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Movies that feel like Breathless (1960)

If you loved Breathless, the closest films we have are Jules and Jim (1962), Collateral Beauty (2016) and Gun Crazy (1950). All three share Breathless's contemplative and romantic feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 7 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max Amazon Channel, Criterion Channel and HBO Max and others, checked against today's data.

A small-time thief steals a car and impulsively murders a motorcycle policeman. Wanted by the authorities, he attempts to persuade a girl to run away to Italy with him.

πŸ… 95% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.6 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Jean-Luc Godardcontemplativegrittyromantictendermelancholywarm

When is Breathless streaming? β†’

If Breathless hit the spot, these will too

Jules and Jim poster
Jules and Jim
1962 Β· dir. FranΓ§ois Truffaut
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.7drama Β· romance

The same city underneath both: Paris

The difference: Not nearly as gritty as Breathless

In the carefree days before World War I, introverted Austrian author Jules strikes up a friendship with the exuberant Frenchman Jim and both men fall for the impulsive and beautiful Catherine.

Feels alike?
Collateral Beauty poster
Collateral Beauty
2016 Β· dir. David Frankel
πŸ… 14%β˜… 6.8drama Β· romance

Friendship is the engine of both

The difference: Critics were much harder on this one

Retreating from life after a tragedy, a man questions the universe by writing to Love, Time and Death. Receiving unexpected answers, he begins to see how these things interlock and how even loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty.

Feels alike?
Gun Crazy poster
Gun Crazy
1950 Β· dir. Joseph H. Lewis
πŸ… 91%β˜… 7.6crime Β· romance Β· drama

Gun sits at the heart of each

The difference: None of the melancholy that defines Breathless

Bart Tare is an ex-Army man who has a lifelong fixation with guns, he meets a kindred spirit in sharpshooter Annie Starr and goes to work at a carnival. After upsetting the carnival owner who lusts after Starr, they both get fired. Soon, on Starr's behest, they embark on a crime spree for cash.

Feels alike?
The Godfather poster
The Godfather
1972 Β· dir. Francis Ford Coppola
πŸ… 97%β˜… 9.2drama Β· crime

Both built around grief

Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.

Feels alike?
Enchanted April poster
Enchanted April
1991 Β· dir. Mike Newell
πŸ… 85%β˜… 7.3romance Β· drama

Contemplative and romantic in the same breath

The difference: A 1990s film, from a different era of filmmaking

When married British women Rose Arbuthnot and Lottie Wilkins decide to take a break from their respective spouses, they stay at a castle in Italy for a quiet holiday. Joining the ladies is Caroline Dester, a young socialite, and Mrs. Fisher, an older aristocrat. Liberated from their daily routines, the four women ease into life in rural Italy, and each finds herself transformed by the experience.

Feels alike?
365 Days poster
365 Days
2020 Β· dir. Barbara BiaΕ‚owΔ…s
β˜… 3.3romance Β· drama Β· crime

Gritty where it counts, tender underneath

A woman falls victim to a dominant mafia boss, who imprisons her and gives her one year to fall in love with him.

Feels alike?
Closer poster
Closer
2004 Β· dir. Mike Nichols
πŸ… 67%β˜… 7.1drama Β· romance

The same preoccupation in both: grief

The relationships of two couples become complicated and deceitful when the man from one couple meets the woman of the other.

Feels alike?
Splendor in the Grass poster
Splendor in the Grass
1961 Β· dir. Elia Kazan
πŸ… 75%β˜… 7.7drama Β· romance

Both trade on stillness more than on being drama

A fragile Kansas girl's unrequited and forbidden love for a handsome young man from the town's most powerful family drives her to heartbreak and madness.

Feels alike?
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg poster
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
1964 Β· dir. Jacques Demy
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.8drama Β· romance

Romantic romance in both cases

This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher, a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant.

Feels alike?
Marty poster
Marty
1955 Β· dir. Delbert Mann
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.7drama Β· romance

Crime built on tenderness, twice over

Marty, a butcher who lives in the Bronx with his mother, is unmarried at 34. Good-natured but socially awkward, he faces constant badgering from family and friends to get married but has reluctantly resigned himself to bachelorhood. He then meets Clara, an unattractive school teacher. Realising their emotional connection, Marty promises to call, but family and friends try to convince him not to.

Feels alike?
A Man and a Woman poster
A Man and a Woman
1966 Β· dir. Claude Lelouch
πŸ… 75%β˜… 7.5drama Β· romance

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

A man and a woman meet by accident on a Sunday evening at their childrens' boarding school. Slowly, they reveal themselves to each other, finding that they have something deeply in common.

Feels alike?
All That We Never Were poster
All That We Never Were
2026 Β· dir. Jorge Alonso
β˜… 8.1drama Β· romance

Romance with a pulse of melancholy, in both cases

19-year-old Leah navigates a coming-of-age journey in the wake of a tragic car accident that claims her parents. Relocated to a coastal town under the care of her brother’s best friend Axel, Leah grapples with grief, haunting nightmares and a fractured sense of self.

Feels alike?

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share Breathless's defining feeling.