sexy, atmospheric, emotional, erotic, romantic, controversial, visual, erotic drama, tragic, nostalgic
Similar in 83%
The Key (1983)
Plot Summary:
After twenty years of marriage, art professor Nino Rolfe attempts to break down his wife Teresa's conventional modesty. Noticing her affection for their daughter's fiancé, Nino instigates her sexual interest in him as well. This sets off a chain of unexpected events and emotional complications, as Nino and his unpredictable fascist daughter find that they both enjoy being jealous.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Italy
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, realistic, sensual, serious, stylized, romantic, sex comedy, sexual, sexploitation film
Similar in 90%
Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor (2003)
Plot Summary:
On the glorious battlefields of the American Revolution, two great generals distinguished themselves; George Washington and Benedict Arnold. Washington is remembered as America's founding father, Arnold as America's most notorious traitor. Benedict Arnold rose from humble origins to become the most respected and feared of America's generals. He won brilliant military victories against the English colonists and was Washington's favorite soldier. But two conflicting forces battled inside Arnold's heart; a deep concern for his country and his passionate love for an enchanting and manipulative English woman, Peggy Shippen. Blinded by desire, Arnold defected to the English army, orchestrating an attempt to assassinate his own mentor, George Washington.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 535
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, thought provoking, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 80%
All Ladies Do It (1992)
Plot Summary:
Diana is a Roman wife happily married to sympathetic Paolo but she is keen on playing benign games of seduction with other men while resisting the advances of chic lingerie shop owner Silvio. She narrates her adventures to Paolo in order to stimulate their otherwise monotonous sexual life. However, under the influence of her lesbian friend Antonietta and raunchy sister Nadia, Diana starts to move the ongoings further while Paolo is still prone to believing that events narrated by her are merely fantasies.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sexy, erotic, sexual, entertaining, light, romantic, art house, transgressive, realistic, sex comedy
Similar in 77%
The Ages of Lulu (1990)
Plot Summary:
The Ages of Lulu is a gruelling sensual odyssey from Spanish director Bigas Luna, made immediately prior to his popular trilogy Jamón, jamón (1992), Golden Balls (1993) and The Tit and the Moon (1994). Starting as the somewhat queasy story of the young Lulu's affair with the manipulative Pablo (Oscar Ladoire), the movie takes a much darker turn once they are wed. It is conventional cinematic wisdom that there's no such thing as sex after marriage, but here Lulu's husband incomprehensibly leads her into blindfolded relationships with others, then is heartbroken when she reacts with disgust.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, emotional, sensual, disturbing, sexual, serious, eros, psychological, controversial
Similar in 80%
1900 (1976)
Plot Summary:
Set in Bertolucci's ancestral region of Emilia, the film chronicles the lives of two men during the political turmoils that took place in Italy in the first half on the 20th century.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Italy, France, West Germany
Duration: 317 min
Plot tags: epic, disturbing, controversial, compassionate, thought provoking, serious, realistic, captivating, political, stylized