Movies like A Pure Formality
If you like "A Pure Formality" you are looking for psychological, surprise ending and atmospheric movies about / with memory loss, investigation, afterlife, suicide, murder, uncover truth and mind game themes of Crime, Drama and Thriller genre shot in Italy or France.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps:
1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
2. Look for them in the presented list.
A Pure Formality (1994)
12K
Original name: Una pura formalità
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
Onoff (Depardieu,) is a famous writer, now a recluse. The Inspector (Polanski,) is suspicious when Onoff is brought into the station one night, disoriented and suffering a kind of amnesia. In an isolated, rural police station, the Inspector tries to establish the events surrounding a killing, to reach a startling resolution.
Style:
psychological, surprise ending, atmospheric, serious, tense, talky, twist ending, art house, twisted, enigmatic ...
Plot:
memory loss, investigation, afterlife, suicide, murder, uncover truth, mind game, twists and turns, interrogation, murder mystery, death, all male cast, prison escape, writers, jail, law enforcement, police station, purgatory, catastrophe, prison, artist, loneliness, life, depression, obsession ...
Time:
90s
Place:
tokyo, italy
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to A Pure Formality
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out serious, enigmatic, thought provoking and weird films with plots about storytelling, obsession, suspense, murder, mentor, twists and turns and dialogue mostly in Drama, Thriller and Crime genres. Some movies like A Pure Formality: Under Suspicion (2000), Deceiver (1997), The Tenant (1976), The Best Offer (2013), The Interview (1998). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Subscribe for new and better recommendations:
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France, USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
A lawyer is asked to come to the police station to clear up a few loose ends in his witness report of a foul murder. "This will only take ten minutes", they say, but it turns out to be one loose end after another, and the ten minutes he is ...
Style:
twist ending, suspenseful, psychological, talky, tense ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
lawyer, serial killer, rape, police investigation, suspense, murder, murder mystery, twists and turns, psychology, investigation, mind game, flashback ...
Time:
20th century, 90s
Place:
puerto rico, latin america
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
The gruesome death of a prostitute brings suspicion on one of her clients, James Wayland, a brilliant, self-destructive and epileptic heir to a textile fortune. So detectives Braxton and Kennesaw take Wayland in for questioning, thinking they can ...
Style:
surprise ending, psychological, suspenseful, talky, clever ...
Plot:
murder, police investigation, twists and turns, investigation, guilt, mind game, suspense, law enforcement, prostitute, brutality, dishonesty, rivalry ...
Time:
20th century, 90s
Place:
usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 126 min.
Story:
A quiet and inconspicuous man (Trelkovsky) rents an apartment in France where the previous tenant committed suicide, and begins to suspect his landlord and neighbors are trying to subtly change him into the last tenant so that he too will kill ...
Style:
psychological, surreal, scary, atmospheric, disturbing ...
Plot:
surrealism, paranoia, insanity, suspense, bruce lee, dark humor, nightmare, apartment building, mental illness, hallucination, suicide, conspiracy ...
Time:
70s, 20th century
Place:
paris france, france, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: Italy
Duration: 131 min.
Story:
Virgil Oldman is a world renowned antiques expert and auctioneer. An eccentric genius, he leads a solitary life, going to extreme lengths to keep his distance from the messiness of human relationships. When appointed by the beautiful but emotionally ...
Style:
surprise ending, twist ending, psychological, enigmatic, atmospheric ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
twists and turns, loneliness, art collector, art, art theft, deception, collector, solitude, obsession, adult virgin, mysterious character, age difference ...
Time:
18th century, 21st century
Place:
vienna, prague, europe, italy
⇓ similarity ⇓
75%
Movie in collections
Genre: Thriller, Crime, Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
A duel between a suspected murderer and a detective pressed by people who want results. But whose skin is really wanted.
Style:
clever, surprise ending, dark, psychological, tense ...
Plot:
serial killer, suspense, obsession, police, manipulation, police investigation, twists and turns, mind game, psychology, guilt, greed, gangsters ...
