Best movies like To the Left of the Father
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Brazilian baroque. The young son that ran from his dominant family, descends into decadence and then returns to the nest. With melodramatic themes of tyrannical fathers, incest, fierce family conflicts and an overheated and intense visual style to match.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 163 min
Plot tags: serious, atmospheric, captivating, realistic, suspense, romantic, offbeat, affectionate
Best tv shows and movies like To the Left of the Father (2001):
Similar in 79%
Ritual (2000)
Plot Summary:
A young man drops out of college to fix his family when he senses something is terribly wrong at home.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 98
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, serious, suspense, independent film, realistic, controversial, cynical
Similar in 75%
The Flaxfield (1983)
Plot Summary:
In a part of Flanders where flax is the main crop, farmer Vermeulen rules his estate like an 'old school' patriarch, stern and authoritarian, nobody else's word is ever taken seriously, just scolded fools, he rather risks being wrong then considering any advice. His marriage is based on a grim understanding: the wife Barbele accepts his heartless manner with everyone, even their studious, smart, healthy, studly son and heir Louis, but his two silly sisters are spoiled with a pointless fancy nunnery boarding school education fit for the upper classes. Farm-life is hard enough, laboring without machines or reliable weather, but this year the stubborn master made it even worse by picking the riskier, badly drained field and sowing later then his neighbors, even when luck turns he'll fetch a lower price for it. Poor practically perfect Louis is granted neither praise, respect nor any pleasure, however hard and well he slaves, obedient like the hired farmhands although well-read. Even.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 222
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium, Netherlands
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, eighties
Similar in 78%
My Mother's Smile (2002)
Plot Summary:
A celebrated painter receives a visit from a cardinal's assistant, who informs him that his mother could become a saint.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, surreal, spiritual, entertaining
Similar in 90%
The Nanny (1999)
Plot Summary:
Rome, early 20th century: a wealthy psychiatrist, who runs an asylum for women and lacks imagination in his practice, must find a wet nurse for his infant when his wife panics after childbirth. He brings a peasant, Annette, to Rome, forcing her to leave her own baby behind. To the consternation and increasing anger of the wife, the nanny immediately bonds with the couple's infant son - Annette's a natural. Against a backdrop of leftist demonstrations, Annette, who's lover is a teacher jailed for subversion, asks the doctor to teach her to read and write. Her nature and curiosity, the doctor's bland ideas, he and his wife's problems, and the two infants bring the story to a head.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 572
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 76%
Inheritance (2012)
Plot Summary:
A Palestinian family living in the north of Galilee gathers to celebrate the wedding of one of their daughters, as war rages between Israel and Lebanon. Internal conflicts explode between the family - secrets are revealed and lies are unmasked. The battles between different family members become as merciless as the outside war once their father falls into a coma and inches toward death.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 148
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Israel
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 78%
Emile (2003)
Plot Summary:
In a story weaving the past and present together, Emile seeks redemption from the family he abandoned.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 797
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, UK
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 83%
Curse of the Starving Class (1994)
Plot Summary:
Curse of the Starving Class is a play by Sam Shepard, considered the first of a series on family tragedies. Drama about a dirt-poor 1950's-era farm family. Dad's a foul talking drunk and Mom is desperately trying to save what's left of their family life.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: gloomy, independent film, serious, realistic
Similar in 80%
Making Plans for Lena (2009)
Plot Summary:
Ever since she broke up with Nigel, Lena soldiers on through life as best she can with her two kids. She valiantly overcomes the obstacles put in her way. But she has yet to confront the worst of them: Her unstoppable family has decided, by any means necessary, to make her happy.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 984
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: tense, emotional, psychological, serious, realistic, clever, talky, folk tale
Similar in 84%
Alice's House (2007)
Plot Summary:
Alice, married for the last 20 years to a taxi driver, works in a beauty parlour, has three children, the eldest of whom is doing his military service, and a mother who works as a maid in her house. None of the three siblings pay much attention to their mother, and they treat their grandmother with lack of respect. Alice's life in the female working world contrasts strongly with the powerful masculine presence in her home. Although she's a good girl, the chance to betray uncovers other betrayals she didn't know existed.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 668
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, captivating, melancholic, serious, sexual, sexy
Similar in 88%
We Were the Mulvaneys (2002)
Plot Summary:
Based on the novel by the same name, We Were the Mulvaneys is a sensitive portrayal of one family's journey as they face conflict, fear, tragedy and ultimately, themselves.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 599
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, touching, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Blame It on Mum (2009)
Plot Summary:
Mady Celliers, an attractive housewife of 60, he spends his life speaking ill of her two daughters and her husband, a man who shows a strange behavior since has retired. Antoine, the eldest son, company director, is unable to make a success of a business: out of a bankruptcy to get into another, her sister Alice madonnas obsessively paints sad. Annabelle, a nurse in an intensive care unit, tries desperately to save his family pronosticándole the future. When Alice meets by chance Jacques, a lonely police pessimistic explode all family neurosis.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 417
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, touching
Similar in 75%
The Sound and the Fury (2014)
Plot Summary:
A look at the trials and tribulations of The Compson siblings, living in the deep south during the early part of the 20th century.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: serious, touching, realistic, southern gothic, captivating, gloomy
Similar in 84%
The Vertical Ray of the Sun (2000)
Plot Summary:
Hanoi comes across almost picture-perfect in director Tran Anh Hung's beautiful, elegiac tale about the lives and loves of three Vietnamese sisters. A mood characteristic of Hung's films is set early on with the vivid sounds of birds, insects and water and the way the lighting enhances the subtle use of color. They all combine to gem-like effect here.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Vietnam, France, Germany
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: melancholic, sincere, psychological, sentimental, touching, serious, talky, emotional, uplifting, artsy
Similar in 76%
Constellation (2005)
Plot Summary:
Constellation chronicles the lives and loves of an African-American family in the deep South as they are forced to come to terms with a tumultuous past marked by an unrequited interracial affair. The film explores the way in which the family patriarch must confront his demons amidst the changing racial fabric of society and his own family.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 687
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, psychological, touching, captivating, uplifting, sincere, serious, independent film
Similar in 78%
Redland (2009)
Plot Summary:
As a family struggles to survive in rural isolation during the Great Depression, their daughter's secret affair begins a journey into the unknown.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 100
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, rough, serious, disturbing, mystic, tense, bleak, realistic, independent film, epic
Similar in 90%
About Her Brother (2010)
Plot Summary:
Ginko’s younger brother Tetsuro, a failed comedian, is the oddball of the family. Embarrassing, loud and plain inappropriate at times causes Ginko to disown him. The two reunite when she discovers Tetsuro is terminally ill. Tetsuro’s impending death marks the beginning of love and toleration.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 843
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, emotional, captivating, independent film, sincere, touching, serious, entertaining
Similar in 80%
Blondie (2012)
Plot Summary:
Three sisters, all adrift and in crisis, reunite at their childhood home as their domineering mother arranges a big birthday. But as the festivities come to an end, repressed conflicts rise to the surface. Old wounds are opened and a new family is born.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 707
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, touching, serious, emotional, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Delta (2008)
Plot Summary:
A man comes home to meet his mother and sister after many years away. He finds his mother living with a new boyfriend, and his sister to be grown-up. He begins to settle down in this new place by building a new home for himself on the delta. But when his sister moves in with him and the two begin a romance, there are tragic consequences.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Hungary, Germany
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, emotional, realistic, erotic, bleak, stylized, gloomy, sexual, independent film
Similar in 83%
Family Secrets (2001)
Plot Summary:
Autumn 1978 in suburban Sweden. Everything seems to be fine with the middle class Bendrick family with their two teenage children and a younger son, until the mother starts seeing her first love again after 20 years. Just like their badly built house, the family façade starts slowly crumbling into pieces. The daughter, 15, finds her first love, and the boys too are puzzled by their own questions around adolescence and sexuality. The father tries to keep up a happy face, while the youngest son is the first and the most sensitive to realize how the family is heading towards a disaster.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 547
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden, Norway
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, captivating, suspense
Similar in 82%
All You Need (2001)
Plot Summary:
Beth's life was going backwards. Her husband suddenly walks out on her, she has an alcoholic mother, an ambivalent father and so she decides to begin making a change by going back to school in order to take charge of her life.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 146
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, semi serious, talky
Similar in 86%
Particles of Truth (2003)
Plot Summary:
Life, love, and the fear of failing... Lilli Black, battling her painful memories and the secrets surrounding her dying father, collides into the complicated and obsessive life of Morrison Wiley on the streets of New York City. This peculiar love story exposes Lilli's internal bouts and her nightmarish "bad luck". We weave in and out of eight defective lives and go for a turbulent mental ride where Lilli's reality spirals out of control and we're lead to an unforgettable climax where some fall apart and some piece themselves together.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 587
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 81%
Common Ground (2002)
Plot Summary:
In Buenos Aires, a few days before traveling to Spain with his beloved wife Liliana Rovira to visit their son Pedro, the leftist Literature professor Fernando Robles is compulsory retired in the University, and he concludes that it is impossible to live with his pension. The crisis in Argentina does not allow Fernando to get a new job, and his wife decides to sell her family's apartment and move to a small farm near Villa Dolores to reduce their expenses. Fernando comes up with the idea to grow lavender and sell the oil to the perfume industry.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, Argentina
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, clever, touching, realistic, contemplative, semi serious
Similar in 89%
Belonging (2004)
Plot Summary:
Jess (Brenda Blethyn) and town handyman Jacob (Kevin Whately) have been happily married 20 years, recently taking in a trio of Jacob's elderly relatives, including his mother (Rosemary Harris). Though the relations are demanding, kindhearted Jess -- who selflessly quit her job -- enjoys looking after them. But when Jacob disappears one day, Jess' life falls apart, and she must learn to cope with things on her own in this touching drama.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 299
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, touching
Similar in 89%
Brainstorm (2000)
Plot Summary:
A trip to the mental institution hell. This odyssey is lived by Neto, a middle class teenager, who lives a normal life until his father sends him to a mental institution after finding drugs on his pocket. The maconha cigarrete is just the final drop that exposes the family tragedy. Send to a mental institution, Neto gets to know a completely absurd, inhumane reality in which the people are devoured by a corrupt and cruel institution system. The documentary type language used by the director give this movie a sensation of realty that increases even more the impact of the emotions Neto goes through. In the mental institution, Neto is forced to mature. The transformations that he goes through change this relations with his father.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, controversial, tense, serious, realistic, talky
Similar in 84%
A Thousand Acres (1997)
Plot Summary:
A THOUSAND ACRES is a drama about an American family who meets with tragedy on their land. It is the story of a father, his daughters, and their husbands, and their passion to subdue the history of their land and its stories.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, serious, realistic, talky, gloomy, sentimental, inspirational, sexy, feel good
Similar in 83%
Charms for the Easy Life (2002)
Plot Summary:
The story of three women who live in a North Carolina town and defy the traditional roles set forth for them by society.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 481
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, thought provoking, captivating, atmospheric, realistic, sexual
Similar in 87%
The Autumn Heart (1999)
Plot Summary:
When a school bus driving woman (Tyne Daly) has a heart attack, she makes one request of her three daughters (Ally Sheedy, Marla Sucharetza, Marceline Hugo) - she wants them to find their long lost brother, who was taken away by their father (Jack Davidson) 16 years ago. What they discover is that while they have struggled, their father has become a wealthy man and their brother is in school at Harvard.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 230
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: independent film, sincere, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative, talky, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Alpha Male (2006)
Plot Summary:
Drama about a family torn apart after the death of its patriarch. Haunted by their father's death, Jack and Elyssa have a fraught relationship with their remarried mother even now they have come of age.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 345
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, realistic, contemplative, psychological, sentimental, sincere, serious
Similar in 79%
Gemini (2005)
Plot Summary:
An incestuous love affair. Meme and Jeremias are the younger children in a typical bourgeois family. Their mother Lucia is the dominant force in the household, but her fixation on upholding the niceties of upper middle class life has prevented her from seeing what is going on under her roof. When the siblings’ older brother and his fiancee arrive home for their wedding, it seems inevitable that the concealment will be impossible to sustain. But equally it becomes apparent that if Lucia were to find out about the affair, there would be catastrophic consequences.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina, France
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, sexual, psychological, depressing, sad, eros, erotic
Similar in 78%
The Best Day of My Life (2002)
Plot Summary:
The Best Day of My Life is the story of a dysfunctional family as seen through the eyes of young Chiara (Maria Luisa De Crescenzo) who is about to receive her first communion. The family includes matriarch Irene (Virna Lisi) and her three grown up children.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, sentimental, captivating, serious, emotional, gloomy, sexual, sexy