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Movies like The Promise (2016)

The best movies like The Promise (2016) are The Edge of Love (2008), Carrington (1995) and The Invisible Woman (2013). If The Promise hooked you with its history and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. The 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

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  2. Carrington (1995)

    Painter Dora Carrington develops an intimate but extremely complex bond with writer Lytton Strachey. Though Lytton is a homosexual, he is enchanted by the mysterious Dora and they begin a lifelong friendship that has strangely romantic undertones. Eventually, Lytton and Dora decide to live together, despite the fact that the latter has fallen in love with military man Ralph Partridge, whom she plans to marry.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama

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  3. The 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

  4. Anna Karenina (1935)

    In Imperial Russia, Anna, wife of the officer Karenin, goes to Moscow to visit her brother. On the way, she meets charming cavalry officer Vronsky, to whom she's immediately attracted. But in St. Petersburg’s high society, a relationship like this could destroy a woman’s reputation.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama

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  5. Earthquake Bird (2019)

    Tokyo, Japan, 1989. Lucy Fly, a foreigner who works as a translator, begins a passionate relationship with Teiji, a mysterious man obsessed with photography.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

  6. Fingernails (2023)

    Anna and Ryan have found true love together. It's been proven by a controversial test. There's just one problem: Anna still isn't sure. Then she meets Amir.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama

  7. The Ottoman Lieutenant (2017)

    Lillie, a determined American woman, ventures overseas to join Dr. Jude at a remote medical mission in the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey). However, Lillie soon finds herself at odds with Jude and the mission’s founder, Woodruff, when she falls for the titular military man, Ismail, just as the war is about to erupt.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama

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  8. Third Person (2014)

    An acclaimed novelist struggles to write an analysis of love in one of three stories, each set in a different city, that detail the beginning, middle and end of a relationship.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

  9. The Quiet American (2002)

    Cynical British journalist Fowler falls in love with a young Vietnamese woman but is dismayed when a naïve U.S. official also begins vying for her attention. In retaliation, Fowler informs the communists that the American is selling arms to their enemy.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama

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  10. 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

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  11. The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)

    A young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive photographer.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama

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  12. Ashes in the Snow (2018)

    The coming-of-age tale of 16-year-old Lina Vilkas who is deported to Siberia amid Stalin's reign of terror in the Baltic region during WWII. An aspiring artist, she secretly documents her harrowing journey with her drawings.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

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  13. The Greatest Hits (2024)

    Harriet finds art imitating life when she discovers certain songs can transport her back in time – literally. While she relives the past through romantic memories of her former boyfriend, her time travelling collides with a burgeoning new love interest in the present. As she takes her journey through the hypnotic connection between music and memory, she wonders – even if she could change the past, should she?

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

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  14. Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012)

    Writer Ernest Hemingway begins a romance with fellow scribe Martha Gellhorn.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

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  15. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

    In war-torn colonial America, in the midst of a bloody battle between British, the French and Native American allies, the aristocratic daughter of a British Colonel and her party are captured by a group of Huron warriors. Fortunately, a group of three Mohican trappers comes to their rescue.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  16. Jungle Fever (1991)

    A successful and married black man contemplates having an affair with a white girl from work. He's quite rightly worried that the racial difference would make an already taboo relationship even worse.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

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  17. A Journal for Jordan (2021)

    Based on the true story of First Sergeant Charles Monroe King, a soldier deployed to Iraq begins to keep a journal of love and advice for his infant son. Back at home, senior New York Times editor Dana Canedy revisits the story of her unlikely, life-altering relationship with King and his enduring devotion to her and their child.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

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  18. The Thing Called Love (1993)

    A group of newcomers to the country music business seek love and stardom.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

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  19. Lolita (1997)

    Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged British novelist who is both appalled by and attracted to the vulgarity of American culture. When he comes to stay at the boarding house run by Charlotte Haze, he soon becomes obsessed with Lolita, the woman's teenaged daughter.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  20. Maestro (2023)

    A towering and fearless love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. A love letter to life and art, Maestro at its core is an emotionally epic portrayal of family and love.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance

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  21. Joyeux Noel (2005)

    France, 1914, during World War I. On Christmas Eve, an extraordinary event takes place in the bloody no man's land that the French and the Scots dispute with the Germans…

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  22. Never Been Kissed (1999)

    Josie Geller, a baby-faced junior copywriter at the Chicago Sun-Times, must pose as a student at her former high school to research contemporary teenage culture. With the help of her brother, Rob, Josie infiltrates the inner circle of the most popular clique on campus. But she hits a major snag in her investigation -- not to mention her own failed love life -- when she falls for her dreamy English teacher, Sam Coulson.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama

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  23. Gallipoli (1981)

    Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history & drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  24. Method (2017)

    A seasoned actor and a pop star are cast as leads in a gay romantic play. As the actor teaches the pop star method acting, the line between fiction and reality is blurred and they become drawn to each other.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance

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  25. The 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: Similar story and style · both drama & history

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  26. Angel (2007)

    Edwardian England. A precocious girl from a poor background with aspirations to being a novelist finds herself swept to fame and fortune when her tasteless romances hit the best seller lists. Her life changes in unexpected ways when she encounters an aristocratic brother and sister, both of whom have cultural ambitions, and both of whom fall in love with her.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama

  27. Mermaid's Jade (2019)

    In a power-hungry Chang’an, a vengeful merman returns to the man who once owned him—this time with a blade, not love.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance

  28. Brideshead Revisited (2008)

    Befriended by aristocrat Sebastian Flyte, Oxford student Charles Ryder finds that the power and privilege experienced by the family is seductive. On a visit to the ancestral home, Brideshead, he falls in love with his friend's sister, Julia. However, as his ties to the Flytes deepen, Ryder finds himself at odds with their strong Roman Catholicism.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance

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  29. Anubhoothi (1997)

    Shivan (Suresh Gopi) arrives in a remote village as an agricultural officer. Pappachi (Jagathy) arranges the upstairs of a house for him to stay in. A family of three girls (Khusboo, Vani Viswanath, Kaveri) lives downstairs along with their father (M.R. Gopakumar). The three of them develop romantic feelings towards Shivan.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  30. Fatherland (1994)

    Fictional account of what might have happened if Hitler had won the war. It is now the 1960s and Germany's war crimes have so far been kept a secret. Hitler wants to talk peace with the US president. An American journalist and a German homicide cop stumble into a plot to destroy all evidence of the genocide.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

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Like The Promise and something else?

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

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like The Promise?

The closest matches to The Promise are The Edge of Love (2008), Carrington (1995) and The Invisible Woman (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after The Promise?

Start with The Edge of Love (2008), the closest match to The Promise.

What is the highest-rated movie like The Promise?

The Last of the Mohicans (1992), rated 7.4/10 by 3,598 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like The Promise?

The Greatest Hits (2024) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like The Promise?

Yes: The Edge of Love (2008), Carrington (1995) and The Invisible Woman (2013).

How are movies similar to The Promise chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Promise, 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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