Movies Similar to The Smile of the Virgin

The Passion of Joan of Arc(1928)

A classic of the silent age, this film tells the story of the doomed but ultimately canonized 15th-century teenage warrior. On trial for claiming she'd spoken to God, Jeanne d'Arc is subjected to inhumane treatment and scare tactics at the hands of church court officials. Initially bullied into changing her story, Jeanne eventually opts for what she sees as the truth. Her punishment, a famously brutal execution, earns her perpetual martyrdom.

8.0

Adam's Apples(2005)

A neo-nazi sentenced to community service at a church clashes with the blindly devotional priest.

7.4

The Fountain(2006)

Spanning over one thousand years, and three parallel stories, The Fountain is a story of love, death, spirituality, and the fragility of our existence in this world.

6.9

Kingdom of Heaven(2005)

After his wife dies, a blacksmith named Balian is thrust into royalty, political intrigue and bloody holy wars during the Crusades.

7.0

Words with Gods(2014)

The first of four installments in the groundbreaking Heartbeat of the World anthology film series. Comprised of several short films by some of the world's most exciting directors, Words with Gods follows the theme of religion - specifically as it relates to an individual's relationship with his/her god or gods...or the lack thereof. In Words with Gods, each director recounts a narrative centered around human fragility, as well as environmental and cultural crises involving specific religions with which each has a personal relationship; including early Aboriginal Spirituality, Umbanda, Buddhism, the Abrahamic faiths, Hinduism, and Atheism. An animated sequence by Mexican animator Maribel Martinez is woven through each of the film segments, with each segment narratively connected as a feature-length film.

5.7

Tjänare(2025)

Emma is persuaded to join her religious boyfriend, August, for a week with his devout friends. Once at the congregation house, she soon realizes that this is no ordinary Christian community—August has brought her to a cult.

0.0

Ben-Hur(1959)

In 26 AD, Judah Ben-Hur, a Jew in ancient Judea, opposes the occupying Roman empire. Falsely accused by a Roman childhood friend-turned-overlord of trying to kill the Roman governor, he is put into slavery and his mother and sister are taken away as prisoners.

7.9

Contact(1997)

A radio astronomer receives the first extraterrestrial radio signal ever picked up on Earth. As the world powers scramble to decipher the message and decide upon a course of action, she must make some difficult decisions between her beliefs, the truth, and reality.

7.4

The Name of the Rose(1986)

14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence; which is considerable.

7.5

The Godfather(1972)

Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.

8.7

The Tree of Life(2011)

The impressionistic story of a Texas family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father. Jack finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.

6.7

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La Misionera de San José(2022)

Ana lives her youth in Valle de Abdalajís (Málaga). But her life took a complete turn and, together with a group of courageous and determined women, she began a charitable work in favor of the needy, especially the abandoned elderly, orphaned children and people in vulnerable situations. She would eventually found the Congregation of Mothers of the Homeless and St. Joseph of the Mountain. 30 years after her death, her remains were stolen in the midst of the Spanish Civil War.

0.0

The Man from Earth(2007)

A departing professor gathers his closest colleagues for an intimate farewell, but the night takes an unexpected turn when he shares a stunning secret about his past. As the conversation unfolds, skepticism and curiosity collide, challenging everything they thought they knew about history, science, and belief.

7.6

Ned Rifle(2015)

Henry’s and Fay's son Ned sets out to find and kill his father for destroying his mother's life. But his aims are frustrated by the troublesome Susan, whose connection to Henry predates even his arrival in the lives of the Grim family.

5.8

Bilal-i Habeşi(1973)

The film depicts the early years of Islam, focusing on Bilal-i Habeşi, a slave. Bilal-i Habeşi finds the religion of the Quraysh absurd and believes in the existence of a single God who created everything. When the first revelation came to Muhammad, whom he had known since childhood, he became one of the first people to believe and convert to Islam. However, his owner, Beni Ümeyye, does not approve of his conversion to Islam and pressures him to renounce his faith. Bilal, who endures all the torture inflicted upon him, is purchased by Prophet Muhammad's companion Abu Bakr, who grants him his freedom. Islam will begin to spread through the voice of Bilal-i Habeşi.

0.0

Are You Awake?(2025)

After seeking transcendence through shamanic rituals, Ana’s life is transformed overnight by an unexpected turn toward faith.

0.0

Ken Park(2003)

Ken Park focuses on several teenagers and their tormented home lives. Shawn seems to be the most conventional. Tate is brimming with psychotic rage; Claude is habitually harassed by his brutish father and coddled, rather uncomfortably, by his enormously pregnant mother. Peaches looks after her devoutly religious father, but yearns for freedom. They're all rather tight, or so they claim.

6.0

Jesus Christ Superstar(1973)

As played out by a theatre troupe, the last days of Jesus Christ are depicted from the perspective of Judas Iscariot, his betrayer. As Jesus' following increases, Judas begins to worry that Jesus is falling for his own hype, forgetting the principles of his teachings and growing too close to the prostitute Mary Magdalene.

7.1

Boy Erased(2018)

Jared, the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, is outed to his parents at age 19. Jared is faced with an ultimatum: attend a gay conversion therapy program – or be permanently exiled and shunned by his family, friends, and faith.

7.0

Bad Boy Bubby(1993)

Bad Boy Bubby is just that: a bad boy. So bad, in fact, that his mother has kept him locked in their house for his entire thirty years, convincing him that the air outside is poisonous. After a visit from his estranged father, circumstances force Bubby into the waiting world, a place which is just as unusual to him as he is to the world.

7.0