Best movies like Smell of Camphor, Fragrance of Jasmine
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Death surrounds Bahman, a director who hasn't made a film in 24 years (he can't get past the censors). He's working on a documentary, for Japanese TV, on Iranian burial practices. On the anniversary of his wife's death, a hitchhiker tells him a story of spousal abuse and infant mortality, he discovers that someone has been buried in his plot next to his wife, and he needs the help of his attorney, a well-connected fixer. He dreams of death, even as he investigates it for his film. His niece's husband, a well-known writer, fails to return home; he searches hospitals for an unclaimed body. His heart disease is flaring up. Is he prepared for death? Is that all that's left?.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 723
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, tense, realistic, black comedy, dark comedy
Best tv shows and movies like Smell of Camphor, Fragrance of Jasmine (2000):
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My Tehran for Sale (2009)
Plot Summary:
Marzieh is a young female actress living in Tehran. The authorities ban her theatre work and, like all young people in Iran, she is forced to lead a secret life in order to express herself artistically. At an underground rave, she meets Iranian born Saman, now an Australian citizen, who offers her a way out of her country and the possibility of living without fear.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia, Iran
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, disturbing, realistic, islamic, independent film
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A Respectable Family (2012)
Plot Summary:
Arash is an Iranian academic who lives in the West. He returns to Iran to teach in Shiraz, a city far from Tehran where his mother lives. Drawn into a series of domestic and financial dramas, he faces a country that is now alien to him. Following the death of his father and the discovery of what his “respectable family” has become, he is forced to make choices.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 545
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, touching, social, non-linear, gloomy
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Wolfy (2009)
Plot Summary:
There are two of them: a mother and a girl. They have no names. And they are in a constant run. The mother runs away from the daughter in an attempt to start new life, and the girl runs after her mother as she has no idea how to live without her. This endless run is full with repeated mistakes and resembles a barrel-organ sorrowful song or a spinning-top rotation. This small ridiculous toy "volchok" was the first toy in the girl's life, the only thing that tied her with the mother.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, serious, tense, disturbing, neorealism, gloomy, bleak, art house, weird
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Cairo Exit (2010)
Plot Summary:
A powerful account of life in contemporary Cairo, this raw drama about a pair of star-crossed lovers shines a powerful spotlight upon the social and cultural taboos that riddle the city's diverse population. Heralding a bold new shift for contemporary Egyptian cinema, 'Cairo Exit' is a gritty and uncompromising work from a major new cinematic talent, Hesham Issawi.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 161
Genere: Drama
Country: Egypt, United Arab Emirates
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, stylized, bleak
Similar in 85%
The Frost (2009)
Plot Summary:
A couple's marriage falls apart after the death of their son. Based on Henrik Ibsen's "Little Eyolf".
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 170
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway, Spain
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, bleak, psychological
Similar in 81%
After Him (2007)
Plot Summary:
A woman (Catherine Deneuve) becomes obsessed with her son's best friend after her child dies in a car accident. Camille voit sa vie brisée par la disparition de son fils dans un accident de la route. Incapable de faire le deuil, elle s'attache à Franck, le meilleur ami de celui-ci, qui est aussi le responsable du drame. Les proches de Camille ne comprennent pas son attitude. Le vide se fait autour d'elle. Qu'importe le scandale, Franck devient l'objet consentant de son affection. Mais il va prendre peu à peu conscience que l'obsession de Camille le met en danger.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 701
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, emotional, realistic, tense, sexy, gloomy, sexual, queer cinema
Similar in 82%
Mourning (2011)
Plot Summary:
A violent quarrel breaks out between a couple at midnight. Being at a relative's house in the north of Iran, they depart for Tehran in the middle of the night, but they do not bring along their son. Something terrible happens on their way.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 397
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: serious, touching, realistic, islamic, sincere, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Travellers (1992)
Plot Summary:
A young woman's wedding becomes a ritual of mourning when her sister and family die in an auto accident on the way to the wedding. The sisters' mother refuses to accept her daughter's death, and in the midst of wedding guests and mourners, including the drivers of the truck that caused the accident, she orders the wedding to take place. But how can the daughter marry in the midst of a wake and without the family's traditional mirror, which the sister was bringing to the service?.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, beautiful
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Tales (2014)
Plot Summary:
Award-winning Iranian filmmaker Rakshan Banietemad ends her eight-year hiatus from feature filmmaking with this ingenious, mosaic-like narrative, which knits together the stories of seven characters to create a microcosm of Iranian working-class society.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, emotional, psychological, captivating, sincere, touching, bleak, serious, gloomy, surprise ending
