feelsalike.comSign in
Wings of Desire poster

Movies that feel likeWings of Desire (1987)

Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds — with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk — that it might be possible for him to take human form.

If you loved Wings of Desire, the closest films we have are Nostalgia (1983), Belle de Jour (1967) and A Matter of Life and Death (1946). All three share Wings of Desire's contemplative and dreamlike feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Remains of the Day (1993).

🍅 95% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Wim Wenderscontemplativedreamlikeromantictender
11 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Paramount Plus Premium

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

Stream it:HBO Max ↗
See it on the Mood Map

When is Wings of Desire streaming? →

If Wings of Desire hit the spot, these will too

Nostalgia poster
Nostalgia
1983 · dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
🍅 89%★ 7.9drama · romance

Both are built on the same subject: dreams

Russian poet Andrei Gorchakov journeys through Italy with his interpreter Eugenia to research the life of an 18th-century Russian composer who once lived abroad. Isolated and consumed by an unrelenting longing for his homeland, Andrei becomes drawn to Domenico, a radical mystic obsessed with spiritual redemption. Through austere imagery and extended temporal rhythms, Tarkovsky examines exile, memory, and the profound melancholy of being unable to belong fully to either place or language.

Belle de Jour poster
Belle de Jour
1967 · dir. Luis Buñuel
🍅 95%★ 7.6drama · romanceMax

The same preoccupation in both: dreams

The difference: Made in the 1960s, in a different era of the craft

Beautiful young housewife Séverine Serizy cannot reconcile her masochistic fantasies with her everyday life alongside dutiful husband Pierre. When her lovestruck friend Henri mentions a secretive high-class brothel run by Madame Anais, Séverine begins to work there during the day under the name Belle de Jour. But when one of her clients grows possessive, she must try to go back to her normal life.

A Matter of Life and Death poster
A Matter of Life and Death
1946 · dir. Michael Powell
🍅 97%★ 8romance · fantasy · drama

One thread runs through both: angel

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.

Before Midnight poster
Before Midnight
2013 · dir. Richard Linklater
🍅 98%★ 7.9romance · dramaRent or buy

Contemplative and dreamlike in the same breath

It has been nine years since we last met Jesse and Celine, the French-American couple who once met on a train in Vienna. They now live in Paris with twin daughters but have spent a summer in Greece at the invitation of an author colleague of Jesse's. When the vacation is over and Jesse must send his teenage son off to the States, he begins to question his life decisions, and his relationship with Celine is at risk.

The Time Traveler's Wife poster
The Time Traveler's Wife
2009 · dir. Robert Schwentke
🍅 38%★ 7.1drama · romance · fantasyParamount+

The same mix in both: romance, then tenderness

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

Due to a genetic disorder, handsome librarian Henry DeTamble involuntarily zips through time, appearing at various moments in the life of his true love, the beautiful artist Clare Abshire.

The Lake House poster
The Lake House
2006 · dir. Alejandro Agresti
🍅 36%★ 6.8romance · drama · fantasy

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

When architect Alex Wyler moves into an unusual glass house on stilts over a lake, he discovers a note from the previous tenant in the mailbox--but no one's lived in the house for years. He replies and soon discovers that he's corresponding with a doctor named Kate Forster. Their correspondence, only through the 'magical' mailbox, turns romantic and their paths cross in unexpected ways, but when they try to truly connect, danger looms. They must try to unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary romance before it's too late.

Sapphire Blue poster
Sapphire Blue
2014 · dir. Felix Fuchssteiner
★ 6.2fantasy · romance · drama

Dreamlike fantasy, and it commits to that

Gwen has just discovered, that she's the final member of the secret time-traveling Circle of Twelve. Now she has to juggle with constant trips to the past, her relationships with Gideon and figuring out dark secrets surrounding the Circle.

Meet Joe Black poster
Meet Joe Black
1998 · dir. Martin Brest
🍅 48%★ 7.2fantasy · drama · romancePrime Video

Romantic romance in both cases

Bill Parrish has it all - success, wealth and power. Days before his 65th birthday, he receives a visit from a mysterious stranger, Joe Black, who soon reveals himself as Death. In exchange for extra time, Bill agrees to serve as Joe's earthly guide. But will he regret his choice when Joe unexpectedly falls in love with Bill's beautiful daughter Susan?

Beautiful Creatures poster
Beautiful Creatures
2013 · dir. Richard LaGravenese
🍅 47%★ 6.1fantasy · drama · romance

Drama built on tenderness, twice over

Ethan Wate just wants to get to know Lena Duchannes better, but unbeknownst to him, Lena has strange powers. As Lena's 16th birthday approaches she might decide her fate, to be good or evil. A choice which will impact her relationship forever.

The Age of Adaline poster
The Age of Adaline
2015 · dir. Lee Toland Krieger
🍅 54%★ 7.2romance · fantasy · dramaMax

Both keep coming back to the same thing: immortality

After 29-year-old Adaline recovers from a nearly lethal accident, she inexplicably stops growing older. As the years stretch on and on, Adaline keeps her secret to herself until she meets a man who changes her life.

Beastly poster
Beastly
2011 · dir. Daniel Barnz
🍅 20%★ 5.5romance · fantasy · dramaParamount+

Fantasy with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

A modern-day take on the "Beauty and the Beast" tale where a New York teen is transformed into a hideous monster in order to find true love.

The Remains of the Day poster
The Remains of the Day
1993 · dir. James Ivory
🍅 96%★ 7.8drama · romancePrime Video

Romance built on romance, twice over

The difference: Easier on the dream logic than Wings of Desire

In interwar Britain, a rule-bound head butler's world of manners and decorum in the household he maintains is tested by the arrival of a new housekeeper. The possibility of romance and his master's cultivation of ties with the Nazi cause challenge his carefully maintained veneer of servitude.

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies →

The best-reviewed films that share Wings of Desire’s defining feeling.