Movies like Those Who Pay with Their Lives

If you like "Those Who Pay with Their Lives" you are looking for bleak, serious and melancholic movies about / with justice, suicide, journalism, existential crisis, character study, obsession and father son relationship themes of Drama and Romance genre shot in Romania.
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.
Those Who Pay with Their Lives (1989)
 7.0
 122
Those Who Pay with Their Lives (1989)
Original name: Cei care plătesc cu viața
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Romania
Duration: 102 min.
Story: An uncompromising journalist obsessed with the idea of absolute justice ends up committing suicide after reading his father's biography.
Style: bleak, serious, melancholic, philosophical, art house, tragic ending, atmospheric, period drama
Plot: justice, suicide, journalism, existential crisis, character study, obsession, father son relationship, alienation, existentialism, introspection, tragic hero, moral ambiguity, literary, memory, male protagonist, identity crisis, adaptation, nihilism, urban, flashback, love, female nudity, journalist, unrequited love, wealth ...
Time: 80s, post world war one
Place: bucharest

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Most similar movies to Those Who Pay with Their Lives

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out melancholic, art house, atmospheric and psychological films with plots about psychological drama, obsession, moral ambiguity, urban, character study, identity crisis and alienation mostly in Drama, Romance and History genres. Some movies like Those Who Pay with Their Lives: Sunstroke (2014), Moon Hotel Kabul (2018), A Very Unsettled Summer (2013), Golden Horseshoes (1989), Story of an Unknown Man (1980). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
 5.8
 1K
Sunstroke (2014)
Genre: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Russia
Duration: 175 min.
Story: In a Crimean filtration camp, after the evacuation of the White Army, an unnamed captain is haunted by memories of a brief romance as he tries to understand how the Russian Empire fell apart and who is to blame.
Style: captivating, atmospheric, melancholic, bleak, existential ...
Plot: unrequited love, one night stand, russian civil war, literary, imperial russia, relationship problems, love interest, male female relationship, empire, relationships, unfulfilled love, love affair ...
Time: 1920s
Place: crimea, soviet union, russia
Similarity:
95%
Moon Hotel Kabul (2018)
Genre: Drama
Country: Romania, France
Duration: 100 min.
Story: Ivan Semciuc (a journalist), is a charismatic man nonetheless guilty of cynicism and lack of compassion. A seemingly meaningless sexual encounter with a translator in a hotel room in Kabul produces a vital revolution in Ivan’s unshakeable ...
Style: melancholic, existential, art house, surreal, moody
Plot: death, guilt, loneliness, grief, regret, loss, memory, mourning, hotel, obsession, suicide, mature ...
Place: bucharest, afghanistan
Similarity:
86%
A Very Unsettled Summer (2013)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Romania, Sweden, UK, Czech Republic
Duration: 98 min.
Story: A man becomes lured into a fictional game his ex-girlfriend has initiated. Sexually ensnared by her, and now realizing the fragility of the border between the real and the imagined, he begins to unravel. He convinces himself that if he can only ...
Style: psychological thriller, art house, metafiction, ambiguous ending, erotic drama ...
Plot: summer, manipulation, obsession, mind game, moral ambiguity, sexual tension, obsessive love, mature, identity crisis, jealousy, guilt, existentialism ...
Place: eastern europe, bucharest
Similarity:
81%
Golden Horseshoes (1989)
Genre: Drama
Country: Tunisia, France
Duration: 104 min.
Story: Youssef Soltane, a 45-year-old Tunisian intellectual, is the product of a generation that lived the era of euphoria and great ideologies in the sixties, and their subsequent failure. He was incarcerated and tortured for his political opinions. ...
Style: melancholic, bleak, art house, political drama
Plot: introspection, existential crisis, political repression, character study, social commentary, identity crisis, isolation, alienation, nostalgia, moral ambiguity, class conflict, reflection ...
Time: 80s
Place: tunisia
Similarity:
81%
Movie in collections
Story of an Unknown Man (1980)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 100 min.
Story: Based on a short story by Anton Chekhov, this drama centers around a desire for revenge and the tragedy of a star-crossed love. After a general ruins some men under him in punishment for a rebellion, a friend of the broken men vows revenge. The ...
