Historical Dramas - AD 1700 - 1800
A list of historical drama films and television series set in the 18th century.
The list follows a chronological order based on the historical setting. For the most part, these are films and television series that I've seen and evaluated.
In those cases where the setting remains uncertain, I tried to approximate it as much as possible based on the clues provided by the plot and also on my personal historical knowledge.
Some of the dates provided may be subject to future corrections, especially for those films that I've yet to see or for those I haven't watched in a long time.
This list is also based on personal assessments. For this reason, I've not included those films and television series that do not reflect my valuation standards.
Andres Contos aka Siddo Vicio
The list follows a chronological order based on the historical setting. For the most part, these are films and television series that I've seen and evaluated.
In those cases where the setting remains uncertain, I tried to approximate it as much as possible based on the clues provided by the plot and also on my personal historical knowledge.
Some of the dates provided may be subject to future corrections, especially for those films that I've yet to see or for those I haven't watched in a long time.
This list is also based on personal assessments. For this reason, I've not included those films and television series that do not reflect my valuation standards.
Andres Contos aka Siddo Vicio
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- DirectorDavid GilesStarsJohn NevilleSusan HampshireMargaret TyzackWith the death of her brother-in-law William III in 1702, Princess Anne becomes Queen. She becomes a popular monarch, even if there are many Jacobites in Parliament who feel that she is not the true monarch. Her friendship with John and Sarah Churchill continues strong, naming John the Duke of Marlborough and providing for him with an annual income that befits his new rank. On the death of Queen Anne's father, the former King James II, King Louis XIV of France recognized James' son as the rightful monarch. This and the issue of the Spanish succession again leads to war with France. Marlborough's military successes continue and his role as head of the army brings endless victories on the battlefield.1702-1704
- DirectorDavid GilesStarsJohn NevilleSusan HampshireMargaret TyzackThe close friendship between Sarah Churchill and Queen Anne is severely tested. The Queen is a strong advocate of moderation and as such clearly supports the Tories in Parliament. The Whigs have the majority however and she is forever battling them. Sarah is of the view that the Queen has to accommodate herself somewhat to the wishes of the people however the Queen rejects the notion that her advisers should be made up of the majority party in Parliament. She also rejects flatly the suggestion that Lord Sutherland, Sarah's son-in-law and a moderate Whig, be named to the Privy Council. Over time, the Queen comes to reject her advice more and more and Sarah finds herself outside of of the monarchs inner circle. The Queen is now relying far more on Abigail Hill, Sarah's cousin, as her confidant. She has written to the Queen several times but receives no reply and is not able to get a private appointment with her.1704-1708
- DirectorYorgos LanthimosStarsOlivia ColmanEmma StoneRachel WeiszIn early 18th-century England, the status quo at the court is upset when a new servant arrives and endears herself to a frail Queen Anne.1704-1711
- DirectorDavid GilesStarsJohn NevilleSusan HampshireMargaret TyzackThe war with France, which has so far lasted the entirety of Queen Anne's reign, continues with the armies under the Duke of Marlborough as the Captain-General of the forces. Victory is at hand however leading to the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. As Sarah becomes older, she becomes more desperate to simply understand what happened with her relationship with the Queen. Her letters go unanswered and her request for a private audience fall on deaf ears. Meanwhile, the influence of her cousin Abigail Hill, whom she had rescued from poverty years before, seemingly knows no bounds. The Queen is thrilled that the Conservatives have a major electoral victory and that she finally has a governing party that she feels she can work with. The question of the succession to the British throne is still a vexing one with Jacobites arguing in favor of James II's son while others wish to follow the agreement of 1701 that the Hanovers would take the throne. The issue is settled and with peace in Europe, the Duke and Duchess continue their lives having made a major mark in history.1709-1714
- DirectorMichael Caton-JonesStarsLiam NeesonJessica LangeJohn HurtIn 1713 Scotland, Rob Roy MacGregor is wronged by a nobleman and his nephew, becomes an outlaw in search of revenge while fleeing the Redcoats, and faces charges of being a Jacobite.1713-1715
- DirectorAlbert SerraStarsJean-Pierre LéaudPatrick d'AssumçaoMarc SusiniUpon returning from a hunting expedition, King Louis XIV feels a sharp pain in his leg. He begins to die, surrounded by loyal followers in the royal chambers.1715
- CreatorRobert LevineJonathan E. SteinbergStarsJessica Parker KennedyToby StephensHannah NewFollows Captain Flint and his pirates twenty years prior to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel "Treasure Island."1715-1720
