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About Time poster

Movies that feel likeAbout Time (2013)

The night after another unsatisfactory New Year's party, Tim's father reveals to him that the men in their family have the ability to travel through time. They can't change history, but they can change what happens and has happened in their own lives. Thus begins the start of a lesson in learning to appreciate life itself as it is, as it comes, and most importantly, the people living alongside us.

If you loved About Time, the closest films we have are The Time Traveler's Wife (2009), The Age of Adaline (2015) and Before Midnight (2013). All three share About Time's contemplative and romantic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Wings of Desire (1987).

🍅 70% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Richard Curtiscontemplativeromantictenderdreamlike
10 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If About Time hit the spot, these will too

The Time Traveler's Wife poster
The Time Traveler's Wife
2009 · dir. Robert Schwentke
🍅 38%★ 7.1drama · romance · fantasyParamount+

Loving someone whose time with you keeps slipping

The difference: The travel is a curse here — grief outweighs comfort

Due to a genetic disorder, handsome librarian Henry DeTamble involuntarily zips through time, appearing at various moments in the life of his true love, the beautiful artist Clare Abshire.

The Age of Adaline poster
The Age of Adaline
2015 · dir. Lee Toland Krieger
🍅 54%★ 7.2romance · fantasy · dramaMax

A life outside time and the love that makes it ordinary again

The difference: Glossier and more solemn — little of the Curtis humor

After 29-year-old Adaline recovers from a nearly lethal accident, she inexplicably stops growing older. As the years stretch on and on, Adaline keeps her secret to herself until she meets a man who changes her life.

Before Midnight poster
Before Midnight
2013 · dir. Richard Linklater
🍅 98%★ 7.9romance · dramaRent or buy

Long love examined honestly, argument by argument

The difference: No magic and no cushion — the fights draw real blood

It has been nine years since we last met Jesse and Celine, the French-American couple who once met on a train in Vienna. They now live in Paris with twin daughters but have spent a summer in Greece at the invitation of an author colleague of Jesse's. When the vacation is over and Jesse must send his teenage son off to the States, he begins to question his life decisions, and his relationship with Celine is at risk.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button poster
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2008 · dir. David Fincher
🍅 72%★ 7.8drama · fantasy · romance

The same mix in both: stillness, then romance

Born under unusual circumstances, Benjamin Button springs into being as an elderly man in a New Orleans nursing home and ages in reverse. Twelve years after his birth, he meets Daisy, a child who flits in and out of his life as she grows up to be a dancer. Though he has all sorts of unusual adventures over the course of his life, it is his relationship with Daisy, and the hope that they will come together at the right time, that drives Benjamin forward.

The Shape of Water poster
The Shape of Water
2017 · dir. Guillermo del Toro
🍅 92%★ 7.3drama · fantasy · romanceMax

Tender and dreamlike in the same breath

An other-worldly story, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1962, where a mute janitor working at a lab falls in love with an amphibious man being held captive there and devises a plan to help him escape.

The Lake House poster
The Lake House
2006 · dir. Alejandro Agresti
🍅 36%★ 6.8romance · drama · fantasy

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

When architect Alex Wyler moves into an unusual glass house on stilts over a lake, he discovers a note from the previous tenant in the mailbox--but no one's lived in the house for years. He replies and soon discovers that he's corresponding with a doctor named Kate Forster. Their correspondence, only through the 'magical' mailbox, turns romantic and their paths cross in unexpected ways, but when they try to truly connect, danger looms. They must try to unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary romance before it's too late.

Ruby Red poster
Ruby Red
2013 · dir. Felix Fuchssteiner
★ 6fantasy · drama · romance

Time travel running in the family, secrets and all

The difference: German YA adventure — destiny plot over daily-life warmth

On her 16th birthday, Gwendolyn Shepherd finds out that instead of her cousin, she has inherited a rare gene that allows her to travel through time.

Beautiful Creatures poster
Beautiful Creatures
2013 · dir. Richard LaGravenese
🍅 47%★ 6.1fantasy · drama · romance

Supernatural gifts complicating a small-town romance

The difference: Southern gothic YA — showier and far less tender

Ethan Wate just wants to get to know Lena Duchannes better, but unbeknownst to him, Lena has strange powers. As Lena's 16th birthday approaches she might decide her fate, to be good or evil. A choice which will impact her relationship forever.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 poster
🍅 49%★ 5.6fantasy · drama · romanceNetflix

Romantic romance, and it commits to that

After the birth of Renesmee, the Cullens gather other vampire clans in order to protect the child from a false allegation that puts the family in front of the Volturi.

Beastly poster
Beastly
2011 · dir. Daniel Barnz
🍅 20%★ 5.5romance · fantasy · dramaParamount+

Both lean on tenderness more than on fantasy

A modern-day take on the "Beauty and the Beast" tale where a New York teen is transformed into a hideous monster in order to find true love.

Meet Joe Black poster
Meet Joe Black
1998 · dir. Martin Brest
🍅 48%★ 7.2fantasy · drama · romancePrime Video

Dreamlike drama in both cases

Bill Parrish has it all - success, wealth and power. Days before his 65th birthday, he receives a visit from a mysterious stranger, Joe Black, who soon reveals himself as Death. In exchange for extra time, Bill agrees to serve as Joe's earthly guide. But will he regret his choice when Joe unexpectedly falls in love with Bill's beautiful daughter Susan?

Wings of Desire poster
Wings of Desire
1987 · dir. Wim Wenders
🍅 95%★ 7.9drama · fantasy · romanceMax

Romance built on stillness, twice over

The difference: 26 years apart, and the 1980s show

Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds — with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk — that it might be possible for him to take human form.

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The best-reviewed films that share About Time’s defining feeling.