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Diary of a Country Priest poster

Movies that feel likeDiary of a Country Priest (1951)

An inexperienced, sickly priest shows up in the rural French community of Ambricourt, where he joins the community's clergy. But the locals don't take kindly to the priest, and his ascetic ways and unsociable demeanor make him an outcast. During Bible studies at the nearby girls school, he is continually mocked by his students. Then his attempt to intervene in a family feud backfires into a scandal. His failures, compounded with his declining health, begin to erode his faith.

If you loved Diary of a Country Priest, the closest films we have are The Wind Will Carry Us (1999), Corpus Christi (2019) and Columbus (2017). All three share Diary of a Country Priest's contemplative and cozy feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Vernon, Florida (1981).

πŸ… 95% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.7 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Robert Bressoncontemplativecozy
7 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video Β· Criterion Channel Β· Kino Film Collection

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See it on the Mood Map

If Diary of a Country Priest hit the spot, these will too

The Wind Will Carry Us poster
The Wind Will Carry Us
1999 Β· dir. Abbas Kiarostami
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.4drama

Common ground in both: small town life and rural area

The difference: Made in the 1990s, in a different era of the craft

Irreverent city engineer Behzad comes to a rural Kurdish village in Iran to keep vigil for a dying relative. In the meanwhile the film follows his efforts to fit in with the local community and how he changes his own attitudes as a result.

Corpus Christi poster
Corpus Christi
2019 Β· dir. Jan Komasa
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.7drama

One thread runs through both: small town life

A pious 20-year-old juvenile delinquent is sent to work at a sawmill in a small town; on arrival, he dresses up as a priest and accidentally takes over the local parish. The arrival of this young, charismatic preacher is an opportunity for the local community to begin the healing process after a tragedy that happened a year prior.

Columbus poster
Columbus
2017 Β· dir. Kogonada
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.2drama

Contemplative and cozy in the same breath

When a renowned architecture scholar falls suddenly ill during a speaking tour, his son Jin finds himself stranded in Columbus, Indiana - a small Midwestern city celebrated for its many significant modernist buildings. Jin strikes up a friendship with Casey, a young architecture enthusiast who works at the local library.

Sweet Bean poster
Sweet Bean
2015 Β· dir. Naomi Kawase
πŸ… 84%β˜… 7.4drama

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

The master of a dorayaki pastry store hires a 76-year-old woman whose talents attract customers from all over. But she's hiding a troubling secret. Life's joys are found in the little details, and no matter what may be weighing you down, everyone loves a good pastry.

Kes poster
Kes
1970 Β· dir. Ken Loach
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.9dramaPrime Video

Cozy drama in both cases

Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence.

Rio Bravo poster
Rio Bravo
1959 Β· dir. Howard Hawks
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.9western Β· drama

Drama built on stillness, twice over

The difference: Leans further into western

A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.

The Judge poster
The Judge
2014 Β· dir. David Dobkin
πŸ… 49%β˜… 7.4dramaPrime Video

Both run cozy where it counts

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

A successful lawyer returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral only to discover that his estranged father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder.

The Magnificent Ambersons poster
The Magnificent Ambersons
1942 Β· dir. Orson Welles
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.6drama Β· romance

Cut from the same drama cloth

The difference: Played as romance first

The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.

Housekeeping poster
Housekeeping
1987 Β· dir. Bill Forsyth
πŸ… 92%β˜… 7.2comedy Β· drama

The drama is handled with the same confidence

In the Pacific Northwest during the 1950s, two young sisters whose mother has abandoned them wind up living with their Aunt Sylvie, whose views of the world and its conventions don't quite live up to most people's expectations.

Vernon, Florida poster
Vernon, Florida
1981 Β· dir. Errol Morris
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7documentary

A 1980s answer to the same itch

Early Errol Morris documentary intersplices random chatter he captured on film of the genuinely eccentric residents of Vernon, Florida. A few examples? The preacher giving a sermon on the definition of the word "Therefore," and the obsessive turkey hunter who speaks reverentially of the "gobblers" he likes to track down and kill.

High Noon poster
High Noon
1952 Β· dir. Fred Zinnemann
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.9western

Common ground: black and white

The difference: Less contemplative, more its own thing

Will Kane, the sheriff of a small town in New Mexico, learns a notorious outlaw he put in jail has been freed, and will be arriving on the noon train. Knowing the outlaw and his gang are coming to kill him, Kane is determined to stand his ground, so he attempts to gather a posse from among the local townspeople.

Testament poster
Testament
1983 Β· dir. Lynne Littman
πŸ… 90%β˜… 6.9drama Β· science fiction

Drama in the same key

It's just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in California. As people begin coping with the devastating aftermath of the attacks β€” many suffer radiation poisoning β€” the Wetherly family tries to survive.

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The best-reviewed films that share Diary of a Country Priest’s defining feeling.