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Fanny and Alexander poster

Movies that feel likeFanny and Alexander (1982)

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.

If you loved Fanny and Alexander, the closest films we have are The Passion of Anna (1969), Autumn Sonata (1978) and Lantana (2001). All three share Fanny and Alexander'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 Meshes of the Afternoon (1943).

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If Fanny and Alexander hit the spot, these will too

The Passion of Anna poster
The Passion of Anna
1969 Β· dir. Ingmar Bergman
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.6drama

Both are Ingmar Bergman's work, and they rhyme

The difference: Takes it somewhere less twisty than Fanny and Alexander does

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

Autumn Sonata poster
Autumn Sonata
1978 Β· dir. Ingmar Bergman
πŸ… 85%β˜… 8.1dramaMax

The same hand behind both of them: Ingmar Bergman

The difference: Trades the dream logic of Fanny and Alexander for an angle of its own

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.

Lantana poster
Lantana
2001 Β· dir. Ray Lawrence
πŸ… 90%β˜… 7.2crime Β· drama Β· mystery

One thread runs through both: grief

The difference: Leans harder into crime than Fanny and Alexander does

Plagued with grief over the murder of her daughter, Valerie Somers suspects that her husband John is cheating on her. When Valerie disappears, Detective Leon Zat attempts to solve the mystery of her absence. A complex web of love, sex and deceit emerges -- drawing in four related couples whose various partners are distrustful and suspicious about each other's involvement.

Winter Light poster
Winter Light
1963 Β· dir. Ingmar Bergman
πŸ… 77%β˜… 8drama

The same mix in both: stillness, then melancholy

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

Meshes of the Afternoon poster
Meshes of the Afternoon
1943 Β· dir. Maya Deren
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.8mystery Β· fantasy

Dreamlike and twisty in the same breath

The difference: Made in the 1940s, in a different era of the craft

A woman returning home falls asleep and has vivid dreams that may or may not be happening in reality. Through repetitive images and complete mismatching of the objective view of time and space, her dark inner desires play out on-screen.

Ugetsu poster
Ugetsu
1953 Β· dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8.1fantasy Β· drama Β· mysteryMax

Both are built on the same subject: ghost

In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.

The Celebration poster
The Celebration
1998 Β· dir. Thomas Vinterberg
πŸ… 91%β˜… 8drama

The same preoccupation in both: child abuse

The family of a wealthy businessman gather to celebrate his 60th birthday. During the course of the party, his eldest son presents a speech that reveals a devastating secret that turns the night into a battle of truth and denial.

The Tenant poster
The Tenant
1976 Β· dir. Roman Polanski
πŸ… 85%β˜… 7.5thriller Β· mystery Β· drama

Drama with a pulse of dream logic, in both cases

A quiet and inconspicuous man rents an apartment in Paris where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia.

Tell No One poster
Tell No One
2006 Β· dir. Guillaume Canet
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.5drama Β· thriller Β· crime

Both keep coming back to the same thing: mortality

A man receives a mysterious email appearing to be from his wife, who was murdered years earlier. As he frantically tries to find out whether she's alive, he finds himself being implicated in her death.

Lilya 4-ever poster
Lilya 4-ever
2002 Β· dir. Lukas Moodysson
πŸ… 84%β˜… 7.8drama Β· crime

Common ground: sweden

In a struggling post-Soviet community, Lilya a teenage girl is abandoned when her mother moves to the United States with her boyfriend. Facing neglect and poverty, she meets Andrei, who offers her a job in Sweden, giving her hope for a better life β€” and a journey that will change everything.

Cool Hand Luke poster
Cool Hand Luke
1967 Β· dir. Stuart Rosenberg
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8drama Β· crime

The same preoccupation in both: mortality

When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.

The Vanishing poster
The Vanishing
1988 Β· dir. George Sluizer
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.6thriller Β· mystery

Both keep coming back to the same thing: grief

Rex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation when they stop at a busy service station. Saskia is abducted in broad daylight and three years pass with no answers or closure surrounding her disappearance. Rex has nearly given up all hope when he suddenly begins receiving letters from her abductor.

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