Movies like Ernesto (1979)
The best movies like Ernesto (1979) are Pure Country 2: The Gift (2010), Center Stage: Turn It Up (2008) and Listen to Your Heart (2010). If Ernesto hooked you with its drama and music, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPurple Hearts (2022)8.0/10 from 2,977 votes
- NewestRuth & Boaz (2025)Released 2025
- In ItalianDon't Move (2004)Also in Italian
Pure Country 2: The Gift (2010)
Three angels bestow the gift of song to a young girl, who must follow a series of rules in order hold on to it during her rise to fame and fortune.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCenter Stage: Turn It Up (2008)
All self-taught dancer Kate Parker has ever wanted to do was perform with the American Academy of Ballet. But when she doesnt make it after auditioning, she learns that it takes more than precision and perfection to succeed in the dance world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisListen to Your Heart (2010)
Struggling New York City singer/songwriter Danny falls in love with Ariana, a wealthy girl from Connecticut who tragically cannot hear the music she inspires him to write. After falling in love against the wishes of her controlling mother Victoria, Ariana becomes torn between hanging onto the shelter that Victoria provides and fighting for a love that, if given the chance, might just change her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBroadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
Johnny Brett and King Shaw are an unsuccessful dance team in New York. A producer discovers Brett as the new partner for Clare Bennett, but Brett, who thinks he is one of the people they lent money to, gives him the name of his partner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStar! (1968)
Gertrude Lawrence rises to stage stardom at the cost of happiness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRuth & Boaz (2025)
A talented singer leaves the Atlanta music scene and starts over in small-town Tennessee, where she finds love and new purpose but can't escape the past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNot Easily Broken (2009)
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon't Move (2004)
While waiting for the brain surgery of his daughter Angela, victim of a motorcycle accident, the surgeon Timoteo recalls his torrid affair with and passion for Italia, a simple woman from slums in the periphery of the big city where he lives. The ghost of the beloved and sexual object of desire Italia chases him in his memories.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGirl with a Suitcase (1961)
Lorenzo, who's 16 and born to a wealthy family in Parma, tries to make things right toward a showgirl, Aida, whom his older brother has mistreated. In extending kindness and standing up for her, he comes of age. But, is there anything he can do that will alter Aida's situation or her prospects?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Policeman (2022)
In the late 1990s, the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFire with Fire (1986)
A tough, street-smart kid serving a sentence in a state youth reformatory meets a beautiful, innocent girl studying at a nearby convent. When forbidden love blossoms between them, they must fight the prison authorities, their parents and the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man from Elysian Fields (2001)
A failed novelist's inability to pay the bills strains relations with his wife and leads him to work at an escort service, where he becomes entwined with a wealthy woman whose husband is a successful writer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisBlind (2017)
A novelist is blinded in a car crash that killed his wife and several years later rediscovers his passion for life and writing when he embarks on an affair with the neglected wife of an indicted businessman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNewness (2017)
In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalome (1953)
In the reign of emperor Tiberius, Gallilean prophet John the Baptist preaches against King Herod and Queen Herodias. The latter wants John dead, but Herod fears to harm him due to a prophecy. Enter beautiful Princess Salome, Herod's long-absent stepdaughter. Herodias sees the king's dawning lust for Salome as her means of bending him to her will. But Salome and her lover Claudius are–contrary to Scripture–nearing conversion to the new religion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisLove in the City (1953)
Six vignettes explore love and desire in Rome, from prostitution and heartache to unwed motherhood and the male gaze.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPurple Hearts (2022)
An aspiring musician agrees to a marriage of convenience with a soon-to-deploy Marine, but a tragedy soon turns their fake relationship all too real.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAutumn Leaves (1956)
A woman falls for a younger man with severe mental problems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Program (1993)
Several players from different backgrounds try to cope with the pressures of playing football at a major university. Each deals with the pressure differently, some turn to drinking, others to drugs, and some to studying.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn Secret (2014)
In 1860s Paris, a young woman, Therese, is trapped in a loveless marriage to the sickly Camille by her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin. She spends her days behind the counter of a small shop and her evenings watching Madame play dominos with an eclectic group. After she meets her husband’s alluring friend, Laurent, she embarks on an illicit affair that leads to tragic consequences. Based on Emile Zola’s novel, Thérèse Raquin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMario (2018)
Mario is a promising young footballer in Switzerland on his way to the top, closing in on the success he and his father always dreamed of. But when the talented striker Leon joins the team, they'll get caught up between the politics of the game and the politics of love, as rumours and prejudice threaten their careers and everything they've managed to build.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister (2010)
A lesbian in the 1800s who keeps a detailed account of her life written in coded diaries attempts to live independently while juggling an affair with a married woman.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAliens in Beirut (2025)
A Lebanese immigrant returns to Beirut for the first time in a decade, only to find love and horror by the sea, in the alleyways, and on the elusive rooftops of the city - right before the 2020 Beirut Port Explosion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Edward II (1991)
England, 14th century. King Edward II falls in love with Piers Gaveston, a young man of humble origins, whom he honors with favors and titles of nobility. The cold and jealous Queen Isabella conspires with the evil Mortimer to get rid of Gaveston, overthrow her husband and take power…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBoyfriends (1996)
Paul, Matt, and Will (in their 30s) have been friends for years. They converge at the seaside for the weekend, each with a boyfriend in tow. Paul is with Ben, his companion of five years: their relationship is on the rocks after months of Paul's moodiness since his brother Mark died. Matt brings Owen, whom he's dated for three months and wants to live with; to everyone else, they seem singularly.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
The Passenger (2012)
While searching for a condo in Berlin for his father, Nick meets Philipp, a young talented photographer and a gorgeous actress named Lilli. There is instant chemistry and both are easily seduced by Nick's charms. Lilli and Philipp begin to explore their relationship with the sexy visitor, succumbing to their passionate affections for him which intensifies their volatile emotional and physical bonds. But what Philipp and Lilli don't realize is that they are being lured into Nick's manipulative..and deadly, love game.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Go Fish (1994)
Max is a trendy, pretty, young lesbian, who is having trouble finding love. A friend sets her up with Ely, whom Max likes, but Ely is frumpy, homely, and older. Nor do they have much in common. Can Max learn to look past the packaging?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Million Little Pieces (2019)
A young drug-addled writer approaching the bottom of his descent submits to two months of agonizing detox at a treatment center in Minnesota.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVictim (1961)
In early 1960s London, barrister Melville Farr is on the path to success. With his practice winning cases and a loving marriage to his wife, Laura, Farr's professional and personal life are nearly idyllic. However, when blackmailers link Farr to a young gay man, everything Farr's worked for is threatened.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBaghdad in My Shadow (2019)
A wide variety of Iraqis in exile meet at Café Abu Nawas in London, including the architect Amal, the poet Taufiq and the gay IT specialist Muhannad. They all want to finally feel free in London - something that was denied them in their homeland. But adversity threatens...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Ernesto and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Ernesto?
The closest matches to Ernesto are Pure Country 2: The Gift (2010), Center Stage: Turn It Up (2008) and Listen to Your Heart (2010). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Ernesto?
Start with Pure Country 2: The Gift (2010), the closest match to Ernesto.
What is the highest-rated movie like Ernesto?
Purple Hearts (2022), rated 8.0/10 by 2,977 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Ernesto?
Ruth & Boaz (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like Ernesto?
Yes: Don't Move (2004), Girl with a Suitcase (1961) and Love in the City (1953).
How are movies similar to Ernesto chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Ernesto, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.