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The Danish Girl poster

Movies that feel likeThe Danish Girl (2015)

When Gerda Wegener asks her husband Einar to fill in as a portrait model, Einar discovers the person she's meant to be and begins living her life as Lili Elbe. Having realized her true self and with Gerda's love and support, Lili embarks on a groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.

If you loved The Danish Girl, the closest films we have are Silent Heart (2014), Jackie (2016) and Nomadland (2021). All three share The Danish Girl's contemplative and melancholy feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is City of Men (2007).

🍅 66% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.1 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Tom Hoopercontemplativemelancholy
8 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Paramount Plus Premium

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See it on the Mood Map

If The Danish Girl hit the spot, these will too

Silent Heart poster
Silent Heart
2014 · dir. Bille August
★ 7.1drama

Contemplative where it counts, melancholy underneath

Three generations of a family gather over a weekend. The sisters Sanne and Heidi have accepted their terminally-ill mother’s desire to die before her disease worsens; but, as the weekend progresses, their mother's decision becomes harder and harder to deal with, and old conflicts come to the surface.

Jackie poster
Jackie
2016 · dir. Pablo Larraín
🍅 87%★ 6.6drama

Contemplative drama in both cases

An account of the days of First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, in the immediate aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963.

Nomadland poster
Nomadland
2021 · dir. Chloé Zhao
🍅 93%★ 7.3dramaRent or buy

Both lean on melancholy more than on drama

The difference: Reviewed even better

A woman in her sixties embarks on a journey through the western United States after losing everything in the Great Recession, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.

Manchester by the Sea poster
Manchester by the Sea
2016 · dir. Kenneth Lonergan
🍅 96%★ 7.8dramaPrime Video

Drama built on stillness, twice over

After his older brother passes away, Lee Chandler is forced to return home to care for his 16-year-old nephew. There he is compelled to deal with a tragic past that separated him from his family and the community where he was born and raised.

Drive My Car poster
Drive My Car
2021 · dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
🍅 97%★ 7.5dramaRent or buy

The shared currency is melancholy

Yusuke Kafuku, a stage actor and director, still unable, after two years, to cope with the loss of his beloved wife, accepts to direct Uncle Vanya at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There he meets Misaki, an introverted young woman, appointed to drive his car. In between rides, secrets from the past and heartfelt confessions will be unveiled.

The King's Speech poster
The King's Speech
2010 · dir. Tom Hooper
🍅 94%★ 8drama · historyParamount+

Tom Hooper working the same nerve twice

The difference: Sits closer to history than The Danish Girl does

The King's Speech tells the story of the man who became King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, George ('Bertie') reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a dreaded stutter and considered unfit to be king, Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue. Through a set of unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and boldly lead the country into war.

City of Men poster
City of Men
2007 · dir. Paulo Morelli
🍅 74%★ 7.2dramaParamount+

Both are drama through and through

Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.

The Whale poster
The Whale
2022 · dir. Darren Aronofsky
🍅 64%★ 7.6dramaRent or buy

Both know what they want from drama

A reclusive English teacher suffering from severe obesity attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter for one last chance at redemption.

Babel poster
Babel
2006 · dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu
🍅 68%★ 7.4dramaParamount+

Drama approached the same way

Tragedy strikes a married couple vacationing in the Moroccan desert, which jumpstarts an interlocking story involving four different families.

Nobody Knows poster
Nobody Knows
2004 · dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
🍅 92%★ 8drama

Drama in the same key

In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.

Three Colors: Blue poster
Three Colors: Blue
1993 · dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
🍅 98%★ 7.8dramaMax

Both working the same drama territory

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

The wife of a famous composer survives a car accident that kills her husband and daughter. Now alone, she shakes off her old identity and explores her newfound freedom but finds that she is unbreakably bound to other humans, including her husband’s mistress, whose existence she never suspected.

Magnolia poster
Magnolia
1999 · dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
🍅 82%★ 8dramaMax

The drama is handled with the same confidence

On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex-boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will each become part of a dazzling multiplicity of plots, but one story.

In the mood for more contemplative?

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The best-reviewed films that share The Danish Girl’s defining feeling.