Best movies like The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The Bridge of San Luis Rey is American author Thornton Wilder's second novel, first published in 1927 to worldwide acclaim. It tells the story of several interrelated people who die in the collapse of an Inca rope-fiber suspension bridge in Peru, and the events that lead up to their being on the bridge.[ A friar who has witnessed the tragic accident then goes about inquiring into the lives of the victims, seeking some sort of cosmic answer to the question of why each had to die. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK, Spain, France
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, period drama, disaster movie
Best tv shows and movies like The Bridge of San Luis Rey (2004):
Similar in 78%
Night Sun (1990)
Plot Summary:
Based on Leo Tolstoy's novel, Father Sergius, Night Sun stars Julian Sands as Sergio, a nobleman in 18th-century Italy who is expected to marry a duchess, Nastassja Kinski. Upon learning that she was previously the King's mistress, Sergio turns his back on society and becomes a monk. While at the hermitage he tries to resist all sexual temptations before him and soon becomes known as a miracle worker. Eventually he succumbs to a young seductress and knowing he is undeserving of the adulation, leaves the hermitage to travel around as a homeless beggar.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 868
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy, France, Germany
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: romantic, neorealism, sincere, atmospheric, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, crying, baroque
Similar in 85%
Letters of a Portuguese Nun (2014)
Plot Summary:
An actress is about to play the part of Mariana Alcoforado, a young nun from the convent of Beja who was writing five letters to her French lover, the officer De Chamilly. The actress, being the perfect embodiment of Mariana, will drive us to a journey beyond time and imagination.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 37
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, emotional, independent film, realistic
Similar in 87%
The Fifteen Streets (1989)
Plot Summary:
In northern England around 1900, the worker John O'Brien lives near poverty in a small house in the worker's district. He falls in love with Mary, the teacher of his highly intelligent younger sister Kathy and daughter of a rich family. Their love is doomed by the social difference, but the vigorous Mary refuses to allow outer circumstances destroying their love.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 555
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: costume drama, sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, period drama
Similar in 77%
Passion of Love (1981)
Plot Summary:
In the 1860's, Giorgio (Giraudeau), a young Italian soldier is sent to a remote post, far away from his lover, Clara (Antonelli). He is lodged in the house of the colonel (Girotti). He becames friends with the colonel and the local doctor (Trintignant). Among the inhabitants of the house, there is a strange young woman - Fosca (d'Obici) who is both unattractive and mad. However, she has a passion that Giorgio will have to cope with.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 998
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: novela, offbeat, serious, realistic, witty, sexual, gothic, crying, sexy, period drama
Similar in 89%
Golden Door (2006)
Plot Summary:
The story is set at the beginning of the 20th century in Sicily. Salvatore, a very poor farmer, and a widower, decides to emigrate to the US with all his family, including his old mother. Before they embark, they meet Lucy. She is supposed to be a British lady and wants to come back to the States. Lucy, or Luce as Salvatore calls her, for unknown reasons wants to marry someone before to arrive to Ellis Island in New York. Salvatore accepts the proposal. Once they arrive in Ellis Island they spend the quarantine period trying to pass the examinations to be admitted to the States. Tests are not so simple for poor farmers coming from Sicily. Their destiny is in the hands of the custom officers.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sincere, serious, captivating, colorful, realistic, gloomy, weird, period drama
Similar in 87%
Battle of the Brave (2004)
Plot Summary:
In the mid-18th Century, as England and France battle over control of Canada, an epic romance between a peasant woman and a trapper unfurls.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: Canada, UK, France
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, serious, crying, weird
Similar in 79%
The Woodlanders (1997)
Plot Summary:
The story is set in late 19th century rural corner of South England. The daughter of timber merchant Melbury, Grace, returns to the town after finishing school. Her father now believes she can find a better husband than her childhood sweetheart, woodsman Giles. She marries handsome young doctor Fitzpiers, but soon finds out he's not the man of her dreams and she still loves Giles.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 741
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: costume drama, serious, realistic, independent film, period piece, period drama
Similar in 85%
The Blind Sunflowers (2008)
Plot Summary:
