Is there anything as romantic [1] as Pride and Prejudice? It's impossible not to get swept up in the story of how Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy loathe each other after terrible first impressions, only to realise they were perfect for each other all along. Its long-lasting legacy is about much more than just the delicious hate-at-first-sight love story, however. Mr. Darcy's charm isn't in his aloof, grumpy personality, contrary to what parts of pop culture might have you thinking; his real appeal is in his actions after his initial rejection. Rather than getting pushy to "prove" his love, he gracefully steps away, makes real changes to be a better person, and lets Elizabeth take the lead. It's that behaviour that really underlies the enduring Mr. Darcy fantasy (that and his "beautiful grounds at Pemberley", of course!).
The story's enemies-to-lovers plot and romance as social commentary have inspired countless other movies [2], and no matter what your favourite aspect of Jane Austen's story is, there's sure to be another movie that will spark the same feelings! We've rounded up a few of our very favourites, from modern rom-coms [3] that have the same sparky chemistry to other adaptations of Jane Austen's books [4] and more. Keep reading to see which of these films you should put on your to-watch list!
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Anna Karenina
Keira Knightley [5] reunites with her Pride and Prejudice director Joe Wright and costar Matthew Macfadyen for this adaptation of Tolstoy's classic Russian romantic tragedy. Anna, a wealthy Russian woman, is trapped in an unhappy marriage with a dull aristocrat who doesn't seem to care much about what makes her happy. When she starts up an affair with a charming young officer, the fallout is disastrous for them and for everyone around them. Of course, this is definitely not a happily-ever-after romantic comedy like a Jane Austen novel is, but it's got the same lush production values, romantic intrigues, and historical drama.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: An Education
Carey Mulligan [6] played the role of Kitty Bennet, the least important and most out-of-focus Bennet sister in Pride and Prejudice. Instead of spending most of the movie moping or fluttering, she gets to be the heroine at centre stage in the 1960s drama An Education. Mulligan plays Jenny, a schoolgirl whose Oxford dreams get slowly pushed to the side as she falls for the charms of a sophisticated older man who offers to show her the world. She may believe she's in a love story, but it's clear this is not a healthy relationship with a long future. Like an Austen heroine, she has to discover the truth and make a decision about her own future.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society has all the swoon-worthy romance of Pride and Prejudice, but with a post-World War II setting and a more complicated emotional journey. Juliet, a successful author, begins corresponding with the book society of Guernsey, a tiny island in the English Channel between Britain and France. She then decides to visit them in person, where she meets Dawsey Adams and discovers that their book club also served as a cover for undercover activities during the war. As Juliet spends more time with her newfound friends, she begins to question her career while also uncovering a few major secrets that the Guernsey club has been concealing.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Love & Friendship
Pride and Prejudice fans looking for a lesser-known Austen adaptation should look no further than Love & Friendship, an adaptation of Austen's novella Lady Susan (although, confusingly, the movie actually takes its name from a piece of juvenalia from Austen's early work). Wealthy young widow Lady Susan is out to secure wealthy matches for her and her daughter, and she's not above some very petty manipulations to make it happen. Susan is decidedly more manipulative and less likable than a character like Elizabeth Bennet, but she's also the kind of deliciously difficult character you never want to stop watching.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: The Young Victoria
Just like Elizabeth and Darcy, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert are both headstrong, opinionated people who disagree as often as they agree. But also like Lizzie and Darcy, they fall madly in love despite the pressures of high society and politics on every side. The story begins with a young Princess Victoria struggling to get out from under the thumb of her overprotective mother and her mother's cruel and ambitious advisor. When Victoria becomes queen at the age of just 18, she finds herself underprepared for the weight of the crown and surrounded by shrewd politicians and royals who all want to influence her. Falling in love with Albert isn't part of the plan, and she struggles to maintain her independence while acknowledging that she, too, needs support and advice sometimes.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Ever After