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The Cyclist (1989)
Plot Summary:
The wife of Nasim, an Afghan immigrant in Iran, is gravely ill. He needs money to pay for her care, but his day labor digging wells does not pay enough. A friend connects Nasim to a two-bit promoter who sells tickets to watch Nasim ride a bicycle continuously for a week. The promoter brings in sick and aged spectators, haranguing them to find hope in Nasim's strength. Aided by his son, who feeds him as he rides, Nasim grinds out the days and shivering nights. Local officials believe this may be a plot and Nasim may be a spy; they try to sabotage him as do those who bet he won't finish the week. Will desperation alone get Nasim the money? Is any triumph an illusion?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: islamic, psychological, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 87%
A Minor Leap Down (2015)
Plot Summary:
Nahal is around thirty and in her fourth month of pregnancy. During a routine check-up she learns that her baby has died and she now faces a curettage abortion in two days’ time. When she tries to address the subject, neither her mother nor her husband give her a chance to speak.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 228
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
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The Promised Life (2002)
Plot Summary:
Sylvie is a hooker whose illegitimate daughter commits a crime. She and her daughter flee to find Sylvie's first love in the countryside. The daughter is trying to get to know her unwilling mother. Along the way, the two meet a male fugitive and bond with each other.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 756
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, serious, rough, bleak, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 78%
Day Break (2005)
Plot Summary:
Since the Islamic Revolution in Iran, capital punishment is carried out according to Islamic law, which gives the family of the victim ownership of the offender's life. Day Break - based on a compilation of true stories and shot inside Tehran's century-old prison - revolves around the imminent execution of Mansour, a man found guilty of murder. When the family of the victim repeatedly fails to show up on the appointed day, Mansour's execution is postponed again and again. Stuck inside the purgatory of his own mind, he waits as time passes on without him, caught between life and death, retribution and forgiveness.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 327
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: disturbing, rough, serious, suspenseful, thought provoking, bleak, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, surprise ending
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Goodbye (2011)
Plot Summary:
Without her husband and without her lawyer’s licence, which has been withdrawn, Noora is left pregnant and alone in her apartment. Her attempt to leave Iran turns into a fight with male chauvinism. A personal, nerve-wracking and infuriating film by Rasoulof, who was himself convicted for his films in Iran. Goodbye is a sober, frightening portrait of a society that is stooping under the continual control and threats of its religious regime. Noora, a young, pregnant lawyer in Tehran whose husband has been sent to work in the desert because of his critical journalistic activities, continually faces opposition from the regime and decides to leave the country. That turns out to be very difficult. Because Rasoulof was already banned from making films, Goodbye was shot partly in secret in the winter of 2010/2011. The result is a disquieting film that makes impotence and the desire for freedom painfully tangible in all its simplicity.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 814
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, thought provoking, contemplative, islamic, bleak, interesting
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Angel's Fall (2004)
Plot Summary:
Zeynep, Tülin Özen works in a hotel as a housekeeper. But she suffers hell on earth because of her father's behavior. She only talks to Mustafa, 'Engin Dogan' who works in the same hotel and he is interested in Zeynep. She is not interested in Mustafa who is younger than Zeynep, but she is not indifferent to him. While Zeynep is trying to make a bonfire of bad situation, Selçuk, Budak Akalin who lives on the other side of city is a voice technician. He feels guilty after his wife's death. The suitcase which has his wife's dresses changes the Zeynep's destiny.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Greece, Turkey
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, atmospheric, touching, tense, bleak, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
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Mainline (2006)
Plot Summary:
The uneasy relationship between a mother and daughter is made all the more turbulent by drug abuse in this downbeat drama from Iranian filmmakers Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and Mohsen Abdolvahab.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 889
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
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Lullaby (2014)
Plot Summary:
Estranged from his family, Jonathan (Hedlund) discovers his father has decided to take himself off life support in forty-eight hours’ time. During this intensely condensed period, a lifetime of drama plays out. Robert (Jenkins) fights a zero sum game to reclaim all that his illness stole from his family. A debate rages on patients’ rights and what it truly means to be free. Jonathan reconciles with his father, reconnects with his mother (Archer), sister (Brown-Findlay), and his love (Adams) and reclaims his voice through two unlikely catalysts – a young, wise-beyond-her-years patient (Barden) and a no-nonsense nurse (Hudson). Through this intensely life affirming prism, an unexpected and powerful journey of love, laughter, and forgiveness unfolds.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, serious, realistic, sad
