Movies like The Contessa's Secret (1954)
The best movies like The Contessa's Secret (1954) are Désirée (1954), Mayerling (1968) and Raintree County (1957). If The Contessa's Secret hooked you with its romance and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedObsession (1943)7.5/10 from 278 votes
- NewestNatalia: Entre Pasos y Sueños (2025)Released 2025
- In ItalianVincere (2009)Also in Italian
Désirée (1954)
In Marseilles, France in 1794, Desiree Clary, a young millinery clerk, becomes infatuated with Napoleon Bonaparte, but winds up wedding General Jean-Baptiste Berandotte, an aid to Napoleon who later joins the forces that bring about the Emperor's downfall. Josephine Beauharnais, a worldly courtesan marries Napoleon and becomes Empress of France, but is then cast aside by her spouse when she proves unable to produce an heir to the throne.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMayerling (1968)
Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria clashes with his father, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, over implementing progressive policies for their country. Rudolf soon feels he is a man born at the wrong time in a country that doesn't realize the need for social reform. The Prince of Wales, later to become Britain's King Edward VII, provides comic relief. Rudolf finds refuge from a loveless marriage with Princess Stéphanie by taking a mistress, Baroness Maria Vetsera. Their untimely demise at Mayerling, the imperial family's hunting lodge, is cloaked in mystery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRaintree County (1957)
In 1859, idealist John Wickliff Shawnessey, a resident of Raintree County, Indiana, is distracted from his high school sweetheart Nell Gaither by Susanna Drake, a rich New Orleans girl. This love triangle is further complicated by the American Civil War, and dark family history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOriginal Sin (2001)
A young man is plunged into a life of subterfuge, deceit and mistaken identity in pursuit of a femme fatale whose heart is never quite within his grasp.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Invisible Woman (2013)
In 1857, at the height of his fame and fortune, novelist and social critic Charles Dickens meets and falls in love with teenage stage actress Nelly Ternan. As she becomes the focus of his heart and mind, as well as his muse, painful secrecy is the price both must pay.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
In this story-within-a-story, Anna is an actress starring opposite Mike in a period piece about the forbidden love between their respective characters, Sarah and Charles. Both actors are involved in serious relationships, but the passionate nature of the script leads to an off-camera love affair as well. While attempting to maintain their composure and professionalism, Anna and Mike struggle to come to terms with their infidelity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCome See the Paradise (1990)
In this drama from director Alan Parker, on-the-lam Jack McGurn flees to Los Angeles and takes a job as a projectionist at a movie theater owned by a Japanese-American man. Jack falls for the owner's daughter, Lily, but they are forced to elope to Seattle when her father forbids the relationship. The couple marry and have a daughter, but when World War II breaks out, Jack is powerless to stop his new family's forced internment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWar and Peace (1956)
The love story of young Countess Natasha Rostova and Count Pierre Bezukhov is interwoven with the Great Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon's invading army.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThat Hamilton Woman (1941)
The story of courtesan and dance-hall girl Emma Hamilton, including her relationships with Sir William Hamilton and Admiral Horatio Nelson and her rise and fall, set during the Napoleonic Wars.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Edge of Love (2008)
When the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and his flirtatious wife Caitlin sweep into war-torn London, the last thing they expect is to bump into Dylan's childhood sweetheart Vera. Despite her joy at seeing Dylan after so many years, Vera is swept off her feet by a dashing officer, William Killick, and finds herself torn between the open adoration of her new found beau and the wily charms of the exotic Welshman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lost City (2005)
In Havana, Cuba in the late 1950's, a wealthy family, one of whose sons is a prominent nightclub owner, is caught in the violent transition from the oppressive regime of Batista to the Marxist government of Fidel Castro. Castro's regime ultimately leads the nightclub owner to flee to New York.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLady Jane (1986)
The death of King Henry VIII throws his kingdom into chaos because of succession disputes. His weak son, Edward, is on his deathbed. Anxious to keep England true to the Reformation, a scheming minister John Dudley marries off his son, Guildford to Lady Jane Grey, whom he places on the throne after Edward dies. At first hostile to each other, Guildford and Jane fall in love, but they cannot withstand the course of power which will lead to their ultimate downfall.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVincere (2009)
The story of the descent into madness of Mussolini's secret first wife, Ida Dasler, who was seduced by his passion and vigor but blind to the fascist dictator's many flaws.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pride and the Passion (1957)
During the Napoleonic Wars, when the French have occupied Spain, some Spanish guerrilla soldiers are going to move a big cannon across Spain in order to help the British defeat the French. A British officer is there to accompany the Spanish and along the way, he falls in love with the leader's girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMunich - The Edge of War (2021)
At the tense 1938 Munich Conference, former friends who now work for opposing governments become reluctant spies racing to expose a Nazi secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFuori (2025)
Rome. The 1980s. After the magnum opus The Art of Joy she has been working on for a decade is rejected by the Italian publishing world, writer Goliarda Sapienza commits a desperate theft that costs her her reputation and social position. Incarcerated in Italy’s largest female prison, she finds herself living alongside thieves, junkies, sex workers and revolutionaries. After her release, she continues to meet with these women and over the course of a sweltering summer, a life-changing relationship flowers – a relationship that will reawaken her the desire to live and to write.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDuse (2025)
In the years between WWI and the rise of Fascism, legendary thespian Eleonora Duse shocks everyone by getting back onstage at over 60 years of age. Struggling with the brutality of historical events unfolding and clinging to the possibility of utopia, she makes her art a revolutionary act, even at the cost of sacrificing health and affection—facing her final journey aware she could give up life itself, but not her own true nature.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPanther (1995)
In this sprawling, fictionalized history of the Black Panthers, 1960s Oakland becomes a war zone as the Panthers battle for the right to exist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCaptain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)
When a fisherman leaves to fight with the Greek army during World War II, his fiancée falls in love with the local Italian commander.