Time:
20th century, 90s
Place:
australia, oceania
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
Also search:
Nightcrawler related movies
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Duration: 157 min.
Story:
In the rural area around the Anatolian town of Keskin, the local prosecutor, police commissar, and doctor lead a search for a victim of a murder to whom a suspect named Kenan and his mentally challenged brother confessed. However, the search is ...
Style:
atmospheric, meditative, art house, disturbing, thought provoking ...
Plot:
police investigation, murder, suspense, brutality, character study, twists and turns, isolation, road trip, forensics, everyday life, law enforcement, introspection ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
middle east, turkey
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Denmark
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
Fisher, an ex-detective, decides to take one final case when a mysterious serial killer claims the lives of several young girls. Fisher, unable to find the culprit, turns to Osbourne, a writer who was once respected for his contributions to the ...
Style:
surreal, bleak, art house, psychological, neo noir ...
Plot:
serial killer, murder, police investigation, hypnosis, surrealism, mentor, distopia, society, memory loss, psychoanalysis, nude, amnesia ...
Time:
future
Place:
middle east, cairo egypt, europe, africa, egypt
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min.
Story:
A proud strip club owner is forced to come to terms with himself as a man, when his gambling addiction gets him in hot water with the mob, who offer him only one alternative.
Style:
neo noir, art house, atmospheric, cerebral, cynical ...
Plot:
gangsters, gambling, murder, nightclub, mafia, gambling debt, female nudity, hitman, strip club, crime gone awry, paranoid, dark humor ...
Time:
20th century, 70s
Place:
california, usa, los angeles, texas
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
Movie in collections
18K
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
Sebastian, a young man, has decided to follow instructions intended for someone else, without knowing where they will take him. Something else he does not know is that Gerard Dorez, a cop on a knife-edge, is tailing him. When he reaches his ...
Style:
disturbing, psychological, tense, atmospheric, bleak ...
Plot:
overdose, murder, suspense, life is a bitch, visceral, depression, reward, contests and competitions, social decay, fish out of water, survival, sacrifice ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
france, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, UK, France
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
A man wakes up in an alley, bleeding and with no memory of who he is. He stumbles into a coffee shop and is befriended by a charitable ex-nun who is failing in her attempts to write marketable pornography.
Style:
art house, clever, humorous, sexy, erotic ...
Plot:
redemption, amnesia, sexual abuse, twists and turns, distopia, poetry, greed, mission from god, melancholy, catastrophe, eccentricity, destiny ...
Time:
90s
Place:
new york, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
Also search:
Films like No Country for Old Men
17K
Genre: Crime, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 111 min.
Story:
A wave of gruesome murders is sweeping Tokyo. The only connection is a bloody X carved into the neck of each of the victims. In each case, the murderer is found near the victim and remembers nothing of the crime. Detective Takabe and psychologist ...
Style:
psychological, atmospheric, scary, tense, enigmatic ...
Plot:
serial killer, murder, investigation, amnesia, hallucination, hypnosis, interrogation, murder mystery, mind control, stranger, psychosis, police detective ...
Time:
90s
Place:
japan, tokyo, asia, okinawa japan
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA, UK, France
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
The tale of two brothers with serious financial woes. When a third party proposes they turn to crime, things go bad and the two become enemies.
Style:
tense, suspenseful, sexy, disturbing, talky ...
Plot:
murder, suspense, twists and turns, gambling, redemption, debt, investigation, loser, siblings relations, moral dilemma, gangsters, hitman ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
london, england, brighton
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
32K
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
On his sprawling country estate, an aging writer matches wits with the struggling actor who has stolen his wife's heart.
Style:
psychological, intellectual, talky, witty, suspenseful ...
Plot:
manipulation, riddles and clues, rivalry, age difference, twists and turns, divorce, brutality, greed, verbal byplay, infidelity, dishonesty, mistaken identity ...
Place:
united kingdom, britain, england
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
Genre: Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Thriller
Country: USA, Italy, UK
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
An Italian diplomat's son follows and seduces English lovers in Venice.
Style:
erotic, psychological, atmospheric, suspenseful, sexy ...
