Movies & TV Shows To Watch If You Like the 5th Season of The Crown: After a gap of two years, Netflix has released the next installment of one of its most loved and award-winning series ‘The Crown’. ‘The Crown: Season 5’ premiered on the streaming site on 9th November 2022. The Crown has maintained a loyal fan following since its inception in 2016 and through its last four-season run. The series that follows the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II enters the turbulent 1990s, and the show deals with a lot of meaty and scandalous events this season.
The 1990s is also the decade that is the freshest in the memories of the masses despite close to three decades between then and now. The much-publicized divorce of Prince Charles and Princess Diana and the notorious events that preceded it are to blame for its infamy, an infamy that makes for binge-worthy television drama. The season belongs to Diana as much as to Elizabeth; while the former searches for identity and freedom the latter reckons with the questions of her relevance as a monarch in the fast-changing world.
The season has sated the audiences with a healthy dose of royal drama while at the same time leaving them wanting for more. Here we have curated a list of television shows and films that you might enjoy if you are suffering from the ‘The Crown’ withdrawal symptoms.
1. Jackie (2016)
‘Jackie’ is a biographical drama film by the Chilean director Pablo Larraín based on the life of the former First Lady of the United States of America and the wife of President John.F.Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy. This critically acclaimed film portrays Jackie as a woman caught in a media frenzy as she navigates grief and personal loss in full public view in the aftermath of her husband’s bloody assassination.
The film is intimate and personal in its approach, showing a grieving woman mulling over her own identity as opposed to a national icon; the role is played brilliantly by Natalie Portman who brings the right amount of intensity and vulnerability to this role and was rightly nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for the same.
The film’s Jackie has parallels with ‘The Crown: Season 5’ Diana, both of these women are conflicted about their own identity, are navigating through existential questions, is deeply lonely, and are trying to live through it all while being in constant media attention. This dark biographical drama gives an insight into a deeply troubled mind of a woman on edge and would be appreciated by all those who loved the Diana storyline in the latest season.
2. Spencer (2021)
The critically acclaimed psychological drama film ‘The Spencer’ by Chilean director Pablo Larraín on Princess Diana’s life is moody, dark, and intense. A spiritual successor to his equally intense film ‘Jackie’ (2016), the film plays out over three days of Christmas of 1991 in Diana’s life. The film is a surreal often nightmarish exploration of the depth of an extremely lonely woman’s psyche while she grapples with questions of her existence and comes to terms with her failed marriage.
The ghost of Anne Boleyn looms large as another royal wife discarded and misunderstood by the monarchy and people alike. The Academy Award-nominated nuanced performance by Kristen Stewart is full of pathos and inner conflict; it is widely thought to be one of the most accurate portrayals of the Princess. Season 5 explores a grown-up Diana, played beautifully by Elizabeth Debicki, and shares the same timeline as this film.
The show navigates the years from the failed charade of a second honeymoon contrived by Charles to boost his public image to the couple separating and ultimately divorcing. The fans looking for more of Diana should watch this brilliant dark psychological drama by Larrain that explores the inner turmoil of Diana.
The film is available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video
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3. Blonde (2022)
This biographical fiction drama film on the life of cinema icon Marilyn Monroe directed by the Australian filmmaker Andrew Dominik is an adaptation of the 2000 published novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates.
The visceral and often raw narrativization of Marilyn Monroe’s life explores her not as a cultural icon but as a woman, abused, suppressed, and victimized. The film shows the conflict between the lusted-after hyper-sexualized sex symbol Marilyn and the reserved, deep and simple Norma Jean; the conflict of public and personal.
Ana de Armas plays Marilyn with deep intensity and vulnerability, a troubled woman spiraling out of control. The film matches the character of Diana in ‘The Crown: Season 5’ in that it also investigates the disturbed psyche of a vulnerable woman amidst an existential crisis, the glamourous public image and the personal turmoil, the contrast between the personal victimization and public reverence, and ultimately women who are much adored and much misunderstood.
The film is available for streaming on Netflix.
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4. The Last Czars (2019)
‘The Last Czars’ is a six-part Netflix historical docudrama on the reign of Czar Nicholas II, the last Czar of Russia before the Russian Revolution violently ended the reign and life of the Czar and his family, and effectively put an end to the three-century-long reign of the Romanov dynasty. The show explores the socio-political climate of Russia while at the same time covering the happenings in the personal life of the Romanovs.
From Nicholas’s succession to power it goes on to him handling the volatile political climate of the nation while the family navigates personal issues and tribulations, it also covers the rise of the enigmatic Rasputin and the growing anger of a nation at crossroads. The personal history of royals running in parallel with the social history of a nation is a similarity between both ‘The Crown’ and ‘The Last Czars’.
Both the Windsors and the Romanovs are real people with real problems underneath all the royal protocol; audiences wanting more royal drama will like this Netflix show about the events that led to the tragic end of the Romanov dynasty and the birth of modern Russia.
You can stream ‘The Last Czars’ on Netflix.
5. The Empress (2022)
Netflix’s ‘The Empress’ is a historical drama based on the life of Empress Elizabeth of Austria. This German series explores the life of Duchess Elisabeth “Sisi” von Wittelsbach and her relationship with Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, whom she marries to become the Empress. Sisi is a free-spirited adolescent who marries for love only to feel the pressure of the expectations and the limitations placed on her behavior and movements due to being the wife of the most powerful man in the land.
Trying to find freedom under the looming shadow of her dominant mother-in-law and watching at every step, ‘The Empress’ details Sisi’s life while the kingdom is disturbed and in the midst of a rebellion. Fans of ‘The Crown: Season 5’ will find parallels between the manner in which both Diana and Sisi are made to toe the line and bear the burden of expectations being the wife of important men. They both are misunderstood individuals fighting for identity, alienated in a space with no allies or friends, and trying to survive in a system designed to crush them. The series is visually stunning and will interest the fans of ‘The Crown’ both for its subject matter and the scenery.
The series is available to stream on Netflix
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6. Wolf Hall (2015)
Adapted from the Booker prize-winning first two novels of the Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel, this critically acclaimed BBC miniseries details the rise to power of Thomas Cromwell during the reign of the infamous English Monarch Henry VIII. Brilliantly acted by Mark Rylance, Damian Lewis, Claire Foy, Anton Lesser, Mark Gatiss, and several other accomplished actors, this six-part series has an ensemble cast of acting powerhouses that seldom comes together in one show.
The series set in the 16th-century court of Tudor king Henry VIII is full of palace intrigue, political mechanizations, treachery, and ruthless quest for power. The show parallels the rise to power of Cromwell and at the same time one of the most infamous English Queen Anne Boleyn.
Boleyn’s rise to power and her subsequent downfall is a masterclass in politicking, discarded for a new woman the situation of Anne has similarities to that of Diana. Fans of ‘The Crown’ will like the series detailing the life of royalty and members of the English court for its intricate plotting, brilliant acting, and the unromanticized and refined manner in which it handles an explosive moment in history.