Ourense, Spain, 1940. Every time that Elena locks the door, she locks her secrets. Her husband Ricardo spend years hidden in his house with his children (Elenita and Lorenzo), trying to dodge persecution. Salvador, a priest confused after battling in the front, returns to seminary in Ourense.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Spain
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, disturbing, sincere, bleak, captivating, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 86%
Madame Bovary (1991)
Plot Summary:
Bored with the limited and tedious nature of provincial life in 19th-century France, the fierce and sensual Emma Bovary finds herself in calamitous debt and purses scandalous sexual liaisons with absolute abandon. However, when her volatile lifestyle catches up to her, the lives of everyone around her are endangered.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: realistic, melancholic, sexy, costume drama, intense, romantic, erotic, spiritual, art house, romantic drama
Similar in 89%
The Cardinal (1963)
Plot Summary:
A young Catholic priest from Boston confronts bigotry, Naziism, and his own personal conflicts as he rises to the office of cardinal.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 175 min
Plot tags: religious drama, epic, sincere, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic
Similar in 89%
25 Fireman's Street (1973)
Plot Summary:
On one hot summer night, the residents of a Hungarian apartment house slated for demolition restlessly revisit their haunted pasts as they face an uncertain future. In a gently turning kaleidoscope of dream imagery, regret-laden nostalgia and painstakingly intimate detail, the looming wrecking ball pales in significance to the accumulated experiences each dreamer revisits. Pre-war prejudice, occupying Nazis and Stalinist deprivations all come and go as each tenant’s backward glance yields moments of aching sensuality, infectious exuberance and catastrophic loss.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 342
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: Hungary
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, surreal, contemplative, talky, crying, pre war
Similar in 88%
Valmont (1989)
Plot Summary:
Set in Baroque France, a scheming widow and her lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman. The lover, Valmont, bets that he can seduce her, even though she is an honorable woman. If he wins, he can have his lover to do as he will. However, in the process of seducing the married woman, Valmont falls in love. Based on the same novel as "Dangerous Liaisons.".
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, UK
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: stylized, period piece, sensual, costume drama, sexy, realistic, erotic, historical drama, independent film, captivating
Similar in 78%
Pope Joan (2009)
Plot Summary:
A 9th century woman of English extraction born in the German city of Ingelheim disguises herself as a man and rises through the Vatican ranks.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Germany, UK, Italy, Spain
Duration: 149 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, costume drama, epic, historical drama, spiritual, sad, realistic
Similar in 83%
I, the Worst of All (1990)
Plot Summary:
A viceroy and an archbishop take their posts in Mexico. A local nun, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695), intrigues them. The viceroy and his wife find her brilliant and fascinating. The prelate finds her a symbol of European laxity. He engineers the election of a new abbess, severe and ascetic. The virreina visits Sor Juana often and inspires her to write passionate poetry that the archbishop finds scandalous. The viceroy protects her. After he is replaced and returns to Spain with his wife, Sor Juana faces envy and retribution. A bishop betrays her, her confessor humbles her. Plague, a tribunal, and her confession as "the worst of all" end the great poet's life.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 710
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: Argentina
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: biblical, psychological, tense, serious, realistic, gloomy, sexual, crying, erotic, light
Similar in 77%
Love in the Time of Cholera (2007)
Plot Summary:
In Colombia just after the Great War, an old man falls from a ladder; dying, he professes great love for his wife. After the funeral, a man calls on the widow - she dismisses him angrily. Flash back more than 50 years to the day Florentino Ariza, a telegraph boy, falls in love with Fermina Daza, the daughter of a mule trader.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Mexico, UK, Colombia
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: psychological, sexy, romantic, costume drama, emotional, serious, sentimental, atmospheric, realistic, erotic
Similar in 86%
Of Gods and Men (2010)
Plot Summary:
French drama based on the 1996 kidnapping and killing of seven monks in Algeria. A group of Trappist monks reside in the monastery of Tibhirine in Algeria, where they live in harmony with the largely muslim population. When a bloody conflict between Algeria's army and Muslim Jihadi insurgents disrupts the peace, they are forced to consider fleeing the monastery and deserting the villagers they have ministered to. In the face of deadly violence the monks wrestle with their faith and their convictions, eventually deciding to stay and help their neighbours keep the army and the insurgents at bay.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: France
