Movies Like Life and Nothing But (1989)

Life and Nothing But is a 1989 drama, war film from Bertrand Tavernier with a MovieMagicScore of 7.2/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with The Water Diviner and Defenders of Riga.

Drama War

The Water Diviner

2014

In 1919, Australian farmer Joshua Connor travels to Turkey to discover the fate of his three sons, reported missing in action. Holding on to hope, Joshua must travel across the war-torn landscape to find the truth and his own peace.

6.8

MagicScore

Defenders of Riga

2007

The film dramatizes November 11, 1919- a crucial date in the battle for Latvian independence. A year after the end of the official hostilities of WWI, a renegade German general and troops remain outside the Latvian capital. Latvian riflemen, most of them inexperienced volunteers, somehow managed to defeat a larger, better-armed force of German and Russian mercenaries.

5.7

MagicScore

Women in Love

1969

Growing up in the sheltered confines of a 1920s English coal-mining community, free-spirited sisters Gudrun and Ursula explore erotic love with a wealthy playboy and a philosophical educator, with cataclysmic results for all four.

6.5

MagicScore

The Razor's Edge

1984

An American WWI veteran undertakes a spiritual quest that takes him from Paris to Nepal to the Himalayas and back to his hometown. Upon his return, he discovers he is not the only one who has changed.

6.3

MagicScore

Mothering Sunday

2021

On a warm spring day in 1924, house maid and foundling Jane Fairchild finds herself alone on Mother's Day. Her employers, Mr. and Mrs. Niven, are out and she has the rare chance to spend quality time with her secret lover. Paul is the boy from the manor house nearby, Jane's long-term love despite the fact that he's engaged to be married to another woman, a childhood friend and daughter of his parents' friends. But events that neither can foresee will change the course of Jane's life forever.

5.4

MagicScore

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

2012

A fisheries expert is approached by a consultant to help realize a sheik's vision of bringing the sport of fly-fishing to the desert and embarks on an upstream journey of faith and fish to prove the impossible possible.

6.4

MagicScore

See You Up There

2017

In November 1918, a few days before the Armistice, when Lieutenant Pradelle orders a senseless attack, he causes a useless disaster; but his outrageous act also binds the lives of two soldiers who have nothing more in common than the battlefield: Édouard saves Albert, although at a high cost. They become companions in misfortune who will attempt to survive in a changing world. Pradelle, in his own way, does the same.

7.8

MagicScore

Arsenal

1929

A soldier returns to Kyiv after surviving a train crash and encounters clashes between nationalists and collectivists. The story of the suppression of the Bolshevik uprising at the Arsenal factory in Kyiv by the Central Council troops.

6.7

MagicScore

Private Peaceful

2012

Set in the fields of Devon and the WW1 battlefields of Flanders, two brothers fall for the same girl while contending with the pressures of their feudal family life, the war, and the price of courage and cowardice.

6.6

MagicScore

#10

None Shall Escape

1944

Through flashbacks going as far back as the end of WW1, the story of a Nazi war criminal is exposed during his trial.

6.3

MagicScore

#11

March or Die

1977

Just after World War I, Major Foster is incorporating new recruits into his French Foreign Legion platoon when he is sent to his former remote outpost located in the French Morocco to protect an archaeological excavation from El Krim, a Rifian leader who intends to unite all local tribes to fight the colonial government…

5.8

MagicScore

#12

The Girl with the Needle

2024

Struggling to survive in post-WWI Copenhagen, a newly unemployed and pregnant young woman is taken in by a charismatic elder to help run an underground adoption agency. The two form an unexpected bond, until a sudden discovery changes everything.

7.6

MagicScore

#13

Frantz

2016

In the aftermath of WWI, a young German who grieves the death of her fiancé in France meets a mysterious French man who visits the fiance’s grave to lay flowers.

7.4

MagicScore

#14

The Joyless Street

1925

In 1921, we follow two women - Marie and Grete - from the same poor Viennese neighborhood, as they try to better the lives of themselves and their families during the period of Austrian postwar hyperinflation.

6.7

MagicScore

#15

Pack Up Your Troubles

1932

The story begins in 1917 with Stan and Ollie being drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in World War I. While in the Army, the pair befriend a man named Eddie Smith, who is killed by the enemy during a battle. After the war is over, Stan and Ollie venture to New York City, where they begin a quest to reunite Eddie's little daughter with her rightful family. The task proves both monumental and problematic as the boys discover just how many people in New York have the last name Smith.

6.7

MagicScore

#16

The Murdered House

1988

After World War I, a young ex-soldier, Sébastien Monge, returns to his home village. Ignorant of his past, he learns that, 24 years before, his entire family was slain in their home one stormy night. Only Sébastien, then a four-month old baby, was spared. Whilst Sébastien is being seduced by Charmaine, Dupin is killed by someone else. Sébastien’s next victim, the miller Didon Pujol, is also murdered before he has a chance to take his revenge. Sébastien realises that someone is watching his every move and is going to extraordinary lengths to protect him. But who, and why..?

6.6

MagicScore

#17

Sweet Land

2005

Set in 1920, Inge travels from Germany to rural Minnesota in order to meet the man destined to be her husband.

6.3

MagicScore

#18

WAR

2023

A war veteran tells his personal experience in “The War” to a psychiatrist, as a part of a social experiment. But nothing is as it seems…

9.4

MagicScore

#19

Grave of the Fireflies

1988

In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.

8.4

MagicScore

#20

Apocalypse Now

1979

At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.

8.3

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Life and Nothing But?

The top films similar to Life and Nothing But by MovieMagicScore are The Water Diviner (6.8), Defenders of Riga (5.7), Women in Love (6.5). Each shares drama/war themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Life and Nothing But worth watching?

Life and Nothing But holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.2/10 from 86 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is Life and Nothing But?

Life and Nothing But (1989) is a drama, war film directed by Bertrand Tavernier, starring Philippe Noiret, Sabine Azéma, Pascale Vignal.

Where can I find more recommendations like Life and Nothing But?

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 The Water Diviner Movies like Defenders of Riga Movies like Women in Love Movies like The Razor's Edge Movies like Mothering Sunday Movies like Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

About movies like Life and Nothing But

This ranked list pairs Life and Nothing But (1989), a drama and war film from Bertrand Tavernier, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Philippe Noiret 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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