Best movies like The House of the Spirits
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A rancher, his clairvoyant wife and their family face turbulent years in South America.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Germany, Denmark, Portugal
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, family saga, melancholic, realistic, costume drama, sexy, mystical, erotic
Best tv shows and movies like The House of the Spirits (1993):
Similar in 76%
The Magnificent Ambersons (2002)
Plot Summary:
The spoiled rotten and utterly unlikable rich kid George Amberson becomes horrified when his recently widowed mother rekindles her relationship with the wealthy Eugene Morgan, who she left decades earlier in order to marry George's father. As George struggles to sabotage his mother's new romance, he must deal with his own romantic feelings for Morgan's daughter and the consequences of his meddling as his once great family falls into ruin due to his machinations.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 911
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, captivating, emotional, serious, realistic, tension, suspense, period drama
Similar in 88%
Swann in Love (1984)
Plot Summary:
Swann (Jeremy Irons), an eligible bachelor in the best circles of fin-de-siècle Paris, has also some more vulgar but rich friends, the Verdurins. Through them he meets Odette (Ornella Muti), a courtesan, with whom he falls hopelessly in love. She seems to enjoy his company, for which he pays, but considers herself free to socialise and sleep where she pleases, particularly with a rival called de Forcheville. Swann’s passion turns to consuming jealousy, which leads him eventually to accept the social stigma of marrying her. One old friend, the overtly gay Charlus (Alain Delon), stays sympathetic.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, West Germany
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, sexual, neurotic, sexy, period drama
Similar in 85%
Downton Abbey (2019)
Plot Summary:
The beloved Crawleys and their intrepid staff prepare for the most important moment of their lives. A royal visit from the King and Queen of England will unleash scandal, romance and intrigue that will leave the future of Downton hanging in the balance.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 62000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA, China
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: family saga, sincere, captivating, period piece, costume drama, historical drama, atmospheric, saga, visually stunning, disturbing
Similar in 88%
Wuthering Heights (2011)
Plot Summary:
A poor boy of unknown origins is rescued from poverty and taken in by the Earnshaw family where he develops an intense relationship with his young foster sister, Cathy. Based on the classic novel by Emily Bronte.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, realistic, serious, emotional, costume drama, period piece, romantic drama, bleak, social, melancholic
Similar in 79%
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 87%
Temptress Moon (1996)
Plot Summary:
Set in the decadent 1920s, Temptress Moon tells the very complicated story of a wealthy family living on the outskirts of Shanghai. Their youngest daughter, Ruyi, is brought up as a servant to her opium-addicted father and brother. Meanwhile, her brother-in-law Zhongliang has a successful, if illegal, career seducing and blackmailing married women in the city. When he comes to Ruyi's home the two fall in love, and trouble ensues.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: China, Hong Kong
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: stylized, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy, epic, erotic, atmospheric, sexy
Similar in 89%
Jan Dara (2001)
Plot Summary:
Jan Dara grows up in a house lacking in love but abundant in lust. He quickly picks up the sinful way of life of the man who married his mother after she became pregnant from being raped. His 'father's' mistress welcomes the young boy into her literal bosom. Wanting badly to know his real father, Jan leaves the house, only coming back after Khun Luang's daughter falls pregnant out of wedlock. Jan does a favor to his 'father' by marrying her, even though he is deeply in love with the mistress. The truth about his birth, as Jan will later learn, is as confusing and messed up as his present life and the lives of those around him.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Thailand
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sexy, erotic, serious, realistic, sexual, romantic, offbeat, disturbing, sensual, sincere
Similar in 79%
The Best of Youth (2003)
Plot Summary:
Spanning four decades, from the chaotic 1960s to the present, director Marco Tullio Giordana's passionate epic 'La Meglio Gioventu' follows two Italian brothers through some of the most tumultuous events of recent Italian history.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy
Duration: 366 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, sincere, emotional, realistic, political, sad, talky, captivating, family saga
Similar in 82%
Basil (1998)
Plot Summary:
A lonely young aristocrat in turn-of the century England struggles to meet the approval of his over-bearing, class-conscious father while trying to please the selfish woman he loves.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, realistic, light, sincere, period piece, gothic, crying, independent film, period drama
Similar in 80%
Lorna Doone (2000)
Plot Summary:
The year is 1675. England is threatened by religious and political rivalries. King Charles II's Catholic brother, James, is next in line for the throne, but many Protestants put their faith in Charles' illegitimate son, The Duke of Monmouth. On the king's death, conflict is inevitable... Over seven days journey from London, Exmoor is a primitive and lawless area. Here, farmer Jack Ridd lives with his wife Sarah, son John, and two daughters. The only shadow over their simple life is cast by the notorious outlaw family the Doones. The aristocratic Doones were banished from their ancestral lands and now live through looting, theft, and murder. Their brutality is legendary.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, serious, captivating, stylized, period piece, costume drama, historical drama, historical romance, epic
Similar in 76%
The Wings of the Dove (1997)
Plot Summary:
Kate is secretly betrothed to a struggling journalist, Merton Densher. But she knows her Aunt Maude will never approve of the match, since Kate's deceased mother has lost all her money in a marriage to a degenerate opium addict. When Kate meets a terminally ill American heiress named Millie traveling through Europe, she comes up with a conniving plan to have both love and wealth.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sexy, atmospheric, period piece, serious, costume drama, romantic, visual, visually stunning, stylized, retro
Similar in 89%
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 84%
In My Country (2004)
Plot Summary:
An American reporter and an Afrikaans poet meet and fall in love while covering South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Ireland, South Africa
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, serious, emotional, political, realistic, political thriller, crying
Similar in 79%
Germinal (1993)
Plot Summary:
It's mid 19th century, north of France. The story of a coal miner's town. They are exploited by the mine's owner. One day the decide to go on strike, and then the authorities repress them.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Belgium, Italy
Duration: 160 min
Plot tags: political, emotional, realistic, philosophical, anthology, sincere, thought provoking, epic, serious, captivating
Similar in 87%
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 89%
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
Plot Summary:
In this story-within-a-story, Anna is an actress starring opposite Mike in a period piece about the forbidden love between their respective characters, Sarah and Charles. Both actors are involved in serious relationships, but the passionate nature of the script leads to an off-camera love affair as well. While attempting to maintain their composure and professionalism, Anna and Mike struggle to come to terms with their infidelity.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: romantic, emotional, costume drama, scenic, stylized, atmospheric, clever, postmodern, erotic, retro
Similar in 81%
Zelary (2003)
Plot Summary:
A nurse and her surgeon-lover are part of a resistance movement in 1940s Czechoslovakia. When they are discovered, her lover flees and she must find a place to hide. A patient whose life she saved, a man from a remote mountain village where time stopped 150 years ago, agrees to hide her as his wife.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, sincere, contemplative, epic, mysterious, serious, sentimental, romantic
Similar in 86%
Great Expectations (1998)
Plot Summary:
Loosely based on the Charles Dickens' classic novel, "Great Expectations" is a sensual tale of a young man's unforgettable passage into manhood, and the three individuals who will undeniably change his life forever. Through the surprising interactions of these vivid characters, "Great Expectations" takes a unique and contemporary look at life's great coincidences.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 56000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: romantic, heartbreaking, emotional, sexy, touching, light, melancholic, serious, realistic, erotic
Similar in 78%
Chinese Box (1997)
Plot Summary:
The story of Hong Kong, from New Year's Day to June 30th, 1997, when the British left their colony and turned it over to the People's Republic of China.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Japan, USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, independent film, sentimental, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, philosophical, sexy, thought provoking
Similar in 89%
The Thorn Birds (1983)
Plot Summary:
This mini series covers 60 years in the lives of the Cleary family, brought from New Zealand to Australia to run their aunt Mary Carson's ranch. The story centers on their daughter, Meggie, and her love for the family's priest, Father Ralph de Bricassart. Meggie tries to forget Ralph by marrying dashing stockman Luke O'Neill, but she and Ralph are soon reunited, with tragic consequences for them both.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 460 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, family saga, emotional, captivating, serious, heartbreaking, romantic drama, historical drama, realistic