Style: poignant, historical drama, atmospheric, melancholic, art house ...
Plot: literary, tuberculosis, revenge, tragic romance, class conflict, russian empire, adaptation, tragic hero, moral dilemma, family tragedy, social injustice, illicit affair ...
Time: 19th century
Similarity:
74%
Redemption of a Broken Mind (2015)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Mexico
Duration: 114 min.
Story: Fausto is destined to live the suicide of his beloved wife. After this tragic event, he’s inexplicably given the opportunity to travel back in time and change the faith of the woman who he loves.
Style: emotional, melancholic, dark, bleak, contemplative ...
Plot: grief, loss, redemption, guilt, regret, mourning, suicide, travel, tragic romance, fate, second chance, haunting ...
Similarity:
69%
A Fool's Love (2025)
Genre: Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 105 min.
Story: Kawai Joji, an aspiring screenwriter who has won a screenplay competition but has yet to make his professional debut, meets a beautiful woman, Naomi, in a rundown bar one day. Naomi says she is working at the bar while aiming to become an actress. ...
Style: melancholic, art house, sensual, indie film, moody
Plot: adaptation, literary, screenwriter, character study, infatuation, creative block, male female relationship, filmmaking, obsession, male protagonist, urban, femme fatale ...
Similarity:
65%
 6.8
 27
Chroma (2022)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Switzerland, Belgium
Duration: 92 min.
Story: To avoid facing her heavy past, a young woman with a borderline personality tries to seduce her strange neighbor. A singular love story between these two lonely and wounded souls is born, but will it be enough to save them from themselves?
Style: psychological, thrilling, captivating, emotional, romantic drama ...
Plot: seduction, relationships, male female relationship, troubled past, neighbor, attempted seduction, neighbor neighbor relationship, couple relations, love affair, tragic past, female protagonist, confronting the past ...
Similarity:
62%
Movie in collections
 7.4
 1K
The Hand (2020)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 56 min.
Story: Hong Kong, 1960s. Zhang, a shy tailor's assistant, is riveted by his imperious client Miss Hua. Upon meeting her, she seduces him to make sure he will truly remember her when designing her garments. After this intimate first encounter, a ...
Style: sensual, atmospheric, erotic drama, melancholic, visual ...
Plot: seduction, intimacy, sexual awakening, longing, character study, mature, seductive woman, fashion, obsession, manipulation, slow burn, urban ...
Time: 60s
Place: hong kong
Similarity:
59%
 5.3
 79
DeAD (2013)
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:
58%
 6.1
 263
Two People (1973)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: Evan Bonner is a deserter from the Vietnam war; he is on his way back to America to give himself up when he meets Deirdre McCluskey, a beautiful if petulant model. The two make an unlikely couple, but once in France the magic of Paris works its ...
Style: romantic drama, melancholic, independent film
Plot: chance meeting, loneliness, self discovery, identity crisis, alienation, character study, escapism, bittersweet, moral ambiguity, getting home, women, reconciliation ...
Time: 70s
Place: paris france, france, vietnam, morocco
Similarity:
57%
A Gentle Woman (1969)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 88 min.
Story: When his young wife commits suicide, leaving no explanation for her act, an introspective pawnbroker looks back on their life together and tries to understand why she had to kill herself.
Style: spiritual, art house, anthology, powerful, contemplative ...
Audience: teens, pre-teens
Plot: suicide, female nudity, minimalism, jealousy, spirituality, spirit, nude girl, social outcast, existentialism, alienation, post war, hamlet ...
Time: year 1969, 60s, 20th century
Place: france, europe, paris france
Similarity:
54%
 6.2
 265
Dropout (1970)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy
Duration: 109 min.
Story: Italian immigrant kidnaps a wealthy British woman, and they fall in love.
Style: psychological, melancholic, existential, bleak, art house ...
Plot: kidnapping, escape, alienation, character study, frustration, social realism, forbidden love, cross cultural relations, illicit affair, mature, loneliness, class conflict ...
Time: 70s
Place: italy, england
Similarity:
52%
 6.6
 61
Plagio (1969)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 88 min.
Story: During the student movement in Bologna, Italy. 1968. Angela and Massimo are friends, lovers and college students. They get to know Guido, the heir of a wealthy family who has never known love pure. Impressed by the feeling that binds the two lovers, ...
