Movies like Act of the Heart
If you like "Act of the Heart" you are looking for religious drama, bleak and melancholic movies about / with self destructing, obsession, faith, crisis of faith, female protagonist, clergy and character study themes of Drama genre shot in Canada.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps:
1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
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Act of the Heart (1970)
254
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
A woman's peculiar religious convictions lead her on a self-destructive path.
Style:
religious drama, bleak, melancholic, poignant, controversial, art house, independent film, tragic, period drama
Plot:
self destructing, obsession, faith, crisis of faith, female protagonist, clergy, character study, unrequited love, isolation, choir, catholicism, guilt, alienation, religion, catholic, urban, concert, loyalty, female nudity, religious fanatic, protestant, nudity, religious, nude, psychological drama ...
Time:
70s
Place:
montreal, canada
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Most similar movies to Act of the Heart
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out melancholic, bleak, art house and intense films with plots about character study, isolation, psychological drama, urban, alienation, female protagonist and obsession mostly in Drama genres. Some movies like Act of the Heart: The Sting of Death (1990), Agnus Dei (1997), DeAD (2013), Diary of a Sinner (1974), Almost a Man (1966). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
Miho and Toshio, putting their children and household at stake, duel for control in their degrading, middle-aged marriage.
Style:
intense, serious, bleak, melancholic, grim ...
Plot:
alienation, infidelity, domestic drama, character study, control, power struggle, obsession, manipulation, isolation, family conflict, claustrophobia, revenge ...
Time:
1950s
Similarity:
95%
113
Genre: Drama
Country: Denmark
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
The young girl Johanne is left by her mother at a solemn convent school. The school is a strange world to her, and when she feels unable to comply with the demands of faith she faces a difficult decision.
Style:
religious drama, bleak, art house, intense, period drama
Plot:
nun, convent, catholicism, religion, children, female protagonist, moral dilemma, young girl, catholic church, identity crisis, coming of age, sacrifice ...
Place:
denmark
Similarity:
79%
79
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
Patrick feels absolutely lonely when he decides to search for his supposable genitor after the suicide of his mother. He doesn’t have a plan, a goal or hopes. He just wants to meet the phantom that he thinks is the reason for his mother’s death.
Style:
existential, emotional, melancholic, independent film, art house ...
Plot:
grief, loneliness, isolation, identity crisis, character study, search for father, alienation, minimalism, intimate, regret, male protagonist, urban ...
Similarity:
73%
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
The revealing story of the shocking exploits of those who fulfill the most bizarre fantasies.
Style:
grindhouse, intense, controversial, disturbing, bleak ...
Plot:
pimp, sexploitation, suicide, self destructing, exploitation, desperation, moral ambiguity, loneliness, character study, alienation, obsession, mental illness ...
Similarity:
70%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
Jacques Perrin was awarded Best Actor at the 1966 Venice Film Festival for his gripping portrayal of a young writer's descent into madness. Alienated, neurotic, and plagued by guilt, Perrin retreats from reality, loses interest in work, and ...
Style:
art film, art house, melancholic, bleak, intense ...
Plot:
alienation, psychoanalysis, neurosis, mental illness, existentialism, guilt, family conflict, mental breakdown, identity crisis, isolation, domineering mother, electroshock therapy ...
Place:
italy
Similarity:
67%
Genre: Drama
Country: Portugal, France
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
Portugal, 1917. The country is experiencing a great political and social agitation and it is said that in Fatima the virgin appeared to three little shepherds.
Salomé, a young lady from the province, is one of the many girls who cheers Lisbon ...
Style:
thrilling, psychological, captivating, atmospheric, bleak ...
Plot:
religion, female protagonist, miraculous event, religious faith, belief in god, faith, christian faith, religious, moral ambiguity, female exploitation, prostitution, character study ...
Time:
year 1917
Place:
portugal
Similarity:
66%
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
Set within the super-rich jet-set society of Paris, Richard Harris portrays a man whose life is gradually being destroyed. From sexual trauma to financial disaster, he slowly descends into a world of insanity, perversion and finally the bottomless ...
Style:
dark, erotic drama, bleak, controversial, intense ...
Plot:
businessman, character study, driven mad, sexual dysfunction, mental breakdown, midlife crisis, high society, loneliness, troubled marriage, paranoia, jealousy, infidelity ...
Time:
year 1981
Place:
paris france
Similarity:
64%
432
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
Two men bond as one recovers from an attack and the other deals with the impending death of his grandmother.
Style:
religious drama, emotional, existential, intense, psychological ...
Plot:
friendship, loneliness, crisis of faith, christianity, spirituality, mourning, grief, compassion, character study, doubt, moral dilemma, soul searching ...
Time:
2000s
Place:
quebec
Similarity:
61%
Movie in collections
74
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 82 min.
Story:
An aging Roman Catholic Priest living contentedly at a Niagara Falls parish, receives a letter forcing his complacent life into a downward spiral.
Style:
sincere, serious, psychological, touching, realistic ...