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: sincere, christian film, unusual plot structure, meditative, atmospheric, visually appealing, captivating, thought provoking, spiritual, existential
Similar in 86%
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 86%
Farewell, My Queen (2012)
Plot Summary:
A look at the relationship between Marie Antoinette and one of her readers during the final days of the French Revolution.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: France, Spain
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: stylized, serious, realistic, historical drama, erotic, period piece, costume drama, romantic, sexy, lgbt cinema
Similar in 90%
Beloved Sisters (2014)
Plot Summary:
A love triangle forms between post-Enlightenment writer Friedrich Schiller and two sisters -- one who became his wife, and the other, his biographer.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Germany, Austria, Switzerland
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: romantic, emotional, realistic, touching, serious, captivating, sexy, period piece, costume drama, gloomy
Similar in 78%
Falling in Love (1984)
Plot Summary:
During shopping for Christmas, Frank and Molly run into each other. This fleeting short moment will start to change their lives, when they recognize each other months later in the train home and have a good time together. Although both are married and Frank has two little kids, they meet more and more often, their friendship becoming the most precious thing in their lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: romantic, sentimental, light, sweet, melancholic, emotional, touching, sincere, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 83%
Tulip Fever (2017)
Plot Summary:
An artist falls for a married young woman while he's commissioned to paint her portrait. The two invest in the risky tulip market in hopes to build a future together.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, touching, suspense, sincere, rough, melancholic, suspenseful, exciting, sexy
Similar in 84%
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 82%
The Affair of the Necklace (2001)
Plot Summary:
In pre-Revolutionary France, a young aristocratic woman left penniless by the political unrest in the country, must avenge her family's fall from grace by scheming to steal a priceless necklace.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, factual, atmospheric, realistic, epic, serious, stylized, historical drama, light
Similar in 89%
The Great Gatsby (2000)
Plot Summary:
Stock broker Nick Carraway consents to play Cupid for his rich married first cousin Daisy Buchanen and her former love, successful bootlegger and forger Jay Gatsby.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, captivating, stylized, serious, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 87%
Wuthering Heights (1992)
Plot Summary:
Young orphan Heathcliff is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton, a man of means who befits her stature. Heathcliff vows to win her back.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: romantic, gothic, atmospheric, emotional, period piece, heartbreaking, touching, melancholic, costume drama, romantic drama
Similar in 89%
The Mission (1986)
Plot Summary:
When a Spanish Jesuit goes into the South American wilderness to build a mission in the hope of converting the Indians of the region, a slave hunter is converted and joins his mission. When Spain sells the colony to Portugal, they are forced to defend all they have built against the Portugese aggressors.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 65000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, History
Country: UK, France
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: epic, thought provoking, christian film, harsh, spiritual, realistic, breathtaking, dramatic, visually stunning, touching
Similar in 88%
Mad Love (2001)
Plot Summary:
The love story who transformed Juana I de Castilla, Queen of Spain, into Juana "The mad". The tragic fate of a Queen madly in love to an unfaithful husband, Felipe el Hermoso, Archduke of Austria.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: Spain, Italy, Portugal, France
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: melancholic, costume drama, stylized, captivating, serious, historical drama, romantic drama, sexy, realistic, crying
Similar in 87%
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
Similar in 89%
Marie Antoinette (2006)
Plot Summary:
The retelling of France's iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette. From her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at 15 to her reign as queen at 19 and ultimately the fall of Versailles.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 119000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: USA, France, Japan
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, melancholic, visual, visually stunning, factual, colorful, historical drama, realistic, visually appealing
Similar in 79%
Amazing Grace (2006)
Plot Summary:
The true story of William Wilberforce's courageous quest to end the British slave trade. Although meeting intense opposition, his minister, John Newton, urges him to see the cause through.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: inspirational, emotional, period piece, political, talky, factual, compassionate, realistic, christian film, sincere