Style: tragic ending, melancholic, art house, period drama
Plot: threesome, love triangle, jealousy, betrayal, tragedy, friendship, obsession, moral ambiguity, passion, intimacy, college student, class differences ...
Time: 60s
Place: italy
Similarity:
47%
 5.4
 163
Process (2004)
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:
46%
 7.6
 2K
White Nights (2003)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Iran
Duration: 103 min.
Story: A young university professor, who leads a quiet and reclusive life and fills his life with reading and teaching literature, meet a young girl who has altered the course of her life for the sake of a man she loves. She has promised to meet her ...
Style: romantic drama, emotional, poetic, melancholic, intellectual ...
Plot: loneliness, separation, literary, character study, longing, young woman, memory, passion, university professor, bittersweet, intimate, sacrifice ...
Place: iran, persia
Similarity:
45%
Slave and courtesan (2016)
Genre: Drama
Country: Côte d'Ivoire, Guadeloupe
Story: A small group of people meet in a guest house lost in the middle of nowhere. Disconnected from everything, each will try to understand his destiny. Trapped by the past, they each have to find the key to their existence, like « shadows walking ...
Style: melancholic, philosophical, art house, poetic, atmospheric ...
Plot: destiny, character study, isolation, existentialism, redemption, memory, alienation, secrets, identity, moral ambiguity, haunting, claustrophobia ...
Similarity:
45%
A Leap in the Dark (1980)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy, France, West Germany
Duration: 120 min.
Story: Mauro, a judge, is worried about his older sister Marta, who took care of him since he was a boy, and is now affected by psychic problems and suicide fantasies. She seems to recover from her depression when Mauro acquaints her with Giovanni, a ...
Style: melancholic, suspenseful, independent film
Plot: brother sister relationship, mental illness, character study, obsession, moral ambiguity, manipulation, claustrophobia, intrigue, intervention, romantic rivalry, tragic romance, small town ...
Time: 80s, year 1980
Place: italy
Similarity:
45%
Movie in collections
A Few Hours of Sunlight (1971)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 110 min.
Story: Gilles Lantier, a young reporter on the AFP newspaper, is suffering from a nervous breakdown. Realising that neither his friend Jean nor his girlfriend Eloïse can help him, he decides to stay with his sister Odile, who lives near Limoges. At a ...
Style: romantic drama, melancholic, existential, atmospheric, period piece
Plot: love triangle, affair, unfulfilled love, introspection, loneliness, infidelity, nervous breakdown, frustration, intimate, depression, marriage crisis, bittersweet ...
Time: 70s
Place: paris france, france
Similarity:
44%
One Hundred Lei (1973)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Romania
Duration: 97 min.
Story: Arguing with his parents, Petre, a teenager, moves at his bigger brother, Andrei, a successful actor.
Style: tragic ending, atmospheric, period piece
Plot: envy, jealousy, sibling rivalry, teenage angst, family conflict, family drama, coming of age, accident, loss, rebellion, alienation, tragedy ...
Time: 70s
Place: romania, eastern europe
Similarity:
43%
Another Place (2009)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Sweden
Duration: 87 min.
Story: Said, the main character in the film Another Place, lives in Sweden but longs to be somewhere else. His integrity is suddenly and brutally violated when the police ransack his apartment and brand him as a terrorist.
Style: tense, melancholic, bleak, intense, political drama
Plot: human rights, police raid, false accusation, social injustice, isolation, alienation, bureaucracy, identity crisis, moral ambiguity, paranoid, psychological trauma, urban ...
Place: eastern europe
Similarity:
42%
The Wounded Eagle (2009)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Serbia
Duration: 128 min.
Story: Serbian drama "Wounded Eagle" is about true love story of long forgotten romances and some new ones, happening in a very romantic time between two world wars. Young woman and her passion.
Style: period piece, romantic, emotional, historical drama, poignant ...
Audience: adult
Plot: true love, passion, female protagonist, young woman, bittersweet, tragic romance, longing, lost love, intimate, forbidden love, unrequited love, memory ...
Place: serbia, former yugoslavia
Similarity:
41%
 5.8
 474
Felix and Lola (2001)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 89 min.
