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Movies like Romance

Key Features:
Sexual obsession, Existential crisis, Marital dissatisfaction, Psychological exploration, Nudity-mild, Sexuality-explicit, Relationship breakdown, Self-discovery, French cinema, Provocative, Character study
Tone:
serious, gritty, dramatic
Target Audience:
Film enthusiasts, Intellectual viewers, Art house cinema fans, Psychological drama aficionados
Emotional Arc:
Alienation → Desperation

Romance

1999-04-14
Romance Poster - Find Similar Movies

Frustrated by the lack of intimacy in her relationship, a young schoolteacher goes through a series of intimidating and often violent sexual partners.

Genres
Drama, Romance
Cast
Caroline Ducey, Sagamore Stévenin, François Berléand, Rocco Siffredi, Reza Habouhossein, Ashley Wanninger, Emma Colberti, Fabien de Jomaron, Carla, Pierre Maufront
Crew
Catherine Breillat, Catherine Breillat
Rating
5.451(284 votes)
RomanceRomance
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À l'aventure
4.924

Fed up with her present lifestyle, and more particularly sexually unsatisfied by her boyfriend Fred, Sandrine decides to find a new way in life. Intrigued by her friend Sophie, who tells her about her sexual experimentations, she will find, through various encounters, new pleasures and new experiences, whether physical or spiritual.



Fantasies
Fantasies(2021)
5.1

Faced with their fantasies, six couples try to explore the hidden sides of their intimate life. Six questions on access to pleasure. From role play to abstinence, via exhibition, six separate stories with the same questioning of desire today in the center.



A Real Young Girl
5.278

Reluctantly, a sulky adolescent returns to her parents' house for yet another boring summer vacation, dabbling in desire and the art of desirability, eventually mixing reality with vision, caged fantasies with the fierce female sexuality.



Anatomy of Hell
4.8

A woman employs a gay man to spend four nights at her house to watch her when she's "unwatchable".



An Affair of Love
6.2

A man and a woman meet to fulfill her sexual fantasy.



Sexual Chronicles of a French Family

Three generations of a French family open up about their sexual experiences and desires after young Romain is caught masturbating in his biology class.



Desire
Desire(2011)
6.286

In a social context deteriorated by a countrywide economic crisis, the life of several people will be turned upside down after they meet Cécile, a character who symbolizes desire.



Secret Things
5.7

Two young women find themselves struggling to survive in Paris, street-wise Nathalie, a stripper, and naïve Sandrine, a barmaid. Together, they discover that sex can be used to their advantage, and pleasure.



Love Affair(s)
6.3

Vacations in the French countryside. Daphne, three months pregnant, finds herself alone to welcome Maxime, her boyfriend François’ cousin. François had to leave in a hurry for Paris to cover for a sick colleague. For four days, while waiting for his return, Daphne and Maxime get to know each other and share very intimate stories that bring them closer...



Sex, Love & Therapy

Lambert, a recovering sex addict, tries to redeem himself by becoming a marriage counsellor. He stays abstinent for several months, but his alluring assistant's unbridled sexuality tests his resolve.



Diary of a Fleeting Affair

A single mother and a married man enter into an affair with the understanding that their relationship is purely sexual. Though they agree the relationship has no future, they find themselves increasingly drawn into each other's company.



Sex Is Comedy
5.815

A director struggles with a difficult sex scene between a young actor and actress who can't stand one another. Aided by her loyal assistant, she is hell-bent on getting the scene right without compromise.



White Wedding
6.5

A philosophy professor has an illicit affair with one of his students, a bright yet troubled girl who lives alone.



Jealous
Jealous(2017)
5.9

A divorced teacher suddenly becomes jealous of everyone, including her daughter, friends and neighbors.



Amer
Amer(2009)
6.207

Ana is confronted with body and desire at three key moments of her life. As a young girl, she brings her dead grandpa back to life. In her puberty, she discovers the power of decay and sexuality. Finally, she wrestles with loss and loneliness when she returns to her parental home, now derelict.



Rendez-vous
5.574

Nina is a young, carefree actress who arrives in Paris searching for her big break. There, she finds drama both on- and offstage as she becomes involved with three men: a mild-mannered real-estate agent who offers her stability, a bad-boy actor who lives dangerously on the edge, and an intense theater director who casts her in a production of “Romeo and Juliet.” As opening night approaches, the emotional extremes of Nina’s love life fuel her art.



Feelings
Feelings(2003)
5.9

Two seemingly happily married French couples are forced to contend with a number of issues.



Love
Love(2015)
6.5

Murphy is an American living in Paris who enters a highly sexually and emotionally charged relationship with the unstable Electra. Unaware of the seismic effect it will have on their relationship, they invite their pretty neighbor into their bed.



Diary of a Nymphomaniac

A chronicle of the life of a middle-class French girl's sexual adventures, her then fall into prostitution, and her ultimate redemption.



Anaïs in Love
6.2

A young woman struggling to stay on top of everything in her life meets a married publisher and begins an affair with him.



Simple Passion
5.582

A man and a woman are brought together by chance for several months. He is younger than she is, married, Russian, officially a diplomat stationed in Paris. She is a beautiful teacher and researcher, with her feet firmly on the ground. The film follows the evolution of their love, from the beginning to end.



Belle de Jour
7.32

Beautiful young housewife Séverine Serizy cannot reconcile her masochistic fantasies with her everyday life alongside dutiful husband Pierre. When her lovestruck friend Henri mentions a secretive high-class brothel run by Madame Anais, Séverine begins to work there during the day under the name Belle de Jour. But when one of her clients grows possessive, she must try to go back to her normal life.



Happiness
Happiness(1965)
7.412

A young husband and father, perfectly content with his life, falls in love with another woman.



Sibyl
Sibyl(2019)
5.693

Sibyl, a jaded psychotherapist, returns to her first passion: writing. But her newest patient Margot, a troubled up-and-coming actress, proves to be a source of inspiration that is far too tempting. Fascinated almost to the point of obsession, Sibyl becomes more and more involved in Margot’s tumultuous life, reviving volatile memories that bring her face to face with her past.



Intimacy
Intimacy(2001)
6.2

Failed musician Jay abandoned his family and now earns a living as head bartender in a trendy London pub. Every Wednesday afternoon, a woman comes to his house for graphic, almost wordless, sex. One day, Jay follows her and learns about her. This eventually disrupts their relationship.



Suzanne
Suzanne(2013)
6.874

The story of a family and a love affair told through the journey of a young woman called Suzanne.



A Simple Story
5.9

A middle-aged woman leaves her partner and drifts back to her ex-husband, while the lives of her middle class friends intersect with her own.



In the House
7.2

A sixteen-year-old boy insinuates himself into the house of a fellow student from his literature class and writes about it in essays for his French teacher. Faced with this gifted and unusual pupil, the teacher rediscovers his enthusiasm for his work, but the boy’s intrusion will unleash a series of uncontrollable events.



Lovers
Lovers(2021)
5.316

Set in Paris the story follows Lisa, who, while on vacation with her husband, rekindles a passionate affair with her ex-boyfriend. But that may lead to a murder.



Four Lovers
5.895

Mutual attraction leads two married couples to swap bedtime partners.



Nathalie...
5.742

Paris doctor Catherine starts to think her husband, Bernard, is having an affair when she hears an unfamiliar woman's message on his voice mail. Hoping to learn more about his extramarital activities, Catherine heads to a strip club, where she hires call girl Nathalie to have a fling with Gerard. As the affair progresses, Nathalie gives Catherine regular status reports, and the relationship between the women evolves from business to personal.



A Nos Amours
6.8

Fifteen-year-old Suzanne seeks refuge from a disintegrating family in a series of impulsive, promiscuous affairs. Her fulsome sexuality further ratchets up the suppressed passions of her narcissistic brother, insecure mother and brooding, authoritarian father.



Bilitis
Bilitis(1977)
5.3

A coming of age story centering on the exploits of a young girl during summer vacation.



Emmanuelle
4.786

While traveling, Emmanuelle meets Kei, a man who constantly eludes her. Though she indulges in the many alluring distractions, she can’t shake their chance encounter. Will she submit to her basest desires to forge a deeper relationship?



Jealousy
Jealousy(2013)
6.036

The professional and emotional cross-currents between two romantically entwined theater actors played by the director’s son Louis and Anna Mouglalis.



An Affair
An Affair(2018)
5.4

A newly appointed teacher finds herself being followed, and soon discovers that one of her own students is obsessed with her.



The Lovers
6.6

A shallow, provincial wife finds her relationship with her preoccupied husband strained by romantic notions, leading her further towards Paris and the country wilderness.



Lady Chatterley
6.1

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.



France
France(2021)
5.213

A celebrity journalist, juggling her busy career and personal life, has her life over-turned by a freak car accident.



Maîtresse
5.7

After breaking into a house he believes is empty, thief Olivier is caught by the owner, Ariane, who turns out to be a dominatrix. Improbably falling for her, Olivier returns periodically, and an impulsive romance blossoms despite Ariane's profession. Soon Olivier becomes more familiar with her work, even joining in on occasion. However, when he discovers that Ariane has a son, he attempts to "fix" her, hoping to give her a better life.



French Women
5.757

A story about 11 girls living in Paris. Each of them has its own problems: career, love life, children. Every girl has their complexes and virtues. They always look elegant, hiding their inner feelings. Will they reach all the goals and overcome all their difficulties?



Vincent, Francois, Paul and the Others

Three friends navigate mid-life crises: a blocked writer, a disillusioned doctor, and a charming man facing bankruptcy and divorce. As their struggles strain friendships, a younger man captures the attention of one friend's wife, complicating their lives further.



Wild Grass
6.1

Marguerite loses her wallet, and it's found by Georges, a seemingly happy head of family. As he looks through the wallet and examines the photos of Marguerite, he finds he's fascinated with her and her life, and soon his curiosity about her becomes an obsession.



Paris, 13th District
6.861

Émilie meets Camille who is attracted to Nora, who crosses paths with Amber. Three girls and a boy – They're friends, sometimes lovers and often both.



Not My Type
6.208

Clement, a young philosophy teacher, is sent to Arras for a year. He meets Jennifer, a pretty hair stylist, and the two freely share their hearts and bodies as they try to overcome the cultural and social divide between them.



Hadewijch
Hadewijch(2009)
6.379

A troubled young woman is thrown out of a convent and forms a relationship with a radical Muslim.



Private Fears in Public Places

In Paris, six people all look for love, despite typically having their romantic aspirations dashed at every turn.



Consent
Consent(2023)
6.8

In 2013, Vanessa Springora recounts how she found herself under the influence of a famous writer. In 1986, she was 13; him, almost 50. The victim of a triple predation: sexual, literary, and psychic, there's more beyond her individual story. She questions the excesses of an era, and the complacency of an environment blinded by talent and celebrity.



The Story of O
5.5

The beautiful O is taken by her boyfriend, Rene, to a bizarre retreat, where she is trained in bondage and sexual perversion...



Hand in Hand
5.591

From the moment they meet - and against their will - Helene and Joachim begin a lovers' dance they are powerless to stop.



Female Vampire
4.364

A mute noblewoman's vampiric heritage compels her to drain the life force from all of her lovers.



Five Times Two
6.433

As young French couple Gilles and Marion officially separate, we see, in reverse order, the milestone moments in their relationship: Gilles revealing his unfaithfulness at a tense dinner party; Marion giving birth to their premature son while Gilles is elsewhere; Gilles and Marion's joyous wedding; and, finally, the fateful moment when they meet as acquaintances at an Italian beach resort, and their love affair begins.



Repulsion
Repulsion(1965)
7.4

Beautiful young manicurist Carole suffers from androphobia (the pathological fear of interaction with men). When her sister and roommate, Helen, leaves their London flat to go on an Italian holiday with her married boyfriend, Carole withdraws into her apartment. She begins to experience frightful hallucinations, her fear gradually mutating into madness.



Love Songs
7

Ismael and Julie, in the hope of sparking their stalled relationship, enter a playful yet emotionally laced threesome with Alice. When tragedy strikes, these young Parisians are forced to deal with the fragility of life and love. For Ismael, this means negotiating through the advances of Julie's sister and a young college student – one of which may offer him redemption.



The Secret
7.105

Marie, who works as a successful door-to-door encyclopedia salesperson, has been married to her husband Francois for 12 years and has a two-year-old son. Though she is relatively content with her life, she feels something is wanting. Enter 50-year old African-American Bill. Initially she is annoyed by his insouciance, but she finds that she is irresistibly attracted to him. Soon the two are in the midst of sordid illicit affair. She knows little about her new lover, and he seems uninterested in learning about her, but the long sessions of lovemaking are something else entirely. Feeling out of control, Marie is increasingly repelled by her own actions. Psychologically, she struggles to reconcile her torrid encounters with Bill and mundane domestic chores such as bathing her son. Moreover, she finds herself incapable of hiding her adulterous behavior, rather she comes home with scratches and hickeys all over her body, to the devastation Francois.



Emmanuelle
6

An employee at the French Embassy in Bangkok invites his wife to join him – and enjoy the benefits of their open marriage.



The Exterminating Angels

A filmmaker holds a series of boundary-pushing auditions for his latest project: a thriller on the subject of female pleasure.



Lover for a Day
6.2

After a bad breakup, a college-aged Parisian moves into her father's flat only to discover that he is living with his new girlfriend - a young woman her age.



Appassionata
5.709

Two teenage friends conspire to find out how much their youthful sensuality can disrupt one of their households, headed by a dentist and his mentally-ill wife.



Anita, Swedish Nymphet

Anita, a young woman with a troubled childhood and a hunger for love, finds a soul mate in Erik, a kindly college student.



Vampire
Vampire(2011)
6

An outwardly normal schoolteacher preys on suicidal women to slake his overwhelming thirst for human blood.



Leila
Leila(2011)
6

Gab has a well-ordered life: a fiancée, a wealthy family. Leïla, who struggles to juggle her studies, odd jobs, and a brother to support, does not allow herself to live her own life... When Gab meets Leïla, it is a clash of worlds, the beginning of a great love story that will collide violently with reality.



3some
3some(2009)
5.949

In an attempt to help his friend Marcos with his impotence, Jaime sets up him up with another friend Josita. But the sex date fails, and so he comes in to help. What first appears to be just another sexual experience for all three evolves to a full romantic relationship.



Elles
Elles(2011)
5.324

A journalist tries to balance the duties of marriage and motherhood while researching a piece on college women who work as prostitutes to pay their tuition.



Black Tide
5.747

When a teenager suddenly disappears without a trace, the case is assigned to an alcoholic police officer who maintains a complicated relationship with his own troubled teenage son, suspected of drug trafficking.



Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person

Sasha is a young vampire with a serious problem: she's too sensitive to kill. When her exasperated parents cut off her blood supply, Sasha's life is in jeopardy. Luckily, she meets Paul, a lonely teenager with suicidal tendencies who is willing to give his life to save hers. But their friendly agreement soon becomes a nocturnal quest to fulfill Paul's last wishes before day breaks.



Paris Is Us
4.3

Dreams and reality collide as a young woman navigates a tumultuous relationship amid rising social tensions, protests and tragedies in Paris.



Savage Nights
6.4

Jean is young, gay, and promiscuous. Only after he meets one or two women, including Laura, does he come to realize his bisexuality. Jean has to overcome a personal crisis and a tough choice between Laura and his male lover Samy.



Double Lover
6.1

Chloé, a fragile young woman, falls in love with her psychoanalyst, Paul. A few months later she moves in with him, but soon discovers that her lover is concealing a part of his identity.



Alice
Alice(2020)
5.971

Alice, a perfect wife and mother, lives happily with her husband and child until the day she discovers he is living a double life that has ruined her financially and left her a single mother. Alice fights back and dives into a world beyond anything she has ever known.



Betty
Betty(1992)
6.5

A drunken, self-destructive woman called Betty wanders into a Parisian bar where she meets middle-aged alcoholic Laure. Laure decides to take care of Betty. Recovering in a hotel room, Betty begins to recount to Laure the story of her bourgeois life and her unhappy and unfaithful marriage.



Non-Fiction
5.4

Alain, a successful Parisian publisher struggling to adapt to the digital revolution, has major doubts about the new manuscript of Léonard, one of his long-time authors — another work of auto-fiction recycling his love affair with a minor celebrity. Selena, Alain’s wife, a famous stage actress, is of the opposite opinion.



Mommy
Mommy(2014)
8.2

A peculiar neighbor offers hope to a recent widow who is struggling to raise a teenager who is unpredictable and, sometimes, violent.



The Nude Vampire
4.7

A young man falls in love with a beautiful woman being chased by sinister masked figures at night. He tries to track her down, and learns she's being held captive by his father and colleagues who believe she's a vampire.



Full Moon in Paris
6.8

Feeling suffocated by a possessive boyfriend, work and suburban life, a young woman starts spending the weekends in her Paris apartment in order to reclaim some of her lost freedom.



Another 9 1/2 Weeks
4.556

Despondent at losing his lover, a man wanders the streets of Paris and has an affair with her kinky friend.



Hannah
Hannah(2018)
5.6

A woman grapples with the consequences of her husband's imprisonment.



Sitcom
Sitcom(1998)
6.38

The adventures of an upper-class suburban family abruptly confronted with the younger brother's discovery of his homosexuality, the elder sister's suicide attempt and sadomasochist tendencies, and the intrusion of a very free-spirited maid and her husband. And it all started with the arrival in the family of an innocent looking rat.



Relationship Status: It's Complicated

Thirty-year-old Ben is about to marry Juliette. His quiet, ordered life will fall to pieces when he meets up again with the person he secretly wants to see the most: Vanessa, the high school bombshell who never so much as looked in his direction. She's back in Paris, and the only person she now knows is him…



An Eye for Beauty
3.4

An architect and his wife see their relationship challenged.



Corporate
Corporate(2017)
6.294

Emilie is a bright young workaholic manager in Human Resources, working for a huge French agro-food company. But, one day, one of the employees commits suicide at the company in front of her. While an investigation is underway, stuck between her traumatized colleagues and under pressure of a powerful hierarchy, she will have to get by on her own.



French Twist
6.1

After learning of her husband's infidelities, a housewife invites an itinerant lesbian to move in with them. None of their lives will ever be the same again.



Claire's Knee
7.3

On the eve of his wedding, on holiday on the Lake Annecy shore, a career diplomat visits an old acquaintance, perhaps a former girlfriend. Through her he meets an intense teenager, Laura, and then lusts after her sister, Claire. Whilst Laura attempts to flirt with him, his fantasy becomes focused on wanting to caress Claire's knee.



Student Services
5.292

Nineteen-year-old Laura is stressed by her first year at college when money worries distract her from her studies and so, desperate for cash, she answers an online advertisement for intimate companionship that leads her down a dangerous path.



The Young Lovers
6.528

Elegant, retired architect Shauna (70) crosses paths with Pierre, a happily married doctor in his 40s, who first made an impression on her in a brief meeting 15 years previously. Both are quite troubled to meet again and begin an affair. While Pierre’s family life is soon turned upside down, Shauna struggles with feelings she thought belonged to the past.



