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Movies that feel like Through a Glass Darkly (1961)

If you loved Through a Glass Darkly, the closest films we have are Cries and Whispers (1972), An Autumn Afternoon (1962) and Ordet (1955). All three share Through a Glass Darkly's contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 9 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Criterion Channel and Fandor and others, checked against today's data.

Karin hopes to recover from her recent stay at a mental hospital by spending the summer at her family's cottage on a tiny island. Her husband, Martin, cares for her but is frustrated by her physical withdrawal. Her younger brother, Minus, is confused by Karin's vulnerability and his own budding sexuality. Their father, David, cannot overcome his haughty remoteness. Beset by visions, Karin descends further into madness.

🍅 100% Rotten Tomatoes7.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Ingmar Bergmancontemplative
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If Through a Glass Darkly hit the spot, these will too

Cries and Whispers poster
Cries and Whispers
1972 · dir. Ingmar Bergman
🍅 92%7.9drama

Both are Ingmar Bergman's work, and they rhyme

As Agnes slowly dies of cancer, her sisters are so immersed in their own psychic pains that they are unable to offer her the support she needs.

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An Autumn Afternoon poster
An Autumn Afternoon
1962 · dir. Yasujirō Ozu
🍅 95%8drama

Drama built on stillness, twice over

Widower Shuhei Hirayama's caretaker is his 24-year-old daughter, Michiko. Gradually, he comes to realize that Michiko should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.

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Ordet poster
Ordet
1955 · dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
🍅 100%8.2drama

Contemplative drama in both cases

The three sons of devout Danish farmer Morten have widely disparate religious beliefs. Youngest son Anders shares his father's religion, but eldest son Mikkel has lost his faith, while middle child Johannes has become delusional and proclaims that he is Jesus Christ himself. When Mikkel's wife, Inger goes into a difficult childbirth, everyone's beliefs are put to the test.

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Sansho the Bailiff poster
Sansho the Bailiff
1954 · dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
🍅 100%8.4drama

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

In 11th-century feudal Japan, following the exile of an idealistic governor, his wife and children are separated by slave traders; the children, Zushio and Anju, are sold into brutal servitude under the cruel bailiff Sansho.

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Cat on a Hot Tin Roof poster
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
1958 · dir. Richard Brooks
🍅 97%7.9drama

Drama of the same temperament

An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.

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The Leopard poster
The Leopard
1963 · dir. Luchino Visconti
🍅 100%7.9drama

Both play drama straight

As Garibaldi's troops begin the unification of Italy in the 1860s, an aristocratic Sicilian family grudgingly adapts to the sweeping social changes undermining their way of life.

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Germany, Year Zero poster
Germany, Year Zero
1948 · dir. Roberto Rossellini
🍅 96%7.8drama

Both are drama through and through

In the ruins of post-WWII Berlin, a twelve-year-old boy is left to his own devices in order to help provide for his family.

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Late Spring poster
Late Spring
1949 · dir. Yasujirō Ozu
🍅 100%8.2drama

The same drama instincts

Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.

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Drunken Angel poster
Drunken Angel
1948 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 94%7.6drama

Drama approached the same way

In postwar Tokyo, a blunt, alcohol-soaked doctor diagnoses a swaggering young yakuza with tuberculosis, forging an uneasy bond that’s tested when the gangster’s ruthless former boss returns and drags him back toward the swampy underworld he can’t escape.

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Hamlet poster
Hamlet
1948 · dir. Laurence Olivier
🍅 96%7.6drama

Both working the same drama territory

Winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, Sir Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet continues to be the most compelling version of Shakespeare’s beloved tragedy. Olivier is at his most inspired—both as director and as the melancholy Dane himself—as he breathes new life into the words of one of the world’s greatest dramatists.

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Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? poster
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1966 · dir. Mike Nichols
🍅 96%8drama

Cut from the same drama cloth

A history professor and his wife entertain a young couple who are new to the university's faculty. As the drinks flow, secrets come to light, and the middle-aged couple unload onto their guests the full force of the bitterness, dysfunction, and animosity that defines their marriage.

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Umberto D. poster
Umberto D.
1952 · dir. Vittorio De Sica
🍅 98%8.1drama

Both know what they want from drama

When elderly pensioner Umberto Domenico Ferrari returns to his boarding house from a protest calling for a hike in old-age pensions, his landlady demands her 15,000-lire rent by the end of the month or he and his small dog will be turned out onto the street. Unable to get the money in time, Umberto fakes illness to get sent to a hospital, giving his beloved dog to the landlady's pregnant and abandoned maid for temporary safekeeping.

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The best-reviewed films that share Through a Glass Darkly’s defining feeling.