Movies Similar to The Empty Canvas

The Elementary Particles(2006)

Based on Michel Houellebecq's controversial novel, Atomised (aka The Elementary Particles) focuses on Michael and Bruno, two very different half-brothers and their disturbed sexuality. After a chaotic childhood with a hippie mother only caring for her affairs, Michael, a molecular biologist, is more interested in genes than women, while Bruno is obsessed with his sexual desires, but mostly finds his satisfaction with prostitutes. But Bruno's life changes when he gets to know the experienced Christiane. In the meantime, Michael meets Annabelle, the love of his youth, again.

The Seventh Seal(1957)

When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death to a chess match for his life. Tormented by the belief that God does not exist, Block sets off on a journey, meeting up with traveling players Jof and his wife, Mia, and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives.

Odd Obsession(1959)

A middle-aged husband of a younger woman finds her youth intimidating to the point that he cannot become aroused. His solution involves the introduction of his daughter's lover to his wife.

Fanny(1932)

Soon after Marius's departure, Fanny learns that she is pregnant with his child, to the disappointment of her mother and of Marius's father, César. To secure a better life for her unborn child, she accepts a marriage proposal from the aging widower Honoré Panisse.

Alchimie au rhodium(2024)

Love Affair(1939)

A French playboy and an American former nightclub singer fall in love aboard a ship. They arrange to reunite six months later, if neither has changed their mind.

Iris and Asriel(2025)

When Asriel, a painting art school graduate, is diagnosed with dementia at a shockingly young age, he and his photographer partner Iris must attempt to find meaning in the time they have left.

The Agony and the Ecstasy(1965)

During the Italian Renaissance, Pope Julius II contracts the influential artist Michelangelo to sculpt 40 statues for his tomb. When the pope changes his mind and asks the sculptor to paint a mural in the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo doubts his painting skills and abandons the project. Divine inspiration returns Michelangelo to the mural, but his artistic vision clashes with the pope's demanding personality and threatens the success of the historic painting.

An Impossibly Small Object(2018)

A Dutch photographer (played by David Verbeek himself – also a talented photographer in real life) takes a picture of a girl in a parking lot in nighttime Taipei as she plays with her kite. The photo transports us into her life. She is eight years old and is about to lose her best friend, a boy from a wealthy family who is moving to America. Back in the Netherlands, the photographer is confronted with his own constant loneliness. The photo of the girl evokes memories of his own childhood, when he still felt at home somewhere.

February(2003)

Kaewta knows her final day is fast approaching. She decides to fly to New York City to forget her painful past and spend her last four months there. Fate plays games with her again when she has an accident upon her arrival, and she can't even remember who she is.

Snapshot Fiasco(2023)

A model and a photographer, after hours of trying, strive for the perfect shot but face challenges as their high aesthetic standards get in the way.

Go For Soliloquy

Photographer and entrepreneur in training, Alonzo, struggles to get his artistic business off the ground. To combat his self-doubt and anxiety, he seeks help from his old college friends who've made names for themselves.

Phantom Valley(2020)

In the desolate countryside, haunted by recurrent dreams, a young drifter finds himself at the borderlands between the living and the dead.

Shelter(2007)

Forced to give up his dreams of art school, Zach works dead-end jobs to support his sister and her son. Questioning his life, he paints, surfs and hangs out with his best friend, Gabe. When Gabe's older brother returns home for the summer, Zach suddenly finds himself drawn into a relationship he didn't expect.

Jack Kerouac's Road: A Franco-American Odyssey(1987)

Part documentary, part drama, this film presents the life and work of Jack Kerouac, an American writer with Québec roots who became one of the most important spokesmen for his generation. Intercut with archival footage, photographs and interviews, this film takes apart the heroic myth and even returns to the childhood of the author whose life and work contributed greatly to the cultural, sexual and social revolution of the 1960s.

Great Expectations(1998)

Loosely based on the Charles Dickens' classic novel, "Great Expectations" is a sensual tale of a young man's unforgettable passage into manhood, and the three individuals who will undeniably change his life forever. Through the surprising interactions of these vivid characters, "Great Expectations" takes a unique and contemporary look at life's great coincidences.

The Art In Anguish(2024)

Josh Thomas is an artist grieving the loss of his wife, channelling inner turmoil into art. When presented with an opportunity, Josh must decide whether he’s selling art or his emotions.

Candy(2006)

A poet falls in love with an art student, who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle — and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.

Untitled (Without Sound)(2025)

A highfalutin art movie crumbles into a meta-fictional disaster that betrays its director’s incompetence in real time, and it’s all on film.

Fucking Killas on Speed Dial(2017)

Jakob is attracted to Rakel, the girlfriend of the guy who is bullying him, Thomas. He feels small but he is determined to feel big.