Story: Félix, operator of dodgem cars in a fairground, becomes obsessed by one of his customers, a mysterious young woman named Lola. Félix soon discovers that Lola is running away from her former boyfriend, a singer who continues to taunt her. Lola asks ...
Style: disturbing, captivating, psychological, suspense, tension ...
Plot: obsession, murder, romantic obsession, relationship problems, couple relations, couples, male female relationship, relationships, moral dilemma, character study, manipulation, moral ambiguity ...
Place: eastern europe
Similarity:
40%
Movie in collections
Days to Remember (1987)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: West Germany, Yugoslavia
Duration: 95 min.
Story: In this melodramatic tale, the well-made plans of a career-obsessed woman are derailed when she sets her sights on a young man who is plainly not very interested in her. In the story, Katherina is an ambitious reporter for German television, and her ...
Style: reflective, romantic drama, melancholic, art house
Plot: identity, identity crisis, thoughtful, memory, family history, immigration, social commentary, homecoming, exile, reconciliation, journalism, lake ...
Time: 80s
Place: former yugoslavia, germany, west germany, montenegro
Similarity:
40%
Night, Birds Scream (2022)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min.
Story: Shinichi debuted as a novelist at a young age, but his career has been stagnant for many years. He also has broken up with his girlfriend. His day have now become gloomy. At this time, Yuko and her son moves into Shinichi's home. Yuko is the ...
Style: captivating, thrilling, psychological, atmospheric
Plot: novelist, loneliness, melancholy, character study, couple relations, life is a bitch, relationships, love story, loner, family problems, lonely, couples ...
Similarity:
40%
A Break Alone (2015)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 95 min.
Story: Gangjae's normal family life is turned upsdie down when he falls for a young yoga teacher. Gangjae has got it all, a loving wife, adorable children, and a high-paying position. But he yearns for something more. When the teacher breaks off the ...
Style: captivating, psychological, thrilling
Plot: unrequited love, adultery, extramarital affair, infidelity, jealousy, male female relationship, family problems, love affair, couples, tragic love, family relations, love triangle ...
Time: 2010s
Place: korea
Similarity:
39%
 6.2
 126
Golden Braid (1990)
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 91 min.
Story: When a man discovers a golden braid hidden inside an antique he has purchased, he becomes obsessed with the fantasy of a love affair from time past and the woman he imagines the braid belonged to.
Style: atmospheric, melancholic, art house, poetic, independent film ...
Plot: obsession, romantic obsession, nostalgia, antique shop, lost love, bittersweet, male protagonist, haunting, intimate, estrangement, love and romance, love ...
Time: 80s, 20th century
Place: australia
Similarity:
38%
 4.9
 832
The Island (2011)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Bulgaria, Sweden
Duration: 95 min.
Story: In Paris, Sophie and Daneel make a solid couple. Nothing, it seems, can separate them - until the day when Sophie tells her partner she has organised a surprise trip to Bulgaria. Daneel refuses to go, but Sophie insists and soon discovers just why ...
Style: atmospheric, serious, realistic, tense, tension ...
Plot: couples, self discovery, couple relations, dishonesty, manipulation, relationships, secrets, passion, seaside, confrontation, intimate, introspection ...
Time: 21st century
Place: paris france, europe, bulgaria
Similarity:
37%
 7.6
 296
Paso Doble (1985)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Romania
Duration: 110 min.
Story: Drama directed by Dan Pita.
Style: romantic drama, emotional, art house, melancholic, psychological ...
Plot: love triangle, friendship, betrayal, jealousy, longing, male friendship, unrequited love, passion, roommate, infidelity, bittersweet, intimate ...
Place: romania, bucharest
Similarity:
37%
The Romance of Aniceto and Francisca (1967)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Argentina
Duration: 63 min.
Story: Aniceto is used to being lonely. When Francisca offers him her love, his personal limitations and little miseries arise.
Style: melancholic, romantic drama, black and white, art house, tragic ending ...
Audience: adult
Plot: loneliness, bittersweet, relationships, character study, introspection, tragic love, small town life, intimate, unrequited love, working class, moral ambiguity, fatalism ...
Place: poetic realism
Similarity:
37%