Movies Like A Whole Life

If you liked A Whole Life (2023), a drama and history movie directed by Hans Steinbichler, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
The Tasters (2025)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and history
In autumn 1943, in Gross-Partsch, 26-year-old Rosa, who had come from Berlin to stay with the parents of her husband Gregor, who was fighting on the Russian front, was taken by the SS to a mysterious place. Forced to…
2
Home from Home – Chronicle of a Vision (2013)
★ 7.8/10Also drama and history
Follow-up to the TV trilogy “Heimat”, this time for cinemas, set again in the fictional village Schabbach in the Hunsrück region of Rhineland-Palatinate.
3
Munich - The Edge of War (2021)
★ 6.9/10Also drama and history
At the tense 1938 Munich Conference, former friends who now work for opposing governments become reluctant spies racing to expose a Nazi secret.
4
Colonel Redl (1985)
★ 6.9/10Also drama and history
Set during the fading glory of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the film tells of the rise and fall of Alfred Redl, an ambitious young officer who proceeds up the ladder to become head of the Secret Police only to become…
5
The Dark Valley (2014)
★ 7/10Also drama
The Alps, late 19th century. Greider, a mysterious lone rider who claims to be a photographer, arrives at an isolated lumber village, despotically ruled by a family clan, asking for winter accommodation.
6
A Hidden Life (2019)
★ 7.2/10Also history and drama
Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter faces the threat of execution for refusing to fight for the Nazis during World War II.
7
Seven Years in Tibet (1997)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and history
Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer journeys to the Himalayas without his family to head an expedition in 1939. But when World War II breaks out, the arrogant Harrer falls into Allied forces' hands as a prisoner of…
8
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
★ 7.3/10Also drama and history
The film follows Kaspar Hauser, who lived the first seventeen years of his life chained in a tiny cellar with only a toy horse to occupy his time, devoid of all human contact except for a man who wears a black overcoat…
9
Mary (2024)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and history
A miraculous conception. A merciless king. A murderous pursuit. Mary's journey to give birth to Jesus unfolds in this biblical coming-of-age epic.
10
The German Lesson (2019)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
In a small North German village a drama played out during and shortly after the Second World War about duty versus individual conscience and morality.
11
Giant (2026)
★ 6.9/10Also drama and history
Follows Prince Naseem Hamed from his humble beginnings on the tough working-class streets of Sheffield and his discovery by Ingle, himself a steel industry worker turned boxing trainer. Their unlikely partnership…
12
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2011)
★ 6.1/10Also drama and history
A story set in 19th century China and centered on the lifelong friendship between two girls who develop their own secret code as a way to contend with the rigid cultural norms imposed on women.
13
Tenzing (2026)
★ 8.3/10Also drama and history
A determined man embarks on a high-stakes quest—and defies seemingly impossible odds—to fulfill his dream of being the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
14
Rommel (2012)
★ 6/10Also history and drama
The story of the final seven months in the life of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
15
The Invisibles (2017)
★ 7.1/10Also drama and history
Four young Jews survive the Third Reich in the middle of Berlin by living so recklessly that they become "invisible."
16
Clouds of Sils Maria (2014)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
A veteran actress comes face-to-face with an uncomfortable reflection of herself when she agrees to take part in a revival of the play that launched her career 20 years earlier.
17
Remember (2015)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
With the aid of a fellow Auschwitz survivor and a hand-written letter, an elderly man with dementia goes in search of the person responsible for the death of his family.
18
I Swear (2025)
★ 8.3/10Also drama and history
Diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome at 15, John Davidson navigates his way against the odds through troubled teenage years and into adulthood, finding inspiration in the kindness of others to discover his true purpose in…
19
September 5 (2024)
★ 7/10Also drama and history
During the 1972 Munich Olympics, an American sports broadcasting crew finds itself thrust into covering the hostage crisis involving Israeli athletes.
20
Mr. Turner (2014)
★ 6.6/10Also history and drama
Eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner lives his last 25 years with gusto and secretly becomes involved with a seaside landlady, while his faithful housekeeper bears an unrequited love for him.