Best movies like The Mill and the Cross
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
What would it be like to step inside a great work of art, have it come alive around you, and even observe the artist as he sketches the very reality you are experiencing? From Lech Majewski, one of Poland's most acclaimed filmmakers, The Mill and the Cross is a cinematic re-staging of Pieter Bruegel's masterpiece "Procession to Calvary," presented alongside the story of its creation.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Poland, Sweden
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, bleak, serious, realistic, surreal, christian film, philosophical, spiritual, cerebral, offbeat
Best tv shows and movies like The Mill and the Cross (2011):
Similar in 79%
The Artist and the Model (2012)
Plot Summary:
The story of a famous old sculptor, weary of life and the folly of men, who finds, thanks to the arrival of a Spanish girl escaped from a refugee camp, the desire to return to work and sculpt your final work in occupied France in 1943. Model and artist, as they work, speak with simplicity and closeness to everything around them: The life and death, the injustice of the war, youth and old age, the search for beauty in times of horror, the sense and the need for art.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, light, touching, melancholic, dramatic, visually appealing, sexy, bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 89%
Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas (2013)
Plot Summary:
In the 16th century in the Cévennes, a horse dealer by the name of Michael Kohlhaas leads a happy and prosperous family life. When a lord treats him unjustly, this pious, upstanding man raises an army and puts the country to fire and sword in order to have his rights restored.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: France, Germany
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, action adventure, period drama
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The Garden of Earthly Delights (2004)
Plot Summary:
When a terminally-ill art historian meets an engineer, it is love and lust at first sight. But their love is threatened by her looming illness. With her remaining days on earth numbered, she chooses to fan the flames of her obsession by taking her lover on a trip to Venice, where the artist's work becomes the background for their physical passion and emotional discovery.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 340
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Italy, Poland
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sexy, erotic, clever, contemplative, talky, sexual, avant garde
Similar in 75%
Shirley: Visions of Reality (2013)
Plot Summary:
A series of snapshots from the life of a fictional actress named Shirley serves to weave together thirteen paintings by Edward Hopper (e.g. "Office at Night", "Western Motel", "Usherette", "A Woman in the Sun") into a fascinating synthesis of painting and film, personal and political history. Each station in Shirley’s professional and private life from the 1930s to 1960s is precisely dated: It is always August 28/29 of the year in question, as the locations vary from Paris to New York to Cape Cod.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 990
Genere: Drama
Country: Austria
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: serious, atmospheric, realistic, contemplative, experimental, postmodern, offbeat, stylized, weird, beautiful
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The Beautiful Troublemaker (1991)
Plot Summary:
The former famous painter Frenhofer lives quietly with his wife on his countryside residence in the French Provence. When the young artist Nicolas visits him with his girlfriend Marianne, Frenhofer decides to start again the work on a painting he long ago stopped: La Belle Noiseuse. And he wants Marianne as model. The now starting creative process changes life for everyone. It is a struggle for truth, life and sense, and the question where the limits of arts are or whether art is limitless.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Switzerland
Duration: 238 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, realistic, psychological, atmospheric, erotic, serious, sexy, contemplative, sexual
Similar in 78%
The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (1978)
Plot Summary:
Two narrators, one seen and one unseen, discuss possible connections between a series of paintings. The on-screen narrator walks through three-dimensional reproductions of each painting, featuring real people, sometimes moving, in an effort to explain the series' significance.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: France
Duration: 66 min
Plot tags: experimental, realistic, serious, captivating, stylized, mindfuck, philosophical, black and white, cult classic, atmospheric
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Tsar (2009)
Plot Summary:
In 16th-century Russia in the grip of chaos, Ivan the Terrible strongly believes he is vested with a holy mission. Believing he can understand and interpret the signs, he sees the Last Judgment approaching. He establishes absolute power, cruelly destroying anyone who gets in his way. During this reign of terror, Philip, the superior of the monastery on the Solovetsky Islands, a great scholar and Ivan's close friend, dares to oppose the sovereign's mystical tyranny. What follows is a clash between two completely opposite visions of the world, smashing morality and justice, God and men. A grand-scale film with excellent leading roles by Mamonov and Yankovsky. An allegory of Stalinist Russia.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Russia
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, epic, serious, realistic, contemplative, stylized, gloomy, bleak
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The Baby of Mâcon (1993)
Plot Summary:
A town cursed with barren women and famine is saved by a miracle birth to an old, ugly woman: the Mother. Immediately afterwards, the old woman's Daughter (Ormond) claims to have delivered the baby herself in a virgin birth. She imprisons the Mother and begins to exploit the Baby by selling blessings to the desperate townspeople of Mâcon.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Netherlands, France, UK, Germany
