Movies like Empire of Lust (2015)
The best movies like Empire of Lust (2015) are Portrait of a Beauty (2008), Untold Scandal (2003) and Sweet Sex and Love (2003). If Empire of Lust 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 ratedGabriel's Inferno: Part II (2020)8.3/10 from 1,569 votes
- NewestThe Old Woman with the Knife (2025)Released 2025
- In KoreanPortrait of a Beauty (2008)Also in Korean
Portrait of a Beauty (2008)
Yun-jeong, a skilled painter, disguises herself as a man in court to continue her family's legacy. Circumstances become difficult when her relationship with Kang-mu draws jealousy from the others.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUntold Scandal (2003)
In late 1700s Korea, Lady Cho challenges the playboy Lord Jo-won into seducing and sleeping with her husband's coming young, virgin concubine. Lady Cho agrees to sleep with him if he succeeds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSweet Sex and Love (2003)
Shin-ah, a free spirit, has an unexpected encounter with Dong-gi, who seeks excitement. After a passionate night, she breaks up with her boyfriend and reunites with Dong-gi when he calls. The two fall madly in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisEungyo (2012)
A reclusive elderly poet feels the fire of his youth when gamine schoolgirl Eun-gyo enters his life, to the chagrin of the old man's assistant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Duke of Burgundy (2015)
Day in and day out, lovers Cynthia and Evelyn enact an elaborate sadomasochistic fantasy as mistress and maid. But as their ritual of domination and submission begins to turn stale, Cynthia yearns for something more conventional, while Evelyn tries to push their taboos even further.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pillow Book (1995)
Nagiko has a fetish for calligraphy on the human body and meets her ideal soulmate Jerome, an English translator sent to Japan. However, once Nagiko's father's gay publisher rejoins the scene, the story is overtaken by treachery and bloodlust.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sword with No Name (2009)
Mu Myeong is a Joseon dynasty headhunter who meets and falls in love with lady Ja Yeong who will become the future Empress Myseongseong. A few years later, Ja Yeong enters the royal palace to marry King Gojong. Mu Myeong still having feelings for Ja Yeong and in an attempt to get closer to her becomes her personal body guard.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Handmaiden (2016)
1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sook-hee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisX (2011)
A veteran call girl and a runaway prostitute witness a murder which sends them on an out-of-control roller coaster ride through the twilight zone of sex-for-sale.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisGabriel's Inferno: Part II (2020)
Professor Gabriel Emerson finally learns the truth about Julia Mitchell's identity, but his realization comes a moment too late. Julia is done waiting for the well-respected Dante specialist to remember her and wants nothing more to do with him. Can Gabriel win back her heart before she finds love in another's arms?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisWoman Is the Future of Man (2004)
As the first snow falls in Seoul, two old friends reunite; one is a successful college professor, and the other, a struggling filmmaker recently returned from the United States. After their reminiscences, they finally decide to go in search of the young woman each had romanced years earlier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKundo: Age of the Rampant (2014)
In 1862, amidst the rule of the late Joseon dynasty in Korea, a band of fighters named Kundo rise against the unjust authorities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fugitive Kind (1960)
Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTune in for Love (2019)
During the 1990s, hardworking Mi-soo and optimistic Hyun-woo meet at a bakery and fall in love while exchanging stories on a radio station, but while their paths keep crossing, the timing never seems to work out.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisObsessed (2014)
A secret, passionate affair happens in the summer of 1969 between Colonel Jin Pyeong, trapped in a loveless marriage with Soo Jin, and Jong Ga Heun, the Chinese-Korean wife of Captain Kyung Woo Jin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFifty Shades Freed (2018)
Believing they have left behind shadowy figures from their past, newlyweds Christian and Ana fully embrace an inextricable connection and shared life of luxury. But just as she steps into her role as Mrs. Grey and he relaxes into an unfamiliar stability, new threats could jeopardize their happy ending before it even begins.
