Best movies like Testimony
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies similar to Testimony? Share your insights to guide others find movies and tv series you've viewed already that might suit them too. Aid in growing the cohort of people putting forward videos to one another. We welcome your contribution!
Plot Summary:
The story of the great Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) and his life and career during the rule of Stalin.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 282
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Music
Country: Netherlands, UK, Denmark, West Germany, Sweden
Duration: 157 min
Plot tags: black and white, independent film
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Best tv shows and movies like Testimony (1987):
Similar in 84%
Villa-Lobos: A Life of Passion (2000)
Plot Summary:
The film tells the story of an intuitive, adventurous man who loved his country and being Brazilian. This man fought to be loyal to himself. His music is a transparent portrait of his genius, intuition, freedom, adventure and passion for Brazil.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 293
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: Brazil
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags:
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Similar in 85%
The Bohemian (2022)
Plot Summary:
The year is 1764. For over a year, Josef has been leading a precarious life in Venice. He hopes to become an opera composer. The city, full of talented and already-established composers, seems closed to him. Looking for work as a violinist, he comes into the orbit of a rich young woman. Thanks to her, he gets the opportunity to play at salons. But his real opportunity arises when he becomes the lover of a libertine marquise. She teaches him worldly manners, rids him of signs of a provincial upbringing and introduces him to a hedonistic existence free from religious intolerance. Thus transformed, Josef gets an incan incredible commission: to write an opera for the San Carlo, Europe's largest theatre.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 448
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Music
Country: Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Leto (2018)
Plot Summary:
Leningrad, one summer in the early eighties. Smuggling LP’s by Lou Reed and David Bowie, the underground rock scene is boiling ahead of the Perestroika. Mike and his beautiful wife Natasha meet with young Viktor Tsoï. Together with friends, they will change the destiny of rock’n’roll in the Soviet Union.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Music, Romance
Country: Russia, France
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: inspirational, romantic, art house, art film, black and white, atmospheric, independent film, light, breathtaking, queer cinema
Similar in 78%
Eroica (2003)
Plot Summary:
British filmmaker Simon Cellan Jones directs the BBC drama Eroica, starring Ian Hart as Ludwig van Beethoven. Shot on digital video, this TV film depicts the first performance of Beethoven's Third Symphony, June 9th, 1804, in Vienna, Austria. Prince Lobkowitz (Jack Davenport) has invited friends to listen to Beethoven conduct his new symphony for the first time. Among the aristocratic attendees are Count Dietrichstein (Tim Pigott-Smith), Countess Brunsvik (Claire Skinner), and composer Josef Haydn (Frank Finlay). The actual musical score is performed by the Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique, under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 657
Genere: Drama, History, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, period drama
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Similar in 85%
Paganini (1989)
Plot Summary:
Kinski believed that he lived through the same experiences as the legendary "devil violinist" Niccolo Paganini, who set whole Europe of the 19th century into frenzy and through whose personality Kinski offers us an incredibly profound and honest insight into his own life; a life of extremities.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, sincere, touching, melancholic
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Similar in 88%
Interlude in Prague (2017)
Plot Summary:
The incredible tale of Mozart's Prague years.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 767
Genere: Drama, History, Music, Romance
Country: Czech Republic, UK
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sincere, romantic, captivating, stylized, period piece, historical drama, period drama
Similar in 77%
Verdi (1982)
Plot Summary:
Giuseppe Verdi was born in 1813 and lived until 1901, his life spanning nearly a century of political turmoil and considerable personal turmoil. This 1982 biographical television miniseries, as seen on PBS's Great Performances, dramatizes the life of this classic Italian composer known for operas including La Traviata, Rigoletto, and Aida and his Requiem.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 308
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: Italy, France, West Germany, UK, Sweden
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: historical drama
Similar in 85%
Daliland (2022)
Plot Summary:
In 1973, a young gallery assistant goes on a wild adventure behind the scenes as he helps aging genius Salvador Dali prepare for a big show in New York.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, France, UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Spring Symphony (1983)
Plot Summary:
"Spring Symphony" is the story of Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck. Both were music entities. Robert Schumann turns out to have been a second tier composer, if that, never rising to the heights of a Beethoven or Mozart. In contrast, Clara Wieck was a master technician in the playing of the piano, a composer (probably not at Schumann's level), and was a child prodigy.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 358
Genere: Biography, Music
Country: West Germany
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized
Similar in 81%
I, Don Giovanni (2009)
Plot Summary:
A drama based on the life of 18th century Italian lyricist Lorenzo da Ponte, who collaborated with Mozart on his "Don Giovanni" opera.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 617
Genere: Drama, History, Music
Country: Italy, Spain, France