Similar in 85%
Never Die (2012)
Plot Summary:
Chayo returns to her hometown to care for her elderly mother and cope with her death. Surrounded by love and sublime beauty, Chayo has to give up something that as a woman and mother is inalienable. That will be the price of her freedom.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 110
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, atmospheric, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, fairy tale
Similar in 84%
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 84%
The Mirror (1997)
Plot Summary:
When a young Iranian's mother doesn't meet her after school, she tries to negotiate the streets of Tehran by herself.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: inspirational, serious, experimental, neorealism
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Through the Olive Trees (1994)
Plot Summary:
The movie focuses on one of the events in Zendegi Edame Darad (1992), and explores the relationship between the movie director, and the actors. The local actors play a couple who got married right after the earthquake. In reality, the actor is trying to persuade the actress that they should get married.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: contemplative, social, avant garde, art house, independent film, islamic, psychological, mind bending, touching, serious
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Boutique (2004)
Plot Summary:
A clothing store worker (Jahan) meets a poor girl named Eti. Jahan tries to help the girl and solve her problems, but….
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, serious, realistic, neo noir, islamic, emotional, gloomy
Similar in 81%
The Willow Tree (2005)
Plot Summary:
Youssef, a blind university professor, is suddenly diagnosed with a fatal disease and must undergo treatment in France. Back home, will he find the life he had before?.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, touching, captivating, inspirational, emotional, islamic, thought provoking, serious, beautiful
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The Apple (1998)
Plot Summary:
After twelve years of imprisonment by their own parents, two sisters are finally released by social workers to face the outside world for the first time.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France, Netherlands
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: compassionate, sincere, thought provoking, serious, art house, sentimental, touching, captivating, emotional, realistic
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Nicholas' Gift (1998)
Plot Summary:
Fact based drama about an American couple on vacation in Italy in 1994 with their two children who are attacked and shot by highway bandits. Shortly they discover that their son is brain dead. The parents are then faced with the hard decision to donate the boy's organs which ultimately led to saving the lives of seven seriously ill Italian patients.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 468
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: depressing, spiritual, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
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Balancing Act (2012)
Plot Summary:
Having cheated on his wife, Giulio, a municipal employee, moves out, but has to find a solution on how to still support his family, and himself.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 823
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, serious, psychological, tense, captivating, sincere, gloomy
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20 Fingers (2004)
Plot Summary:
A film in several episodes with Bijan Daneshmand and Mania Akbari, exposing some of the issues of men and women within the confines of tradition and family life in Iran. Each episode displays a different form of male/female interaction. The placing of the actors in a moving vehicle or against a moving back drop signifies the movement of life despite all the obstacles in its way. The film deals with the roots of dependencies, limitations, power struggles and conflict that are the familiar stuff of life of couples in the Middle East.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 485
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, clever, contemplative, talky, sexual, islamic, sexy
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Two-Legged Horse (2008)
Plot Summary:
A wealthy boy hires a poor child to carry him around like a horse.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 622
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: serious, psychological, disturbing, bleak, art house, islamic, realistic, gloomy
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Under the Skin of the City (2001)
Plot Summary:
Tuba works daily at a grueling textile factory in Iran, returning home every night to deal with the rest of her problematic family, which includes: a pregnant daughter whose husband beats her regularly; a teenage son, who's been getting into trouble due to his burgeoning career in radical politics; and an older son who goes to great lengths--such as attempting to sell the family's meager house--in order to get an engineering job in Japan as a means of getting out of Iran.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Iran
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, emotional, suspenseful, exciting, suspense, islamic, masterpiece
Similar in 76%
Dangerous Game (1993)
Plot Summary:
A New York film director, working on his latest movie in Los Angeles, begins to reflect the actions in his movie and real life, especially when he begins an affair with the lead actress.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, sexy, melancholic, erotic, rough, art house, independent film, erotic drama, bleak, serious