Movies like Ilse
The best movies like Ilse are The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979), Charlotte Gray (2001) and Doctor Zhivago (1965). If Ilse hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Ilse
Quick picks
- Highest ratedOrdinary Angels (2024)7.7/10 from 451 votes
- NewestThe Last Sunrise (2026)Released 2026
- In GermanThe Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)Also in German
The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
Maria marries a young soldier in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. She must rely on her beauty and ambition to navigate the difficult post-war years alone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCharlotte Gray (2001)
This is a drama set in Nazi-occupied France at the height of World War II. Charlotte Gray tells the compelling story of a young Scottish woman working with the French Resistance in the hope of rescuing her lover, a missing RAF pilot. Based on the best-selling novel by Sebastian Faulks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDoctor Zhivago (1965)
The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Walk in the Clouds (1995)
World War II vet Paul Sutton falls for a pregnant and unwed woman who persuades him -- during their first encounter -- to pose as her husband so she can face her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Farewell to Arms (1957)
An English nurse and an American soldier on the Italian front during World War I fall in love, but the horrors surrounding them test their romance to the limit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOrdinary Angels (2024)
Inspired by the incredible true story of a hairdresser who single-handedly rallies an entire community to help a widowed father save the life of his critically ill young daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTheir Finest (2017)
During the Blitz of World War II, a female screenwriter works on a film celebrating England's resilience as a way to buoy a weary populace's spirits. Her efforts to dramatise the true story of two sisters who undertook their own maritime mission to rescue wounded soldiers are met with mixed feelings by a dismissive all-male staff.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOur Friend (2019)
After learning that his terminally ill wife has six months to live, a man welcomes the support of his best friend who moves into their home to help out.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Sunrise (2026)
Ry, a college student with a chronic illness, escapes to Mallorca for the summer with her mother, where she unexpectedly falls for a local and begins to embrace living in the moment. But as her condition worsens and long-hidden family secrets come to light, everything she has found before summer's end is threatened.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFreud's Last Session (2023)
On the eve of the Second World War, two of the greatest minds of the twentieth century, C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud converge for their own personal battle over the existence of God. The film interweaves the lives of Freud and Lewis, past, present, and through fantasy, bursting from the confines of Freud’s study on a dynamic journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Zone of Interest (2023)
The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSuite Française (2015)
France, 1940. In the first days of occupation, beautiful Lucile Angellier is trapped in a stifled existence with her controlling mother-in-law as they both await news of her husband: a prisoner of war. Parisian refugees start to pour into their small town, soon followed by a regiment of German soldiers who take up residence in the villagers' own homes. Lucile initially tries to ignore Bruno von Falk, the handsome and refined German officer staying with them. But soon, a powerful love draws them together and leads them into the tragedy of war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Boy in the Woods (2023)
The remarkable true-life survival story of a Jewish boy hiding and being hunted in the forests of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, based on Maxwell Smart's memoir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFort Bliss (2014)
After returning home from an extended tour in Afghanistan, a decorated U.S. Army medic and single mother struggles to rebuild her relationship with her young son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIrena's Vow (2024)
19 year old Irena Gut is promoted to housekeeper in the home of a highly respected Nazi officer in Poland when she finds out that the Jewish ghetto is about to be liquidated. Determined to help twelve Jewish workers, she decides to shelter them in the safest place she can think of – the basement of the German Major's house. Over the next eight months, Irena uses her wit, humour and immense courage to hide her friends as long as possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Tin Drum (1979)
In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe World Will Tremble (2025)
The incredible, untold true story of how a group of prisoners attempt a seemingly impossible escape from the first Nazi death camp in order to provide the first eyewitness account of the Holocaust.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Midnight Clear (1992)
In 1944 France, an American Intelligence Squad locates a German Platoon wishing to surrender rather than die in Germany's final war offensive. The two groups of men, isolated from the war at present, put aside their differences and spend Christmas together before the surrender plan turns bad and both sides are forced to fight the other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Rifleman (2023)
A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVoyage of the Damned (1976)
A luxury liner carries Jewish refugees from Hitler's Germany in a desperate fight for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Ilse?
The closest matches to Ilse are The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979), Charlotte Gray (2001) and Doctor Zhivago (1965). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Ilse?
Start with The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979), the closest match to Ilse.
What is the highest-rated movie like Ilse?
Ordinary Angels (2024), rated 7.7/10 by 451 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Ilse?
The Last Sunrise (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like Ilse?
Yes: The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979) and The Tin Drum (1979).
How are movies similar to Ilse chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Ilse, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.