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, weird
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Similar in 78%
Farinelli (1994)
Plot Summary:
Farinelli is a 1994 biopic film about the life and career of Italian opera singer Farinelli, considered one of the greatest castrato singers of all time.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: France, Italy, Belgium, UK
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: realistic, heartbreaking, factual, sexy, emotional, disturbing, touching, erotic, dramatic, visual
Similar in 89%
Dreams of Love - Liszt (1970)
Plot Summary:
This is a romantic biographical film about Franz Liszt. In a distinguished saloon of Paris, the unknown composer, Liszt, defeats the renown Thalberg at a piano competition. Through his playing, he wins the favours and later the hand of the countess D'Agoult. A daughter is born in their marriage, Cosima. Liszt is better and better known, Marie introduces him to the circle of artists.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 190
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Music, Romance
Country: Hungary, Soviet Union
Duration: 171 min
Plot tags: period piece
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Similar in 88%
Anita (2021)
Plot Summary:
This long-awaited biopic provides a vivid account of the remarkable life of Anita Mui in and behind the limelight, chronicling her journey from a child performer to becoming one of world's most recognized music icons.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Music
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 79%
The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968)
Plot Summary:
Using letters Anna Magdalena Bach wrote to her husband, seminal composer Johann Sebastian, filmmakers Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet created one of the most precise, rewarding biopics ever put to screen. CHRONICLE OF ANNA MAGDALENA BACH's intense emotional pull can be understood by its status as a musical film in the most thorough sense: its performances – staged as extended sequences set within the very spaces once occupied by Bach himself, with trained performers both donning and playing items accurate to the period – are immense, bringing us closer to the sound than was ever thought possible. Immaculately restored on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, CHRONICLE OF ANNA MAGDALENA BACH invites viewers to experience a bygone age.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Music
Country: West Germany, Italy
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: contemplative, spiritual, atmospheric, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy, baroque, concert film
Similar in 75%
Wagner (1983)
Plot Summary:
A huge panorama of Wagner's life and work, from before the 1848 Revolution, through his exile in Switzerland, his rescue by the besotted King Ludwig II of Bavaria to the final triumph at Bayreuth.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 605
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Music
Country: UK, Austria, Hungary
Duration: 300 min
Plot tags: historical drama, sentimental, epic, serious, emotional, realistic, period drama
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Similar in 76%
The Color of Pomegranates (1969)
Plot Summary:
The life of revered the 18th-century Armenian poet and musician Sayat-Nova (Vilen Galstyan). Portraying events in the life of the artist from childhood up to his death, the movie addresses in particular his relationships with women, including his muse (Sofiko Chiaureli). The production tells Sayat-Nova's dramatic story by using both his poems and largely still camerawork, creating an impressionistic work.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Music
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: surreal, poetic, atmospheric, avant garde, psychedelic, mind bending, experimental, contemplative, scenic, disturbing
Similar in 85%
All the Mornings of the World (1991)
Plot Summary:
It's late 17th century. The viola da gamba player Monsieur de Sainte Colombe comes home to find that his wife died while he was away. In his grief he builds a small house in his garden into wich he moves to dedicate his life to music and his two young daughters Madeleine and Toinette, avoiding the outside world. Rumor about him and his music is widespread, and even reaches to the court of Louis XIV, who wants him at his court in Lully's orchestra, but Monsieur de Sainte Colombe refuses. One day a young man, Marin Marais, comes to see him with a request, he wants to be taught how to play the viol.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Music, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: visually stunning, emotional, stylized, romantic, gothic, spiritual, anthology, historical drama, mesmerizing, crying
Similar in 78%
Mahler (1974)
Plot Summary:
The film begins on a train journey with Gustav Mahler (Robert Powell) and his wife Alma (Georgina Hale) confronting their failing marriage. The story is then recounted in a series of flashbacks (some of which are surrealistic and nightmarish), taking one through Mahler's childhood, his brother's suicide, his experience with anti-semitism, his conversion from Judaism to Catholicism, his marital problems, and the death of his young daughter. The film also contains a surreal fantasy sequence involving the anti-Semitic Cosima Wagner (Antonia Ellis), widow of Richard Wagner, whose objections to his taking control of the Court Opera were supposedly removed by his conversion to Catholicism. In the process, the film explores Mahler's music and its relationship to his life.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: road movie, psychedelic, art house, historical drama, psychological, sincere, atmospheric, serious, realistic, stylized
Similar in 82%
The Harmonists (1997)
Plot Summary:
Comedian Harmonists tells the story of a famous, German male sextet, five vocals and piano, the "Comedian Harmonists", from the day they meet first in 1927 to the day in 1934, when they become banned by the upcoming Nazis, because three of them are Jewish.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: Germany, Austria
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: visually stunning, sentimental, touching, visual, sincere, uplifting, feel good, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 84%
