Movies Like Madame Bovary (1991)

Madame Bovary is a 1991 drama, history, romance film from Claude Chabrol with a MovieMagicScore of 6.3/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Little Children and The Color Purple.

Drama History Romance

Little Children

2006

The lives of two lovelorn spouses from separate marriages, a registered sex offender, and a disgraced ex-police officer intersect as they struggle to resist their vulnerabilities and temptations.

7.1

MagicScore

The Color Purple

2023

A decades-spanning tale of love and resilience and of one woman's journey to independence. Celie faces many hardships in her life, but ultimately finds extraordinary strength and hope in the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood.

7.0

MagicScore

Diary of a Chambermaid

1964

Celestine has a new job as a chambermaid for the quirky M. Monteil, his wife and her father. When the father dies, Celestine decides to quit her job and leave, but when a young girl is raped and murdered, Celestine believes that the Monteils' groundskeeper, Joseph, is guilty, and stays on in order to prove it. She uses her sexuality and the promise of marriage to get Joseph to confess -- but things do not go as planned.

7.1

MagicScore

The Family

2013

After ratting out his Mafia cohorts, Giovanni Manzoni and his family enter the Witness Protection Program and relocate to a sleepy town in France. Despite the best efforts of their handler to keep them in line, Giovanni (now called Fred Blake), his wife and children can't help but resort to doing things the "family" way. However, their dependence on such old habits places everyone in danger from vengeful mobsters.

6.4

MagicScore

A Woman's Life

2016

Normandy, 1819. Jeanne is a young woman full of childish dreams and innocence when she returns home after finishing her schooling in a convent. She marries a local Viscount, Julien de Lamare, who soon reveals himself to be a miserly and unfaithful man. Little by little Jeanne’s illusions are stripped away.

5.6

MagicScore

Captain Fracasse

1961

A ruined Baron Philippe de baron, meets one day a troupe of traveling actors led by Herod. Attracted by the one who plays the role of the ingenue: Isabella, and by the dynamism and enthusiasm of his companions, he takes the place of the deceased poet of the troupe. And during performances, Philippe became the captain Sunder. For his part, Isabelle loves Philip, but does not consider marriage, nobility him missing, she refuses to harm the career of Baron. And one day, the Duke of Vallombrosa, seduced by Isabella, finds himself challenged to a duel by Philippe for touching the girl. Defeated, he launched his men against Sunder, then removes Isabelle. The actors throw themselves then to storm the castle where she is being held. This time Vallombrosa was seriously injured, and the duke's own father, rushed to the scene, Isabelle discovers the girl he had once been an actress. Nothing stands now the union of Sunder and Isabella, under the tender gaze of the actors Herod and Scapin.

5.4

MagicScore

Anna Karenina

2012

In Imperial Russia, Anna, the wife of the officer Karenin, goes to Moscow to visit her brother. On the way, she meets the charming cavalry officer Vronsky to whom she is immediately attracted. But in St. Petersburg’s high society, a relationship like this could destroy a woman’s reputation.

6.7

MagicScore

The Peasants

2023

Peasant girl Jagna is forced to marry the much older, wealthy farmer Boryna, despite her love for his son Antek. With time, Jagna becomes the object of envy and disdain with the villagers and she must fight to preserve her independence.

7.5

MagicScore

Anna Karenina

1997

Anna Karenina, the wife of a Russian imperial minister, creates a high-society scandal by an affair with Count Vronsky, a dashing cavalry officer in 19th-century St. Petersburg.

6.0

MagicScore

#10

I Am Love

2010

Emma has left Russia to live with her husband in Italy. Now a member of a powerful industrial family, she is the respected mother of three, but feels unfulfilled. One day, Antonio, a talented chef and her son's friend, makes her senses kindle.

6.8

MagicScore

#11

Anna Karenina

1967

The plot of the film is the love of a married woman, Anna Karenina, and a young officer, Aleksei Vronsky. Anna leaves the family in search of happiness to her beloved person. She has to take a very serious step in her life - to part with her son. The attitude of the high society towards her is changing. All this brings a lot of pain and humiliation to the main character. The tragic story of love and betrayal, the fate of a woman, for the sake of passion who decided to change her life irrevocably.

