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A Short Film About Love poster

Movies that feel likeA Short Film About Love (1988)

19-year-old Tomek whiles away his lonely life by spying on his opposite neighbour Magda through binoculars. She's an artist in her mid-thirties, and appears to have everything - not least a constant stream of men at her beck and call. But when the two finally meet, they discover that they have a lot more in common than appeared at first sight...

If you loved A Short Film About Love, the closest films we have are Mohabbatein (2000), Breaking the Waves (1996) and Beauty and the Beast (1946). All three share A Short Film About Love's contemplative and romantic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is A Man and a Woman (1966).

🍅 95% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.1 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Krzysztof Kieślowskicontemplativeromantictenderhopeful
9 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Criterion Channel

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If A Short Film About Love hit the spot, these will too

Mohabbatein poster
Mohabbatein
2000 · dir. Aditya Chopra
★ 7.1drama · romanceNetflix

Both keep coming back to the same thing: hopeful

At a prestigious all-male university, three friends seek love outside of the school grounds; at the same time, a newly-hired music teacher seeks to befriend and loosen up the militantly strict headmaster.

Breaking the Waves poster
Breaking the Waves
1996 · dir. Lars von Trier
🍅 84%★ 7.8drama · romance

Both land stillness and romance at once

In a small, conservative Scottish village, an oilman is paralyzed in an accident. His wife, who prayed for his return, feels guilty; even more, when he urges her to have sex with another.

Beauty and the Beast poster
Beauty and the Beast
1946 · dir. Jean Cocteau
★ 7.9drama · fantasy · romanceMax

Tender and hopeful in the same breath

The difference: Leans harder into fantasy than A Short Film About Love does

The story of a gentle-hearted beast in love with a simple and beautiful girl. She is drawn to the repellent but strangely fascinating Beast, who tests her fidelity by giving her a key, telling her that if she doesn't return it to him by a specific time, he will die of grief. She is unable to return the key on time, but it is revealed that the Beast is the genuinely handsome one. A simple tale of tragic love that turns into a surreal vision of death, desire, and beauty.

Head-On poster
Head-On
2004 · dir. Fatih Akin
★ 7.9drama · romance

One thread runs through both: love

The difference: Trades the hope of A Short Film About Love for an angle of its own

With the intention to break free from the strict familial restrictions, a suicidal young woman sets up a marriage of convenience with a forty-year-old addict, an act that will lead to an outburst of envious love.

The Woman Next Door poster
The Woman Next Door
1981 · dir. François Truffaut
🍅 85%★ 7.2drama · romance

Drama built on stillness, twice over

Two ex-lovers wind up living next door to each other with their respective spouses. Forbidden passions ensue.

Dil Chahta Hai poster
Dil Chahta Hai
2001 · dir. Farhan Akhtar
🍅 100%★ 8.1drama · romanceNetflix

Romantic romance, and it commits to that

Three inseparable childhood friends are just out of college. Nothing comes between them - until they each fall in love, and their wildly different approaches to relationships creates tension.

A Man and a Woman poster
A Man and a Woman
1966 · dir. Claude Lelouch
🍅 75%★ 7.5drama · romance

The same preoccupation in both: love

The difference: 22 years apart, and the 1960s show

A man and a woman meet by accident on a Sunday evening at their childrens' boarding school. Slowly, they reveal themselves to each other, finding that they have something deeply in common.

Departures poster
Departures
2008 · dir. Yojiro Takita
🍅 80%★ 8drama

Common ground: hopeful

Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul poster
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
1974 · dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
🍅 100%★ 8romance · dramaMax

Drama with a pulse of tenderness, in both cases

Emmi Kurowski, a cleaning lady, is lonely in her old age. Her husband died years ago, and her grown children offer little companionship. One night she goes to a bar frequented by Arab immigrants and strikes up a friendship with middle-aged mechanic Ali. Their relationship soon develops into something more, and Emmi's family and neighbors criticize their spontaneous marriage. Soon Emmi and Ali are forced to confront their own insecurities about their future.

Swades poster
Swades
2004 · dir. Ashutosh Gowariker
🍅 90%★ 8.2dramaNetflix

Both lean on hope more than on romance

A successful Indian scientist returns home to his village to take his nanny back to America with him, and in the process rediscovers his roots.

In America poster
In America
2003 · dir. Jim Sheridan
🍅 90%★ 7.7drama

Contemplative drama in both cases

A family of Irish immigrants adjusts to life on the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen while also grieving the death of a child.

Veer-Zaara poster
Veer-Zaara
2004 · dir. Yash Chopra
🍅 94%★ 7.8drama · romanceNetflix

Both lean on romance more than on romance

Squadron Leader Veer Pratap Singh, a pilot in the Indian Air Force, rescues the stranded Zaara, a woman from Pakistan, following a bus accident, and their lives are forever bound.

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The best-reviewed films that share A Short Film About Love’s defining feeling.