14 Best Period Drama Movies Released in the Last 10 Years 

These films are special because they bring history to life with amazing costumes, grand sets, and stories that feel both old and new at the same time; it's like stepping into a painting and watching the characters move and speak.

1. Lady Macbeth (2016)

History/Drama, Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%

In rural England, 1865, young Katherine is stifled by her loveless marriage to a bitter man twice her age and his cold, unforgiving family; when she embarks on a passionate affair with a young worker on her husband's estate, a force is unleashed inside her, so powerful that she will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

2. The Imitation Game (2014)

History/Drama, Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

Mathematician Alan Turing works against time with his team at Bletchley Park to crack the Germans' Enigma code during World War II; despite saving millions of lives, he is later persecuted by the British government for his homosexuality.

3. Their Finest (2016)

Romance/Comedy, Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

In wartime Britain, a newly appointed female scriptwriter works on a propaganda film to boost morale during the Blitz, discovering along the way the power of movie-making to shape the nation's optimism and her own voice amidst the chaos.

4. Maudie (2016)

Biography/History, Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

In Nova Scotia, Maud Lewis, who suffers from severe arthritis, yearns to be independent and achieve her dream of becoming an artist; she takes a job as a housekeeper for a reclusive fisherman, eventually marrying him and becoming a beloved Canadian folk artist.

5. Phantom Thread (2017)

Romance/Thriller, Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%

In 1950s London, renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock's structured life is disrupted by Alma, a strong-willed woman who becomes his muse and lover, challenging his obsession with perfection and control.

6. Hidden Figures (2016)

History/Drama, Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%

Amidst the space race, three brilliant African-American women at NASA – Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson – serve as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restores the nation's confidence, turning the tide of the Cold War.

7. The Favourite (2018)

Comedy/Thriller, Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%

In early 18th-century England, the frail Queen Anne occupies the throne and her close friend Lady Sarah governs the country in her stead until a new servant, Abigail, arrives, and her charm endears her to Sarah.

8. Son of Saul (2015)

History/Drama, Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%

In Auschwitz-Birkenau, 1944, Saul Ausländer, a Hungarian-Jewish prisoner forced to assist the Nazis in the extermination, finds moral survival upon discovering the body of a boy he takes for his son and decides to carry out an impossible task: save the child's body from the flames and offer him a proper burial.

9. Sweet Country (2017)

Western/History, Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%

In 1920s Australia, after an Aboriginal stockman Sam kills a white station owner in self-defense, he and his wife go on the run through the harsh Northern Territory, leading to a manhunt that reveals the harsh realities of racism and justice.

10. Mudbound (2017)

History/Drama, Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%

Post-World War II, two families – one black, one white – struggle with the harsh realities of racism, poverty, and an uneasy coexistence in the Mississippi Delta, as each fights for a better future for their children.

11. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

History/Drama, Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%

In 18th-century France, Marianne is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young woman who has just left the convent; because she is a reluctant bride-to-be, Marianne arrives under the guise of companionship, observing Héloïse by day and secretly painting her by firelight at night.

12. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)

History/Drama, Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%

In 1927 Chicago, tensions rise between Ma Rainey, her ambitious trumpet player, and the white management determined to control the uncontrollable "Mother of the Blues"; based on August Wilson's play, the film captures the rhythm of the blues to tell a story of art, ambition, and race.

13. Phoenix (2014)

History/Drama, Rotten Tomatoes score: 98%

A disfigured Holocaust survivor, unrecognizable after facial reconstruction surgery, searches post-war Berlin for the husband who might have betrayed her to the Nazis, only to find him planning to use her in a scam, believing she resembles his dead wife.

14. Selma (2014)

History/Drama, Rotten Tomatoes score: 99%

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. leads a dangerous campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition; the epic march from Selma to Montgomery culminates in President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant victories for the civil rights movement.