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Movies like The Dreamers (2003)

The best movies like The Dreamers (2003) are The Captive (2000), The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) and Wild Reeds (1994). If The Dreamers hooked you with its drama and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. The Captive (2000)

    Ariane lives with Simon in his large Paris flat. Simon is obsessed with her: he wants to know everything about her, secretly follows her when she goes out, asks questions all the time, even in the most intimate moments. Ariane seems to take it all in stride, but Simon realises that she's hiding something.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

  2. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)

    Successful surgeon Tomas leaves Prague for an operation, meets a young photographer named Tereza, and brings her back with him. Tereza is surprised to learn that Tomas is already having an affair with the bohemian Sabina, but when the Soviet invasion occurs, all three flee to Switzerland. Sabina begins an affair, Tom continues womanizing, and Tereza, disgusted, returns to Czechoslovakia. Realizing his mistake, Tomas decides to chase after her.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  3. Wild Reeds (1994)

    As the Algerian War draws to a close, a teenager with a girlfriend starts feeling homosexual urges for two of his classmates: a country boy, and a French-Algerian intellectual.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  4. Eros (2004)

    A three-part anthology about love and sexuality: a menage-a-trois between a couple and a young woman on the coast of Tuscany; an advertising executive under enormous pressure at work, who, during visits to his psychiatrist, is pulled to delve into the possible reasons why his stress seems to manifest itself in a recurring erotic dream; a story of unrequited love about a beautiful, 1960s high-end call girl in an impossible affair with her young tailor.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

  5. Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013)

    Adèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself, finds herself.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  6. Y Tu Mamá También (2001)

    In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  7. A Single Man (2009)

    Set in Los Angeles in 1962, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, is the story of a British college professor who dwells on the past and cannot see his future. We follow him through a single day, where a series of events and encounters ultimately lead him to decide if there is a meaning to life after the death of his long time partner, Jim.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  8. Stealing Beauty (1996)

    Lucy Harmon, an American teenager is arriving in the lush Tuscan countryside to be sculpted by a family friend who lives in a beautiful villa. Lucy visited there four years earlier and exchanged a kiss with an Italian boy with whom she hopes to become reacquainted.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  9. Heartbeats (2010)

    Francis is a young gay man, Marie is a young straight woman and the two of them are best friends -- until the day the gorgeous Nicolas walks into a Montreal coffee shop. The two friends, instantly and equally infatuated, compete for Nicolas' indeterminate affections, a conflict that climaxes when the trio visit the vacation home of Nicolas' mother. The frothy comedy unfolds through narrative, fantasy sequences and confessional monologues.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  10. The Embalmer (2002)

    Peppino, a diminutive taxidermist with a reputation for sleaziness, meets Valerio, a handsome if artless much younger man fascinated by the trade. Peppino offers him a large salary to be his assistant—the job burgeoning into a budding friendship he mistakes for something more. When Valerio gets a girlfriend, their fledgling romance will be threatened by an insanely jealous third wheel.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  11. Sound of the Sea (2001)

    A new literature teacher, Ulises, comes to a small town near the sea and falls in love with a young woman, Martina. This woman is loved by a rich businessman named Alberto but chooses Ulises. Soon after their marriage and the birth of their son, Ulises vanishes while fishing at sea. In the meanwhile Martina marries Alberto, but all is not what it seems...

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  12. Regular Lovers (2005)

    1968 and 1969 in Paris: during and after the student and trade union revolt. François is 20, a poet, dodging military service. He takes to the barricades, but won't throw a Molotov cocktail at the police. He smokes opium and talks about revolution with his friend, Antoine, who has an inheritance and a flat where François can stay. François meets Lilie, a sculptor who works at a foundry to support herself. They fall in love. A year passes; François continues to write, talk, smoke, and be with Lilie. Opportunities come to Lilie: what will she and François do?