5.4

MagicScore

#12

Bel Ami

2012

Georges Duroy travels through 1890s Paris, from cockroach ridden garrets to opulent salons, using his wits and powers of seduction to rise from poverty to wealth, from a prostitute’s embrace to passionate trysts with wealthy beauties, in a world where politics and media jostle for influence, where sex is power and celebrity an obsession.

5.3

MagicScore

#13

Gabrielle

2005

Wealthy but arrogant writer Jean Hervey comes home one day to find that his wife, Gabrielle, has left him for another man. Realizing her mistake, Gabrielle returns, and the pair begin a merciless analysis of their marriage as the relationship comes undone.

5.5

MagicScore

#14

Les Misérables

2012

An adaptation of the successful stage musical based on Victor Hugo's classic novel set in 19th-century France. Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.

7.3

MagicScore

#15

Something in the Air

2012

During the 1970s a student named Gilles gets entangled in contemporary political turmoils although he would rather just be a creative artist. While torn between his solidarity to his friends and his personal ambitions he falls in love with Christine.

5.9

MagicScore

#16

Don't Worry, I'm Fine

2006

A 19-year-old searches for her twin brother after he runs away from home, following a fight with their father.

7.2

MagicScore

#17

The Song of Bernadette

1943

In 1858 Lourdes, France, adolescent peasant Bernadette has a vision of "a beautiful lady" in the Massabielle grotto - the townspeople assume this lady to be the Virgin Mary. Pompous government officials think the girl is insane, doing their best to suppress her and her followers, while the church wants nothing to do with the matter. But as Bernadette attracts wider and wider attention, the phenomenon overtakes everyone in the town, ultimately transforming their lives.

7.0

MagicScore

#18

La Ceremonie

1995

Sophie, a quiet and shy maid working for an upper-class French family, finds a friend in the energetic and uncompromising postmaster Jeanne, who encourages her to stand up against her bourgeois employers.

7.3

MagicScore

#19

Overlord

2018

France, June 1944. On the eve of D-Day, some American paratroopers fall behind enemy lines after their aircraft crashes while on a mission to destroy a radio tower in a small village near the beaches of Normandy. After reaching their target, the surviving paratroopers realise that, in addition to fighting the Nazi troops that patrol the village, they also must fight against something else.

6.7

MagicScore

#20

The Brothers Karamazov

1958

Ryevsk, Russia, 1870. Tensions abound in the Karamazov family. Fyodor is a wealthy libertine who holds his purse strings tightly. His four grown sons include Dmitri, the eldest, an elegant officer, always broke and at odds with his father, betrothed to Katya, herself lovely and rich. The other brothers include a sterile aesthete, a factotum who is a bastard, and a monk. Family tensions erupt when Dmitri falls in love with one of his father's mistresses, the coquette Grushenka. Two brothers see Dmitri's jealousy of their father as an opportunity to inherit sooner. Acts of violence lead to the story's conclusion: trials of honor, conscience, forgiveness, and redemption.

6.5

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Madame Bovary?

The top films similar to Madame Bovary by MovieMagicScore are Little Children (7.1), The Color Purple (7.0), Diary of a Chambermaid (7.1). Each shares drama/history/romance themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Madame Bovary worth watching?

Madame Bovary holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.3/10 from 142 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Madame Bovary?

Madame Bovary (1991) is a drama, history, romance film directed by Claude Chabrol, starring Isabelle Huppert, Jean-François Balmer, Christophe Malavoy.

Where can I find more recommendations like Madame Bovary?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more drama recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Little Children Movies like The Color Purple Movies like Diary of a Chambermaid Movies like The Family Movies like A Woman's Life Movies like Captain Fracasse

About movies like Madame Bovary

This ranked list pairs Madame Bovary (1991), a drama and history and romance film from Claude Chabrol, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Isabelle Huppert take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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