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Movies that feel like Great Expectations (1946)

If you loved Great Expectations, the closest films we have are Brief Encounter (1945), Wuthering Heights (1939) and The Earrings of Madame de... (1953). All three share Great Expectations' contemplative and romantic feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 10 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.

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.

πŸ… 100% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.8 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. David Leancontemplativeromantictender
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If Great Expectations hit the spot, these will too

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

Both are David Lean's work, and they rhyme

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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Wuthering Heights poster
Wuthering Heights
1939 Β· dir. William Wyler
πŸ… 92%β˜… 7.5drama Β· romance

Both are built on the same subject: 19th century

Young orphan Heathcliff is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton, a man of means who befits her stature. Heathcliff vows to win her back.

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The Earrings of Madame de... poster
The Earrings of Madame de...
1953 Β· dir. Max OphΓΌls
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.9drama Β· romance

The same preoccupation in both: 19th century

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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Journey to Italy poster
Journey to Italy
1954 Β· dir. Roberto Rossellini
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.3drama Β· romance

The same mix in both: stillness, then romance

Married for eight years with no children, Brits Katherine and Alex Joyce are driving to Italy, their ultimate destination just outside of Naples to sell the villa they have just inherited from his uncle, the villa where they will be staying during their time there. On the drive, they come to the realization that this trip marks the first time that they have truly been alone together, and as such don't really know one another in the true sense.

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The Red Shoes poster
The Red Shoes
1948 Β· dir. Michael Powell
πŸ… 98%β˜… 8.1drama Β· romance

London shapes both of them

A fledgling ballerina falls in love with a brilliant composer, but the jealous head of the ballet company plots to drive them apart.

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Letter from an Unknown Woman poster
Letter from an Unknown Woman
1948 Β· dir. Max OphΓΌls
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.8drama Β· romance

Both lean on tenderness more than on drama

A pianist about to flee from a duel receives a letter from a woman he cannot remember. As she tells the story of her lifelong love for him, he is forced to reinterpret his own past.

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Children of Paradise poster
Children of Paradise
1945 Β· dir. Marcel CarnΓ©
πŸ… 98%β˜… 8.3drama Β· romance

Contemplative romance, and it commits to that

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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Summer with Monika poster
Summer with Monika
1953 Β· dir. Ingmar Bergman
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.5drama Β· romance

Romantic drama 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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Make Way for Tomorrow poster
Make Way for Tomorrow
1937 Β· dir. Leo McCarey
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8.2drama Β· romance

Romance with a pulse of tenderness, in both cases

An elderly couple are forced to separate themselves from each other after their children refuse to take both into one house.

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

Drama built on stillness, 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.

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Black Orpheus poster
Black Orpheus
1959 Β· dir. Marcel Camus
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.4drama Β· romance

Romantic romance in both cases

Young lovers Orfeu and Eurydice run through the favelas of Rio during Carnaval, on the lam from a hitman dressed like Death and Orfeu's vengeful fiancΓ©e Mira and passing between moments of fantasy and stark reality. This impressionistic retelling of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice introduced bossa nova to the world with its soundtrack by young Brazilian composers Luiz BonfΓ‘ and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

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

Both sit in the same tender register

The difference: Critics were much harder on this one

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.

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In the mood for more contemplative?

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The best-reviewed films that share Great Expectations’ defining feeling.