Best movies like The Pianist
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Mario Gas directed this music-themed Spanish drama set in Barcelona of the mid-'80s. When famed composer Lluis Doria (Laurent Terzieff) visits a transvestite club, he learns his lifelong friend Albert Rossell (Serge Reggiani) is the house pianist. A flashback takes the tale four decades into the past where the younger Rossell (Pere Ponce) rejoins Teresa (Paulina Galvez) after having spent years in prison for helping anti-Franco anarchists. The story continues into Paris of the '30s, the period when Doria and Rossell first met, sharing a mutual interest in music and Teresa, before civil war sent them in different directions.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 106
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Best tv shows and movies like The Pianist (1998):
Similar in 79%
Cousin Angelica (1974)
Plot Summary:
When the single middle-aged Luis travels from Barcelona to bury the remains of his mother in the vault of his family in Segovia, he is lodged by his aunt Pilar in her old house where he spent his summer of 1936 with her. He meets his cousin Angelica, who was his first love, living on the first floor with her husband and daughter, and he recalls his childhood in times of the Spanish Civil War entwined with the present.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, serious, realistic, surreal, controversial, contemplative, gloomy, biting, suspense
Similar in 79%
A Woman's Revenge (1990)
Plot Summary:
Suzy, a beautiful woman, is coming back to Paris to attend the funeral of her lover, a married man. Cecile, his wife, is holding Suzy responsible for his suicide. By finding Suzy in Paris, Cecile is trying to seek the truth by playing a psychological game on her.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 261
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic
Similar in 77%
The Passerby (1982)
Plot Summary:
During an interview, Max Baumstein (Piccoli), respected chairman of a humanitarian organisation, shoots the Paraguayan ambassador dead, in cold blood. Tried for first-degree murder, he explains himself: the ambassador was a former Nazi official, responsible for the extermination of his family.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, West Germany
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: emotional, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, surprise ending
Similar in 75%
What War May Bring (2010)
Plot Summary:
A theater projectionist's daughter is involved in the Resistance in WWII, but she doesn’t share his political involvement & only believes in passion. She follows the men she loves unconditionally, suffering betrayal and hardship.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 744
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: captivating, psychological, serious, emotional, realistic, epic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 88%
Hell (2006)
Plot Summary:
No overview found.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 611
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, captivating, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Madame Rosa (1977)
Plot Summary:
Madame Rosa lives in a sixth-floor walkup in the Pigalle; she's a retired prostitute, Jewish and an Auschwitz survivor, a foster mom to children of other prostitutes. Momo is the oldest and her favorite, an Algerian lad whom she raises as a Muslim. He asks about his parents; she answers evasively. As she ages and takes fewer children, Momo must do more for her; as money is tight, he tries to earn pennies on the street with a puppet. He's a beautiful man-child, and Madame Rosa makes him promise never to sell himself or become a pimp. A film editor, Nadine, befriends him, and his father appears as well. Madame Rosa reaches her last days in fear of hospitals, and Momo must act.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 89%
The Letter (1999)
Plot Summary:
A well-bred, lovely, spiritual, sad young woman marries an attentive physician who loves her. She feels affection but no love. Soon after, without design, she falls in love with Pedro Abrunhosa, a poet and performance artist. He also loves her. She keeps her distance from him, confessing her love to a friend who is a nun and, later, to her husband. Hunger for her love and jealousy consume him; she attends him as he wastes away. With his death, she can marry and express her passion, but what she does and how she explains herself, particularly to her cloistered friend, is at the heart of the film. Glimpses of convent life and of Abrunhosa on stage give contrast and mute comment.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 730
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Portugal, Spain
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Pater (2011)
Plot Summary:
Vincent Lindon and Alain Cavalier drink together in bars while coming up with tall tales.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 506
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, experimental, contemplative, fake documentary
Similar in 78%
The High Pressures (2014)
Plot Summary:
Miguel travels to Pontevedra, his hometown, with the request of serching for some locations for a movie. His trip takes him back to the place where he grew up, meeting up with some old friends, but also leads him to the possibility of a new relationship: Alicia, a young nurse who will get to calm him down. Miguel will try to finish his work even though he mostly prefers to film the natives he meets, the movements and faces of his friends, the trains coming or the sea. A journey around the uprooting (the cinema) and love.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 91
