Movies like Madame Bovary (1947)
The best movies like Madame Bovary (1947) are Madame Bovary (1949), The Shipping News (2001) and Afterglow (1997). If Madame Bovary hooked you with its drama and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAmerican Beauty (1999)8.0/10 from 13,546 votes
- NewestBlind (2017)Released 2017
- In SpanishJamon Jamon (1992)Also in Spanish
Madame Bovary (1949)
In 19th-century France, doctor's wife Emma Bovary seeks to escape her dull provincial life through various extramarital affairs and extravagant spending, leading to tragic consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shipping News (2001)
An emotionally-beaten man with his young daughter moves to his ancestral home in Newfoundland to reclaim his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAfterglow (1997)
Lucky Mann is a builder equally handy at repairs and seduction. The latest housewife to succumb to his charms is Marianne, unhappily married to corporate exec Jeffrey. When Jeffrey becomes enraptured by Lucky’s wife Phyllis, the four get caught in a love quadrangle that reignites their marriages.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisUnfaithful (2002)
A New York suburban couple's marriage goes dangerously awry when the wife indulges in an adulterous fling.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRevolutionary Road (2008)
A young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s struggle to come to terms with their personal problems while trying to raise their two children. Based on a novel by Richard Yates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStrangers When We Meet (1960)
A suburban architect loves his wife but is bored with his marriage and with his work, so he takes up with the neglected, married beauty who lives down the street.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoodbye Again (1961)
Middle-aged businesswoman Paula Tessier rejects the advances of her client's amusing 25-year-old son, Philip Van der Besh, but reconsiders when her longtime philandering partner begins yet another casual affair with a younger woman. She soon learns that May-December romances with older women are frowned upon in society.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDangerous Liaisons (1988)
In 18th century France, Marquise de Merteuil asks her ex-lover Vicomte de Valmont to seduce the future wife of another ex-lover of hers in return for one last night with her. Yet things don’t go as planned.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnna Karenina (1997)
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 drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisLittle Children (2006)
The lives of two lovelorn spouses from separate marriages, a registered sex offender, and a disgraced ex-police officer intersect as they struggle to resist their vulnerabilities and temptations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShoot the Moon (1982)
After fifteen years of marriage, an affluent couple divorce and take up with new partners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisValmont (1989)
Set in Baroque France, a scheming widow and her lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman. The lover, Valmont, bets that he can seduce her, even though she is an honorable woman. If he wins, he can have his lover to do as he will. However, in the process of seducing the married woman, Valmont falls in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man in Grey (1943)
After marrying a dour and disinterested lord for status, a young woman falls in love with a stage actor while her best friend from boarding school enters an affair with her husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlamingo Road (1949)
A stranded carnival dancer takes on a corrupt political boss when she marries into small-town society.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFaces (1968)
Middle-aged suburban husband Richard abruptly tells his wife, Maria, that he wants a divorce. As Richard takes up with a younger woman, Maria enjoys a night on the town with her friends and meets a younger man. As the couple and those around them confront a seemingly futile search for what they've lost -- love, excitement, passion -- this classic American independent film explores themes of aging and alienation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDream Lover (1994)
Not long after they cross paths at an art gallery, architect Ray Reardon and hypnotically sensual Lena are married with children. But as strange incidents occur, Ray begins to realize he may not really know the woman he married.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRussian Doll (2001)
A private detective agrees to marry his best friend's mistress to keep her from being deported.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Indecent Proposal (1993)
John Gage offers a down-on-his-luck yuppie husband $1 million for the opportunity to spend the night with the man's wife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJamon Jamon (1992)
José Luis has a cushy corporate job at the lingerie factory his mom owns. After he falls in love and proposes to Silvia, a beautiful laborer on the underwear assembly line, his mom enlists Raul, a potential underwear model and would-be bullfighter, to seduce Silvia.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
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 thisMonsoon Wedding (2001)
A stressed father, a bride-to-be with a secret, a smitten event planner, and relatives from around the world create much ado about the preparations for an arranged marriage in India.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Party (1980)
A thirteen-year-old French girl deals with moving to a new city and school in Paris, while at the same time her parents are getting a divorce.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Eve of Ivan Kupalo (1968)
Petro is a modest farmhand living in an impoverished village in some unspecified long-ago era. He wants to marry the lovely Pidorka, but her stern father won't hear of it. The mischievous demon Basavriuk, offers a deal, enticing Petro into crime for the sake of fortune.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
American Beauty (1999)
Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisStromboli (1950)
After the end of WWII, a young Lithuanian woman and a young Italian man from Stromboli impulsively marry, but married life on the island is more demanding than she can accept.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDevil Angel (1995)
Chi Kit worked in a stock company. One day, the stock market crashed and Chi Kit ran into bankruptcy. He called his girlfriend Siu Suen and told her everything. Siu Suen loved Chi Kit so much that she took all her savings and ran away with him to Singapore to hide away from their debts. Unfortunately, Chi Kit met a wealthy woman with an interesting proposal, and it changed everything.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Madame Bovary and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Madame Bovary?
The closest matches to Madame Bovary are Madame Bovary (1949), The Shipping News (2001) and Afterglow (1997). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Madame Bovary?
Start with Madame Bovary (1949), the closest match to Madame Bovary.
What is the highest-rated movie like Madame Bovary?
American Beauty (1999), rated 8.0/10 by 13,546 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Madame Bovary?
Blind (2017) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Madame Bovary?
Yes: Jamon Jamon (1992).
How are movies similar to Madame Bovary chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Madame Bovary, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.