feelsalike.comSign in
Persona poster

Movies that feel likePersona (1966)

A young nurse, Alma, is put in charge of Elisabeth Vogler: an actress who is seemingly healthy in all respects, but will not talk. As they spend time together, Alma speaks to Elisabeth constantly, never receiving any answer.

If you loved Persona, the closest films we have are Wild Strawberries (1957), The Seventh Seal (1957) and Tokyo Story (1953). All three share Persona's contemplative and dreamlike 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).

🍅 91% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Ingmar Bergmancontemplativedreamlike
7 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Criterion Channel

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

See it on the Mood Map

When is Persona streaming? →

If Persona hit the spot, these will too

Wild Strawberries poster
Wild Strawberries
1957 · dir. Ingmar Bergman
🍅 94%★ 8.1dramaMax

Ingmar Bergman directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

Crotchety retired doctor Isak Borg travels from Stockholm to Lund, Sweden, with his unhappy daughter-in-law, Marianne, in order to receive an honorary degree from his alma mater. Along the way, they encounter a series of hitchhikers, each of whom causes the elderly doctor to muse upon the pleasures and failures of his own life. These include the vivacious young Sara, a dead ringer for the doctor's own first love.

The Seventh Seal poster
The Seventh Seal
1957 · dir. Ingmar Bergman
🍅 93%★ 8.1fantasy · dramaMax

Ingmar Bergman working the same nerve twice

The difference: Leans harder into fantasy than Persona does

When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death to a chess match for his life. Tormented by the belief that God does not exist, Block sets off on a journey, meeting up with traveling players Jof and his wife, Mia, and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives.

Tokyo Story poster
Tokyo Story
1953 · dir. Yasujirō Ozu
🍅 100%★ 8.1dramaMax

Common ground: dreams

The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.

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

Both land stillness and dream logic at once

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

After Life poster
After Life
1999 · dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
🍅 88%★ 7.6fantasy · drama

Contemplative drama in both cases

The difference: 33 years apart, and the 1990s show

On a cold Monday morning, a group of counselors clock in at an old-fashioned social services office. Their task is to interview the recently deceased, record their personal details, then, over the course of the week, assist them in choosing a single memory to keep for eternity.

The Master and Margarita poster
The Master and Margarita
2024 · dir. Michael Lockshin
★ 7.1fantasy · drama

Drama with a pulse of dream logic, in both cases

A struggling writer in 1930s Soviet Moscow finds his life transformed when a mysterious professor arrives with his bizarre entourage, including a wisecracking trickster, a deadly assassin, a vampire maid, and a giant talking black cat, turning the city upside down while exposing the hypocrisy of those in power.

Ivan's Childhood poster
Ivan's Childhood
1962 · dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
🍅 100%★ 8drama · war

Both are built on the same subject: black and white

In WW2, twelve year old Soviet orphan Ivan Bondarev works for the Soviet army as a scout behind the German lines and strikes a friendship with three sympathetic Soviet officers.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives poster
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
2010 · dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul
🍅 90%★ 6.7drama · fantasy

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

Suffering from a kidney disease and sure of his death, Uncle Boonmee assembles his relatives in the countryside. He reminisces about his past lives and plans to visit a place before dying.

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

Both run dreamlike where it counts

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.

Finding Neverland poster
Finding Neverland
2004 · dir. Marc Forster
🍅 83%★ 7.6drama · fantasyRent or buy

Both know what they want from drama

During a writing slump, playwright J.M. Barrie meets a widow and her four children, all young boys—who soon become an important part of Barrie’s life and the inspiration that lead him to create his masterpiece. Peter Pan.

The Tree of Life poster
The Tree of Life
2011 · dir. Terrence Malick
🍅 86%★ 6.8drama · fantasy

The drama is handled with the same confidence

The impressionistic story of a Texas family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father. Jack finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.

The Holy Mountain poster
The Holy Mountain
1973 · dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky
🍅 85%★ 7.7drama

Cut from the same drama cloth

The Alchemist assembles together a group of people from all walks of life to represent the planets in the solar system. The occult adept's intention is to put his recruits through strange mystical rites and divest them of their worldly baggage before embarking on a trip to Lotus Island. There they ascend the Holy Mountain to displace the immortal gods who secretly rule the universe.

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies →

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