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993)
Plot Summary:
A collection of vignettes highlighting different aspects of the life, work, and character of the acclaimed Canadian classical pianist.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: Canada, Netherlands, Portugal, Finland
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: existential, independent film, spiritual, anthology, serious, realistic, contemplative, philosophical, atmospheric, thought provoking
![blank](http://wpfc.ml/b.gif)
Similar in 80%
Hilary and Jackie (1998)
Plot Summary:
The tragic story of world-renowned cellist Jacqueline du Pré, as told from the point of view of her sister, flautist Hilary du Pré-Finzi.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: emotional, philosophical, independent film, depressing, steamy, tense, sentimental, clever, serious, captivating
Similar in 90%
Copying Beethoven (2006)
Plot Summary:
A fictionalised exploration of Beethoven's life in his final days working on his Ninth Symphony. It is 1824. Beethoven is racing to finish his new symphony. However, it has been years since his last success and he is plagued by deafness, loneliness and personal trauma. A copyist is urgently needed to help the composer. A fictional character is introduced in the form of a young conservatory student and aspiring composer named Anna Holtz. The mercurial Beethoven is skeptical that a woman might become involved in his masterpiece but slowly comes to trust in Anna's assistance and in the end becomes quite fond of her. By the time the piece is performed, her presence in his life is an absolute necessity. Her deep understanding of his work is such that she even corrects mistakes he has made, while her passionate personality opens a door into his private world.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: Germany, UK, Hungary
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, realistic, serious, stylized, period piece, psychological, inspirational, sincere, spiritual
Similar in 75%
Amadeus (1984)
Plot Summary:
The incredible story of genius musician Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, told in flashback by his peer and secret rival Antonio Salieri – now confined to an insane asylum.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 421000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA, France
Duration: 160 min
Plot tags: inspirational, epic, costume drama, clever, period piece, visual, atmospheric, visually appealing, historical drama, captivating
Similar in 77%
Bride of the Wind (2001)
Plot Summary:
A biopic of Alma Mahler, the wife of composer Gustav Mahler (as well as Walter Gropius and Franz Werfel), and the mistress of Oskar Kokoschka.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 692
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: UK, Germany, Austria
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, captivating, realistic, heartbreaking, visual, visually stunning, independent film, period drama
Similar in 87%
The Overture (2004)
Plot Summary:
Based on the life of Luang Pradit Pairoh (Sorn Silapabanleng) the most revered traditional Thai music master who lived during the reigns of Kings Rama V to VIII, the movie traces the life of Sorn, who picked up the ra-nad ek (Thai xylophone) mallets as a small child and played all his life. The backdrop to Sorn's life tale is the story of Thailand's classical music from its golden age during the reign of King Rama V to near extinction after the end of the absolute monarchy when the government banned it as uncivilised in the 1930s -- a time when Field Marshall Plaek Pibulsongkram tried to push the Kingdom into the modern era.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Music
Country: Thailand
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, captivating, emotional, serious, realistic, stylized
Similar in 85%
The Soloist (2009)
Plot Summary:
A Los Angeles journalist befriends a homeless Juilliard-trained musician, while looking for a new article for the paper.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 55000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: UK, France, USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: inspirational, sincere, touching, emotional, sad, heartbreaking, melancholic, intense, serious, realistic
Similar in 82%
Gagarin: First in Space (2013)
Plot Summary:
The film is dedicated to the first steps of mankind on the path of space exploration and direct the fate of the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The main motif - the fight for the right to be first: the competition in the first cosmonaut, competition in missile technology, the confrontation of superpowers - the USSR and the USA. In the first group of astronauts were selected from three thousand fighter pilots across the country. In twenty of the legendary got the best of the best. Which of them will fly first, no one knew. In this way, had to contend not only with the pull of the earth.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Drama, History
Country: Russia
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: realistic, uplifting, exciting, serious, captivating, emotional, dramatic
Similar in 87%
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
Plot Summary:
The story of journalist, Edward R Murrow's stand against Senator McCarthy's anti-communist witch-hunts in the early 1950s.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 101000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK, France, Japan, USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: black and white, political, tense, melancholic, factual, period piece, disturbing, dramatic, sincere, clever
Similar in 89%
Schindler's List (1993)
Plot Summary:
The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 9.0
IMDB Votes: 14000000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 195 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, heartbreaking, realistic, thought provoking, poignant, black and white, dramatic, serious, sad
Similar in 90%
Tetris (2023)
Plot Summary:
In 1988, American video game salesman Henk Rogers discovers the video game Tetris. When he sets out to bring the game to the world, he enters a dangerous web of lies and corruption behind the Iron Curtain.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 75000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: informative, dark comedy, interesting, beautiful