Best movies like Dear Louise

A privileged rich debutante and a cynical struggling entertainer share a turbulent, but strong childhood friendship over the years.

Mother Carey, a Bostonian widow, and her three children move to Maine. Postmaster Osh Popham helps them move into a run-down old house and fixes it up for them. It's not entirely uninhabited, though; the owner, Mr. Hamilton, is a mysterious character away in Europe, but Osh assures them he won't mind their living there, since he won't be coming home for a long time yet. The children and a cousin who comes to live with them have various adventures before an unexpected visitor shows up

Louise, an unfulfilled divorced woman with regrets, gets the chance to relive her past when she meets a young man who bears an uncanny resemblance, in name and appearance, to her high school sweetheart who died many years before.

Celestine, the chamber-maid, has a new job in the country, at the Lanlaires. She has decided to use her beauty to seduce a wealthy man, but Mr. Lanlaire is not a right choice: the house is firmly controlled by Madame Lanlaire, helped by the strange valet Joseph. Then she tries the neighbour, former officer Mauger. This seems to work. But soon the son of the Lanlaires comes back. He is young, attractive and does not share his mother's antirepublican opinions. So Celestine's beauty attracts Captain Mauger, young Georges Lanlaire, and Joseph. Three men, from three different social classes, with three different conceptions of life. Will Celestine be able to convince Georges of her sincerity?

France, around 1900. Coming from the vibrancy of Paris, pert Célestine is procured as a chambermaid in Normandy. In the Lanlaire's villa she encounters the lecherous man of the house and his asexual, tyrannical and jealous wife. Célestine is determined to avoid the fate suffered by the cook Marianne who has already secretly killed one child born out of wedlock and now despairingly realises she is pregnant again. The lively maid is intrigued by what the mysterious manservant Joseph is up to: he distributes anti-Semitic leaflets and suggests that she could work for him as a prostitute in Cherbourg…

Zora Banks is a school teacher and aspiring singer hoping to become a successful star while taking a break from heartache. Franklin Swift is a down-on-his-luck construction worker and not-quite divorced father of two hoping to start his own business. The two meet and fall in love and during the course of the stormy relationship, they both come to some startling conclusions about love and each other.

A movie about the travails of Jason (Mark Webber), a young gas station attendant and movie projectionist living in Nebraska. His encounters with various social difficulties and with Frances (Zooey Deschanel), a beautiful and enigmatic young woman leads to dramatic changes and decisions in his life.

At 40, Stephanie loses her job and is forced to move back in with her mother. She is welcomed with open arms to the joys of overheated apartment, Francis Cabrel playing on loop, Scrabble games and precious motherly advice on how to behave at the table and live her life.

Divorced and demoralised, Amy Minsky’s prospects look bleak when she is condemned to move back in with her parents at the age of 35. Everyone wants to help but, as her patience level with advice is plummeting, a bold teenage boy enters her life, igniting her last bit of self-esteem.

William Grogan, lives in New York City and meets the outside world only through the little basement window of his plumbing shop. One day he sees and falls in love with a pretty pair of feet, belonging to Ruth Warren, a schoolteacher who is lusted after by Norton Colburton, a dissolute playboy. Ruth is about to marry Colburton, but at the last minute runs away and decides to take a Cook's tour. On the boat, she meets Grogan, who has inherited a fortune, and recognizing the feet, he falls in love with their owner.

Down a foggy, desolate road to the port city of Le Havre travels Jean, an army deserter looking for another chance to make good on life. Fate, however, has a different plan for him, as acts of both revenge and kindness render him front-page news.

Ceci, a seven year old girl, has to keep a huge secret, but she doesn't completely understand what is the secret about. The life of her family depends on her silence. But what exactly must she keep silent about? Ceci and her mom live hidden from military repression in Argentina. Ceci asks herself: what must she say? What should she really believe and do in order to deserve the love of her mother and others?

A farmer and his wife live in a rural part of Inner Mongolia with their three children. Chinese population control policies prevent them from having any more. The farmer sets out for the nearest town to obtain birth control. He comes upon a Russian truck driver who has ended up in a lake. The farmer takes the man back to his farm, and after initially being appalled, the Russian becomes enchanted with the peaceful life of the countryside and decides to stay. But his presence presages big changes for the peasants.

