Movies like Sweet Dreams (1981)
The best movies like Sweet Dreams (1981) are A Brighter Tomorrow (2023), Hold Me While I'm Naked (1966) and Diamonds (2024). If Sweet Dreams hooked you with its comedy and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWe All Loved Each Other So Much (1974)8.3/10 from 674 votes
- NewestDiamonds (2024)Released 2024
- In ItalianA Brighter Tomorrow (2023)Also in Italian
A Brighter Tomorrow (2023)
An old film director, unhappy with the movie he's shooting about a Hungarian circus stranded in Rome during the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, faces divorce from his producer wife and other problems.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHold Me While I'm Naked (1966)
Presented as loosely autobiographical, Hold Me While I’m Naked centres on the tribulations of an independent filmmaker, frustrated at every turn as he tries to make a film that pretends to artistic merit.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisDiamonds (2024)
In 1970s Rome, a filmmaker gathers actresses for a new project, which triggers memories of his past working in a Roman costume shop, run by Alberta and Gabriella, navigating personal and professional challenges while creating costumes for a major film.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJacquot (1991)
Jacquot Demy, the son of a garage owner and a hairdresser, is fascinated by cinema and decides to pursue his dream of becoming a filmmaker by any means necessary.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCaro diario (1993)
Nanni Moretti recounts in his diary three slice-of-life stories marked by a dry, ironic gaze: in the first, he rides his Vespa through a deserted, sun-drenched summertime Rome; in the second, he visits a reclusive friend on an island, who ropes him into an impromptu journey between islets in search of quiet; and in the last, he finds himself grappling with an unknown illness.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmarcord (1973)
In an Italian seaside town, young Titta gets into trouble with his friends and watches various local eccentrics as they engage in often absurd behavior. Frequently clashing with his stern father and defended by his doting mother, Titta witnesses the actions of a wide range of characters, from his extended family to Fascist loyalists to sensual women, with certain moments shifting into fantastical scenarios.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIntervista (1987)
Federico Fellini welcomes us into his world of film making with a mockumentary about his life in film, as a Japanese film crew follows him around.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDay for Night (1973)
A committed filmmaker struggles to complete his latest project while coping with a myriad of crises, personal and professional, among the cast and crew.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTommaso (2020)
The story of an American artist living in Rome with his young European wife Nikki and their 3-year-old daughter, Dee Dee.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMurmur of the Heart (1971)
This loosely plotted coming-of-age tale follows the life of 15-year-old Laurent Chevalier as he stumbles his way over the burgeoning swell of adolescence in 1950s France. After having his first sexual experience with a prostitute and dodging the lips of a priest, Chevalier contracts a case of scarlet fever. When the fever leaves him with a heart murmur, Chevalier is placed in a sanatorium, along with his over-attentive and adulterous mother.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWho Are You, Polly Maggoo? (1966)
A model tells a television crew about her dreams of a life with prince charming all while fending off the lecherous advances of a horde of men.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWe All Loved Each Other So Much (1974)
Three partisans bound by a strong friendship return home after the war, but the clash with everyday reality puts a strain on their bond.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Book of Solutions (2023)
Marc, a bipolar and paranoid filmmaker, cannot tolerate seeing his current project picked apart by his producers. The clips he’s been able to sneak a look at lead him to fear the worst. With his editor as an accomplice, he manages to spirit away the rushes to his aunt’s place in the Cévennes, to finish the film as he envisions it. Instead, its completion is constantly postponed, as he creates endless diversions and impasses, which alternate between the comic and the downright disturbing.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTo Each His Own Cinema (2007)
Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBianca (1984)
Michele, a young mathematics professor, moves into a new flat. Lonely, depressed and neurotic, he spends his time obsessively monitoring the couples around him, especially his neighbors, a young pair struggling to make their relationship work. When Bianca, a new teacher at the local high school, enters his life, Michele finds himself falling in love. At the same time, a string of murders rocks the neighborhood, casting suspicion on him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPaprika (1991)
In 1957 Trieste, a few months before the general ban on brothels, inexperienced country girl Mimma becomes Paprika to finance her useless boyfriend as a prostitute. Amid the hustle and bustle of Rome, Paprika drifts from one brothel to another as she learns the ropes and works her way up one client at a time. However, as Paprika embarks on a stormy journey of self-discovery and sexual liberation, the sense that something is missing haunts her. Is Paprika meant to experience a passionate romance and solve the great mystery of true love?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Clowns (1970)