A snobby, highborn man learns a lesson in humility as he falls in love with a strong-willed woman of a lower social class — are we talking about Pride and Prejudice or Ever After? This twist on the Cinderella story sets the tale in Renaissance-era France. Danielle, an orphaned young woman trapped as a servant to her ambitious stepfamily, uses the noble title of her late mother to get time with Prince Henry and convince him to pay attention to the troubles in his kingdom. As the two spend time together, Henry begins to consider a different way of ruling, and the two fall in love, but Danielle's ruse threatens to ruin their happily ever after.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Little Women (1994)
Although Pride and Prejudice is a romantic comedy, at its heart it's also a story of sisters who love each other and get on each other's nerves in equal measure. That's also true of Little Women, the story of four sisters in Civil War-era New England who are struggling with growing up, falling in love, and figuring out where their lives will take them. The 1994 version is the kind of warm and cosy historical drama that Jane Austen fans are sure to love, with plenty of romantic moments and sisterly battling that feels realistic no matter what era we're in.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: The Prince and Me
Just like Pride and Prejudice, this early-2000s rom-com centres on an ambitious, witty woman who first clashes with, then falls in love with, a charming man of much higher social status who makes a terrible first impression. This time, though, that young woman is Paige, a doctor in training, and her love interest isn't just a wealthy gentleman but the crown prince of Denmark. The two clash upon first meeting in a college science class, where Paige is working through her pre-med program and "Eddie" is attempting to experience normal life, incognito. Their loathing soon turns into a friendship and then a romance, but when the press discover Eddie's real identity, his and Paige's relationship is thrust into an international spotlight.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Emma (1996)
The original adaptation of Austen's classic antiheroine rom-com, Emma stars Gwyneth Paltrow [7] as arrogant, meddling Emma Woodhouse, a determined matchmaker who's equally determined not to fall in love herself. When she befriends an awkward young woman, she decides to make her new friend Harriet into her latest "project". Instead of finding Harriet a perfect match, though, Emma accidentally sends both of them and all of their friends and neighbours down a merry, mixed-up path of mistaken crushes and personal realisations. It's a must watch for any Jane Austen fan, with a gauzy, dreamy approach and all the heartache and joy you'd expect.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Becoming Jane
If Becoming Jane is to be believed, Pride and Prejudice was inspired by Jane Austen's own doomed love affair with the rakish, romantic Tom Lefroy. In reality, it's more the other way around: the movie borrows from Austen's most popular novel to embellish what little is known about her real-life romantic affair. In the movie's version of Austen's life, she, like Elizabeth Bennet, eventually falls for a frustrating but charming man whose family is considerably "higher" than hers in station. As they realise the depths of their feelings for each other, they're pulled between what they want to do and what their families expect of them.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Emma. (2020)
Autumn de Wilde's candy-coloured adaptation of Emma. captures the delicious yearning of an Austen novel better than any version in years, along with a healthy touch of comedy and social satire. Not only is there a fabulous slow-burn romance between entitled Emma and her exasperated love interest Mr. Knightley, but, like Pride and Prejudice, a good portion of the story also hinges on its heroine coming to terms with her own flaws. Plus, if you love the tension-laden ballroom dance or the iconic hand-flex moment from Pride and Prejudice, there's another scene in this movie that captures that same scream-at-the-screen yearning and romantic tension.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: You've Got Mail
If Elizabeth and Darcy's enemies-to-lovers arc is your favourite part of Pride and Prejudice, this classic Nora Ephron rom-com should be your next stop. Kathleen and Joe are absolute enemies in real life, as she fights to keep her indie bookstore open when his megachain moves into the neighbourhood. What they don't know: they're each other's secret email pen pals. Online, they're falling in love with each other (and out of love with their current real-life partners), but in person, their rivalry grows more and more ruthless. It's also very telling that this '90s rom-com classic is centred on the conflict between megaretailers and indie bookstores — something the literary world is still debating today.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Belle
Much like Pride and Prejudice, Belle weaves together the story of the relationship between sisters with a romance that flies in the face of convention. Dido Elizabeth Belle is a biracial heiress in 18th-century England, where she lives, along with another cousin, with their powerful uncle and aunt. Trapped in a strange position, as a Black woman who also is wealthy in her own right, Dido struggles with what her future will look like. As her uncle, a powerful judge, is required to preside over a case that could decide the future of slavery in the British Empire, Dido crosses paths with a fervent young lawyer who sees her as no one else ever has.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Little Women (2019)