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 thisBenedetta (2021)
A 17th-century nun becomes entangled in a forbidden lesbian affair with a novice. But it is Benedetta's shocking religious visions that threaten to shake the Church to its core.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisObsession (1943)
Gino, a drifter, begins an affair with inn-owner Giovanna as they plan to get rid of her older husband.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCreators: The Past (2020)
Where do we come from and where do we go ? The eternal question of humanity which religions have tried to answer over the centuries - lt's the end of the year 2012. The Universe is about to undergo an imposing planetary alignment and a Total Eclipse will soon be upon Planet Earth. Great vibrational changes are imminent and set to disturb us. The eight members of the Galactic Council, led by Lord Ogmha (William Shatner), meet to discuss the effects of the imminent alignment. They are 8 creators (aliens) and each one of them governs a Planet. They are each responsible for the security and well-being of a 'LENS'. Together they balance the conflict and allegiance of the Universe. Treason puts Earth in danger and the LENS, the hard disc (crystal core) containing the recording of the entire history, DNA, memories and nucleus of mankind is hidden somewhere in Italy. Everyone is searching for it. If the Lens is opened and in the wrong hands it could reveal to the human beings the shocking
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
The Big Blue (1988)
Childhood friends Jacques and Enzo share a passion for the danger of free diving. Jacques, following in the footsteps of his father, who died at sea when Jacques was a boy, harbors a remarkable ability to adjust his heart rate and breathing patterns in the water, with his vital signs more closely resembling those of dolphins than men.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Farewell to Arms (1932)
A tale of the World War I love affair, begun in Italy, between American ambulance driver Lt. Frederic Henry and British nurse Catherine Barkley. Eventually separated by Frederic's transfer, tremendous challenges and difficult decisions face each as the war rages on.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOn Distant Shores (1958)
The film portrays the life of the legendary Azerbaijani guerrilla of the Second World War Mehdi Huseynzadeh, who fought the Nazi forces in the present-day Italy and Slovenia, hence the film's name On distant shores referring to the Adriatic Sea.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Natalia: Entre Pasos y Sueños (2025)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Blood Brothers (1974)
In Naples at the end of the 19th century, Nicola Bellizzi dreams of becoming a lawyer. However, when he seeks the reason that people are reluctant to help him in his goals, he discovers that some of his blood relations are high-ranking members of the Mafia. He tries to break away from his family obligations, but falls into a life of crime and violence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
42plus (2007)
When the beautiful, efficient and successful Christine, 42, arrives at their summer beach home with her husband and teenage daughter, a young hitchhiker catches her eye. What follows is the story of a woman who frees herself, tears her life into pieces and puts it back together in a different order.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Contessa's Secret?
The closest matches to The Contessa's Secret are Désirée (1954), Mayerling (1968) and Raintree County (1957). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Contessa's Secret?
Start with Désirée (1954), the closest match to The Contessa's Secret.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Contessa's Secret?
Obsession (1943), rated 7.5/10 by 278 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Contessa's Secret?
Natalia: Entre Pasos y Sueños (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like The Contessa's Secret?
Yes: Vincere (2009), Fuori (2025) and Duse (2025).
How are movies similar to The Contessa's Secret chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Contessa's Secret, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.