Plot:
haunted by the past, clergy, introspection, moral dilemma, church, society, elderly, religions or cults, religion, catholic church, moral ambiguity, guilt ...
Similarity:
57%
2K
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
The film revolves around the life of Tarak, a foley artist of Bengali film. Tarak's job is to create ambient sounds for films, but, he gradually gets trapped in his own world, a world full of sound.
Style:
art house, thought provoking, serious, dramatic, melancholic ...
Plot:
character study, obsession, creative process, isolation, alienation, realism, intimate, family conflict, identity crisis, mental health, slow burn, slice of life ...
Place:
kolkata
Similarity:
54%
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
After the death of her father, Anne - a brilliant but emotionally unstable painter/ sculptor - returns from Switzerland to her home town in Quebec. Setting up a studio, she becomes obsessed with her work, to the extent that she grows farther and ...
Style:
independent film, art house, melancholic, intense, period piece ...
Plot:
artist, first lesbian experience, lgbt, female protagonist, creative process, bereavement, mourning, grief, obsession, painting, identity crisis, loneliness ...
Time:
80s
Place:
quebec, montreal, canada, switzerland
Similarity:
53%
236
Genre: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
After a brutal attack, a 19-year-old girl falls into a self-destructive cycle.
Style:
captivating, thrilling, suspenseful, psychological, tense ...
Plot:
rape, self destructing, female protagonist, rape victim, trauma, secret, life is a bitch, problem, social problems, violence, survival, isolation ...
Similarity:
51%
Genre: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
The first work from Fernando Franco revolves around Ana, a 30 year old ambulance driver. Though good at her job, Ana has problems relating in her personal life. She doesn't know it, but she suffers from a condition known by psychiatrists as ...
Style:
realistic, tense, serious, emotional, intense ...
Plot:
female protagonist, misfit, mentally unstable, life is a bitch, social misfits, borderline personality disorder, nervous breakdown, mental illness, self harm, character study, woman in danger, isolation ...
Time:
2010s, 21st century
Place:
spain, basque country
Similarity:
51%
113
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
Heidi M. is in her late forties and has a small store in the pulsating center of Berlin. She goes out in the evenings with her friend Jacqui, but when she is unexpectedly confronted with romantic love, old wounds are opened.
Style:
poignant, melancholic, art house, contemplative
Plot:
character study, female protagonist, longing, introspection, city life, urban, bittersweet, loneliness, desire, self discovery, confrontation, realism ...
Place:
berlin germany
Similarity:
46%
Genre: Drama
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 70 min.
Story:
Bart, a young film student slowly loses his mind while studying at the film academy. Based on a true story.
Style:
realistic, independent film, dark, bleak, emotional ...
Plot:
psychosis, hallucination, mental illness, mental breakdown, character study, delusion, coming of age, identity crisis, isolation, loneliness, self destructing, young adult ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
amsterdam
Similarity:
45%
163
Genre: Drama
Country: France, UK
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
A woman is on the verge of killing herself, in reverse.
Style:
dark, emotional, bleak, contemplative, independent film ...
Plot:
character study, existential crisis, self destructing, suicide, depression, desperation, mental health, actress, existentialism, mature, female protagonist, flashback ...
Time:
turn of the century
Similarity:
44%
Genre: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 111 min.
Story:
A mother finds it hard to believe that her son is convicted as a terrorist and is sent to gallows. Eventually, she loses her mental balance.
Style:
emotional, melancholic, bleak, intense, family saga ...
Plot:
mother, wrongful conviction, grief, tragedy, female protagonist, loss, motherhood, family tragedy, mother son relationship, mourning, insanity, mental breakdown ...
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama
Country: Denmark, Sweden
Duration: 83 min.
Story:
Doktor Glas finds himself attracted to a young woman, married to a corrupt clergyman. She's miserable in her marriage, so he agrees to help in anyway he can. But he is quickly torn between passion and morality. The story is based on the 1905 ...
Style:
melancholic, period piece, grim, noir, ambiguous ending ...
Plot:
ethical dilemma, obsession, forbidden love, character study, morality, adultery, guilt, desire, existential crisis, existentialism, sexual repression, romantic obsession ...
Time:
60s, 1900s, 20th century
Place:
stockholm sweden
Similarity:
42%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 81 min.
Story:
The people of this remote village in the Black Forest don't talk much, but when they do, it's in the Alemannic dialect. Hanna, 21 has traveled far to work here. She shovels manure, milks cows and tries to cope with the farmer, Uwe Kiefer, ...
Style:
art house, atmospheric, melancholic, independent film, bleak ...
Plot:
female protagonist, loneliness, character study, intimate, isolation, social realism, alienation, male protagonist, moral dilemma, secrets, financial ruin, mistrust ...
Place:
germany
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
The emotional inertia and chaos affecting a narcoleptic woman, a fatally ill writer and a doctor, and their attempts to escape from their dead-end situations.
Style:
existential, melancholic, surreal, art house, bleak ...
Plot:
narcolepsy, gay, illness, isolation, terminal illness, alienation, mortality, character study, relationships, minimalism, sexuality, identity ...
