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La Jetée poster

Movies that feel likeLa Jetée (1962)

A man confronts his past during an experiment that attempts to find a solution to the problems of a post-apocalyptic world caused by a world war.

If you loved La Jetée, the closest films we have are Ashes and Diamonds (1958), The Cranes Are Flying (1957) and From Here to Eternity (1953). All three share La Jetée's contemplative and romantic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Earrings of Madame de... (1953).

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If La Jetée hit the spot, these will too

Ashes and Diamonds poster
Ashes and Diamonds
1958 · dir. Andrzej Wajda
🍅 96%★ 7.7drama · war · romanceMax

Both are built on the same subject: black and white

The difference: Takes it somewhere less cerebral than La Jetée does

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.

The Cranes Are Flying poster
The Cranes Are Flying
1957 · dir. Mikhail Kalatozov
🍅 96%★ 8.3drama · romance · war

The same preoccupation in both: black and white

The difference: Leans harder into war than La Jetée does

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.

From Here to Eternity poster
From Here to Eternity
1953 · dir. Fred Zinnemann
🍅 88%★ 7.6war · romance · dramaPrime Video

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.

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

Tender where it counts, bleak underneath

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.

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

Drama built on stillness, twice over

The difference: Made in the 1940s, in a different era of the craft

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.

Never Let Me Go poster
Never Let Me Go
2010 · dir. Mark Romanek
🍅 71%★ 7.1drama · romance · science fictionPrime Video

Both lean on ideas more than on romance

As children, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy spend their childhood at an idyllic and secluded English boarding school. As they grow into adults, they must come to terms with the complexity and strength of their love for one another while also preparing for the haunting reality awaiting them.

The English Patient poster
The English Patient
1996 · dir. Anthony Minghella
🍅 86%★ 7.4drama · romance · warParamount+

Romantic science fiction, and it commits to that

In the 1930s, Count Almásy is a Hungarian map maker employed by the Royal Geographical Society to chart the vast expanses of the Sahara Desert along with several other prominent explorers. As World War II unfolds, Almásy enters into a world of love, betrayal, and politics.

Fahrenheit 451 poster
Fahrenheit 451
1966 · dir. François Truffaut
🍅 82%★ 7.2drama · science fiction

Drama with a pulse of ideas, in both cases

In the future, the government maintains control of public opinion by outlawing literature and maintaining a group of enforcers, known as “firemen,” to perform the necessary book burnings. Fireman Montag begins to question the morality of his vocation…

Doctor Zhivago poster
Doctor Zhivago
1965 · dir. David Lean
🍅 82%★ 7.9drama · romance · war

Tender romance in both cases

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.

The Earrings of Madame de... poster
The Earrings of Madame de...
1953 · dir. Max Ophüls
🍅 97%★ 7.8drama · romanceMax

Both lean on stillness more than on science fiction

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.

The Silence poster
The Silence
1963 · dir. Ingmar Bergman
🍅 85%★ 7.7drama · romance

Romantic drama in both cases

Traveling through an unnamed European country on the brink of war, sickly, intellectual Ester, her sister Anna and Anna's young son, Johan, check into a near-empty hotel. A basic inability to communicate among the three seems only to worsen during their stay. Anna provokes her sister by enjoying a dalliance with a local man, while the boy, left to himself, has a series of enigmatic encounters that heighten the growing air of isolation.

Splendor in the Grass poster
Splendor in the Grass
1961 · dir. Elia Kazan
🍅 75%★ 7.7drama · romance

Same instincts, a year apart

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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