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Movies Like The Sweet Sounds of Life

If you liked The Sweet Sounds of Life (1999), a drama movie directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci, 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. 1Small Body

    Small Body (2022)

    ★ 6.9/10Also drama

    A young woman in early-1900s Italy searches for a mystical sanctuary where her stillborn child can be brought back to life long enough to be baptized.

  2. 2A Daughter

    A Daughter (2025)

    ★ 6.4/10Also drama

    A 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…

  3. 3What Maisie Knew

    What Maisie Knew (2013)

    ★ 7.1/10Also drama

    In 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…

  4. 4Paternal Leave

    Paternal Leave (2025)

    ★ 6.4/10Also drama

    Torn between longing and anger, 15-year-old Leo travels to the coast of northern Italy to meet her biological father. The two are complete strangers to each other. They struggle to find truth, affinity, love and the…

  5. 5Everything's Gonna Be Alright

    Everything's Gonna Be Alright (2020)

    ★ 7.2/10Also drama

    Bruno Salvati is a director of little success, fresh from the separation from his wife Anna with whom he had two children, the twenty-year-old Adele and the seventeen-year-old Tito. Following a sudden illness, Bruno is…

  6. 6The Raffle

    The Raffle (1991)

    ★ 6.9/10Also drama

    Struggling 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.

  7. 7The Children Are Watching Us

    The Children Are Watching Us (1943)

    ★ 7.6/10Also drama

    In his first collaboration with renowned screenwriter and longtime partner Cesare Zavattini, Vittorio De Sica examines the cataclysmic consequences of adult folly on an innocent child. Heralding the pair’s subsequent…

  8. 8Things We Don't Say

    Things We Don't Say (2026)

    ★ 6.9/10Also drama

    Carlo 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…

  9. 9100 Sundays

    100 Sundays (2023)

    ★ 6.7/10Also drama

    Antonio, a former shipyard worker, leads a mild and peaceful life: he plays bowls with friends, takes care of his elderly mother, has an ex-wife with whom he is on excellent terms and Emilia, his only and beloved…

  10. 10Misunderstood

    Misunderstood (2014)

    ★ 6.2/10Also drama

    Rome, 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…

  11. 11Skin

    Skin (2009)

    ★ 6.4/10Also drama

    Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.

  12. 12Red Like the Sky

    Red Like the Sky (2006)

    ★ 7.7/10Also drama

    A nearly sightless boy is sent to a school for blind children, where he secretly discovers the possibilities of the recorded sound.

  13. 13Gioia

    Gioia (2026)

    ★ 6.8/10Also drama

    Gioia 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…

  14. 14The Mass Is Ended

    The Mass Is Ended (1985)

    ★ 7.4/10Also drama

    Young 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…

  15. 15A Chiara

    A Chiara (2021)

    ★ 6.8/10Also drama

    The 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…

  16. 16Strange Weather

    Strange Weather (2016)

    ★ 5.9/10Also drama

    Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.

  17. 17Holy Lands

    Holy Lands (2019)

    ★ 6.1/10Also drama

    When 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…

  18. 18Hands of Stone

    Hands of Stone (2016)

    ★ 6.6/10Also drama

    The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.

  19. 19Bastard Out of Carolina

    Bastard Out of Carolina (1996)

    ★ 7.1/10Also drama

    A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as…

  20. 20Herself

    Herself (2020)

    ★ 6.7/10Also drama

    Struggling to provide her daughters with a safe, happy home, Sandra decides to build one - from scratch. Using all her ingenuity to make her ambitious dream a reality, Sandra draws together a community to lend a…

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