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Movies About Life in the English Suburbs
16
items I've always had some special love to stories about life in UK in different periods of history.
Though partly set in the U.S., the storyline featuring Julianne Moore offers a moving look at a woman’s emotional life in 1950s English-style suburbia — quiet and restrained.
The Hours (2002)
A gentle, emotionally honest drama about a couple facing divorce after years of marriage in a quiet seaside town. Beautifully acted, introspective, and deeply British.
Hope Gap (2019)
A slow-paced, intimate portrayal of a happily married couple and their circle of struggling friends over four seasons. A subtle but powerful portrait of suburban aging and loneliness.
Another Year (2010)
A retired man living a calm life in suburban London is forced to confront his past and unresolved relationships. Reflective and layered.
The Sense of an Ending (2017)
A powerful family drama involving adoption, identity, and class divisions, unfolding in modest suburban settings with rich emotional depth.
Secrets & Lies (1996)
A quirky coming-of-age story set in suburban Wales. It blends teenage awkwardness, oddball parents, and first love into a warm and offbeat tale.
Submarine (2010)
Set partly in postwar London and its quiet residential streets, the film explores love, betrayal, and moral conflict with subdued, period atmosphere.
The End of the Affair (1999)
Though set by the sea, the emotional tone and social pressures evoke the quiet restraint often felt in English suburban life. A story about silence and repression.
On Chesil Beach (2017)
The first part of the film, set in a grand English country house, mirrors upper-middle-class suburban life before WWII — filled with expectations, appearances, and devastating misunderstandings.
Atonement (2007) ⭐ 7.8 | Drama, Mystery, Romance
Set in a 1970s all-girls school in rural England, this haunting drama follows a mysterious fainting epidemic. Dreamlike and atmospheric, it captures the emotional undercurrents of adolescence, repression, and isolation in a quiet British setting.
The Falling (2014)
A powerful coming-of-age story set in a working-class town in 1980s England. Through the eyes of a young boy drawn into a skinhead group, the film explores identity, community, and the impact of politics on suburban youth.
This Is England (2006)
Set in early 1980s England, this semi-autobiographical drama follows a young film student navigating a complicated relationship with an older man. With its muted tone, slow pacing, and intimate setting in and around London’s quieter areas, it beautif...
The Souvenir (2019)
A quiet, introspective film about memory, regret, and past relationships. Set in suburban London, it explores the life of a retired man whose peaceful routine is disrupted by a letter from the past.
The Sense of an Ending (2017)
Set in the Yorkshire countryside, this is a raw and tender story of a young farmer whose emotionally closed-off life changes when a migrant worker arrives. Intimate and grounded in rural British realism.
God's Own Country (2017)
Directed by Mike Leigh, this film takes place in 1950s London suburbs and follows a kind-hearted woman with a secret. A powerful look at working-class life, moral dilemmas, and social pressures.
Vera Drake (2004)
A poetic, semi-autobiographical film about a lonely boy growing up in 1950s Liverpool. It captures the atmosphere of post-war England, family life, and a child's inner world with visual elegance and emotional subtlety.
The Long Day Closes (1992)