Similar in 86%
The Sleeping Dictionary (2003)
Plot Summary:
A young Englishman is dispatched to Sarawak to become part of the British colonial government. He encounters some unorthodox local traditions, and finds himself faced with tough decisions of the heart involving the beautiful Selima, the unwitting object of his affections.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Germany, USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: romantic, sexy, erotic, scenic, captivating, serious, period piece, fairy tale, touching, art film
Similar in 86%
The Hours (2002)
Plot Summary:
"The Hours" is the story of three women searching for more potent, meaningful lives. Each is alive at a different time and place, all are linked by their yearnings and their fears. Their stories intertwine, and finally come together in a surprising, transcendent moment of shared recognition.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 137000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, UK, France, Canada, Germany
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: psychological, depressing, intellectual, touching, captivating, serious, emotional, poignant, enigmatic, heartbreaking
Similar in 84%
Like Water for Chocolate (1992)
Plot Summary:
Tita is passionately in love with Pedro, but her controlling mother forbids her from marrying him. When Pedro marries her sister, Tita throws herself into her cooking and discovers she can transfer her emotions through the food she prepares, infecting all who eat it with her intense heartbreak.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Mexico
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, compassionate, romantic, sweet, emotional, melancholic, intense, atmospheric, sensual
Similar in 77%
The Heart of Me (2002)
Plot Summary:
Drama set in 1930s London with two sisters, Madeleine married to Rickie, and Dinah, who falls in love with him. Rickie and Dinah begin an affair which is to have repercussions throughout all their lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Germany
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, romantic drama, clever, erotic, romantic, spiritual, cult classic
Similar in 81%
Lolita (1997)
Plot Summary:
Urbane professor Humbert Humbert marries a New England widow to be near her nymphet daughter.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 65000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, USA
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: erotic, psychological, sexual, sexy, melancholic, disturbing, cynical, sensual, romantic, intellectual
Similar in 78%
Damage (1992)
Plot Summary:
The life of a respected British politician at the height of his career crumbles when he becomes obsessed with his son's lover.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: sexy, sexual, erotic, melancholic, psychological, sensual, emotional, realistic, non-linear, romantic
Similar in 75%
The Little House (2014)
Plot Summary:
Following the death of the unmarried and childless Taki, Takeshi, a young relative of hers, discovers several pages of closely written lines in which the old lady has recorded her memories. This is how he learns the truth about her youth working as a housemaid and nanny for the Hirai family in a little house in Tokyo with a red gabled roof.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, psychological, captivating, touching, serious, stylized
Similar in 89%
Jane Eyre (2011)
Plot Summary:
After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meet the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Mr. Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Mr. Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 92000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: romantic, touching, gothic, atmospheric, captivating, costume drama, period piece, visually appealing, sexy, emotional
Similar in 80%
Sophie's Choice (1982)
Plot Summary:
Stingo, a young writer, moves to Brooklyn in 1947 to begin work on his first novel. As he becomes friendly with Sophie and her lover Nathan, he learns that she is a Holocaust survivor. Flashbacks reveal her harrowing story, from pre-war prosperity to Auschwitz. In the present, Sophie and Nathan's relationship increasingly unravels as Stingo grows closer to Sophie and Nathan's fragile mental state becomes ever more apparent.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 52000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: depressing, sad, realistic, heartbreaking, serious, touching, crying, emotional, bleak, disturbing
Similar in 89%
The Notebook (2004)
Plot Summary:
An epic love story centered around an older man who reads aloud to a woman with Alzheimer's. From a faded notebook, the old man's words bring to life the story about a couple who is separated by World War II, and is then passionately reunited, seven years later, after they have taken different paths.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 605000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: touching, romantic, emotional, sentimental, sweet, sad, tear jerker, inspirational, motivational, feel good