Place:
poland
Similarity:
42%
Genre: Drama
Country: Greece
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
It is the early 20th century on a dystopian Greek island. Hadoula, a widow who lost her husband, loannis Fragkos, at a young age, is a woman who has learned how to survive in a male-dominated and extremely patriarchal society. Hadoula carries a ...
Style:
melancholic, atmospheric, bleak, grim, tense ...
Plot:
female protagonist, greek island, guilt, moral ambiguity, redemption, literary, remote island, moral dilemma, religion, survival, isolation, widow ...
Time:
20th century
Similarity:
41%
Genre: Drama
Country: Switzerland, West Germany
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
Beautiful, detached, laconic, consumptive Lily Brest is a streetwalker with few clients. She loves her idle boyfriend Raoul who gambles away what little she earns. The town's power broker, called the rich Jew, discovers she is a good listener, ...
Style:
melancholic, bleak, art house, ambiguous ending, poignant
Plot:
prostitution, corruption, female protagonist, alienation, existentialism, minimalism, moral ambiguity, character study, small town, shadow, urban, bittersweet ...
Time:
70s
Similarity:
40%
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Story:
Eva auditions for a role in an obscure art-house film. An anonymous, masked director creates an intimidating atmosphere. He dominates and humiliates Eva, forcing her into prostitution. She sleeps with a Jewish film producer named Josh. When he ...
Style:
art house, disturbing, bleak, dark, tense ...
Plot:
manipulation, exploitation, control, abuse of power, humiliation, dehumanization, female protagonist, blackmail, sexploitation, intimidation, coercion, film industry ...
Similarity:
40%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 118 min.
Story:
In this French Canadian drama, the life of a paraplegic painter implodes when an old girlfriend comes back into his life and accuses him of raping her 15 years earlier.
Style:
emotional, psychological, melancholic, controversial, intense ...
Plot:
painter, guilt, introspection, character study, memory, moral ambiguity, flashback, artist, betrayal, male protagonist, identity crisis, isolation ...
Time:
90s
Similarity:
40%
146
Genre: Drama
Country: Austria
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
SUPERWORLD is a story about God and the world: a world whose heroine WORKS the till and a God we never see nor hear, but whose presence we feel throughout the film. Lead actress Ulrike Beimpold delivers a remarkable, moving performance as a woman ...
Style:
melancholic, ambiguous ending, slow cinema, surreal
Plot:
character study, existential crisis, middle aged woman, female protagonist, midlife crisis, isolation, hallucination, alienation, slow burn, minimalism, crisis of faith, small town ...
Place:
austria
Similarity:
39%
Genre: Drama
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
A brutal assault changes Marieke's life. She leaves her familiar city rhythms for the solitude of a isolated house in the countryside. Her irrational fears on the frozen farm are a constant struggle. As spring's orchestra begins, her ...
Style:
atmospheric, bleak, melancholic, contemplative, art house ...
Plot:
isolation, countryside, female protagonist, healing, solitude, dark past, slow burn, character study, resilience, minimalism, intimacy, rebirth ...
Similarity:
37%
Genre: Drama
Country: Norway
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
" Broder Gabrielsen " in its time awoke a major debate , and already during the shooting of the film went high waves in the press . The film points a strong warning against religious fanaticism and against contemporary preachers, and it ...
Style:
serious, bleak, dramatic, melancholic, intense ...
Plot:
religious fanaticism, ecstasy, social commentary, loss of faith, hypocrisy, faith healing, frustration, mass hysteria, skepticism, tragedy, manipulation, character study ...
Time:
60s
Place:
scandinavia
Similarity:
37%
Genre: Drama
Country: Estonia, France
Duration: 111 min.
Story:
After 27-year-old Karmen's father dies, the security structures of her previous life start falling apart, as her relationship with her half-brother Viktor also deteriorates, and she faces the darkness and emptiness of the universe.
Style:
psychological, melancholic, poignant, existential, dark ...
Plot:
grief, female protagonist, loss, dysfunctional family, mourning, young adult, character study, secrets, identity crisis, betrayal, isolation, trauma ...
Time:
2020s
Similarity:
36%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
A well-to-do London businesswoman gives up her comfortable life, including the man who loves her, to become a cloistered Benedictine nun.
Style:
religious drama, melancholic, period drama
Plot:
faith, abbess, sacrifice, introspection, commitment, spiritual journey, character study, monk, loss, identity crisis, platonic, celibacy ...
Time:
year 1970
Place:
london
Similarity:
35%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
1950s America. Since his mother‘s confinement to an institution, Andy has lived in the shadow of his stoic father. A family acquaintance, Dr. Wallace Fiennes, employs the introverted young man as a photographer to document an asylum tour ...
Style:
psychological, thrilling, captivating, melancholic, art house ...
Plot:
mental institution, cult leader, mental illness, illness, psychiatry, character study, ethical dilemma, doctor, social problems, unconventional method, moral ambiguity, alienation ...
Time:
1950s
Similarity:
35%
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