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Movies like The Anarchist's Wife (2008)

The best movies like The Anarchist's Wife (2008) are For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), El Cid (1961) and Désirée (1954). If The Anarchist's Wife 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

  1. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)

    Spain in the 1930s is the place to be for a man of action like Robert Jordan. There is a civil war going on and Jordan—who has joined up on the side that appeals most to idealists of that era—has been given a high-risk assignment up in the mountains. He awaits the right time to blow up a crucial bridge in order to halt the enemy's progress.

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

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  2. El Cid (1961)

    Epic film of the legendary Spanish hero, Rodrigo Diaz ("El Cid" to his followers), who, without compromising his strict sense of honour, still succeeds in taking the initiative and driving the Moors from Spain.

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

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  3. Désirée (1954)

    In Marseilles, France in 1794, Desiree Clary, a young millinery clerk, becomes infatuated with Napoleon Bonaparte, but winds up wedding General Jean-Baptiste Berandotte, an aid to Napoleon who later joins the forces that bring about the Emperor's downfall. Josephine Beauharnais, a worldly courtesan marries Napoleon and becomes Empress of France, but is then cast aside by her spouse when she proves unable to produce an heir to the throne.

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

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  4. Mayerling (1968)

    Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria clashes with his father, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, over implementing progressive policies for their country. Rudolf soon feels he is a man born at the wrong time in a country that doesn't realize the need for social reform. The Prince of Wales, later to become Britain's King Edward VII, provides comic relief. Rudolf finds refuge from a loveless marriage with Princess Stéphanie by taking a mistress, Baroness Maria Vetsera. Their untimely demise at Mayerling, the imperial family's hunting lodge, is cloaked in mystery.

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

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  5. The Sleeping Voice (2011)

    Finished the Spanish Civil War in April 1939, in November 1940, while Spain is being crushed by the ruthless boot of dictator Franco, Pepita travels from rural Córdoba to Madrid to be near her sister Hortensia, who is seven months pregnant and imprisoned, haunted by the shadow of a death sentence.

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

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  6. The Last Rifleman (2023)

    A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.

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

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  7. The Teacher Who Promised the Sea (2023)

    The buried memories of the Spanish Civil War are unearthed as a woman searches for the remains of her grandfather's father and discovers the story of an idealistic young teacher from Tarragona.

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

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  8. Casablanca (1943)

    In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.

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

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  9. Northanger Abbey (2007)

    A young woman's penchant for sensational Gothic novels leads to misunderstandings in the matters of the heart.

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

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  10. They Won't Believe Me (1947)

    On trial for murdering his girlfriend, philandering stockbroker Larry Ballentine takes the stand to claim his innocence and describe the actual, but improbable sounding, sequence of events that led to her death.

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

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  11. Blood and Sand (1941)

    Bullfighter Juan Gallardo falls for socialite Dona Sol, turning from the faithful Carmen who nevertheless stands by her man as he continues to face real danger in the bullring.

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

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  12. Radium Girls (2020)

    Young women toiling in a factory are exposed to hazardous material which takes a disastrous toll on their health.

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

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  13. Gone with the Wind (1939)

    The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.

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

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  14. Memories of My Father (2020)

    In the polarized and violent Medellín (Colombia's 'City of Eternal Spring') of the 1970s, doctor Héctor Abad Gómez is concerned about both his children and children from less favored classes. After a devastating loss in the family, Héctor gives himself to the greater cause of public health programs for the poor in Medellín to the consternation of the city's authorities.

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

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  15. My Brilliant Career (1979)

    A young woman who is determined to maintain her independence finds herself at odds with her family who wants her to tame her wild side and get married.

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

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  16. The Secret Scripture (2017)

    The hidden memoir of an elderly woman confined to a mental hospital reveals the history of her passionate yet tortured life, and of the religious and political upheavals in Ireland during the 1920s and 30s.

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

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  17. I Can't Think Straight (2008)

    Tala, a London-based Palestinian, is preparing for her elaborate Middle Eastern wedding when she meets Leyla, a young British Indian woman who is dating her best friend. Spirited Christian Tala and shy Muslim Leyla could not be more different from each other, but the attraction is immediate and goes deeper than friendship. But Tala is not ready to accept the implications of the choice her heart has made for her and escapes back to Jordan, while Leyla tries to move on with her new-found life, to the shock of her tradition-loving parents. As Tala's wedding day approaches, simmering tensions come to boiling point and the pressure mounts for Tala to be true to herself.

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

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  18. Julia (1977)

    At the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.

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

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  19. The Way We Were (1973)

    Opposites attract when, during their college days, Katie Morosky, a politically active Jew, meets Hubbell Gardiner, a feckless WASP. Years later, in the wake of World War II, they meet once again and, despite their obvious differences, attempt to make their love for each other work.

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

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  20. Jane Eyre (1997)

    After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?

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

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  21. The Beautiful Woman Without Mercy (1921)

    "Taking its title from John Keats’s early 19th-century poem, this highly personal melodrama finds Dulac interrogating the archetype of the femme fatale. La belle dame sans merci follows a famous actress who was once seduced and abandoned by a rich man and subsequently resolved to become a “merciless woman,” forever scheming to hurt others (men in particular) in a ruthless yet captivating manner. Dulac challenges the Romantic archetype embodied in Keats’s poem by way of symbolist mise en scène, self-reflexive narration, and her typically associative approach to editing, locating a modern ambiguity within the stereotypical figures of 19th-century art." - Film Society of Lincoln Center

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

  22. Summertime (2015)

    In 1971, a young woman moves from the French countryside to Paris and begins a passionate love affair with a feminist leader.

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

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  23. Annalyn (2012)

    Agnes is not satisfied with her life. She wants a change, but her relationship with her single parent father and dominant girlfriend inhibit her to do something about it. When the father introduces his new wife, Annalyn, everything changes. The same-aged Filipino stepmother helps Agnes see a new path. Soon emerges something that no one could have foreseen.

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

  24. The Extremists' Opera (2016)

    The semi-biographical The Extremists' Opera follows the everyday and inner struggles of a women-only alternative theater group delivering explosive and politically controversial explosive stage performances under the control of tough mannered director Naoko.

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

  25. K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)

    When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.

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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  26. Salt of This Sea (2008)

    Born in Brooklyn to Palestinian refugee parents, Soraya decides to journey to the country of her ancestry when she discovers that her grandfather's savings have been frozen in a Jaffa bank account since his 1948 exile. However, she soon finds that her simple plan is a complicated undertaking — one that takes her further from her comfort zone than she'd imagined.

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

  27. I Want to See (2008)

    July 2006. Another war breaks out in Lebanon. The directors decide to follow a movie star, Catherine Deneuve and a friend, actor and artist Rabih Mroue;, on the roads of South Lebanon. Together, they will drive through the regions devastated by the conflict. It is the beginning of an unpredictable, unexpected adventure...

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

  28. Am I Beautiful? (1998)

    Between Munich and Seville, the destinies of sixteen characters intertwine and intersect, missing each other or colliding head-on. They are all, without knowing it, at a pivotal moment in their lives...

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  29. Deep Impact (1998)

    A seven-mile-wide space rock is hurtling toward Earth, threatening to obliterate the planet. Now, it's up to the president of the United States to save the world. He appoints a tough-as-nails veteran astronaut to lead a joint American-Russian crew into space to destroy the comet before impact. Meanwhile, an enterprising reporter uses her smarts to uncover the scoop of the century.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

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  30. The Black Balloon (2008)

    Thomas is turning 16. His dad's in the army and they've just moved to a town in New South Wales; his mom is pregnant; his older brother, Charlie, who's autistic, has his own adolescent sexual issues. Thomas finds Charlie an embarrassment in public, so when Thomas is attracted to Jackie, a girl in his swim class, Charlie presents any number of obstacles when she drops by their house, when the three of them go for a walk, and during a family birthday dinner. Can Thomas find a way to enter the world of teen romance and still be his brother's keeper, or is Charlie's disability going to prove more than Thomas can handle?

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

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Like The Anarchist's Wife and something else?

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

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like The Anarchist's Wife?

The closest matches to The Anarchist's Wife are For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), El Cid (1961) and Désirée (1954). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after The Anarchist's Wife?

Start with For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), the closest match to The Anarchist's Wife.

What is the highest-rated movie like The Anarchist's Wife?

Casablanca (1943), rated 8.1/10 by 6,330 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like The Anarchist's Wife?

The Last Rifleman (2023) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there Spanish movies like The Anarchist's Wife?

Yes: The Sleeping Voice (2011), The Teacher Who Promised the Sea (2023) and Memories of My Father (2020).

How are movies similar to The Anarchist's Wife chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Anarchist's Wife, 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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