Dramas based on real life on Netflix
Last updated January 22, 2025
Coco Before Chanel
2009 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsAudrey Tautou stars as legendary French designer Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel in this lively biopic that explores the fashion icon's storied ascension from orphan to seamstress and cabaret singer and ultimately, the queen of Parisian haute couture. Alessandro Nivola plays Arthur "Boy" Capel, Chanel's lover and influential business investor who makes a lifelong impact on the young woman. Anne Fontaine directs this Oscar nominee for Best Costume Design.
Details about Coco Before Chanel
Get Low
2009 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsOscar winners Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek team up to tell the true story of irascible Felix Bush, a backwoods Tennessee loner who planned his funeral in 1938 while he was still around to attend -- and enjoy -- the proceedings.
Details about Get Low
Made in Dagenham
2010 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsSally Hawkins stars in this cheeky dramatization of the landmark 1968 labor strike initiated by hundreds of women who rebelled against discrimination and demanded equal pay for their work in a London automobile manufacturing plant.
Details about Made in Dagenham
The White Masai
2005 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsWhen young Swiss woman Carola Lehmann (Nina Hoss) goes on vacation to Kenya with her boyfriend, she becomes deeply fascinated by Masai tribesman Lemalian Mamutelil (Jacky Ido) -- so much so, in fact, that she ends up abandoning her traveling mate to join him. To make this radical choice a success, Carola must adopt the Masai lifestyle -- including taking on what they perceive to be the proper roles and behavior of women.
Details about The White Masai
Bernie
2011 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsIn this black comedy inspired by a true story, affable Texas mortician Bernie befriends the small town's wealthiest widow and then kills her. But despite the suspicious nature of her death, no one wants to think anything but the best of Bernie.
Details about Bernie
Guilty
2011 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsIn this gripping drama based on a true story, family man Alain Marécaux battles to prove his innocence after he's wrongly accused of an unspeakable crime. Jailed and entangled in a legal morass, Marécaux sees his whole life turned upside down.
Details about Guilty
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
1955 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsTragedy is in the offing when widowed Eurasian doctor Han Suyin falls for dashing American war correspondent Mark Elliot. Despite insurmountable obstacles, Han and Mark's love deepens till he's sent to cover the "police action" in Korea.
Details about Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
Quills
2000 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsThe Marquis de Sade was a provocateur so addicted to words that he used his own blood to write salacious stories while locked away in an asylum. A doctor tries to prevent the Marquis from writing, but a worker is lured into taking his dictation.
Details about Quills
Monster
2003 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsCharlize Theron took home the Best Actress Oscar for her electrifying performance as Aileen Wuornos, an emotionally scarred highway hooker who shoots a sadistic client and ultimately becomes America's first female serial killer.
Details about Monster
Million Dollar Babies
1994 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsWhen Oliva (Roy Dupuis) and Elzire (Céline Bonnier) Dionne have quintuplets in rural 1930s Canada, news of their uncommon family spreads like wildfire and steps up local tourism, thanks in part to an opportunistic town doctor (Beau Bridges) who uses the children to enhance his own celebrity. This made-for-television drama is based on the actual experiences of the Dionne quintuplets, the first quints known to have survived infancy.
Details about Million Dollar Babies
This Is England
2006 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsAfter his father is killed fighting in the Falklands War, a 12-year-old boy named Shaun falls in with a gang of young skinheads. Still angry and in pain, Shaun becomes susceptible to carrying out the group's hateful agenda.
Details about This Is England
Phantom Punch
2008 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsThis biopic explores the life of boxer Sonny Liston, particularly his relationships with his manager, his wife and his lover. After his talent emerges in jail, Liston punches through poverty, Mafia entanglements and legendary bouts with Cassius Clay.
Details about Phantom Punch
Army of Crime
2009 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsThis gripping historical drama recounts the story of Armenian-born Missak Manouchian, a woodworker and political activist who led an immigrant laborer division of the Parisian Resistance on dozens of operations against the Nazis in 1943.
