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Autumn Sonata poster

Movies that feel likeAutumn Sonata (1978)

After a seven-year absence, Charlotte Andergast travels to Sweden to reunite with her daughter Eva. The pair have a troubled relationship: Charlotte sacrificed the responsibilities of motherhood for a career as a classical pianist. Over an emotional night, the pair reopen the wounds of the past. Charlotte gets another shock when she finds out that her mentally impaired daughter, Helena, is out of the asylum and living with Eva.

If you loved Autumn Sonata, the closest films we have are Winter Light (1963), Places in the Heart (1984) and Nobody Knows (2004). All three share Autumn Sonata's contemplative and melancholy feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Passion of Anna (1969).

🍅 85% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.1 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Ingmar Bergmancontemplativemelancholy
10 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Paramount Plus Essential · Criterion Channel

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If Autumn Sonata hit the spot, these will too

Winter Light poster
Winter Light
1963 · dir. Ingmar Bergman
🍅 77%★ 8drama

Ingmar Bergman working the same nerve twice

A Swedish pastor fails a loving woman, a suicidal fisherman and God.

Places in the Heart poster
Places in the Heart
1984 · dir. Robert Benton
🍅 90%★ 7.4drama

One thread runs through both: grief

In 1935 rural Texas, recently widowed Edna Spaulding struggles to survive with two small children, a farm to run, and very little money in the bank - not to mention a deadly tornado and the unwelcome presence of the Ku Klux Klan. Edna is aided by her beautician sister, Margaret; a blind boarder, Mr. Will; and a would-be thief, Moze, who decides to teach Edna how to plant and harvest cotton.

Nobody Knows poster
Nobody Knows
2004 · dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
🍅 92%★ 8drama

Both are built on the same subject: grief

The difference: Made in the 2000s, in a different era of the craft

In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.

Taste of Cherry poster
Taste of Cherry
1997 · dir. Abbas Kiarostami
🍅 82%★ 7.7dramaMax

Contemplative where it counts, melancholy underneath

A middle-aged Tehranian man, Mr. Badii is intent on killing himself and seeks someone to bury him after his demise. Driving around the city, the seemingly well-to-do Badii meets with numerous people, including a Muslim student, asking them to take on the job, but initially he has little luck. Eventually, Badii finds a man who is up for the task because he needs the money, but his new associate soon tries to talk him out of committing suicide.

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

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

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.

Central Station poster
Central Station
1998 · dir. Walter Salles
🍅 94%★ 8drama

Drama built on melancholy, twice over

An emotional journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.

Three Colors: Blue poster
Three Colors: Blue
1993 · dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
🍅 98%★ 7.8dramaMax

Contemplative drama in both cases

The wife of a famous composer survives a car accident that kills her husband and daughter. Now alone, she shakes off her old identity and explores her newfound freedom but finds that she is unbreakably bound to other humans, including her husband’s mistress, whose existence she never suspected.

City of Men poster
City of Men
2007 · dir. Paulo Morelli
🍅 74%★ 7.2dramaParamount+

Both sit in the same melancholy register

Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.

8½ poster
8½
1963 · dir. Federico Fellini
🍅 97%★ 8dramaMax

Both know what they want from drama

Guido Anselmi, a film director, finds himself creatively barren at the peak of his career. Urged by his doctors to rest, Anselmi heads for a luxurious resort, but a sorry group gathers—his producer, staff, actors, wife, mistress, and relatives—each one begging him to get on with the show. In retreat from their dependency, he fantasizes about past women and dreams of his childhood.

Silent Heart poster
Silent Heart
2014 · dir. Bille August
★ 7.1drama

Both are drama through and through

Three generations of a family gather over a weekend. The sisters Sanne and Heidi have accepted their terminally-ill mother’s desire to die before her disease worsens; but, as the weekend progresses, their mother's decision becomes harder and harder to deal with, and old conflicts come to the surface.

Fanny and Alexander poster
Fanny and Alexander
1982 · dir. Ingmar Bergman
🍅 100%★ 8.1fantasy · drama · mysteryMax

The same hand behind both of them: Ingmar Bergman

The difference: Sits closer to fantasy than Autumn Sonata does

As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie, marries a stern bishop. The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.

The Passion of Anna poster
The Passion of Anna
1969 · dir. Ingmar Bergman
🍅 100%★ 7.6drama

The same drama instincts

A recently divorced man and an emotionally devastated widow begin a love affair.

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The best-reviewed films that share Autumn Sonata’s defining feeling.