Dramas based on Books on Netflix
Last updated January 22, 2025
The Cider House Rules
1999 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsA surrogate son and protégé to a kindly physician who runs an orphanage in rural Maine, itchy Homer Wells sets off wide-eyed to see the world -- but cold reality soon intrudes on his youthful idealism and moral certitude.
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Day of the Falcon
2011 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsTo find peace after a long and bloody war, two kings declare a large piece of desert to be neutral territory. But when oil is discovered there, one king breaks the treaty and begins drilling.
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Little Women
1994 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsLouisa May Alcott's beloved novel comes to life in this sensitive, soulful adaptation. Four sisters and their mother battle life's vicissitudes in Civil War-era America after their father leaves to join the conflict.
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Water for Elephants
2011 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsIn this captivating Depression-era melodrama, impetuous veterinary student Jacob Jankowski joins a celebrated circus as an animal caretaker but faces a wrenching dilemma when he's transfixed by angelic married performer Marlena.
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The Fat Boy Chronicles
2010 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsOverweight teenager Jimmy Winterpock transfers to a new school, where he's mercilessly bullied by classmates. After he starts keeping a journal that puts him in touch with his feelings, he resolves to lose weight and win the girl of his dreams.
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The Rainmaker
1997 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsWhen young attorney Rudy Baylor goes to work for a seedy ambulance chaser, he wants to help the parents of a terminally ill boy sue their insurance company. But to take on corporate America, Rudy and a scrappy paralegal must open their own law firm.
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The Illusionist
2006 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsWith his eye on a beautiful aristocrat, a gifted illusionist uses his powers to win her away from her betrothed, a cruel prince. But the magician's scheme soon creates tumult within the monarchy and stirs the suspicion of a dogged inspector.
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Queen to Play
2009 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsIntrigued by a pair of vacationing lovers playing chess, hotel maid Hélène sets her sights on mastering the game. With some coaching from a doctor who employs her services, Hélène hones her chess skills and begins to notice big changes in her life.
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Memoirs of a Geisha
2005 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsWhen 9-year-old Chiyo is sold to a geisha house, she endures harsh treatment from the owners and the haughty head geisha, who's envious of Chiyo's beauty. Chiyo eventually blooms in her role, but World War II threatens to change her life forever.
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The Great Raid
2005 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsIn World War II, a battalion goes on a daring rescue mission to liberate the Americans and Filipinos who've been captured by the Japanese and thrown into brutal POW camps in the city of Cabanatuan.
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An Education
2008 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsJenny's (Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan) Oxford-bound teen life is a bore in 1961 London until she's given a different kind of education after being immersed in the beguiling but hazardous world of much-older David (Peter Sarsgaard). Even Jenny's parents, Jack (Alfred Molina) and Marjorie (Cara Seymour), are intrigued by him, but her unimpressed teacher (Olivia Williams) works to keep Jenny's entire future from crumbling under David's influence.
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Nicholas Nickleby
2002 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsLife in 19th-century England deals Nicholas Nickleby a difficult hand when his father dies and Nicholas, his sister and his mother, now penniless, are forced to seek help from his twisted Uncle Ralph, who wants to tear the family apart.
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Frida
2002 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsJulie Taymor directs this Oscar-winning biopic of painter Frida Kahlo, focusing on her often rocky relationship with husband Diego Rivera and her controversial political and sexual reputation (she was a communist and openly bisexual).
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The Descendants
2011 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsWith his wife on life support in the wake of an accident, an affluent landowner tries to mend his broken relationships with his daughters. All the while, he's weighing his marriage -- and the decision to sell land his family has owned for decades.
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The Damned United
2009 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsDirector Tom Hooper's fictionalized biopic chronicles the colorful career of Brian Clough, the fiercely strong-willed and outspoken soccer manager who served a famously short tenure at the helm of England's reigning champs, Leeds United, in 1974.
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Winter's Bone
2010 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsIn this unflinching noir drama, resilient teen Ree Dolly goes on the trail of her missing, drug-dealing father when his absence jeopardizes the family's safety. Her deadbeat dad has a key court date pending -- and Ree is determined that he show up.
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The Agony and the Ecstasy
1965 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsCharlton Heston stars as Renaissance artist Michelangelo, who begrudgingly paints the Sistine Chapel for imperious Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison) in this epic adaptation of Irvine Stone's novel directed by Carol Reed. While the novel covers Michelangelo's life from birth to death, the film focuses on the battle of wills between the perfectionist artist and the impatient Pope who commissions (and eventually commands) him to paint the famed chapel.
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Jackie Brown
1997 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsJackie Brown is an aging flight attendant who smuggles cash on the side. But when she's busted and pressured to help with an investigation, she plans to play the opposing forces against each other and walk away with the dough.
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Extraordinary Measures
2010 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsAfter their two young children are diagnosed with a rare genetic disease for which conventional medicine has no cure, John and Aileen pin their hopes on the work of unconventional scientist Dr. Robert Stonehill and form a company to develop a drug.
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Chocolat
2000 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsA single mother and her young daughter move into a peaceful French village and open a chocolate shop during the height of Lent. At first, the shop's rich, sensuous desserts scandalize the town. But the villagers soon learn to savor the sweetness.
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Dear John
2010 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsA U.S. soldier falls for a Southern but their love is put on hold when terrorist attacks prompt him to reenlist. Now, handwritten letters hold the lovers together in this modern romance based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks.
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Death of a Salesman
1985 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsDustin Hoffman won an Emmy for his first-rate performance as embittered traveling salesman Willy Loman, who's forced to dispense with delusions of success and come to grips with his failed career, encroaching senility and a disintegrating family.
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Taps
1981 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsStudent cadet Brian Moreland leads his fellow military classmates in an armed revolt to prevent authorities from turning their school into condominiums. But the young men soon discover that playing soldier has serious consequences.
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Catch-22
1970 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsCapt. Yossarian (Alan Arkin) tries to escape the travesties of World War II by convincing his Air Force commanders that he's crazy. Hilarity ensues -- but so does reality as he watches his close friends (Martin Sheen and Art Garfunkel) die in the ridiculousness of war. Mike Nichols directs this cinematic adaptation of Joseph Heller's scathing black comedy about a small group of flyers in the Mediterranean in 1944.
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Black Friday
2004 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsIn this intense docudrama based on the book by the same name by S. Hussain Zaidi, director Anurag Kashyap tracks the aftermath of a 1993 mass bombing in Bombay through the eyes of a journalist covering the story.
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