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Les Misérables poster

Movies that feel likeLes Misérables (2012)

An adaptation of the successful stage musical based on Victor Hugo's classic novel set in 19th-century France. Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.

If you loved Les Misérables, the closest films we have are Seven Years in Tibet (1997), Day of Wrath (1943) and Brooklyn (2015). All three share Les Misérables' epic and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Jodhaa Akbar (2008).

🍅 70% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.5 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Tom Hooperepiccontemplativeromantic
7 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Paramount Plus Premium · Criterion Channel

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If Les Misérables hit the spot, these will too

Seven Years in Tibet poster
Seven Years in Tibet
1997 · dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud
🍅 57%★ 7.1adventure · drama · historyNetflix

The same mix in both: scale, then stillness

The difference: Sits closer to adventure than Les Misérables does

Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer journeys to the Himalayas without his family to head an expedition in 1939. But when World War II breaks out, the arrogant Harrer falls into Allied forces' hands as a prisoner of war. He escapes with a fellow detainee and makes his way to Lhasa, Tibet, where he meets the 14-year-old Dalai Lama, whose friendship ultimately transforms his outlook on life.

Day of Wrath poster
Day of Wrath
1943 · dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
🍅 100%★ 8drama · history

History with a pulse of romance, in both cases

The difference: Reviewed even better

In a Danish village in the early 1600s, a young woman named Anne, whose mother was thought to be a witch, develops sympathy toward an old woman, Marte, who is accused of witchcraft. The intervention of Anne's older but kindly husband, Pastor Absalon saved her mother -- but now, urged on by his overbearing mother, he refuses to help Marte. When Absalon's son returns home and is attracted to Anne, it's a matter of time before her family destiny catches up with her.

Brooklyn poster
Brooklyn
2015 · dir. John Crowley
🍅 97%★ 7.5drama · history · romance

The same preoccupation in both: love triangle

In 1950s Ireland and New York, young Eilis Lacey has to choose between two men and two countries.

A Royal Affair poster
A Royal Affair
2012 · dir. Nikolaj Arcel
🍅 90%★ 7.5drama · history · romance

Both are built on the same subject: love triangle

A young queen falls in love with her physician, and they start a revolution that changes their nation forever.

Memoirs of a Geisha poster
Memoirs of a Geisha
2005 · dir. Rob Marshall
🍅 35%★ 7.3drama · romance · history

One thread runs through both: brothel

In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.

Milk poster
Milk
2008 · dir. Gus Van Sant
🍅 93%★ 7.5history · drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: mayor

The difference: Trades the romance of Les Misérables for an angle of its own

The true story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man ever elected to public office. In San Francisco in the late 1970s, Harvey Milk becomes an activist for gay rights and inspires others to join him in his fight for equal rights that should be available to all Americans.

Anna Karenina poster
Anna Karenina
2012 · dir. Joe Wright
🍅 63%★ 6.6drama · romance · historyParamount+

Both lean on scale more than on drama

In Imperial Russia, Anna, wife of the officer Karenin, goes to Moscow to visit her brother. On the way, she meets charming cavalry officer Vronsky, to whom she's immediately attracted. But in St. Petersburg’s high society, a relationship like this could destroy a woman’s reputation.

Jodhaa Akbar poster
Jodhaa Akbar
2008 · dir. Ashutosh Gowariker
🍅 81%★ 7.5romance · history · drama

Contemplative history in both cases

A sixteenth century love story about a marriage of alliance that gave birth to true love between a Mughal emperor and a Rajput princess.

Bajirao Mastani poster
Bajirao Mastani
2015 · dir. Sanjay Leela Bhansali
🍅 68%★ 7.3history · romance · drama

Drama built on romance, twice over

Peshwa Bajirao married to Kashibai, falls in love with Mastani, a warrior princess in distress. They struggle to make their love triumph amid opposition from his conservative family.

Warsaw 44 poster
Warsaw 44
2014 · dir. Jan Komasa
★ 6.6drama · history · war

Epic history, and it commits to that

City of Warsaw, Poland, August 1st, 1944. Citizens have experienced inhuman acts of terror and violence during five long years of Nazi occupation. As the Soviet Army relentlessly approaches, the youngest and bravest among them rise up as one and face tyranny fighting street by street, but the price to pay will be high and hard the way to freedom…

Marie Antoinette poster
Marie Antoinette
2006 · dir. Sofia Coppola
🍅 58%★ 6.5drama · historyNetflixParamount+

Common ground: french revolution

A retelling of the story of France’s iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette - from her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at fifteen to her reign as queen at nineteen and ultimately the fall of Versailles.

Never Look Away poster
Never Look Away
2018 · dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
🍅 77%★ 7.7drama · romance · history

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

German artist Kurt Barnert has escaped East Germany and now lives in West Germany, but is tormented by his childhood under the Nazis and the GDR regime.

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The best-reviewed films that share Les Misérables’ defining feeling.