10 Best Period Romance Movies for Everyone Who Misses Bridgerton's Ton

The long-awaited third season of Bridgerton may be over, but that doesn't mean we have to give up on court intrigue and romance.

This list contains ten movies that will help brighten more than one evening of longing for the love affairs of the Bridgerton family.

1. Eiffel, 2021

In 1886, the famous architect Gustave Eiffel was preparing a project to build a metro in Paris. To find high-level investors, he turns to his old friend Antoine, an influential journalist with access to the state elite.

At one of the dinners, Gustave meets his old love, Adrienne. Old feelings flare up, but it turns out that she is married to Antoine. To impress the woman, Gustave offers the minister a new project for the 1889 exhibition – a tower that will make Paris famous throughout the world.

2. Portrait of a Lady on Fire, 2019

The movie is set in France in 1760. A painter, Marianne, is hired to paint a wedding portrait of Heloise, who has recently left the convent. As events unfold, the two women grow closer, revealing themselves and each other in new ways.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire says little about feminism or the rigid patriarchal system of the time, but much more about love – sincere and very passionate, as if ripped from the pages of popular novels.

3. Emily, 2022

In the English village of Haworth once lived three sisters: Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. And all the stars aligned: each of the girls wrote a great novel. Emily, the author of the darkest love story of the century, Wuthering Heights, was the most withdrawn and least ambitious.

Today, we know almost nothing about the details of her life because all of her records and letters were destroyed. Only the outlines of her character have survived for modern readers and viewers– Emily was a reclusive young woman who loved to walk in the countryside, listen to the sound of the wind, and invent extraordinary stories.

4. Mary Shelley, 2017

The story is set at the beginning of the 19th century. It tells the story of 18-year-old Mary, the future author of the novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus and the daughter of a famous London philosopher.

One day, the girl meets the poet Percy Shelley, with whom she quickly develops a relationship. At the same time, the man already had a wife and a young son, so the lovers could not officially marry. However, Shelley soon invites Mary to live with him, making her an outcast in the eyes of society.

5. Love & Friendship, 2016

Recently widowed, Lady Susan Vernon is trying to get on with her life. She has a bad reputation in high society – known as a cynical, hypocritical woman who sees men only as a way to improve her financial situation.

So an invitation from her late husband's brother comes in handy. She also wants to find a place for her unmarried daughter, and it does not matter that the chosen man is more interested in Lady Susan herself.

Lady Susan is one of Jane Austen's novels that did not get into the hands of the public during the author's lifetime, which is probably why it has not been adapted to the screen so often.

6. Tulip Fever, 2017

In the 18th century, the Netherlands experienced a true tulip boom. The bulbs of these beautiful flowers became the cause of fabulous wealth or humiliating poverty. The people of Amsterdam were willing to do anything for them, even kill someone.

At the same time, young Sophia marries a middle-aged rich man, Cornelis, against her will. To immortalize the beauty of his wife in a portrait, Cornelis invites the artist Jan to his home. Immediately, feelings flare up between Sophia and Jan, which the husband begins to suspect.

7. A Royal Affair, 2012

The action of the movie takes place in the early 1770s in Denmark. The Danish King Christian VII, suffering from a serious mental illness, prefers to spend his time in the brothels of Copenhagen, which arouses the hatred of the young Queen Caroline Matilda.

Soon a young doctor, Johann Friedrich Struensee , appears in the king's retinue, who manages to exert a positive influence on Christian VII and, after gaining his trust, is given a number of government posts. Struensee also became close to Caroline Matilda. But the queen mother cannot come to terms with this state of affairs.

8. Farewell, My Queen, 2012

The movie is set in the early days of the French Revolution. The main character in whose name the story is told is the maid of honor Sidonie Laborde, whose duties included reading books to the French queen Marie Antoinette.

For Mademoiselle Laborde, the bloody days of the Revolution led to exile in Vienna. 21 years later, she decided to tell what happened in Versailles during those days and about her relationship with Queen Marie Antoinette.

9. Austenland, 2013

Jane Hayes is an unmarried woman who believes that no man in the world can compare to Fitzwilliam Darcy. Jane is trying her best to overcome her obsession with the character from Jane Austen's book, but just then her wealthy great-aunt dies, who, it turns out, paid for Jane's vacation to Austenland – a place where visitors can live like the characters of Jane Austen's novels.

Jane sees this trip as her last chance to fulfill her obsessive dream – before she finally stops searching for a man who resembles Mr. Darcy.

10. The Duchess, 2008

The Duchess is one of the many historical dramas in Keira Knightley's career. The actress played Georgiana Cavendish, an icon of the Georgian era and a distant relative of Princess Diana. Like many aristocrats of the time, Georgiana did not marry for love.

A seemingly successful marriage brings nothing but disappointment and suffering to the young lady. The husband lives with his wife and mistress under the same roof. And the Duchess begins to have real feelings for someone else.

This honest and sensual portrait is worth seeing at least for the luxurious clothes – the movie won an Oscar for Best Costumes.