Fellini exposes his great attraction for the clowns and the world of the circus first recalling a childhood experience when the circus arrives nearby his home. Then he joins his crew and travel from Italy to Paris chasing the last greatest European clowns still live in these countries. He also meets Anita Ekberg trying to buy a panther in a circus.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDavid Holzman's Diary (1967)
A young filmmaker decides to make a movie about his day-to-day activities in an attempt to understand himself and get his life back in order. A precursor to reality television and vlogs.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCQ (2001)
A young filmmaker in 1960s Paris juggles directing a cheesy sci-fi debacle, directing his own personal art film, coping with his crumbling relationship with his girlfriend, and a new-found infatuation with the sci-fi film's starlet.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Magnificent Haunting (2012)
An aspiring actor discovers that his spacious new apartment comes complete with eight friendly ghosts.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJane B. by Agnès V. (1988)
The interests, obsessions, and fantasies of two singular artists converge in this inspired collaboration between Agnès Varda and her longtime friend Jane Birkin. Made over the course of a year and motivated by Birkin’s fourtieth birthday—a milestone she admits to have some anxiety over—Jane B. by Agnès V. contrasts the private, reflective Birkin with Birkin the icon.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Soup (1992)
An aspiring young filmmaker gets involved with an eccentric gangster for the financing of his first film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon't Think Twice (2016)
An improv group deals with several crises, including the loss of their lease and one member hitting the big time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReal Women Have Curves (2002)
In East Los Angeles, an 18-year-old struggles between her ambitions of going to college and the desires of her domineering mother for her to get married, have children, and oversee the small, rundown family-owned textile factory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSomewhere in Queens (2023)
Leo and Angela Russo live a simple life in Queens, surrounded by their overbearing Italian-American family. When their son finds success on his high school basketball team, Leo tears the family apart trying to make it happen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Caiman (2006)
Bruno Bonomo was a famous producer of B-movies in the ‘70s. After a long hiatus, Bonomo offers a screenplay to RAI centered on the figure of Italy’s prime minister and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, a subject so controversial that even the public television broadcaster refuses to produce it
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLandline (2017)
A teenager living with her sister and parents in Manhattan during the 1990s discovers that her father is having an affair.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOn Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024)
On an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula stumbles across the body of her uncle. As funeral proceedings begin around them, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVariety Lights (1950)
In Italy, Checco Dal Monte manages a troupe of traveling performers with plenty of heart but minimal talent. At a small town engagement, he encounters the starry-eyed, gorgeous Lily Antonelli, and hires her as a dancer on the show. Vivacious Lily quickly sells out crowds and earns the resentment of Checco's mistress, Melina Amour, but the fledgling performer has far bigger ambitions and soon sets her sights on a higher-profile role.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChloe and Theo (2015)
A young woman, Chloe, living by her wits on the streets of New York City, has a chance meeting with a wise Inuit Eskimo, Theo, who was sent to New York by his elders to provide a message to the people of the world – We either change our destructive was or be destroyed by them. Chloe, who has been searching for something to believe in, becomes inspired by Theo and , with the help of a kind lawyer, Monica, the three of them present Theo’s story to the United Nations in hopes of creating a better future for all of us.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Sweet Dreams?
The closest matches to Sweet Dreams are A Brighter Tomorrow (2023), Hold Me While I'm Naked (1966) and Diamonds (2024). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Sweet Dreams?
People who watched Sweet Dreams most often go on to A Brighter Tomorrow (2023), Hold Me While I'm Naked (1966) and Diamonds (2024).
What is the highest-rated movie like Sweet Dreams?
We All Loved Each Other So Much (1974), rated 8.3/10 by 674 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Sweet Dreams?
Diamonds (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like Sweet Dreams?
Yes: A Brighter Tomorrow (2023), Diamonds (2024) and Caro diario (1993).
How are movies similar to Sweet Dreams chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Sweet Dreams, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.