Movies like Decalogue I (1989)
The best movies like Decalogue I (1989) are Illumination (1973), Decalogue II (1989) and The Sacrifice (1986). If Decalogue I hooked you with its drama and tv movie, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPersona (1966)8.1/10 from 2,522 votes
- NewestCorpus Christi (2019)Released 2019
- Same seriesDecalogue II (1989)The Decalogue
Illumination (1973)
Film chronicles a decade in the life of a young physics student whose absolute faith in the primacy of rationality and science is shaken by tragedy and affairs of the heart.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDecalogue II (1989)
Dorota Geller, a married woman, faces a dilemma involving her sick husband's prognosis. Her husband's doctor, who believes in God, sweared about it in vain.
Why it matches: Same series: The Decalogue · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Sacrifice (1986)
Alexander, a journalist, philosopher and retired actor, celebrates a birthday with friends and family when it is announced that nuclear war has begun.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDecalogue IV (1989)
A father and daughter, Michał and Anka, have a unique intimacy, which the college-aged Anka is beginning to feel conflicted about. When she finds an unopened letter from her deceased mother, it seems to justify her attraction to Michał, who may not in fact be her father.
Why it matches: Same series: The Decalogue · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDecalogue VIII (1989)
Zofia, a professor of ethics, is visited by Elżbieta, an American researching the fate of Jews who survived World War II. A daytime classroom conversation turns into a night of confrontation, and Zofia is forced to answer for a decision she made decades ago that directly affected the course of Elżbieta’s life.
Why it matches: Same series: The Decalogue · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOrdet (1955)
The three sons of devout Danish farmer Morten have widely disparate religious beliefs. Youngest son Anders shares his father's religion, but eldest son Mikkel has lost his faith, while middle child Johannes has become delusional and proclaims that he is Jesus Christ himself. When Mikkel's wife, Inger goes into a difficult childbirth, everyone's beliefs are put to the test.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisWinter Light (1963)
A Swedish pastor fails a loving woman, a suicidal fisherman and God.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBlind Chance (1987)
Witek runs after a train. Three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of Witek's life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAu Hasard Balthazar (1966)
The story of a donkey Balthazar as he is passed from owner to owner, some kind and some cruel but all with motivations beyond his understanding. Balthazar, whose life parallels that of his first keeper, Marie, is truly a beast of burden, suffering the sins of humankind. But despite his powerlessness, he accepts his fate nobly.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDecalogue VII (1989)
As a high school student, Majka bore a child, Ania, whom Majka’s mother, Ewa, has been raising as her own. Now that Majka is ready for motherhood, Ewa refuses to let go, leading Majka to kidnap her own daughter, with unexpected emotional consequences.
Why it matches: Same series: The Decalogue · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThree Colors: Blue (1993)
The wife of a famous composer survives a car accident that kills her husband and daughter. Now alone, she shakes off her old identity and explores her newfound freedom but finds that she is unbreakably bound to other humans, including her husband’s mistress, whose existence she never suspected.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDiary of a Country Priest (1951)
An inexperienced, sickly priest shows up in the rural French community of Ambricourt, where he joins the community's clergy. But the locals don't take kindly to the priest, and his ascetic ways and unsociable demeanor make him an outcast. During Bible studies at the nearby girls school, he is continually mocked by his students. Then his attempt to intervene in a family feud backfires into a scandal. His failures, compounded with his declining health, begin to erode his faith.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMirror (1975)
A dying man in his forties recalls his childhood, his mother, the war and personal moments that tell of and juxtapose pivotal moments in Soviet history with daily life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPersona (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.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMoses and Aaron (1975)
A familiar Biblical tale transformed into a cinematic opera of seemingly endless possibility. In expressive, melodic tones, the fraternal pair debate God’s true message and intent for His creations, a conflict that leads their followers towards chaos and sin. Set almost entirely within a Roman amphitheater whose history lends every precise line-reading and gesture, every startling camera move and cut, a totalizing force.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
The Annunciation (1984)
Adam and Eve, after Eden, are granted dreams of the world to come by a deceptively sweet but ultimately contemptuous Lucifer. Adam confronts an endless procession of the horror of the human story... rapists and concubines, betrayal and savagery, mindless cruelty and fanaticism.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
The Man Who Sleeps (1974)
A young student decides to have no more interaction with the world than is needed to minimally sustain life. His increasingly automaton-like behavior is coupled with a strange clarity of insight about the world around him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Double Life of Véronique (1991)
