Best period drama films

Costume, letters, ballrooms and the rules people had to live by. These are historical dramas and romances, with war films, crime and comedy left to their own lists. Every pick has a TMDB rating of 7.0 or more from at least 1,000 votes, and new releases wait until their ratings settle. The order follows the Boxlist quality score, and we checked the list by hand to remove obvious misfits.

1
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Film8.3
On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.
US HBO, Kanopy, UK ITV, Amazon Prime (rent)
2
Little Women (2019)
Film7.9
Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.
US FX, Amazon Prime (rent), UK Amazon Prime, iTunes (rent)
3
Amadeus (1984)
Film8.0
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a remarkably talented young Viennese composer who unwittingly finds a fierce rival in the disciplined and determined...
US Amazon Prime (rent), Google Play (rent), UK Amazon Prime (buy), Chili (buy)
4
The King's Speech (2010)
Film7.7
The King's Speech tells the story of the man who became King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II.
US STARZ, Amazon Prime (rent), UK NowTV, Amazon Prime (rent)
5
12 Years a Slave (2013)
Film7.9
In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
US Amazon Prime (rent), Google Play (rent), UK Amazon Prime (rent), Bfi Player (rent)
6
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Film7.5
Rich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her daughters poor by the rules of inheritance.
US Amazon Prime (rent), iTunes (rent), UK Amazon Prime (rent), Google Play (rent)
7
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Film7.8
Two modern-day cowboys meet on a shepherding job in the summer of '63, the two share a raw and powerful summer together that turns into a lifelong...
US Amazon Prime (rent), Google Play (rent), UK Bfi Player, Amazon Prime (rent)
8
Phantom Thread (2017)
Film7.3
Renowned British dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock comes across Alma, a young, strong-willed woman, who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse...
US Amazon Prime (rent), Google Play (rent), UK NowTV, Amazon Prime (rent)
9
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Film8.1
A story of love and life among the landed English gentry during the Georgian era.
US HBO, Amazon Prime (rent), UK Netflix, Amazon Prime (rent)
10
Brooklyn (2015)
Film7.3
In 1950s Ireland and New York, young Eilis Lacey has to choose between two men and two countries.
US Hulu, Amazon Prime (rent), UK Amazon Prime, Bfi Player (rent)
11
Atonement (2007)
Film7.7
As a 13-year-old, fledgling writer Briony Tallis irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a...
US Amazon Prime (rent), Google Play (rent), UK Amazon Prime, Chili (rent)
12
Carol (2015)
Film7.5
In 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.
US HBO, Amazon Prime (rent), UK Amazon Prime, Mubi
13
The Elephant Man (1980)
Film8.1
A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak.
UK Amazon Prime (rent), Bfi Player (rent)
14
Silence (2016)
Film7.1
Two Jesuit priests travel to seventeenth century Japan which has, under the Tokugawa shogunate, banned Catholicism and almost all foreign contact.
US Kanopy, Amazon Prime (rent), UK Guidedoc, Amazon Prime (rent)
15
The Sound of Music (1965)
Film7.7
In the years before the Second World War, a tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey becomes a governess in the home of a widowed naval captain...
US Disney, TCM, UK Disney, Amazon Prime (rent)
16
Darkest Hour (2017)
Film7.4
A thrilling and inspiring true story begins on the eve of World War II as, within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston...
US Amazon Prime (rent), Google Play (rent), UK Amazon Prime, Netflix
17
The Last Emperor (1987)
Film7.6
A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship...
US Cinemax, HBO, UK Amazon Prime (rent), iTunes (rent)
18
Selma (2014)
Film7.4
"Selma," as in Alabama, the place where segregation in the South was at its worst, leading to a march that ended in violence, forcing a famous...
US Kanopy, Paramount+, UK Amazon Prime (rent), Bfi Player (rent)
19
Gandhi (1982)
Film7.5
In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K.
US Amazon Prime (rent), iTunes (rent), UK Amazon Prime (rent), iTunes (rent)
20
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
Film7.8
What was supposed to be a peaceful protest turned into a violent clash with the police.
US Netflix, UK Netflix