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Movies that feel like Beauty and the Beast (1946)

If you loved Beauty and the Beast, the closest films we have are Breaking the Waves (1996), The African Queen (1952) and The Earrings of Madame de... (1953). All three share Beauty and the Beast's contemplative and romantic feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 11 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Netflix, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video and others, checked against today's data.

The story of a gentle-hearted beast in love with a simple and beautiful girl. She is drawn to the repellent but strangely fascinating Beast, who tests her fidelity by giving her a key, telling her that if she doesn't return it to him by a specific time, he will die of grief. She is unable to return the key on time, but it is revealed that the Beast is the genuinely handsome one. A simple tale of tragic love that turns into a surreal vision of death, desire, and beauty.

7.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Jean Cocteaucontemplativedreamlikeromantictenderhopeful
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If Beauty and the Beast hit the spot, these will too

Breaking the Waves poster
Breaking the Waves
1996 · dir. Lars von Trier
🍅 84%7.8drama · romance

Both keep coming back to the same thing: underdog

The difference: None of the dream logic Beauty and the Beast is built on

In a small, conservative Scottish village, an oilman is paralyzed in an accident. His wife, who prayed for his return, feels guilty; even more, when he urges her to have sex with another.

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The African Queen poster
The African Queen
1952 · dir. John Huston
🍅 96%7.7romance · adventure · drama

The same mix in both: stillness, then romance

The difference: Missing the dream logic of Beauty and the Beast

At the start of the First World War, in the middle of Africa’s nowhere, a gin soaked riverboat captain is persuaded by a strong-willed missionary to go down river and face-off a German warship.

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The Earrings of Madame de... poster
The Earrings of Madame de...
1953 · dir. Max Ophüls
🍅 97%7.9drama · romance

Both are built on the same subject: black and white

In late 19th century France, the Countess Louise, wife of a wealthy general, sells the earrings her husband gave her on their wedding day to pay off her secret debts, then claims to have lost them. Her husband quickly learns of the deceit, which is the beginning of many tragic misunderstandings, all involving the earrings, the general, the countess, and her new lover, the Italian Baron Donati.

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Children of Paradise poster
Children of Paradise
1945 · dir. Marcel Carné
🍅 98%8.3drama · romance

Common ground: black and white

In a chaotic 19th-century Paris teeming with aristocrats, thieves, psychics, and courtesans, theater mime Baptiste is in love with the mysterious actress Garance. But Garance, in turn, is loved by three other men: pretentious actor Frederick, conniving thief Lacenaire, and Count Edouard of Montray.

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Brief Encounter poster
Brief Encounter
1945 · dir. David Lean
🍅 95%8drama · romance

Both lean on tenderness more than on drama

Returning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson is thrown by happenstance into an acquaintance with virtuous doctor Alec Harvey. Their casual friendship soon develops during their weekly visits into something more emotionally fulfilling than either expected, and they must wrestle with the potential havoc their deepening relationship would have on their lives and the lives of those they love.

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Summer with Monika poster
Summer with Monika
1953 · dir. Ingmar Bergman
🍅 100%7.5drama · romance

Contemplative romance in both cases

One summer day, two teens begin a reckless affair and abandon their families to be with one another.

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Mrs. Miniver poster
Mrs. Miniver
1942 · dir. William Wyler
🍅 93%7.6drama · romance · war

The same preoccupation in both: rose

The difference: Sits closer to war than Beauty and the Beast does

Middle-class housewife Kay Miniver deals with petty problems. She and her husband Clem watch her Oxford-educated son Vin court Carol Beldon, the charming granddaughter of the local nobility as represented by Lady Beldon. Then the war comes and Vin joins the RAF.

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A Short Film About Love poster
A Short Film About Love
1988 · dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
🍅 95%8.1drama · romance

Fantasy built on hope, twice over

The difference: Made in the 1980s, in a different era of the craft

19-year-old Tomek whiles away his lonely life by spying on his opposite neighbour Magda through binoculars. She's an artist in her mid-thirties, and appears to have everything - not least a constant stream of men at her beck and call. But when the two finally meet, they discover that they have a lot more in common than appeared at first sight...

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The Ghost and Mrs. Muir poster
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
1947 · dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz
🍅 100%7.8romance · fantasy · drama

Dreamlike drama, and it commits to that

In 1900, young widow Lucy Muir learns that her seaside cottage is haunted and forms a unique relationship with the ghost.

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The Best Years of Our Lives poster
The Best Years of Our Lives
1946 · dir. William Wyler
🍅 97%8.1drama · romance · war

One thread runs through both: romantic

It's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare.

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A Matter of Life and Death poster
A Matter of Life and Death
1946 · dir. Michael Powell
🍅 97%8romance · fantasy · drama

Fantasy with a pulse of dream logic, in both cases

A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court, hoping to prolong his fledgling romance with an American girl.

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Mohabbatein poster
Mohabbatein
2000 · dir. Aditya Chopra
7.1drama · romance

Romantic romance, and it commits to that

At a prestigious all-male university, three friends seek love outside of the school grounds; at the same time, a newly-hired music teacher seeks to befriend and loosen up the militantly strict headmaster.

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The best-reviewed films that share Beauty and the Beast’s defining feeling.