Details about Army of Crime
Fair Game
2010 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsAfter her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, writes op-ed columns accusing the Bush administration of misleading the public to justify invading Iraq, Valerie Plame Wilson's status as a covert CIA agent is leaked by administration officials.
Details about Fair Game
The Last Station
2009 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsSet during the last year of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy's life, this biopic explores the fractious relationship between Tolstoy (Oscar nominee Christopher Plummer) and his wife (Oscar nominee Helen Mirren), as he embraces a life of asceticism. Paul Giamatti co-stars as impassioned Tolstoy devotee Vladimir Chertkov, with James McAvoy playing the aging writer's assistant, Valentin, who is caught in the middle of various struggles.
Details about The Last Station
Berlin 36
2009 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsKaroline Herfurth stars in this foreign-language drama -- inspired by actual events at the 1936 Olympics held in Berlin -- as Gretel Bergmann, a Jewish high jumper who was barred from competition by the Nazi party in spite of international protest. When Gretel is kicked off the team under false pretenses, she's promptly replaced by her roommate, Marie Ketteler (Sebastian Urzendowsky), an odd-looking girl with a surprising secret.
Details about Berlin 36
The Chicago 8
2011 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsThe political turmoil of 1968 leads to several days of rioting in Chicago, after which eight notorious political activists, including Bobby Seale, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, are arrested for conspiracy and tried in a case that rivets the nation.
Details about The Chicago 8
Hitchcock
2012 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsIconic filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock struggles with his marriage, the censors and the financiers of his 1960 film Psycho in this biopic. Driven to prove he still has an edge, Hitchcock crafts what would become one of the greatest thrillers of all time.
Details about Hitchcock
Emperor
2012 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsAs World War II ends, Gen. MacArthur oversees Japan's surrender, an act that dispels the nation's centuries-old beliefs about its emperor. With the eyes of the world -- and history -- upon them, MacArthur and his protégé will change Japan forever.
Details about Emperor
The Newton Boys
1998 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsFour Texas brothers ignite a crime spree in the 1920s, robbing more than 200 banks across the country -- without ever killing anyone. In a career highlight, the unexpectedly compassionate team pulls off the largest train robbery in U.S. history.
Details about The Newton Boys
The People vs. Larry Flynt
1996 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsNotorious pornographer Larry Flynt carries his free-speech campaign from lowly strip clubs to the U.S. Supreme Court in this Oscar-nominated biopic, which blends details of the publisher's legal battles with scenes from his personal life.
Details about The People vs. Larry Flynt
The Molly Maguires
1970 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsIn 19th-century Pennsylvania, Detective James McParlan goes undercover to infiltrate a group of rebellious Irish American miners -- the Molly Maguires -- who resort to terrorist tactics to fight oppression by mine owners.
Details about The Molly Maguires
Heavenly Creatures
1994 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsSet in 1950s New Zealand, this chilling true-life drama follows two inseparable teenage girls who retreat to a bizarre imaginary world, until their obsessive friendship invites parental opposition that ultimately begets blood.
Details about Heavenly Creatures
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.
Details about Riding in Cars with Boys
All the King's Men
1999 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsThis "Masterpiece Theatre" production tells the tale of the Royal British Army's Sandringham Company, a volunteer corps of servants from King George V's (David Troughton) Norfolk Estate who forged into battle and vanished into a mist, never to be seen again. The details of the unit's fateful 1915 campaign come to life, reconstructing the true story of amateur soldiers who valiantly marched to their doom. Maggie Smith co-stars as Queen Alexandria.
Details about All the King's Men
About Best on Netflix Canada
Best on Netflix is the place to discover the best TV shows and movies available on Netflix. Find the newest releases of your favorite movies and TV shows available for streaming on Netflix today. This site lists all the amazing content available to Netflix members. If you want to watch a movie or TV shows, you must go to the official Netflix website. Best on Netflix is not related to Netflix and its purpose is to highlight the great content already available on Netflix since we're such huge fans of their service. We love Netflix just as much as you do! We hope you enjoy this movie and tv show discovery tool.
We have a lot of great features coming up in the next few weeks to help highlight the best movies and TV shows on Netflix, so stay tuned!