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 84%
G.H.B. (2014)
Plot Summary:
A reflection on love and pleasure experienced by three women, set in France, New York, and Shanghai.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 25
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, captivating, psychological, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Foreign Student (1994)
Plot Summary:
A French football playing exchange student falls in love.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 357
Genere: Drama
Country: Netherlands, USA, France, Italy, UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, sexual, sexy
Similar in 76%
The Carpenter's Pencil (2003)
Plot Summary:
A story of love and obsession during the Spanish Civil War.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 443
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: captivating, emotional, sentimental, realistic, serious
Similar in 90%
A Time for Defiance (1998)
Plot Summary:
After the Spanish Civil War breaks out, the Prado Museum is being evacuated. One of the guards finds a painting by the master, Goya, and takes it to prevent damage to the work of art. In the interim, he meets a young lady with whom he falls in love. Assisted by her and her family members, the soldier attempts to save Goya's masterpiece intact amidst the war and violence.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 358
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Spain
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 89%
The Beehive (1982)
Plot Summary:
As in the novel of the same title from Camilo Jose Cela, "La Colmena" is a sad composition with the stories of many people in the Madrid of 1942, just the postwar of the spanish civil war. The main theme of the film is the contrast between the poets, surviving close to misery under the Franco's regime, and the winners of the war, the emerging class of the people that makes easy money with illegal business.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, captivating, realistic, gloomy, picaresque
Similar in 78%
The Portuguese Nun (2009)
Plot Summary:
A young French actress in Lisbon to shoot a movie is intrigued by a nun she sees kneeling in the chapel where she is filming.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 666
Genere: Drama
Country: Portugal, France
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: realistic, sincere, atmospheric, serious, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 75%
The Hanged Man (2008)
Plot Summary:
Two lovers break the law and struggle to stay together when carnal obsession causes tempers to flare.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 746
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, Ireland
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: emotional, serious, realistic, psychological, captivating, gloomy
Similar in 88%
Les corps impatients (2003)
Plot Summary:
Paul and Charlotte are in love. Charlotte discovers she has a grave malady and Paul supports her. But Paul is also attracted to Ninon, another girl. Charlotte accepts Paul to have an affair with her, and the three start a difficult and ambiguous relationship.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 613
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, psychological, sincere, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, sexual, sexy
Similar in 78%
The Cruel Embrace (1987)
Plot Summary:
Nicole (Marianne Basler) gives birth to a mentally challenged boy after she is gang-raped by American soldiers at the close of World War II in this grim dramatic tragedy. Young Ludo is hidden in the attic of the family home and continues to yearn for his mother's affection. Nicole enters into a loveless marriage with an older man who agrees to adopt Ludo, but her deteriorating mental health leads her to sloth and alcoholism. Ludo is sent off to an asylum, but escapes and takes up residence on a deserted beach in an old tanker that has run aground. This feature won the grand prize at the 1987 Barcelona Film Festival.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 181
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium, France
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 85%
To Life (2014)
Plot Summary:
Helen, Rose and Lili have survived the Holocaust and have never seen each other since the war has ended. In 1960, they meet again in Berck, France. They learn to enjoy together simple pleasures in life: nice meals, ballads on the beach, playing in the waves.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 238
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sincere, uplifting, captivating, contemplative
Similar in 88%
The Moon Child (2011)
Plot Summary:
David, a professor of dermatology, has been treating 13-year-old Romain since he was a baby. Afflicted with a rare skin condition, Romain must avoid sunlight and is condemned to live in the shade. David and Romain have become the closest of friends and nothing can separate them. But then David learns that he is about to be transferred to another clinic in another town. How will he be able to break the news to Romain? And how will Romain cope with this new crisis in his life?.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 256
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Speak Like a Child (1998)
Plot Summary:
Speak Like a Child, the feature film debut of documentary director John Akomfrah, explores the intense friendship that evolves between three troubled teenagers growing up in an isolated children's home on the Northumbrian coast. The desolate beauty of the coastline is captured in stunning panoramas, while strong performances by the young cast help to create a lyrical and poignant drama.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 87
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: independent film, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud (1995)
Plot Summary:
Nelly leaves her lazy, unemployed husband to work for retired judge Mr Arnaud, forty years her senior, after he offers to clear her bills for her. While she types his memoirs the two develop a close friendship, but Arnaud becomes jealous when Nelly begins dating his good-looking young publisher.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Italy, Germany
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, sexual, light, atmospheric, sexy
Similar in 78%
The Night and the Moment (1994)
Plot Summary:
The Night and the Moment is a 1995 erotic drama. A writer (Dafoe) is invited to the house of a noblewoman (Olin) who adores free-thinkers. He attempts to seduce her but she insists that he tell her of his past love exploits. While doing so, he takes her through his time in prison where he was unknowingly incarcerated in the cell beside hers.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 333
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, France, Italy
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sexy, tense, atmospheric, serious, realistic, talky, sexual, erotic
Similar in 81%
Quiet Days in Clichy (1990)
Plot Summary:
Expatriate Henry Miller indulges in a variety of sexual escapades while struggling to establish himself as a serious writer in Paris.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 743
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Italy, Germany
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: sexy, manga, explicit, atmospheric, serious, realistic, stylized, sexual, erotic
Similar in 80%
The Scarlet Letter (1973)
Plot Summary:
In 17th-century Salem, Hester Prynne must wear a scarlet A because she is an adulteress, with a child out of wedlock. For seven years, she has refused to name the father. A vigorous older stranger arrives, recognized by Hester but unknown to others as her missing husband. He poses as Chillingworth, a doctor, watching Hester and searching out the identity of her lover. His eye soon rests on Dimmesdale, a young overwrought pastor. Enmity grows between the two men; Chillingworth applies psychological pressure, and the pastor begins to crack. A ship stops in Salem, and Hester sees it as a providential refuge for her daughter, herself, and her lover. But will Dimmesdale flee with her?.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 866
Genere: Drama
Country: West Germany, Spain
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, atmospheric, serious, emotional, realistic, masterpiece
Similar in 75%
One Day You'll Understand (2008)
Plot Summary:
A man endeavors to collect memories of his grandparents who died in a concentration camp during the Holocaust.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 367
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Germany, Israel
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, bleak, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Emotional Arithmetic (2007)
Plot Summary:
An emotionally scarred fifty-something female, a high-profile but haunted British novelist, and a heroic dissident-cum-Soviet psychiatric hospital veteran, all reunite decades after bonding and surviving together in a detention camp during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, disturbing, contemplative
Similar in 77%
The Consul of Bordeaux (2011)
Plot Summary:
This is the story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a man of conviction who saved 30,000 lives during WWII, in June 1940. Among them were10,000 Jews. As the Portuguese General Consul stationed in Bordeaux, France, he issued 30,000 visas for safe passage to Portugal. He defied the direct orders of his government and exhibited courage, moral rectitude, unselfishness, and self-sacrifice by issuing visas to all refugees regardless of nationality, race, religion or political opinions.This narrative film expresses his heroic actions towards humanity, which will perpetuate his legacy of justice for a new generation. In 1966, Yad Vashem named him Righteous Among the Nations. He is considered to have achieved the largest single rescue operation of World War II.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 361
Genere: Drama
Country: Portugal, Belgium, Spain
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, captivating, emotional, realistic, serious, gloomy
Similar in 79%
Cet amour-l? (2001)
Plot Summary:
Cet Amour-là is an intimate portrait of a legendary love affair. Set against the beauty of the Breton seaside, it is also a film that revels in the insights that Marguerite Duras' writing affords.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 367
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: psychological, emotional, sentimental, sincere, serious, captivating, clever, realistic, talky, gloomy
Similar in 79%
When the Night (2011)
Plot Summary:
After meeting during their vacation, two young people with solitary lives suddenly come into a relationship that could benefit both of them.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 334
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy