Historic or "book-to-film" drama movies
Take "historical" with a big pinch of salt. What I have tried to do here is to gather all movies i have seen that tries to portray a longer scene of events than most movies, like a family history over decades, a war etc - you get the idea.
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- DirectorBille AugustStarsJeremy IronsMeryl StreepMaria Conchita AlonsoA rancher, his clairvoyant wife, and their family face turbulent years in South America in this adaptation of Isabel Allende's best-seller.
- DirectorJohn MaddenStarsNicolas CagePenélope CruzJohn HurtWhen a fisherman leaves to fight with the Greek army during World War II, his fiancée falls in love with the local Italian commander.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsRyan O'NealMarisa BerensonPatrick MageeAn Irish rogue wins the heart of a rich widow and assumes her dead husband's aristocratic position in 18th-century England.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsOmar SharifJulie ChristieGeraldine ChaplinThe 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.Don't bother with the remake from 2002. I'ts inferior in every way.
- StarsJeremy IronsDiana QuickRoger MilnerThe life, friendships and romances of the protagonist Charles Ryder-including his friendship with the Flytes, a family of wealthy English Catholics who live in a palatial mansion called Brideshead Castle.Same here. The remake is inferior.
- StarsSamuel FrölerPernilla AugustGhita NørbyThe story of Ingmar Bergman's parents. How they fell in love, married against the wishes of their families, and had a difficult marriage and life in rural Sweden. Bergman's father was a pastor and poor; his mother from a well to do cultured family. It ends with the birth of Ingmar.This is the version made for swedish television.There is a much shorter movie version also, but I prefer the tv-series. Same production, just a different cut.
- StarsBörje AhlstedtEwa FrölingJarl KulleThrough the eyes of ten-year-old Alexander, we witness the delights and conflicts of the Ekdahl family, a sprawling bourgeois clan in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Sweden.This is the version made for swedish television. There is a much shorter movie version also, but I prefer the tv-series. Same production, just a different cut.
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsRobert De NiroGérard DepardieuDominique SandaThe epic tale of a class struggle in twentieth-century Italy as seen through the eyes of two childhood friends on opposing sides.
- DirectorRégis WargnierStarsCatherine DeneuveVincent PerezLinh-Dan PhamEliane adopts Camille, whose Vietnamese parents were friends. In 1930, a French navy officer is interested in Eliane (owns 60km2 plantation) and later in Camille. There's an uprising in Vietnam against French colonial power.
- DirectorSergio LeoneStarsRobert De NiroJames WoodsElizabeth McGovernA former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan 35 years later, where he must once again confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
- StarsJoakim NätterqvistSofia HelinStellan SkarsgårdArn must endure a great ordeal before he can get the love of his life Cecile, who has been confined to a monastery.Get this, or the two movies. Only difference is a slightly different cut.
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsRichard GereLisa EichhornVanessa RedgraveJoining WWII, USA ships soldiers to UK. Matt and John arrive in 1942. Each see a local woman - married or to be engaged with soldiers serving faraway.
- DirectorYves RobertStarsPhilippe CaubèreNathalie RousselDidier PainAt the end of the nineteenth century, little Marcel lives with his parents in the Provence countryside. During his holiday, Marcel meets Lili, a local boy who knows all the secrets of the hills, and the two become fast friends.
- DirectorYves RobertStarsJulien CiamacaPhilippe CaubèreNathalie RousselEvery holiday Marcel and his family go to their cottage near Marseilles. During one of these holidays he meets Isabelle, a pretty but conceited girl... Adapted from the cult classic novel from Marcel Pagnol.
- StarsEd HarrisPhilip Seymour HoffmanHelen HuntA decaying New England town is the backdrop for its unique citizens, led by unassuming restaurant manager Miles Roby.
- DirectorJean-Pierre JeunetStarsAudrey TautouGaspard UllielJodie FosterTells the story of a young woman's relentless search for her fiancé, who has disappeared from the trenches of the Somme during World War One.
- DirectorAnthony MinghellaStarsRalph FiennesJuliette BinocheWillem DafoeAt the close of World War II, a young nurse tends to a badly burned plane crash victim. His past is shown in flashbacks, revealing an involvement in a fateful love affair.
- StarsSam RileyJames CosmoRainer BockA British homicide detective investigates a murder in a German-occupied England in a parallel universe where the Nazis won World War II.
- DirectorAnthony MinghellaStarsJude LawNicole KidmanRenée ZellwegerIn the waning days of the American Civil War, a wounded soldier embarks on a perilous journey back home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina to reunite with his sweetheart.
- DirectorMikael HåfströmStarsAndreas WilsonHenrik LundströmGustaf SkarsgårdA teenage boy expelled from school for fighting arrives at a boarding school where the systematic bullying of younger students is encouraged as a means to maintain discipline, and decides to fight back.
- DirectorTerry GeorgeStarsOscar IsaacCharlotte Le BonChristian BaleSet during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, The Promise follows a love triangle between Michael, a brilliant medical student, the beautiful and sophisticated Ana, and Chris - a renowned American journalist based in Paris.