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 thisThe Old Woman with the Knife (2025)
Aging assassin Hornclaw has seen it all, but she never expected to mentor a reckless rookie like Bullfight. As their unlikely bond deepens, cracks form in the underworld they navigate together. When Hornclaw discovers someone wants her dead, she's thrust into a deadly game of deception. With enemies closing in and trust in short supply, survival means staying sharp—both blade and mind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
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 thisThe Night Porter (1974)
A concentration camp survivor discovers her former torturer and lover working as a porter at a hotel in postwar Vienna. When the couple attempt to re-create their sadomasochistic relationship, his former SS comrades begin to stalk them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Boyfriend for Christmas (2004)
Holly Grant has learned a long time ago not to rely on Santa Claus leaving Mr. Right in her Christmas stocking. But Holly is in for a surprise when a handsome man arrives on her doorstep with a twinkle in his eye and Yuletide tree in tow.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Raspberry Reich (2004)
Gudrun has modeled her amateur German terrorist group after the 1970s Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof Gang). She attempts to imitate her heroes by kidnapping the son of a wealthy industrialist and hopes to negotiate leftist demands from the father. When Gudrun’s not spouting leftist verses (including during a hilariously brilliant fuck session), she’s trying to convince her all-male gang to abandon their heterosexuality, which she believes is the result of mass delusion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisAirport 1975 (1974)
When an in-flight collision incapacitates the pilots of an airplane bound for Los Angeles, stewardess Nancy Pryor is forced to take over the controls. From the ground, her boyfriend Alan Murdock, a retired test pilot, tries to talk her through piloting and landing the 747 aircraft. Worse yet, the anxious passengers — among which are a noisy nun and a cranky man — are aggravating the already tense atmosphere.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisSubway (1985)
Fred, a raffish safe blower, takes refuge in the Paris Metro after being chased by the henchmen of a shady businessman from whom he has just stolen some documents. While hiding out in the back rooms and conduits of the Metro, Fred encounters a subterranean society of eccentric characters and petty criminals.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrivate Parts (1997)
The life and career of shock-jock superstar Howard Stern is recounted from his humble beginnings to his view from the top. Possessing a desire to be an on-air personality since childhood, Stern meanders through the radio world, always with his supportive wife, Alison, by his side. Landing a gig in Washington, D.C., Stern meets Robin Quivers, who will become his long-time partner in crime. When the two move to New York, they face the wrath of NBC executives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Thought of Ecstasy (2018)
August 2019. Frank recognizes his own story of twenty years ago in a recently published book. He remembers Marie, with whom he had a relationship before she moved to the United States and disappeared from his life. Frank sets out in search of her and finds himself in a USA petrified by a heat wave and lost in suspicion and political paranoia. He heads into the desert in pursuit of Marie.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Protozoa (1993)
Darren Aronofsky’s AFI short opens with angry slacker Dave sitting in a dreary, empty junkyard. Dave stares into space, sips beer, and beats the hell out of a cracked guitar. We quickly realize the emptiness of the dump parallels the emptiness of Dave’s life which consists of smoking weed, staring at television screens and watching school children. Dave’s friend Pete is shortly introduced, along with their friend, Ari, who despite calling her pals losers, doesn’t seem to accomplishing much herself. These three are going nowhere fast. They’re the amoebas of life… protozoa….
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Gang Lawyer (2012)
Yuna (Kizaki Jessica) who works in a bar is the most popular hostess for the guests. One day she is introduced to Kenji, the president of the IT company, from her colleague Aya. After finishing the work, Yuna alone goes to the bar and drinks a cocktail and gets raped while fainting. The next day, she goes to an old lawyer called Toda, but introduces a female lawyer, Ryoko (Kishi Aino), who said she had been threatened to get out of the case because it was hard to see her as a rape job. Yuna who came to Ryoko finds out that she is a senior biker who looked up at high school, and Ryoko also takes off her shoes for her junior ...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
A Woman in Flames (1983)
Eva, an upper-class housewife, frustratedly leaves her arrogant husband and decides to enter the call girl business. She lets Yvonne, a prostitute, teach her the basics and both set out for prey together, until Eva starts an affair with Chris, who turns out to be a call boy, as well. Consequently, she moves into his penthouse, large enough for both to offer their services separately.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Empire of Lust?
The closest matches to Empire of Lust are Portrait of a Beauty (2008), Untold Scandal (2003) and Sweet Sex and Love (2003). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Empire of Lust?
Start with Portrait of a Beauty (2008), the closest match to Empire of Lust.
What is the highest-rated movie like Empire of Lust?
Gabriel's Inferno: Part II (2020), rated 8.3/10 by 1,569 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Empire of Lust?
The Old Woman with the Knife (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like Empire of Lust?
Yes: Portrait of a Beauty (2008), Untold Scandal (2003) and Sweet Sex and Love (2003).
How are movies similar to Empire of Lust chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Empire of Lust, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.