Movies Like Frau Irene Besser
If you liked Frau Irene Besser (1961), a drama movie directed by John Olden, 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 German Lesson (2019)
★ 6.5/10Also dramaIn a small North German village a drama played out during and shortly after the Second World War about duty versus individual conscience and morality.
- 2

Someday We'll Tell Each Other Everything (2023)
★ 5.8/10Also dramaSet in a warm summer in 1990 in former East Germany, it follows a young woman who begins a relationship with a charismatic farmer who is twice her age.
- 3

The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
★ 7.4/10Also dramaMaria marries a young soldier in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. She must rely on her beauty and ambition to navigate the difficult post-war years alone.
- 4

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.
- 5

Bastard Out of Carolina (1996)
★ 7.1/10Also dramaA 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…
- 6

Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
★ 7.2/10Also dramaYoung teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even…
- 7

Eye of the Needle (1981)
★ 6.7/10Also dramaGreat Britain, 1944, during World War II. Relentlessly pursued by several MI5 agents, Henry Faber the Needle, a ruthless German spy in possession of vital information about D-Day, takes refuge on Storm Island, an…
- 8

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…
- 9

The Safety of Objects (2002)
★ 6.5/10Also dramaIn a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband…
- 10

Eleanor the Great (2025)
★ 6.8/10Also drama94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
- 11

The Kindness of Strangers (2019)
★ 6.4/10Also dramaClara and her two sons escape from her abusive husband with little more than their car and plan to start over in New York. After the car towed away, the family meets Alice, who gets them into an emergency shelter…
- 12

Georgetown (2019)
★ 5.9/10Also dramaUlrich Mott is an eccentric and versatile social climber with grandiose plans to affect United States foreign policy. Encouraged in his attempts by his strategically chosen (and much older) wife, the well-connected…
- 13

Paula (2016)
★ 6.3/10Also dramaPainting is an unacceptable vocation for a woman in provincial Germany in the year 1900, but budding artist Paula Becker is determined to make her own rules.
- 14

Girl in the Box (2016)
★ 6.7/10Also dramaThe true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
- 15

Nothing Personal (2009)
★ 6.5/10Also dramaAlone in her empty flat, from her window Anne observes the people passing by who nervously snatch up the personal belongings and pieces of furniture she has put out on the pavement. Her final gesture of taking a ring…
- 16

Alone in Berlin (2016)
★ 6.7/10Also dramaBerlin in June of 1940. While Nazi propaganda celebrates the regime’s victory over France, a kitchen-cum-living room in Prenzlauer Berg is filled with grief. Anna and Otto Quangel’s son has been killed at the front…
- 17

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.
- 18

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…
- 19

The Visit (1964)
★ 7.2/10Also dramaCarla Zachanassian had a child by Serge Miller as a teenager. When Serge refused to marry her, she was driven out of town. By her own wit and cunning, she has returned as a multi-millionaire for a visit. The town lays…
- 20

Alex of Venice (2015)
★ 5.9/10Also dramaAfter her stay-at-home husband leaves her, a workaholic lawyer finds that she is not completely up to the tasks of caring for her young son, ailing father and household all by herself.