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: disturbing, avant garde, surreal, serious, atmospheric, rough, stylized, bleak, controversial, philosophical
Similar in 79%
Silence (1971)
Plot Summary:
Two Jesuit priests encounter persecution when they travel to Japan in the 17th century to spread Christianity and search for their mentor.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Japan
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: spiritual, existential, atmospheric, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative, stylized
Similar in 85%
Rikyu (1989)
Plot Summary:
Late in the 1500s, an aging tea master teaches the way of tea to a headstrong Shogun. Through force of will and courageous fighting, Hideyoshi becomes Japan's most powerful warlord, unifying the country. Rikyu, through the tea ceremony and floral arrangements, tempers his lord, helping Hideyoshi focus on a single flower or be in a simple room where the shape of a cup is of most importance. But other forces fuel Hideyoshi's ambitions: the Portuguese bring a globe and guns, and he believes he can conquer Korea and China. When Rikyu raises doubts about invading China, Hideyoshi demands an apology, and Rikyu himself must find courage in the way of tea.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 813
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Japan
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative, stylized, jidai geki
Similar in 89%
Caravaggio (1986)
Plot Summary:
As influential Italian artist Caravaggio dies in exile in 1610, he recalls his short life, from his childhood to his initial artistic failures to his later triumphs as he catches the eye of a sympathetic cardinal to his destructive relationship with a dashing gambler.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, stylized, factual, spiritual, heartbreaking, artsy, art film, postmodern
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Andrei Rublev (1966)
Plot Summary:
An expansive Russian drama, this film focuses on the life of revered religious icon painter Andrei Rublev. Drifting from place to place in a tumultuous era, the peace-seeking monk eventually gains a reputation for his art. But after Rublev witnesses a brutal battle and unintentionally becomes involved, he takes a vow of silence and spends time away from his work. As he begins to ease his troubled soul, he takes steps towards becoming a painter once again.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 56000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 205 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, breathtaking, art house, black and white, philosophical, epic, visual, visually appealing, spiritual, bleak
Similar in 77%
A Harlot's Progress (2006)
Plot Summary:
Drama looking at artist William Hogarth and his relationship with the prostitute that inspired his most famous piece.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 336
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, historical drama, sexual, sexy, period drama
Similar in 88%
Peter and Paul (1981)
Plot Summary:
Peter and Paul assume leadership of the Church as they struggle against violent opposition to the teachings of Christ and their own personal conflicts.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 654
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 198 min
Plot tags: biblical, christian film, atmospheric, epic, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative, spiritual, sexy
Similar in 76%
The Radicals (1989)
Plot Summary:
The story of the Anabaptist movement and two of its first leaders, Michael and Margaretha Sattler.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 104
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: biblical, independent film, bleak, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, contemplative
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Modigliani (2004)
Plot Summary:
Set in Paris in 1919, biopic centers on the life of late Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, focusing on his last days as well as his rivalry with Pablo Picasso. Modigliani, a Jew, has fallen in love with Jeanne, a young and beautiful Catholic girl. The couple has an illegitimate child, and Jeanne's bigoted parents send the baby to a faraway convent to be raised by nuns. Modigliani is distraught and.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, Germany, Romania, France, Italy
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, serious, sad, factual, melancholic, psychological, inspirational, romantic, epic
Similar in 86%
Nightwatching (2007)
Plot Summary:
An extravagant, exotic and moving look at Rembrandt's romantic and professional life, and the controversy he created by the identification of a murderer in the painting The Night Watch.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Mystery
Country: UK, Poland, Canada, Netherlands
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, captivating, disturbing, enigmatic, heartbreaking, art film, metafiction, avant garde, baroque
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Renoir (2012)
Plot Summary:
The Côte d’Azur. 1915. In his twilight years, Pierre-Auguste Renoir is tormented by the loss of his wife, the pains of arthritic old age and the terrible news that his son Jean has been wounded in action. But when a young girl miraculously enters his world, the old painter is filled with a new, wholly unexpected energy. Blazing with life, radiantly beautiful, Andrée will become his last model, and the wellspring of a remarkable rejuvenation. Back at the family home to convalesce, Jean too falls under the spell of the new, redheaded star in the Renoir firmament. In their Mediterranean Eden - and in the face of his father's fierce opposition - he falls in love with this wild, untameable spirit... and as he does so, within weak-willed, battle-shaken Jean, a filmmaker begins to grow.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, scenic, sentimental, costume drama, historical drama, serious, realistic, stylized, period drama
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Artemisia (1997)
Plot Summary:
