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Movies that feel like The Red Shoes (1948)

If you loved The Red Shoes, the closest films we have are I Know Where I'm Going! (1945), Great Expectations (1946) and Black Narcissus (1947). All three share The Red Shoes' 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, Criterion Channel and FlixFling and others, checked against today's data.

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

πŸ… 98% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 8.1 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Michael Powellcontemplativeromantictender
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If The Red Shoes hit the spot, these will too

I Know Where I'm Going! poster
I Know Where I'm Going!
1945 Β· dir. Michael Powell
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.4romance Β· drama Β· comedy

The same hand behind both of them: Michael Powell

The difference: Sits closer to comedy than The Red Shoes does

Plucky Englishwoman Joan Webster travels to the remote islands of the Scottish Hebrides in order to marry a wealthy industrialist. Trapped by inclement weather on the Isle of Mull and unable to continue to her destination, Joan finds herself charmed by the straightforward, no-nonsense islanders around her, and becomes increasingly attracted to naval officer Torquil MacNeil, who holds a secret that may change her life forever.

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

London shapes both of them

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.

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Black Narcissus poster
Black Narcissus
1947 Β· dir. Michael Powell
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.7drama

Michael Powell directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: None of the tenderness The Red Shoes is built on

A group of Anglican nuns, led by Sister Clodagh, are sent to a mountain in the Himalayas. The climate in the region is hostile and the nuns are housed in an odd old palace. They work to establish a school and a hospital, but slowly their focus shifts. Sister Ruth falls for a government worker, Mr. Dean, and begins to question her vow of celibacy. As Sister Ruth obsesses over Mr. Dean, Sister Clodagh becomes immersed in her own memories of love.

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A Matter of Life and Death poster
A Matter of Life and Death
1946 Β· dir. Michael Powell
πŸ… 97%β˜… 8romance Β· fantasy Β· drama

Contemplative where it counts, romantic underneath

The difference: Leans harder into fantasy than The Red Shoes does

A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court, hoping to prolong his fledgling romance with an American girl.

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

Romance with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

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

Romantic drama in both cases

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

Romance built on tenderness, twice over

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

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

One summer day, two teens begin a reckless affair and abandon their families to be with one another.

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

Both lean on romance more than on romance

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

Both sit in the same tender register

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

Cut from the same drama cloth

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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In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share The Red Shoes’ defining feeling.