Neil Lawrence is sent to a boarding school by his father. During the first days he meets T.J. who he falls in love with. After being assigned a paper on Holden Caulfield - the main character in J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" - Neil decides to go on a journey to meet Salinger, who he feels has played a huge role in his life. Neil & T.J. take off on a journey to New York City. A journey that leads to more then they both ever could have imagined - and changes both their lives forever.

A vivacious actress needing work becomes a housekeeper for a crusty retired politician, and gives his life the shaking-up that it needs.

The film begins when Eugenio, a 14 year old child, is conduced from his grandparents home outside Rome, to Giancarlo (his father) in the city, by Giancarlo's friend (called "Moustache"). As Eugenio is bothering Moustache, he threatens Eugenio with leaving him in the middle of the country. He finally does it. When Giancarlo finds out, they return for Eugenio, but he is now lost. Meanwhile we're told the story of the child and his relation with the family, and why he feels unwanted.

In Les Halles, in the heart of Paris, the restaurateur André Chatelin, leads an uneventful life until the arrival from Marseille of Catherine, the daughter of his ex-wife Gabrielle. She tells him her mother is dead and that she is without resources. Chatelin welcomes her under his roof - then marries her. Gérard, a young student that Chatelin looks upon as a son, becomes Catherine's lover, and she sets him at odds with Chatelin. She asks him to kill the restaurateur. He refuses. She kills him. Having discovered that Gabrielle is still alive, declined and drug addicted, Chatelin realises the darkness of Catherine's soul who has always lied to him.

The true story of Maureen Kearney, the head union representative of a French multinational nuclear powerhouse. She became a whistleblower, denouncing top-secret deals that shook the French nuclear sector. Alone against the world, she fought government ministers and industry leaders, tooth and nail to bring the scandal to light and to defend more than 50,000 jobs.. Her life was turned upside down when she was violently assaulted in her own home... The investigation is carried out under pressure: the subject is sensitive. Suddenly, new elements create doubt in the minds of the investigators. At first a victim, Maureen becomes a suspect.

Mrs. Topper's friend Mrs. Parkhurst has convinced Mrs Topper to file for a divorce from Cosmo due to the strange circumstances of his trip with ghost Marion Kirby. Marion comes back from heaven's door to help Cosmo again, this time only with dog Mr. Atlas. Due to a strange behavior of Cosmo, the judge refuses to divorce them, so Mrs. Parkhurst takes Mrs. Topper on a trip to France where she tries to arrange the final reasons for the divorce. With help of a gold-digging French baron, Marion takes Cosmo to the same hotel to bring them back together and to get her own final ticket to heaven, but the whole thing turns out to be not too easy.

Single mom Maggie is facing Christmas alone until Lucas crashes into her life and becomes an unexpected house guest. Together they overcome Christmas while finding comfort in their growing bond.

Sydney Ragsdale, recently divorced, decides to spend Christmas in a house she inherited with her young daughter. As Sydney begins to spend more time at the local bookstore, she meets a teacher, Mac, who also fills in for the town Santa. Mac tries to make Christmas wishes come true, and this year Sydney is at the top of his ‘nice’ list. As a new opportunity with the bookstore unfolds, Mac helps Sydney open herself up to life, love, and believing in the spirit of Christmas again.

Florence is a school teacher devoted to her students. When she encounters young Sacha, a child with problems, she will do everything she can to help him, even to the point of neglecting her own children, her own life, and of questioning her vocation. Little by little Florence realizes that learning has no age limit.

A beautiful woman lands a job at an exclusive salon that deals with the wives of wealthy businessmen. Her contact with these men leads to a series of affairs.

Missie three years later: being a single mother after her husband Willie was shot during a poker scuffle. She and Maddy move back in with her parents Clark and Marty. She finds a new home, and finds a new teaching position that she settles right into, but Missie has lost all faith in herself, until a chance encounter at her father's church where she adopts homeless orphan Belinda Marshall.

