feelsalike.com

Movies that feel like Doctor Zhivago (1965)

If you loved Doctor Zhivago, the closest films we have are Great Expectations (1946), Brief Encounter (1945) and Wings (1927). All three share Doctor Zhivago'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 HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video and Criterion Channel and others, checked against today's data.

The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.

πŸ… 82% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.9 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. David Leancontemplativeromantictenderbleakmelancholy

Not on subscription streaming right now. Rent or buy below.

See it on the map

When is Doctor Zhivago streaming? β†’

If Doctor Zhivago hit the spot, these will too

Great Expectations poster
Great Expectations
1946 Β· dir. David Lean
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.8drama Β· romance

Both are David Lean's work, and they rhyme

The difference: None of the bleakness Doctor Zhivago is built on

In this Dickens adaptation, orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman. Reunited with his childhood patron, Miss Havisham, and his first love, the beautiful but emotionally cold Estella, he discovers that the elderly spinster has gone mad from having been left at the altar as a young woman, and has made her charge into a warped, unfeeling heartbreaker.

Feels alike?
Brief Encounter poster
Brief Encounter
1945 Β· dir. David Lean
πŸ… 95%β˜… 8drama Β· romance

David Lean directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: 20 years apart, and the 1940s show

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.

Feels alike?
Wings poster
Wings
1927 Β· dir. William A. Wellman
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.5drama Β· action Β· war

Common ground in both: love triangle and world war i

The difference: Leans harder into action than Doctor Zhivago does

Two young men, one rich, one middle class, both in love with the same woman, become US Air Corps fighter pilots and, eventually, heroic flying aces during World War I. Devoted best friends, their mutual love of the girl eventually threatens their bond. Meanwhile, a hometown girl who's the lovestruck lifelong next door neighbor of one of them pines away.

Feels alike?
Gone with the Wind poster
Gone with the Wind
1939 Β· dir. Victor Fleming
πŸ… 90%β˜… 8.2drama Β· war Β· romance

Both keep coming back to the same thing: grief

The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.

Feels alike?
From Here to Eternity poster
From Here to Eternity
1953 Β· dir. Fred Zinnemann
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.6war Β· romance Β· drama

Both land stillness and romance at once

In 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his captain's wife and second in command are falling in love.

Feels alike?
Ashes and Diamonds poster
Ashes and Diamonds
1958 Β· dir. Andrzej Wajda
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.7drama Β· war Β· romance

The same mix in both: tenderness, then bleakness

A young academy soldier, Maciek Chelmicki, is ordered to shoot the secretary of the KW PPR. A coincidence causes him to kill someone else. Meeting face to face with his victim, he gets a shock. He faces the necessity of repeating the assassination. He meets Krystyna, a girl working as a barmaid in the restaurant of the "Monopol" hotel. His affection for her makes him even more aware of the senselessness of killing at the end of the war. Loyalty to the oath he took, and thus the obligation to obey the order, tips the scales.

Feels alike?
The Cranes Are Flying poster
The Cranes Are Flying
1957 Β· dir. Mikhail Kalatozov
πŸ… 96%β˜… 8.3drama Β· romance Β· war

Drama built on stillness, twice over

Veronika and Boris come together in Moscow shortly before World War II. Walking along the river, they watch cranes fly overhead, and promise to rendezvous before Boris leaves to fight. Boris misses the meeting and is off to the front lines, while Veronika waits patiently, sending letters faithfully. After her house is bombed, Veronika moves in with Boris' family, into the company of a cousin with his own intentions.

Feels alike?
Contempt poster
Contempt
1963 Β· dir. Jean-Luc Godard
πŸ… 92%β˜… 7.4drama Β· romance

Common ground: love triangle

Art film producer Jeremy Prokosch, unhappy with the work of his director, hires Fritz Lang (as himself) to direct an adaptation of The Odyssey, but when it seems that the legendary filmmaker is making a picture destined to bomb, he brings in a screenwriter to energise the script. The professional intersects with the personal when a rift develops between the writer and his wife.

Feels alike?
Mrs. Miniver poster
Mrs. Miniver
1942 Β· dir. William Wyler
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.6drama Β· romance Β· war

Romantic romance, and it commits to that

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.

Feels alike?
The Best Years of Our Lives poster
The Best Years of Our Lives
1946 Β· dir. William Wyler
πŸ… 97%β˜… 8.1drama Β· romance Β· war

War with a pulse of tenderness, in both cases

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.

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

The same preoccupation in both: forbidden love

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 Bridge on the River Kwai poster
The Bridge on the River Kwai
1957 Β· dir. David Lean
πŸ… 96%β˜… 8.1drama Β· history Β· war

Both lean on bleakness more than on drama

The difference: Sits closer to history than Doctor Zhivago does

The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.

Feels alike?

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share Doctor Zhivago’s defining feeling.