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Cleopatra poster

Movies that feel likeCleopatra (1963)

Determined to hold on to the throne, Cleopatra seduces the Roman emperor Julius Caesar. When Caesar is murdered, she redirects her attentions to his general, Marc Antony, who vows to take power—but Caesar’s successor has other plans.

If you loved Cleopatra, the closest films we have are Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959), The Silence (1963) and Contempt (1963). All three share Cleopatra'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 Black Orpheus (1959).

🍅 61% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Joseph L. Mankiewiczcontemplativeepicromantictender
11 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Criterion Channel · Darkroom

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See it on the Mood Map

If Cleopatra hit the spot, these will too

Hiroshima Mon Amour poster
Hiroshima Mon Amour
1959 · dir. Alain Resnais
🍅 96%★ 7.8drama · history · romance

The same mix in both: stillness, then scale

The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

The deep conversation between a Japanese architect and a French actress forms the basis of this celebrated French film, considered one of the vanguard productions of the French New Wave. Set in Hiroshima after the end of World War II, the couple -- lovers turned friends -- recount, over many hours, previous romances and life experiences. The two intertwine their stories about the past with pondering the devastation wrought by the atomic bomb dropped on the city.

The Silence poster
The Silence
1963 · dir. Ingmar Bergman
🍅 85%★ 7.7drama · romance

Romantic where it counts, tender underneath

The difference: Easier on the scale than Cleopatra

Traveling through an unnamed European country on the brink of war, sickly, intellectual Ester, her sister Anna and Anna's young son, Johan, check into a near-empty hotel. A basic inability to communicate among the three seems only to worsen during their stay. Anna provokes her sister by enjoying a dalliance with a local man, while the boy, left to himself, has a series of enigmatic encounters that heighten the growing air of isolation.

Contempt poster
Contempt
1963 · dir. Jean-Luc Godard
🍅 92%★ 7.4drama · romance

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

Art film producer Jeremy Prokosch, unhappy with the work of his director, hires Fritz Lang (as himself) to direct an adaptation of The Odyssey, but when it seems that the legendary filmmaker is making a picture destined to bomb, he brings in a screenwriter to energise the script. The professional intersects with the personal when a rift develops between the writer and his wife.

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

Both lean on romance more than on romance

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.

Splendor in the Grass poster
Splendor in the Grass
1961 · dir. Elia Kazan
🍅 75%★ 7.7drama · romance

Tender history in both cases

A fragile Kansas girl's unrequited and forbidden love for a handsome young man from the town's most powerful family drives her to heartbreak and madness.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg poster
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
1964 · dir. Jacques Demy
🍅 97%★ 7.8drama · romanceMax

Drama built on stillness, twice over

This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher, a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant.

Black Orpheus poster
Black Orpheus
1959 · dir. Marcel Camus
🍅 88%★ 7.4drama · romanceMax

Romantic romance, and it commits to that

Young lovers Orfeu and Eurydice run through the favelas of Rio during Carnaval, on the lam from a hitman dressed like Death and Orfeu's vengeful fiancée Mira and passing between moments of fantasy and stark reality. This impressionistic retelling of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice introduced bossa nova to the world with its soundtrack by young Brazilian composers Luiz Bonfá and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner poster
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
1967 · dir. Stanley Kramer
🍅 71%★ 7.8drama · romance

History with a pulse of tenderness, in both cases

A couple's attitudes are challenged when their daughter brings home a fiancé who is black.

Journey to Italy poster
Journey to Italy
1954 · dir. Roberto Rossellini
🍅 96%★ 7.2drama · romanceMax

The same drama instincts

Married for eight years with no children, Brits Katherine and Alex Joyce are driving to Italy, their ultimate destination just outside of Naples to sell the villa they have just inherited from his uncle, the villa where they will be staying during their time there. On the drive, they come to the realization that this trip marks the first time that they have truly been alone together, and as such don't really know one another in the true sense.

Only Angels Have Wings poster
Only Angels Have Wings
1939 · dir. Howard Hawks
🍅 100%★ 7.6romance · adventure · drama

Epic romance in both cases

The difference: Leans harder into adventure than Cleopatra does

A traveling performer arrives at a remote South American port town where the head of an air freight service must risk his pilots' lives to earn a major contract.

Bajirao Mastani poster
Bajirao Mastani
2015 · dir. Sanjay Leela Bhansali
🍅 68%★ 7.3history · romance · drama

Epic history in both cases

The difference: Made in the 2010s, in a different era of the craft

Peshwa Bajirao married to Kashibai, falls in love with Mastani, a warrior princess in distress. They struggle to make their love triumph amid opposition from his conservative family.

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

Both play drama straight

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

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