Véronique is a beautiful young French woman who aspires to be a renowned singer; Weronika lives in Poland, has a similar career goal and looks identical to Véronique, though the two are not related. The film follows both women as they contend with the ups and downs of their individual lives, with Véronique embarking on an unusual romance with Alexandre Fabbri, a puppeteer who may be able to help her with her existential issues.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Turin Horse (2011)
A look at the monotonous daily struggle of a father and daughter in a windswept, desolate landscape. Over six days, their routine of eating boiled potatoes and tending a failing horse crumbles, symbolizing a slow descent into darkness, emptiness, and the end of existence.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShort Working Day (1995)
A dramatisation of the workers' protests in June 1976 in Radom, seen from the perspective of the local Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
The Seventh Seal (1957)
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.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIda (2013)
In 1960s Poland, young novitiate Anna is on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a family secret dating back to the years of the German occupation.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCorpus Christi (2019)
A pious 20-year-old juvenile delinquent is sent to work at a sawmill in a small town; on arrival, he dresses up as a priest and accidentally takes over the local parish. The arrival of this young, charismatic preacher is an opportunity for the local community to begin the healing process after a tragedy that happened a year prior.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Short Film About Love (1988)
19-year-old Tomek whiles away his lonely life by spying on his opposite neighbour Magda through binoculars. She's an artist in her mid-thirties, and appears to have everything - not least a constant stream of men at her beck and call. But when the two finally meet, they discover that they have a lot more in common than appeared at first sight...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCamera Buff (1979)
Filip buys an 8mm movie camera when his first child is born. Because it's the first camera in town, he's named official photographer by the local Party boss. His horizons widen when he is sent to regional film festivals with his first works but his focus on movie making also leads to domestic strife and philosophical dilemmas.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFirst Reformed (2018)
A pastor of a small church in upstate New York starts to spiral out of control after a soul-shaking encounter with an unstable environmental activist and his pregnant wife.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNostalgia (1983)
Russian poet Andrei Gorchakov journeys through Italy with his interpreter Eugenia to research the life of an 18th-century Russian composer who once lived abroad. Isolated and consumed by an unrelenting longing for his homeland, Andrei becomes drawn to Domenico, a radical mystic obsessed with spiritual redemption. Through austere imagery and extended temporal rhythms, Tarkovsky examines exile, memory, and the profound melancholy of being unable to belong fully to either place or language.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTakva: A Man's Fear of God (2006)
Humble and introvert Muharrem lives in a solitary and meager existence of a prayer and sexual abstinence adhering strictly to the most severe Islamic doctrines.His extraordinary devotion attracts the attention of the leader of a rich and powerful Istanbul religious group and he offers him an administrative post as a rent collector for their numerous properties. Muharrem's new job throws him into the modern outside world he has successfully avoided for so long. He soon witnesses conflict attitude toward alcohol consumption and goodwill.He notices that he himself has become proud, domineering and even dishonest.To make matters worse, Muharrem's inner peace is unnerved by the tormenting image of seductive woman who tempts him in his dreams,both night and day.With the balance of his devotion now upset,his fear of God begins to eat away at his senses.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMother and Son (1997)
A man goes for a walk through the countryside with his dying mother.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Island (2006)
Somewhere in Northern Russia in a small Russian Orthodox monastery lives an unusual man whose bizarre conduct confuses his fellow monks, while others who visit the island believe that the man has the power to heal, exorcise demons and foretell the future.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Decalogue I?
The closest matches to Decalogue I are Illumination (1973), Decalogue II (1989) and The Sacrifice (1986). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Decalogue I?
People who watched Decalogue I most often go on to Illumination (1973), The Sacrifice (1986) and Ordet (1955).
What is the highest-rated movie like Decalogue I?
Persona (1966), rated 8.1/10 by 2,522 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Decalogue I?
Corpus Christi (2019) is the most recent release on this list.
Is Decalogue I part of a series?
Yes. It belongs to The Decalogue, which includes Decalogue II (1989), Decalogue IV (1989), Decalogue VIII (1989) and Decalogue VII (1989).
How are movies similar to Decalogue I chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Decalogue I, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.