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  13. Playing with Love (1977)

    Laura and Fabrizio have been meeting every summer in the forest by her parent's summer home. Fabrizio is a solitary boy with only his dog for company; Laura a sweet but unconfident child. This summer new aspects enter into their story as both are growing up. Laura is falling in love with Fabrizio, while he displays a new sexual awareness of her masked by his malice. Things develop further when they meet Sylvia who, unlike the innocent Laura, is confident and assertive. Fabrizio develops a fascination with her, eventually bribing Laura to fetch her to the forest to join them in play.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama

  14. The Piano Teacher (2001)

    Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  15. Betty Blue (1986)

    A lackadaisical handyman and aspiring novelist tries to support his younger girlfriend as she slowly succumbs to madness.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  16. Sex and Lucía (2001)

    Lucía is a young waitress in Madrid who seeks refuge on a quiet, secluded Mediterranean island after the loss of her longtime boyfriend. Amidst the fresh air, dazzling sun, and glistening deep blue water, Lucía begins to piece together the dark corners of her past relationship.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  17. The Lover (1992)

    A poor French teenage girl engages in an illicit affair with a wealthy Chinese heir in 1920s Saigon. For the first time in her young life she has control, and she wields it deftly over her besotted lover throughout a series of clandestine meetings and torrid encounters.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  18. Love (2015)

    Murphy is an American living in Paris who enters a highly sexually and emotionally charged relationship with the unstable Electra. Unaware of the seismic effect it will have on their relationship, they invite their pretty neighbor into their bed.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  19. Tender Cousins (1980)

    Teenage Julien loves his teenage cousin Julia among flowers in summer of '39 France.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

  20. In the Mood for Love (2000)

    In 1960s Hong Kong, two neighbors form an intimate bond after making a discovery about their spouses in this visually stunning tale of unrequited love.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  21. Hotel Desire (2011)

    Antonia is a single mother who works as a hotel maid in Berlin. A normal hot summer day takes a dramatic turn when she crosses paths with a particular guest of the hotel, famous blind portrait painter Julius Pass.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  22. One Wild Moment (2015)

    Antoine and Laurent, old friends, spend their vacation in Corsica with their respective daughters: seventeen-year-old Louna and eighteen-year-old Marie. One evening at the beach, Louna seduces Laurent. Louna is in love, but for Laurent it was nothing more than a momentary distraction. Without revealing her lover's name, Louna confides in her father, who tries by any means to discover who his daughter's lover is. How long will the secret be able to be kept hidden?

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

  23. A Real Young Girl (1976)

    Reluctantly, a sulky adolescent returns to her parents' house for yet another boring summer vacation, dabbling in desire and the art of desirability, eventually mixing reality with vision, caged fantasies with the fierce female sexuality.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama

  24. Water Lilies (2007)

    Set during a sultry summer in a French suburb, Marie is desperate to join the local pool's synchronized swimming team, but is her interest solely for the sake of sport or for a chance to get close to Floriane, the bad girl of the team? Sciamma, and the two leads, capture the uncertainty of teenage sexuality with a sympathetic eye in this delicate drama of the angst of coming-of-age.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  25. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

    Two girlfriends on a summer holiday in Spain become enamored with the same painter, unaware that his ex-wife, with whom he has a tempestuous relationship, is about to re-enter the picture.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  26. Intimacy (2001)

    Failed musician Jay abandoned his family and now earns a living as head bartender in a trendy London pub. Every Wednesday afternoon, a woman comes to his house for graphic, almost wordless, sex. One day, Jay follows her and learns about her. This eventually disrupts their relationship.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  27. My Summer of Love (2005)

    In the Yorkshire countryside, working-class tomboy Mona meets the exotic, pampered Tamsin. To seal their friendship, Mona introduces Tamsin to her born-again Christian brother and helps her spy on her adulterous father. Bound together by their secrets, the two girls see their friendship deepen and enter into dangerous waters.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  28. Romance (1999)

    Frustrated by the lack of intimacy in her relationship, a young schoolteacher goes through a series of intimidating and often violent sexual partners.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

  29. Beau Pere (1981)

    Rémi is a man trapped in a deteriorating marriage. When his wife is unexpectedly killed in a car accident, Rémi is left with his stepdaughter, Marion, who chooses to stay with him rather than live with her birth father. After the initial shock passes, Rémi is caught off-guard when Marion begins expressing her attraction to him. Initially repulsed, Marion's mature beauty wears him down as he finally caves to her seductions.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  30. 36 Fillette (1988)

    A 14-year-old pursues romance with a man while vacationing with her family in Switzerland.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance

Like The Dreamers and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like The Dreamers?

The closest matches to The Dreamers are The Captive (2000), The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) and Wild Reeds (1994). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after The Dreamers?

People who watched The Dreamers most often go on to The Captive (2000), The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) and Wild Reeds (1994).

What is the highest-rated movie like The Dreamers?

In the Mood for Love (2000), rated 8.1/10 by 3,461 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like The Dreamers?

Love (2015) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like The Dreamers?

Yes: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), Eros (2004) and A Single Man (2009).

How are movies similar to The Dreamers chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Dreamers, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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