The 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice manages to bring a bit of a modern sensibility to its historical setting, and that's the appeal of Greta Gerwig's 2019 adaptation of Little Women. Instead of following the March sisters chronologically, the story pings back and forth between their youth during the Civil War and their adulthood a few years later. Gentle Meg struggles to reconcile her society dreams with the reality of her life, bold Jo tries to kick-start a writing career, ambitious Amy balances her artistic hopes with the reality of her expected future marriage, and sweet Beth wishes things would just stop changing.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Mansfield Park
Perhaps one of Jane Austen's lesser-known works, Mansfield Park is an intriguing option for Pride and Prejudice fans looking for a romance with a few more complications along the way. Fanny is brought up by her much-wealthier relatives, forming a particularly close bond with kindhearted Edmund. As young adults, the lives of Fanny and her cousins are thrown into upheaval with the arrival of two new neighbours, a brother-sister duo with worldly ways and a knack for mischief. Love triangles develop, affairs are had, and it's up to quiet, soft-spoken Fanny to take her fate into her own hands and go after what she really wants.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Clueless
It wouldn't be a list of Austen-related recommendations without Clueless, the iconic comedy that transplants Emma into the world of ultrawealthy Beverly Hills of the 1990s! Cher and her friends pretty much rule their school, but they're mostly well-intentioned and kind, if a little out of touch. When new student Tai arrives, Cher immediately takes her under her wing to teach her the ways of high school and give her a total makeover, much to the mocking of Cher's former stepbrother Josh. What Cher doesn't count on is that, as good as she is at observing other people, she's totally clueless when it comes to her own feelings.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Sense and Sensibility
If the close sisterly bond between Elizabeth and Jane Bennet is one of your favourite parts of Pride and Prejudice, then Austen's most sister-centric story, Sense and Sensibility, is for you. After the death of their father, sisters Elinor and Marianne must move, along with their mother and little sister, out of their family home. As they settle into their new life, hopeless romantic Marianne attracts the attentions of not one but two very different suitors, while Elinor is forced to conceal her feelings for Edward, the shy and sweet brother of her half-brother's horrible wife. Romance wins the day, but this really is a story about sisters above all else.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Shakespeare in Love
There are plenty of reasons Elizabeth and Darcy can't be together (at least at first), but their problems pale in comparison to the sweeping romance at the heart of Shakespeare in Love. The movie reimagines Shakespeare's younger years as he struggles to write Romeo and Juliet. A chance meeting with Viola, an aristocratic woman with ambitions of her own, inspires him to tell the famous love story. When auditions begin, Viola disguises herself as a boy to audition for Juliet and gets the role, all while trying to hide her identity from the cast and hide her theatrical work from her family and her odious would-be fiancé. Will and Viola's relationship may or may not last, but their love always will.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: 10 Things I Hate About You
The deliciously witty back-and-forth banter between Darcy and Elizabeth is what makes Pride and Prejudice such a standout, and it's that same quality that makes this beloved teen comedy totally iconic. Loosely based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, it's got many of the same elements as Pride and Prejudice: two very different sisters who both have romantic problems, romantic leads who loathe each other at first sight, an arrogant playboy, and a happy ending after some troubles. The crux of the plot is bad boy Patrick agreeing to try to woo the fiercely independent Kat, all so that her sister, Bianca, has a chance to date, too. The lies and half-truths all tumble out eventually, and everyone has some self-growth to do before they can find (and accept) love.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: The Hating Game
Elizabeth and Darcy definitely don't make a very good first impression on each other, and we think Lucy and Joshua, the professional nemeses of The Hating Game, would definitely relate! Stuck sharing an office at a book publishing company, they pass the time between tasks by "playing" a game of absolute loathing. When a major promotion comes up, they both plan on going for it — and make a deal that whoever doesn't get the promotion will leave the company. The passion of hate isn't that far off from other kinds of passion, though, and as much as they don't want to admit it, the attraction between them is getting too heated to ignore.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Austenland
Be honest: haven't we all, at some point, secretly wished we could be in Elizabeth Bennet's shoes? Austenland is a delicious parody of what would happen if someone tried to create a holiday experience of exactly that wish! Jane, a 30-something Austen devotee feeling trapped in her life, splurges on a trip to Austenland, an immersive roleplaying holiday where she gets to "live" as Austen characters, complete with Regency-era costumes, hobbies, and romances. Jane almost immediately clashes with Henry, one of the other members of the "house party," and tries to forge her own story by falling for an off-limits romance with a staff member. Instead of living her Austen dreams, Jane starts to realise that, sometimes, reality can be better than fantasy.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Far From the Madding Crowd
This period drama doesn't have quite the same sparkling banter as a Jane Austen novel, but if it's the romantic tension and the pure yearning you're after, it's a fantastic choice. Bathsheba inherits a farm from her uncle, becoming a rarity in 19th-century Britain: a woman who is a landowner in her own right. As she works to ensure the survival of her family's legacy, she's also pursued by three very different suitors. There's William, her wealthy bachelor neighbour; Frank, a passionate and charming officer; and Gabriel, Bathsheba's longtime acquaintance and a farmer who has had feelings for her for years. Like Elizabeth Bennet, Bathsheba is initially swayed by the wrong person's lies and charm, but after learning to find her way, true love awaits.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Jane Eyre
To be fair, Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice are very different stories, but they both tend to be gateway books (or movies) for classic literature fans. Like Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Eyre is a strong-willed young woman who knows her own mind and is unafraid to speak it, even in the presence of Mr. Rochester, her wealthy and mysterious employer who actually is intrigued by Jane's unusual and honest personality. Unlike Elizabeth, however, Jane's story takes some dark turns, from a cruel orphanage to a romance with a shocking twist to a wandering journey through the moors. It's an intense and engrossing romance that is sure to spark something in your heart, even if it leans more toward the Gothic than the witty satire of an Austen novel.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
In terms of the "enemies to lovers" trope, Elizabeth and Darcy wouldn't even exist without Beatrice and Benedick, the bickering, bantering duo at the centre of Shakespeare's most famous comedy. Forced together when Benedick's best friend and Beatrice's cousin fall in love, the pair can't even be in the same room without snarking at each other. Their friends can all see that their fighting actually is hiding the fact that they're in love with each other. Bored while waiting for the wedding, the friends hatch a plot to trick Beatrice and Benedick into finally admitting how they really feel, sending them all down a road of merry hijinks, crossed signals, and a few major mistakes, all on the way to true love.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Much Ado About Nothing (2012)
For a very different vibe than the 19th-century Tuscany vibes of the 1993 Much Ado, try this 2012 adaptation, which transplants the warring would-be lovers to a modern-day noir setting, shot in an atmospheric black-and-white style. This time around, it's made even clearer that Benedick and Beatrice's animosity comes from a place of deep hurt from their shared romantic history. Pride and Prejudice fans will love their sharp-witted banter while they're sworn enemies just as much as they'll love the hopelessly romantic declarations of love that finally come once they get over their stubborn pride and unwillingness to admit their feelings.
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Bridget Jones's Diary
Take Pride and Prejudice and transplant it into the early 2000s, and you've got this iconic romantic comedy. Bridget Jones is single, stuck in a dead-end job, and dealing with her embarrassing family. So when she meets family friend Mark Darcy, a snobbish and put-together lawyer, they definitely don't get along. After a disastrous affair with her playboy boss ends in heartbreak and embarrassment, Bridget decides to take control of her life, with some encouragement from her quirky friends. Could that future potentially involve Mark Darcy too? We all know the answer to that question, but it's so much fun getting there!
Movies Like Pride and Prejudice: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Think Jane Austen is just a little too tame for your tastes? Watch this tongue-in-cheek zombie apocalypse comedy, which combines dark humour with zombie movie tropes and, of course, plenty of romance. As you expect, Elizabeth and Darcy immediately clash upon meeting, but this time it's about more than just social niceties. Britain is in an all-out war against a zombie invasion, and both Lizzie and Darcy are well-trained to fight off the undead hordes. With a bizarre conspiracy infecting more people unexpectedly, they and their allies must work together to stop a new wave that even their training might not be able to overcome once it starts.