Plot:
suspense, couples, love and romance, couple relations, obsession, macabre, erotica, relationships, runaway, crime gone awry, screwball, writers ...
Time:
80s
Place:
venice, italy, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
22%
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 91 min.
Story:
Brad (Michael Shannon) has committed murder and barricaded himself inside his house. With the help of his friends and neighbours, the cops piece together the strange tale of how this nice young man arrived at such a dark place; Based on a true ...
Style:
psychological, atmospheric, stylized, serious, realistic ...
Plot:
mental illness, murder, psychopath, obsession, crazy, paranoia, memory, family relations, family problems, law enforcement, delusion, parents and children ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
california, new orleans, peru, usa, san diego california
⇓ similarity ⇓
22%
Also search:
Films like The Silence of the Lambs
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 84 min.
Story:
Jacek climbs into the taxi driven by Waldemar, tells him to drive to a remote location, then brutally strangles him, seemingly without motive.
Style:
disturbing, thought provoking, bleak, sexy, psychological ...
Plot:
lawyer, murder, prison, death, death sentence, fighting the system, politics, legal, death row, courtroom drama, violence, guilt ...
Time:
80s, year 1987, year 1988
Place:
california, eastern europe, poland, warsaw poland
⇓ similarity ⇓
22%
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Mexico
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
A suspense thriller about a reporter from Miami who travels to Ecuador in pursuit of a serial killer known as the "Monster of Babahoyo."
Style:
psychological, tense, suspenseful, thought provoking, atmospheric ...
Audience:
girls' night
Plot:
serial killer, investigation, journalism, media, psychopath, obsession, insanity, greed, uncover truth, ambition, journalist, reporter ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
ecuador, latin america, florida, new jersey, miami ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
22%
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
A chief of detectives, homicide section, commits a murder and deliberately leaves clues to prove his own responsibility for the crime.
Style:
surreal, tense, bleak, psychological, atmospheric ...
Plot:
murder, politics, police investigation, police, satire, courtroom drama, extramarital affair, legal, law enforcement, life is a bitch, protagonist as suspect, legal investigation ...
Time:
20th century, 70s
Place:
italy, rome italy, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
22%
Movie in collections
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
The Butcher (known from Noe's short film Carne) has done some time in jail after beating up the guy who tried to seduce his teenage mentally-handicapped daughter. Now he wants to start a new life. He leaves his daughter in an institution and ...
Style:
depressing, psychological, disturbing, controversial, bleak ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
incest, alienation, butcher, loneliness, insanity, revenge, nihilism, violent, obsession, existentialism, misfit, character on the edge ...
Time:
20th century, 80s
Place:
paris france, france, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
21%
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: West Germany, France
Duration: 128 min.
Story:
Tom Ripley, who deals in forged art, suggests a picture framer he knows would make a good hit man.
Style:
neo noir, suspenseful, atmospheric, talky, bleak ...
Plot:
murder, gangsters, assassination, friendship, hitman, betrayal, art, forgery, loneliness, police investigation, good versus evil, race against time ...
Time:
20th century, 70s, year 1976
Place:
paris france, germany, new york, hamburg germany, texas ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
21%
Also search:
Movies similar to The Usual Suspects
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
Frank Perry is an institutionalized convict twelve years into a life sentence without parole. When his estranged daughter falls ill, he is determined to make peace with her before it's too late. He develops an ingenious escape plan, and ...
Style:
tense, harsh, rough, suspenseful, atmospheric ...
Plot:
prison escape, prison, escape, tragedy, brutality, survival, existentialism, loneliness, twists and turns, prison life, fugitives, going straight ...
Place:
london, england, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
21%
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
An unlikely friendship between a dour, working class butcher and a repressed schoolteacher coincides with a grisly series of Ripper-type murders in a provincial French town.
Style:
suspenseful, neo noir, cynical, psychological, atmospheric ...
Plot:
serial killer, murder, investigation, women, small town, obsession, wedding, art, vietnam veteran, french, existentialism, melancholy ...
Time:
60s, 20th century
Place:
france, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
21%
31K
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min.
