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The Sound of Music poster

Movies that feel likeThe Sound of Music (1965)

In the years before World War II, a tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey is hired as a governess in the home of a widowed naval captain with seven children and brings a new love of life and music into the home.

If you loved The Sound of Music, the closest films we have are Tender Mercies (1983), Jules and Jim (1962) and Once (2007). All three share The Sound of Music'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 Enchanted April (1991).

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If The Sound of Music hit the spot, these will too

Tender Mercies poster
Tender Mercies
1983 · dir. Bruce Beresford
🍅 83%★ 7.3drama · music · romancePrime Video

Contemplative and stylish in the same breath

The difference: Easier on the warmth than The Sound of Music

Alcoholic former country singer Mac Sledge makes friends with a young widow and her son. The friendship enables him to find inspiration to resume his career.

Jules and Jim poster
Jules and Jim
1962 · dir. François Truffaut
🍅 94%★ 7.6drama · romanceMax

The same mix in both: warmth, then romance

In the carefree days before World War I, introverted Austrian author Jules strikes up a friendship with the exuberant Frenchman Jim and both men fall for the impulsive and beautiful Catherine.

Once poster
Once
2007 · dir. John Carney
🍅 97%★ 7.8drama · music · romance

Drama with a pulse of tenderness, in both cases

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

A vacuum repairman moonlights as a street musician and hopes for his big break. One day a Czech immigrant, who earns a living selling flowers, approaches him with the news that she is also an aspiring singer-songwriter. The pair decide to collaborate, and the songs that they compose reflect the story of their blossoming love.

Woodstock poster
Woodstock
1970 · dir. Michael Wadleigh
🍅 100%★ 8.1documentary · music

Both lean on stillness more than on music

The difference: Sits closer to documentary than The Sound of Music does

An intimate look at the Woodstock Music & Art Festival held in Bethel, NY in 1969, from preparation through cleanup, with historic access to insiders, blistering concert footage, and portraits of the concertgoers; negative and positive aspects are shown, from drug use by performers to naked fans sliding in the mud, from the collapse of the fences by the unexpected hordes to the surreal arrival of National Guard helicopters with food and medical assistance for the impromptu city of 500,000.

Cold War poster
Cold War
2018 · dir. Paweł Pawlikowski
🍅 92%★ 7.5romance · music · dramaPrime Video

Stylish romance in both cases

A man and a woman meet in the ruins of post-war Poland. With vastly different backgrounds and temperaments, they are fatally mismatched and yet drawn to each other.

August Rush poster
August Rush
2007 · dir. Kirsten Sheridan
🍅 36%★ 7.4family · drama · music

Family built on comfort, twice over

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

Evan, a musically gifted orphan, runs away from his orphanage and searches New York City for his birth parents. On his journey, he's taken under the wing of the Wizard, a homeless man who lives in an abandoned theater. After discovering his talent, the Wizard gives Evan the name "August Rush" and devises a plan to profit from his talent. Little does Evan know that his parents, Lyla and Louis, are searching for him too.

The Magnificent Ambersons poster
The Magnificent Ambersons
1942 · dir. Orson Welles
🍅 89%★ 7.6drama · romance

Cozy drama, and it commits to that

The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.

A Beautiful Life poster
A Beautiful Life
2023 · dir. Mehdi Avaz
🍅 33%★ 6.4drama · music · romanceNetflix

Music built on romance, twice over

When a young fisherman with a hidden talent gets discovered by a music producer, he must decide if he's ready to open himself up to stardom — and love.

The Last Song poster
The Last Song
2010 · dir. Julie Anne Robinson
🍅 22%★ 6drama · family · romanceDisney+Paramount+

Warm family in both cases

A drama centered on a rebellious girl who is sent to a Southern beach town for the summer to stay with her father. Through their mutual love of music, the estranged duo learn to reconnect.

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

Common ground: musical

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.

Enchanted April poster
Enchanted April
1991 · dir. Mike Newell
🍅 85%★ 7.3romance · drama

Tender romance, and it commits to that

When married British women Rose Arbuthnot and Lottie Wilkins decide to take a break from their respective spouses, they stay at a castle in Italy for a quiet holiday. Joining the ladies is Caroline Dester, a young socialite, and Mrs. Fisher, an older aristocrat. Liberated from their daily routines, the four women ease into life in rural Italy, and each finds herself transformed by the experience.

Walk the Line poster
Walk the Line
2005 · dir. James Mangold
🍅 83%★ 7.8drama · music · romanceMax

Both keep coming back to the same thing: a true story

A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Sound of Music’s defining feeling.