This portrayal of small town life before the War is based on a small boys determination to get to see the circus, over all obstacles. Escaped lions, lightheaded blackmail of his father, and playfully planting stolen papers on his sisters boyfriend are all in a days work for little Henry Peck.

Set in 1913, 1936 and 2001. When he returns to the casino and seaside resort of his early teens, Louis, a 78 year old man encounters Olivia, a 19 year old young woman madly in love with a violent cad. Louis tells the story of his own mother having a passionate, driven fling with his Italian tennis instructor in 1936, and of Marie Collins Brown, the slightly older widowed woman who helped him through his confusion and pain by recounting the story of her passionate 24 hour fling with a hopeless young Polish gambler in 1913.

Mame Walsh promised their mother on her deathbed to look after little sister Janie. But Janie helps herself to everything of her sister's, be it her clothes or her men - even the money entrusted to her by fellow employees at the store they work at. Regardless, Mame can't break her promise. So when it comes to getting Janie out of trouble, big sister comes to the rescue.

After her mother's death, New York City fashion designer Lisa Rayborn (Natasha Henstridge) returns to her hometown and family farm. Due to a weak economy, her brother Jim (Harry Hamlin) has converted the family business from a cattle farm into a sheep farm, despite their father's (Lawrence Dane) objections. To help out, Lisa decides she will stay to help on the farm. She adopts a border collie from the local animal shelter and trains it as a sheepdog, naming the dog Lucky. Jim and Lisa decide to enter Lucky into a sheep herding contest, but when a severe thunderstorm sparks a forest fire, Lucky helps rescue trapped children and bring them to safety. While doing so, Lucky gets her leg burned, and it looks as if she will not be able to compete.

A retired military man lives in the Temple Woods housing project. Just as he’s burying his mother, his neighbour Bébé, who belongs to a gang of robbers from the area, is preparing to rob the convoy of a wealthy Arab prince.

In this film, director Rene Feret tells the story of his parents' lives. In 1935 his mother Aline works in her parents' cafe in a mining town in northern France. There, she meets a customer, Pierre and decides she is going to marry him. In a reversal of roles, she is the one who proposes to him, and she also engineers a false pregnancy to persuade her parents to okay the match. With a few stops along the way, the story picks up after the war with the birth of the couple's third son, who is given the name Rene in memory of their first, dead son. Never rich, they achieve some level of financial stability just as their sons are about to head off to the city for college. The love between the two older people is highlighted in a poignant scene as, just as he is about to die, the father shares a champagne toast with his wife in memory of one of their happier moments.

1970s France. In this modern Parisian city suburb, the paths cross of two neighbours living on the same landing, Georges and Claude: one burying his mother, the other about to marry his daughter. Two family events which, on that day, are going to have to co-exist as best they can!

The middle-aged titular heroine (Masiero) of this bare-bones, Dardenne-esque debut has certainly fallen on hard times: Living between her car and a storage shed, working a part-time job as a hotel chambermaid, and trying against all odds to obtain public housing, Louise scrapes by on a day-to-day subsistence that’s only a few Euros away from skid row.

Burned-out Hollywood screenwriter Bo Aikens (Jay Mohr) is fed up with life in Los Angeles. He heads out of the hustle and bustle of the big city and arrives in picturesque Black River in Northern California, seeking relaxation and artistic inspiration. In small, idyllic Black River, nearly everyone is happy, contented, and welcoming of strangers. But despite the beautiful setting, Bo begins to feel unsettled after several disturbing incidents. He discovers that all of his money has been transferred to a bank account in Black River, and a house has been purchased for him by someone on "his" instructions.

Married with a family and professionally successful, Vincent Ferreira has all he needs to be happy. Sensitive about his modest origins, he dreams of joining the local upmarket club attended by the town big wigs. But with each election, his bad luck prevents him from being admitted.

After everyone's favorite St. Bernard gets fired from a movie, Beethoven begins the long journey home with his trainer, Eddie. On their way, they become stranded in a small coastal town where the beloved canine befriends a young boy who is searching for buried treasure.