Story:
Five men wake up in a locked-down warehouse with no memory of who they are. They are forced to figure out who is good and who is bad to stay alive.
Style:
psychological, surprise ending, suspenseful, disturbing, tricky ...
Plot:
memory loss, twists and turns, confined, kidnapping, amnesia, murder, hostage, suspense, loss of friend, suicide, survival, dishonesty ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
21%
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 111 min.
Story:
The Film takes place in Paris, where two cops are competing for the vacant seat of chief of police while in the middle of a search for a gang of violent thieves. The movie is directed by Olivier Marchal, a former police officer who spent 12 years ...
Style:
rough, tense, realistic, suspenseful, serious ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
twists and turns, rivalry, vengeance, betrayal, police corruption, organized crime, gang, investigation, violence, gangsters, police investigation, police ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
france, paris france, europe, rio de janeiro
⇓ similarity ⇓
20%
43K
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story:
A naive young man assumes a dead man's identity and finds himself embroiled in an underground world of power, violence, and chance where men gamble behind closed doors on the lives of other men.
Style:
bleak, psychological, tense, serious, disturbing ...
Plot:
russian roulette, greed, gambling, game of death, organized crime, murder, survival, fish out of water, suspense, twists and turns, life is a bitch, society ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
new york, pennsylvania, delaware, grand central station manhattan new york city, midwest ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
20%
Also search:
Films like Fracture
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
Julie Kohler is prevented from suicide by her mother. She leaves the town. She will track down, charm and kill five men who do not know her. What is her goal ? What is her purpose?
Style:
neo noir, stylized, sexy, perverse, bloody ...
Plot:
revenge, justice, serial killer, murder, wedding, femme fatale, death, betrayal, police investigation, adultery, assassination, runaway ...
Time:
60s, 20th century
Place:
france, paris france, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
20%
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
London of the late 19th century is a haven for political exiles of all sorts - refugees, partisans, anarchists. Verloc has made his living spying for the Russian goverment, an agent provacateur of sorts, while simultaneously providing information to ...
Style:
psychological, harsh, realistic, suspenseful, serious ...
Plot:
spy, terrorism, betrayal, politics, bomb, murder mystery, police inspector, conspiracy, russian, secret agents, sabotage, state affairs ...
Time:
19th century, victorian era, 1930s, 1880s, 18th century
Place:
london, england, scotland, europe, russia
⇓ similarity ⇓
20%
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
Brothers Vincent (rich) and Clay (poor) meet up for the first time after their father's funeral and remark on how similar they look. But unknown to Clay, who thinks his life is taking a turn for the better, Vince is actually plotting to kill ...
Style:
surreal, neo noir, psychological, stylized, sexy ...
Plot:
betrayal, brothers, amnesia, twins, memory loss, adultery, police investigation, doppelganger, greed, catastrophe, sexualized violence, secrets ...
Time:
20th century, 90s
Place:
california, new jersey
⇓ similarity ⇓
19%
397K
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain, France, UK, USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
The Machinist is the story of Trevor Reznik, a lathe-operator who is dying of insomnia. In a machine shop, occupational hazards are bad enough under normal circumstances; yet for Trevor the risks are compounded by fatigue. Trevor has lost the ...
Style:
psychological, twist ending, surreal, surprise ending, mind bending ...
Plot:
insanity, insomnia, hallucination, uncover truth, paranoia, obsession, twists and turns, mysterious character, suspense, losing-it hero, loneliness, schizophrenia ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
usa, los angeles
⇓ similarity ⇓
19%
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
Michael Chambers has come home to Austin, Texas. To the mother who's starting a new life and the brother driven by old jealousies. To the places he remembers and the memories he can't forget. And to Rachel, the woman he married and then ...
Style:
neo noir, erotic, suspenseful, stylized, sexy ...
Plot:
heist, love triangle, betrayal, twists and turns, gambling, hospital, writers, art, killer, truck, morality, casino ...
Time:
90s
Place:
usa, texas
⇓ similarity ⇓
19%
Subscribe for new and better recommendations:
Related movie lists
