Movies like A Royal Affair (2012)
The best movies like A Royal Affair (2012) are The Invisible Woman (2013), The Scandalous Lady W (2015) and Anna Karenina (1935). If A Royal Affair hooked you with its drama and history, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest rated3-Iron (2004)7.8/10 from 1,319 votes
- Newest“Wuthering Heights” (2026)Released 2026
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
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Scandalous Lady W (2015)
A gripping 18th century drama details the scandalous life of Lady Seymour Worsley, who dared to leave her husband and elope with his best friend, Captain George Bisset. Lady Seymour Worsley escapes her troubled marriage only to find herself at the centre of a very public trial brought by her powerful husband Sir Richard Worsley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnna 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
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 thisEdward II (1991)
England, 14th century. King Edward II falls in love with Piers Gaveston, a young man of humble origins, whom he honors with favors and titles of nobility. The cold and jealous Queen Isabella conspires with the evil Mortimer to get rid of Gaveston, overthrow her husband and take power…
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLady Chatterley's Lover (2022)
After a crippling injury leaves her husband impotent, Lady Chatterly is torn between her love for her husband and her physical desires. With her husband's consent, she seeks out other means of fulfilling her needs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRestoration (1995)
An aspiring young physician, Robert Merivel found himself in the service of King Charles II and saves the life of someone close to the King. Merivel joins the King's court and lives the high life provided to someone of his position. Merivel is ordered to marry his King's mistress in order to divert the queens suspicions. He is given one order by the king and that is not to fall in love. The situation worsens when Merivel finds himself in love with his new wife. Eventually, the King finds out and relieves Merivel of his position and wealth. His fall from grace leaves Merivel where he first started. And through his travels and reunions with an old friend, he rediscovers his love for true medicine and what it really means to be a physician.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 this“Wuthering Heights” (2026)
Tragedy strikes when Heathcliff falls in love with Catherine Earnshaw, a woman from a wealthy family in 18th-century England.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFingernails (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
SnoozefestMovies like thisLove in the Time of Cholera (2007)
In Colombia just after the Great War, an old man falls from a ladder; dying, he professes great love for his wife. After the funeral, a man calls on the widow - she dismisses him angrily. Flash back more than 50 years to the day Florentino Ariza, a telegraph boy, falls in love with Fermina Daza, the daughter of a mule trader.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Honorary Consul (1983)
Set in a small politically unstable Latin American country, the story follows the half English and half Latino Dr. Eduardo Plarr, who left his home to find a better life. Along the way he meets an array of people, including British Consul Charley Fortnum, a representative in Latin America who is trying to keep Revolution from occurring. He is also a remorseful alcoholic. Another person the doctor meets is Clara, whom he immediately falls in love with, but there is a problem: Clara is Charley's wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisMaurice (1987)
After his lover rejects him, Maurice attempts to come to terms with his sexuality within the restrictiveness of Edwardian society.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLilies (1997)
1952: Bishop Bilodeau visits a prison to hear the confession of Simon, a boyhood friend jailed for murder 40 years ago. However, once there, Bilodeau finds himself forced to watch a play put on by Simon and the other inmates depicting the two men's youths. As the play progresses, the tragic truth of Simon's crime comes to light.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 thisHeat and Dust (1983)
Anne is investigating the life of her grand-aunt Olivia, whose destiny has always been shrouded with scandal. As Anne delves into the history of her grand-aunt, she is led to reconsider her own life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThird 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
SnoozefestMovies like thisFirebrand (2024)
Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, is named regent while the tyrant battles abroad. When the king returns, increasingly ill and paranoid, Katherine finds herself fighting for her own survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMadame 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 thisBetrayed Women (2024)
Two married people fall in love and everything else breaks apart. A infidelities story told in a female voice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpartacus (1960)
The rebellious Thracian Spartacus, born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus. After weeks of being trained to kill for the arena, Spartacus turns on his owners and leads the other slaves in rebellion. As the rebels move from town to town, their numbers swell as escaped slaves join their ranks. Under the leadership of Spartacus, they make their way to southern Italy, where they will cross the sea and return to their homes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInu-Oh (2022)
A cursed dancer and a blind musician — both ostracized by society — become business partners and inseparable friends as their larger-than-life concerts propel them to stardom in 14th century Japan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNotes on a Scandal (2006)
A veteran high school teacher befriends a younger art teacher, who is having an affair with one of her 15-year-old students. However, her intentions with this new "friend" also go well beyond platonic friendship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGloomy Sunday (1999)
Budapest in the 1930s. Restaurant owner Laszlo hires pianist András to play in his restaurant. Both men fall in love with the beautiful waitress Ilona who inspires András to his only composition. His song of Gloomy Sunday is, at first, loved and then feared, for its melancholic melody sets off a chain of suicides. The fragile balance of the erotic ménage à trois is sent off kilter when the German Hans falls in love with Ilona as well.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Dreamers (2003)
When Isabelle and Theo invite Matthew to stay with them, what begins as a casual friendship ripens into a sensual voyage of discovery and desire in which nothing is off limits and everything is possible.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like this3-Iron (2004)
A drifter lives in people's houses while they are away and repays them by doing chores for them. His life changes when he meets a beautiful woman who wants to escape her unhappy marriage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSaint Paisios (2026)
The story of Saint Paisios, or else known as Arsenios Eznepidis. After being uprooted from Farasa of Cappadocia as refugees, the family of young Arsenios settles in Konitsa, Epirus where he grows up with his mother and grandmother, who inherit to him their deep faith in Christ as well as their love for all people. Fast forward to many years later, his time in Mounth Athos and his move to Filotheos monastery play a catalytic role in his religious journey. Eventually, he sends a photograph of himself to his mother, bidding her farewell and telling her that from then on the Virgin Mary will be his mother. He no longer signs using the name Arsenios, but Paisios.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
After his wife dies, a blacksmith named Balian is thrust into royalty, political intrigue and bloody holy wars during the Crusades.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Royal Affair?
The closest matches to A Royal Affair are The Invisible Woman (2013), The Scandalous Lady W (2015) and Anna Karenina (1935). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Royal Affair?
Start with The Invisible Woman (2013), the closest match to A Royal Affair.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Royal Affair?
3-Iron (2004), rated 7.8/10 by 1,319 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Royal Affair?
“Wuthering Heights” (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to A Royal Affair chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Royal Affair, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.