After You
After You(2003)
6

Antoine works in a bar in Paris. One evening on his way home from work, he intervenes when a man tries to commit suicide. He feels strangely guilty about having saved the man's life and constantly tries to help him, make things better. No matter what Antoine does, he can't get Louis's mind off Blanche, the woman of his dreams, his sole obsession, the reason why he wanted to die... Antoine decides to look for her, but doesn't let Louis know.



Secretary
Secretary(2002)
6.8

A young woman, recently released from a mental hospital, gets a job as a secretary to a demanding lawyer, where their employer-employee relationship turns into a sexual, sadomasochistic one.



All About Them
5.891

Charlotte is cheating on Micha with Mélodie. Not suspecting a thing, yet feeling neglected, Micha in turn cheats on Charlotte. But also with Mélodie. For Mélodie, things are topsy-turvy. She lies to both of them. She is privy to each of their lies. And is in love with both of them at the same time.



Thanatomorphose
5.847

Bruised from a night of rough sex, a young woman is shocked to find that her body, rather than healing itself, has inexplicably begun to rot. Swept up in the strange sensual experiences brought on by her slowly decaying form, she tries desperately to cling to her new existence — even as the putrid meat sack that was once her young body begins to literally fall off her bones...



Wild Reeds
7

As the Algerian War draws to a close, a teenager with a girlfriend starts feeling homosexual urges for two of his classmates: a country boy, and a French-Algerian intellectual.



Devil in the Flesh
5.555

An Italian high school student becomes infatuated with a woman he sees outside his class window. Her fiancée is in jail for being involved in a radical movement, and she spends much time in court providing moral support. At first she resists the student's advances, but eventually begins an affair with him. Their situation is condemned by her family and his father, who is the woman's psychologist.



Love & Sex
6.106

When her rather explicit copy is rejected, magazine journalist Kate is asked by her editor to come up with an article on loving relationships instead, and to do so by the end of the day. This gets Kate thinking back over her own various experiences, and to wondering if she is in much of a position to write on the subject.



A Teacher
A Teacher(2013)
4.495

Diana Watts, a high school teacher in Austin, Texas, is in the midst of an affair with one of her students, Eric Tull. As the reality of their situation forces itself upon them, Diana puts the relationship on hold. It’s only a matter of time before she gives in again to her desire; this time even more recklessly than before.



Boy Meets Girl
6.657

In Paris at night, a young aspiring filmmaker grapples with heartbreak after his girlfriend leaves him for his best friend. After a failed attempt to confront his friend, he wanders the streets and encounters a girl who has just been abandoned. Their paths cross at a party, bringing together two tormented souls.



Masculin Féminin
7.2

Paul, a young idealist trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life, takes a job interviewing people for a marketing research firm. He moves in with aspiring pop singer Madeleine. Paul, however, is disillusioned by the growing commercialism in society, while Madeleine just wants to be successful. The story is told in a series of 15 unrelated vignettes.



Joint Custody
5.738

A wife finds out her husband has a mistress. She decides to propose her to share her life with her husband, alternating every two weeks.



Mrs. Hyde
Mrs. Hyde(2018)
4.3

Mrs. Géquil is an eccentric teacher despised by her colleagues and students. On a stormy night, she is struck by lightning and faints. When she wakes up, she feels different. Will she now be able to keep the powerful and dangerous Mrs. Hyde contained?



A Friendly Tale...
5.8

Lea and her husband Marc have known Francis and his wife Karine for a very long time. Over the years, each one of them has been assigned a specific role. The balance and dynamic of the group is blown up when Lea decides to write a novel, which turns into an immediate bestseller…



Three Friends
6.245

Joan is no longer in love with Victor, but it pains her to feel she is being dishonest with him. Alice, her best friend, reassures her: She herself doesn’t feel passionate about her partner Eric and yet their relationship is smooth sailing. She has no idea he is having an affair with Rebecca, their mutual friend. When Joan finally decides to leave Victor and he disappears, the lives of the three friends and their relationships are turned upside down.

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