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653) was one of the first well-known female painters. The movie tells the story of her youth, when she was guided and protected by her father, the painter Orazio Gentileschi. Her professional curiosity about the male anatomy, forbidden for her eyes, led her to the knowledge of sexual pleasure. But she was also well known because in 1612 she had to appear in a courtroom because her teacher, Agostino Tassi, was suspected of raping her. She tried to protect him, but was put in the thumb screws.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: France, Italy, Germany
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: erotic, factual, sexual, spiritual, art film, historical drama, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized
Similar in 83%
Pirosmani (1969)
Plot Summary:
A dedicated artist from Russian Georgia struggles to get recognition.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Soviet Union, Georgia
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: psychedelic, spiritual, heartbreaking
Similar in 88%
Afterimage (2016)
Plot Summary:
In 1945, as Stalin sets his hands over Poland, famous painter Wladislaw Strzeminski refuses to compromise on his art with the doctrines of social realism. Persecuted, expelled from his chair at the University, he's eventually erased from the museums' walls. With the help of some of his students, he starts fighting against the Party and becomes the symbol of an artistic resistance against intellectual tyranny.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Poland
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: avant garde, twist ending, exciting, sentimental, captivating, educational, ambiguous ending
Similar in 82%
Giordano Bruno (1973)
Plot Summary:
Flying from his enemies in the Catholic Church, the free thinking philosopher, poet and scientist Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) has found some protection in Venice. But the Roman Inquisition, fearing his influence in Europe, wants to bring him on trial for 'heresy'.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 950
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: spiritual, philosophical, dramatic, esoteric, sincere, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 77%
Alfred the Great (1969)
Plot Summary:
While Old England is being ransacked by roving Danes in the 9th century, Alfred is planning to join the priesthood. But observing the rape of his land, he puts away his religious vows to take up arms against the invaders, leading the English Christians to fight for their country. Alfred soundly defeats the Danes and becomes a hero. But now, although Alfred still longs for the priesthood, he is torn between his passion for God and his lust for blood.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: epic, exciting, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, period drama
Similar in 75%
El Greco (2007)
Plot Summary:
The story of the uncompromising artist and fighter for freedom, Domenicos Theotokopoulos, known to the world as "El Greco".
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Greece, Spain, Hungary
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, stylized, captivating, disgusting, epic, realistic, non-linear, light, period piece
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Camille Claudel (1988)
Plot Summary:
The life of Camille Claudel, a french scupltor who becomes the apprentice of Auguste Rodin and later his lover. Her passion for her art and Rodin drive her further away from reason and rationality.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 175 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, intense, touching, heartbreaking, serious, captivating, disturbing, atmospheric, romantic
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Glass Lips (2007)
Plot Summary:
This dialog-free film, originally presented as 33 short films, is an experimental, bizarre set of meditations and flashbacks of the grotesque.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 241
Genere: Drama
Country: Poland, USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, surreal, disturbing, mind bending, serious, realistic, stylized, experimental, contemplative, sexual
Similar in 83%
Silence (2016)
Plot Summary:
Two Jesuit priests travel to seventeenth century Japan which has, under the Tokugawa shogunate, banned Catholicism and almost all foreign contact.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 121000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA, UK, Taiwan, Japan, Mexico
Duration: 161 min
Plot tags: philosophical, stylized, cerebral, intellectual, suspense, melancholic, visually stunning, psychological, epic, emotional
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At Eternity's Gate (2018)
Plot Summary:
Famed but tormented artist Vincent van Gogh spends his final years in Arles, France, painting masterworks of the natural world that surrounds him.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 39000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Ireland, Switzerland, UK, France, USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: independent film, melancholic, psychological, rough, touching, art film, captivating, suspenseful, philosophical, atmospheric
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The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965)
Plot Summary:
Charlton Heston stars as Renaissance artist Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), who begrudgingly paints the Sistine Chapel for imperious Pope Julius II in this epic adaptation of Irvine Stone's novel directed by Carol Reed. While the novel covers Michelangelo's life from birth to death, the film focuses on the battle of wills between the perfectionist artist and the impatient Pope who commissions (and eventually commands) him to paint the famed chapel.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: epic, inspirational, uplifting, serious, biblical, christian film, psychedelic, art film, technicolor, sincere
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Mr. Turner (2014)
Plot Summary:
Eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner lives his last 25 years with gusto and secretly becomes involved with a seaside landlady, while his faithful housekeeper bears an unrequited love for him.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK, France, Germany, USA, Belgium
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: enigmatic, surreal, meditative, sincere, captivating, costume drama, visual, atmospheric, clever, stylized