Dramas based on contemporary literature on Netflix
Last updated January 22, 2025
Waiting to Exhale
1995 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsHolding their breath waiting for the elusive "good man," four female friends and confidants -- each one cheated on, mistreated and stepped on by less-than-stellar lovers -- talk it all out, determined to find a better way to breathe.
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Less Than Zero
1987 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsWhen college freshman Clay returns home to Los Angeles from school, he finds that his former girlfriend and his best friend have established a troubled relationship fueled by a fondness for clubs, wild parties and endless amounts of cocaine.
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The English Patient
1996 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsSet against the backdrop of World War II, this Oscar-winning drama stars Ralph Fiennes as a badly burned pilot who recounts a tale of doomed romance to the nurse tending him. As his story spills out via flashback, so do secrets about his identity.
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A Single Man
2009 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsSet in 1962 Los Angeles, this stream-of-consciousness drama centers on a day in the life of George Falconer, a gay college professor who plans to commit suicide in the wake of his longtime lover's recent death.
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The Ice Storm
1997 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsPrep-schooler Paul Hood (Tobey Maguire) returns home for Thanksgiving weekend and finds his family about to implode. While his father (Kevin Kline) tries to douse his sorrows with booze and infidelity, Paul's mother (Joan Allen) looks for answers in self-help books. The experimentation and liberalism that defined the 1970s lead to ruin as the family's environs literally freeze over during a freak storm in this insightful drama helmed by Ang Lee.
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Hart's War
2002 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsWhen an African-American pilot (Terrence Howard) in a German POW camp is accused of murdering one of his fellow inmates, Lt. Tommy Hart (Colin Farrell) must defend him. But Hart's superiors (including Bruce Willis) caution that digging too deep could expose secrets that would mean death to all prisoners. In a place where lies keep men alive, one young officer must uncover the truth -- whatever the cost.
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The Panic in Needle Park
1971 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsYoung heroin addict Bobby introduces his drug-free girlfriend to New York's "Needle Park." But in this sordid world peopled with addicts who lie, cheat and steal their way to their next fix, will Bobby feel any guilt for corrupting a pure soul?
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The Beach
2000 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsWhile visiting Bangkok, a traveler learns of a secret beach that purportedly exemplifies paradise. He travels with two friends to the magnificent strand, where he discovers a bohemian community intent on keeping its precious refuge a secret.
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Red Riding Trilogy: Part 2: 1980
2009 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsAfter six years of vicious unsolved murders, Manchester policeman Peter Hunter arrives in West Yorkshire to supervise the Yorkshire Ripper investigation and a copycat killer case in this second installment of the Red Riding trilogy.
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Riding in Cars with Boys
2001 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsDrew Barrymore stars as Beverly D'Onofrio, an unlucky teen who gets pregnant while still in high school, in this coming-of-age drama from director Penny Marshall that's based on D'Onofrio's autobiography by the same name. After sleeping with a boy she barely knew, Beverly gets married on a whim and discovers that her newborn isn't the only one who has a lot of growing up to do. Her teenage husband is a still a kid -- and so is she.
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Love and Savagery
2009 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsWhen Michael travels from Newfoundland to Ireland, he falls in love with Cathleen, a beautiful woman who has devoted herself to God and the church from a young age. Cathleen finds herself torn between her faith and her newly discovered desires.
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Original Sin
2001 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsWealthy Cuban landowner Luis Vargas sends away for a plain-Jane bride. But when she arrives and turns out to be stunningly beautiful, Vargas is putty in her hands, which is a bad thing, since his new wife turns out to be a cunning con artist.
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Never Let Me Go
2010 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsBased on Kazuo Ishiguro's acclaimed novel, this sci-fi drama from director Mark Romanek is centered on thirtysomething Kathy (Carey Mulligan), who reflects on her time spent at Hailsham, an English boarding school, alongside classmates Ruth (Keira Knightley) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield). Born for an unusual reason, the three struggle with their destiny and their love triangle. Charlotte Rampling plays headmistress Miss Emily.
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The Dancer Upstairs
2002 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsAugustin Rejas attempts to find the mysterious Ezequiel, the leader of a revolution being fermented by native people of a Latin American nation. But weighing equally heavy on Rejas's psyche is his attraction to his daughter's ballet teacher.
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Stella Days
2011 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsIn mid-1950s Ireland, a parish priest -- in an attempt to raise funds for his church and merge his passion for film with his faith -- opens a small cinema in his community, provoking conflict with the bishop and the parishioners.
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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
2006 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsBorn with an acute sense of smell, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille resorts to dark deeds in creating a perfume that captures the essence of a woman in this 18th-century thriller based on Patrick Süskind's best-selling novel.
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Eat Pray Love
2010 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsRecent divorcée Liz decides to reshape her life, traveling the world in search of direction. She heads to Italy, India and Bali, indulging in delicious cuisine while seeking the true meaning of self-love, family, friendship and forgiveness.
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The Narrows
2008 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsMike Manadoro (Kevin Zegers) is torn between two worlds -- his numbers-runner father Vinny's (Vincent D'Onofrio) Brooklyn way of life and the college lifestyle he discovers as a photography student -- in this drama based on Tim McLoughlin's novel Heart of the Old Country. While earning money for school as his father's driver and by delivering packages for a local mobster, Mike yearns to fully embrace the urbane new world he's entered.
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An Invisible Sign
2010 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsWhen a puzzling disease devastates her beloved father, math prodigy Mona Gray deals with the pain by isolating herself from the rest of the world and turning for comfort to the reliable world of mathematics. But when she later teaches math to troubled grade school kids, Mona discovers that her gift can be a route back from her long emotional exile. Marilyn Agrelo directs and Jessica Alba stars in this adaptation of the book by Aimee Bender.
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Bloodworth
2010 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsKris Kristofferson is E.F. Bloodworth, an impoverished aging musician who returns to his Tennessee hometown to make amends with the family he abandoned for 20 years of roaming, only to find their lives have disintegrated into a troubled mess.
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Screwed
2011 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsIn this crime drama based on a true story, a soldier who served a traumatic tour in Iraq gets a job as a prison guard and is drawn into an underworld of corruption, drug trafficking and brutality.
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Random Hearts
1999 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsDutch Van Den Broeck's and Kay Chandler's spouses perish in a devastating plane crash. Using his police expertise, Dutch searches for answers, finding more in common between his wife and Kay's husband than just a plane wreck ... they were lovers.
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Brokeback Mountain
2005 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsWhile working together near Wyoming's Brokeback Mountain in 1963, sheepherders Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar begin an increasingly passionate affair. But keeping their relationship a secret from their wives proves agonizing and all-consuming.
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Norwegian Wood
2010 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsIn 1969 Tokyo, college freshman Toru's developing relationship with childhood friend Naoko drags into the present a terrible event both would rather bury. Toru soon awakens to the political and cultural tumult around him in this melancholic tale.
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Red Riding Trilogy: Part 1: 1974
2009 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsLoosely based on facts surrounding Britain's notorious Yorkshire Ripper case, this thriller uncovers rampant corruption in mid-1970s Northern England. As girls are disappearing, a young reporter's investigation leads him down a dark path.
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