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The Silence poster

Movies that feel likeThe Silence (1963)

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.

If you loved The Silence, the closest films we have are Summer with Monika (1953), Journey to Italy (1954) and Splendor in the Grass (1961). All three share The Silence'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).

🍅 85% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Ingmar Bergmancontemplativeromantictender
11 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel

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If The Silence hit the spot, these will too

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

Ingmar Bergman directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

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

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

Both are built on the same subject: travel

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.

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

Both land stillness and romance at once

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.

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

Drama built on tenderness, twice over

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.

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

Contemplative 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.

The Earrings of Madame de... poster
The Earrings of Madame de...
1953 · dir. Max Ophüls
🍅 97%★ 7.8drama · romanceMax

Romantic drama in both cases

In late 19th century France, the Countess Louise, wife of a wealthy general, sells the earrings her husband gave her on their wedding day to pay off her secret debts, then claims to have lost them. Her husband quickly learns of the deceit, which is the beginning of many tragic misunderstandings, all involving the earrings, the general, the countess, and her new lover, the Italian Baron Donati.

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

Both lean on tenderness more than on romance

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.

Letter from an Unknown Woman poster
Letter from an Unknown Woman
1948 · dir. Max Ophüls
🍅 100%★ 7.8drama · romance

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

A pianist about to flee from a duel receives a letter from a woman he cannot remember. As she tells the story of her lifelong love for him, he is forced to reinterpret his own past.

Scenes from a Marriage poster
Scenes from a Marriage
1974 · dir. Ingmar Bergman
★ 8.3drama · romanceMax

Both are Ingmar Bergman's work, and they rhyme

Johan and Marianne are married and seem to have it all. Their happiness, however, is a façade for a troubled relationship, which becomes even rockier when Johan admits that he's having an affair. Before long, the spouses separate and move towards finalizing their divorce, but they make attempts at reconciling. Even as they pursue other relationships, Johan and Marianne realize that they have a significant bond, but also many issues that hinder that connection.

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

Romantic romance, and it commits to that

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.

Great Expectations poster
Great Expectations
1946 · dir. David Lean
🍅 100%★ 7.8drama · romanceMax

Both work the same tenderness

In this Dickens adaptation, orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman. Reunited with his childhood patron, Miss Havisham, and his first love, the beautiful but emotionally cold Estella, he discovers that the elderly spinster has gone mad from having been left at the altar as a young woman, and has made her charge into a warped, unfeeling heartbreaker.

Wuthering Heights poster
Wuthering Heights
1939 · dir. William Wyler
🍅 92%★ 7.5drama · romancePrime VideoMax

Common ground: brothers and sisters

The difference: Made in the 1930s, in a different era of the craft

Young orphan Heathcliff is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton, a man of means who befits her stature. Heathcliff vows to win her back.

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