Movies Like Castle of the Banned Lovers
If you liked Castle of the Banned Lovers (1956), a drama movie directed by Riccardo Freda, 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

Gioia (2026)
★ 6.8/10Also dramaGioia is a high school teacher who has never known any other love than the oppressive bond with her own parents, with whom she still lives. One of the students at her school, Alessio, is cashing in on his own body to…
- 2

Things We Don't Say (2026)
★ 6.9/10Also dramaCarlo and Elisa are a successful couple. He’s a university professor and writer facing a creative block; she’s a brilliant, sharp-witted journalist, known for her internationally published editorials. They live in…
- 3

A Daughter (2025)
★ 6.4/10Also dramaA middle-aged man, Pietro, becomes a widower and must take care of his daughter. He will never have the time to delve into his own pain, committing himself to raising his daughter with love and dedication, in an…
- 4

What Maisie Knew (2013)
★ 7.1/10Also dramaIn New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new…
- 5

Oedipus Rex (1967)
★ 6.8/10Also dramaIn pre-war Italy, a young couple have a baby boy. The father, however, is jealous of his son - and the scene moves to antiquity, where the baby is taken into the desert to be killed. He is rescued, given the name…
- 6

My Tennis Maestro (2025)
★ 6.3/10Also dramaItaly, 1989. After years of hard training, 13-year-old Felice, carrying his father's expectations on his shoulders, finally sets out to compete in the national tennis tournaments. While dreaming of a simple summer…
- 7

The Young One (1960)
★ 7/10Also dramaA jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
- 8

A Chiara (2021)
★ 6.8/10Also dramaThe Guerrasio family and friends gather to celebrate Claudio and Carmela’s oldest daughter’s 18th birthday. There is a healthy rivalry between the birthday girl and her 15-year-old sister Chiara as they compete on the…
- 9

The Conspiracy of Torture (1969)
★ 6.3/10Also dramaIn 1599 Italy, Beatrice Cenci is the teenage daughter of the crazed landowner and nobleman Francesco Cenci who keeps her locked up in the dungeon of his castle where he sexually abuses her. Beatrice plots with her…
- 10

Holy Lands (2019)
★ 6.1/10Also dramaWhen lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife…
- 11

The Mass Is Ended (1985)
★ 7.4/10Also dramaYoung Father Giulio returns to Rome, where he was born and raised, to replace a priest who has left the clergy to start a family. He is delighted to reunite with his loved ones, especially his mother, sister, and old…
- 12

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
★ 7.3/10Also dramaMiddle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal…
- 13

Nostalgia (2022)
★ 6.8/10Also dramaFelice returns to his native Rione Sanità in Naples to look after his dying mother, having lived abroad for the last forty years. Here he discovers that his old friend Oreste has become a notorious crimeboss.
- 14

Five Seconds (2025)
★ 6.7/10Also dramaAdriano is a middle-aged man living in a dilapidated villa in Tuscany, when a group of young idealistic students arrives to restore the villa's vineyards.
- 15

Hungry Hearts (2015)
★ 6.5/10Also dramaThe relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.
- 16

Misunderstood (2014)
★ 6.2/10Also dramaRome, 1984, Aria is nine-year-old girl. On the verge of divorce, Aria's infantile and selfish parents are too preoccupied with their careers and extra-marital affairs to properly tend to any of Aria's needs. While her…
- 17

The Raffle (1991)
★ 6.9/10Also dramaStruggling with a financial crisis, a good-looking widow decides to put herself up for grabs. However, going through with it becomes almost impossible with a new love and the legal system thrown into the mix.
- 18

Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979)
★ 7.2/10Also dramaIn the fascist Italy of 1935, a painter trained as a doctor is exiled to a remote region near Eboli. Over time, he learns to appreciate the beauty and wisdom of the peasants, and to overcome his isolation.
- 19

5 Is the Perfect Number (2019)
★ 6.3/10Also dramaPeppino, a retired hitman for the Camorra, has now fully passed on his job and know-how to his single son, Nino. But when Nino is brutally assassinated, the old man is back in business to take revenge. Aside his…
- 20

Skin (2009)
★ 6.4/10Also dramaBased on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.