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A Matter of Life and Death poster

Movies that feel likeA Matter of Life and Death (1946)

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.

If you loved A Matter of Life and Death, the closest films we have are Belle de Jour (1967), Great Expectations (1946) and Children of Paradise (1945). All three share A Matter of Life and Death's romantic and tender feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Make Way for Tomorrow (1937).

🍅 97% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Emeric Pressburgerromantictenderdreamlikecontemplative
11 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel

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If A Matter of Life and Death hit the spot, these will too

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

Romantic where it counts, tender underneath

The difference: 21 years apart, and the 1960s show

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.

Great Expectations poster
Great Expectations
1946 · dir. David Lean
🍅 100%★ 7.8drama · romanceMax

Both lean on stillness more than on romance

The difference: Lighter on dream logic

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.

Children of Paradise poster
Children of Paradise
1945 · dir. Marcel Carné
🍅 98%★ 8.3drama · 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.

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

Fantasy built on dream logic, twice over

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.

Letter from an Unknown Woman poster
Letter from an Unknown Woman
1948 · dir. Max Ophüls
🍅 100%★ 7.8drama · romance

Tender romance, and it commits to that

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.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir poster
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
1947 · dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz
🍅 100%★ 7.8romance · fantasy · drama

Fantasy with a pulse of dream logic, in both cases

In 1900, young widow Lucy Muir learns that her seaside cottage is haunted and forms a unique relationship with the ghost.

Wings of Desire poster
Wings of Desire
1987 · dir. Wim Wenders
🍅 95%★ 7.9drama · fantasy · romanceMax

One thread runs through both: angel

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.

The Earrings of Madame de... poster
The Earrings of Madame de...
1953 · dir. Max Ophüls
🍅 97%★ 7.8drama · romanceMax

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

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.

Brief Encounter poster
Brief Encounter
1945 · dir. David Lean
🍅 95%★ 8drama · romanceMax

Both lean on romance more than on romance

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.

Summer with Monika poster
Summer with Monika
1953 · dir. Ingmar Bergman
🍅 100%★ 7.5drama · romance

Tender drama, and it commits to that

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

Wuthering Heights poster
Wuthering Heights
1939 · dir. William Wyler
🍅 92%★ 7.5drama · romancePrime VideoMax

Contemplative fantasy in both cases

Young orphan Heathcliff is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton, a man of means who befits her stature. Heathcliff vows to win her back.

Make Way for Tomorrow poster
Make Way for Tomorrow
1937 · dir. Leo McCarey
🍅 100%★ 8.2drama · romance

Romance of the same temperament

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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The best-reviewed films that share A Matter of Life and Death’s defining feeling.