- StarsRose ByrneDavid TennantPeter O'TooleAfter a life spent seeking pleasure and decadence, Casanova seeks his one true love, Henriette.1725-1798
- DirectorTom TykwerStarsBen WhishawDustin HoffmanAlan RickmanJean-Baptiste Grenouille, born with a superior olfactory sense, creates the world's finest perfume. His work, however, takes a dark turn as he searches for the ultimate scent.1738-1766
- DirectorRoberto FaenzaStarsEmmanuelle LaboritRoberto HerlitzkaLaura MoranteSicily 18th century, Marianna Ucria is a 12-year-old deaf-mute from an aristocratic family of Palermo. Aged 13, she is married to a middle-aged uncle, Duca Pietro. She is repulsed by him, but at 16 years she already gives him three daughters. During her 20s she is instructed by a French tutor, which teaches her philosophy and all the new ideas that tour around Europe. She also has to manage, after Pietro's death, a relationship with her servant's brother (and following scandal). In her mature age she finally discovers and understands the terrible secret behind his handicap.1743
- StarsSiân PhillipsAlun ArmstrongBen Daniels18th-century England and Ireland viewed through the eyes of four beautiful high-born sisters - Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox, great-granddaughters of a king, daughters of a cabinet minister, and wives of politicians and peers.1743-1798
- DirectorJake ScottStarsRobert CarlyleJonny Lee MillerIain RobertsonTwo robbers are persecuted by the law, whose servants are not much better and even worse.1748
- DirectorRoland JofféStarsRobert De NiroJeremy IronsRay McAnallyEighteenth-century Spanish Jesuits try to protect a remote South American tribe in danger of falling under the rule of pro-slavery Portugal.1750-1758
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsLaurence FishburneMatthew GoodeMalachi KirbyIn the river region of the Gambia in 1750, Omoro Kinte and his wife, Binta, have a son named Kunta. Kunta is kidnapped in 1767 and sold to British slave traders. After he arrives in Annapolis, Maryland, Virginia planter John Waller purchases Kunta.1750-1767
- DirectorLasse HallströmStarsHeath LedgerSienna MillerJeremy IronsThe fabled romantic Giacomo Casanova, after failing to win the affection of the Venetian woman Francesca Bruni, strives to discover the real meaning of love.1753
- StarsIan McDiarmidFrancis MageeSteve SpeirsIn 18th-century London, novelists Henry and John Fielding fight crime on the perilous streets of Covent Garden, determined to clean up the city rife with prostitution, gambling, and villainy before modern policing.1753-54
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsColin FirthAnnette BeningMeg TillyFrance before 1789: When a widow hears that her lover is to marry her cousin's daughter, she asks the playboy Valmont to take the girl's virginity. But first she bets him, with her body as prize, to seduce a virtuous, young, married woman.1756
- DirectorMichael MannStarsDaniel Day-LewisMadeleine StoweRussell MeansThree trappers protect the daughters of a British Colonel in the midst of the French and Indian War.1757
- DirectorJacques RivetteStarsAnna KarinaLiselotte PulverMicheline PresleSuzanne is forced against her will to take vows as a nun and three mothers superior treat her in radically different ways. Suzanne's virtue brings disaster to everyone in this faithful adaptation of a bitter attack on religious abuses.1757-1760
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsRyan O'NealMarisa BerensonPatrick MageeAn Irish rogue wins the heart of a rich widow and assumes her dead husband's aristocratic position in 18th-century England.1759-1789
- StarsHelen MirrenJason ClarkeGina McKeeThe life and times of the woman who reformed the Russian empire.1762-1796
- DirectorChristophe GansStarsSamuel Le BihanMark DacascosJérémie RenierIn 18th-century France, the Chevalier de Fronsac and his Native American friend Mani are sent to the Gevaudan province at the king's behest to investigate the killings of hundreds by a mysterious beast.1764-1790
- DirectorSofia CoppolaStarsKirsten DunstJason SchwartzmanRip TornThe retelling of France's iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette. From her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at 14 to her reign as queen at 19 and to the end of her reign as queen, and ultimately the fall of Versailles.1768-1789
- DirectorNikolaj ArcelStarsAlicia VikanderMads MikkelsenMikkel Boe FølsgaardA young queen, who is married to an insane king, falls secretly in love with her physician - and together they start a revolution that changes a nation forever.1769-1775
- DirectorAmma AsanteStarsGugu Mbatha-RawMatthew GoodeEmily WatsonThe biracial daughter, Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), of Royal Navy Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode) is raised by aristocratic Great-uncle Lord William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) in 18th century England.1769-1783
- DirectorAntonietta De LilloStarsMaria de MedeirosImma VillaRosario SparnoSet in the 1790s, this historical drama follows the travails of an idealistic noblewoman who helps lead a daring revolution in Italy.1770-1799
- StarsPaul GiamattiLaura LinneyJohn DossettThe life of one of the USA's Founding Fathers, its second President, and his role in the nation's first 50 years.1770-1826
- DirectorTom HooperStarsPaul GiamattiLaura LinneyDanny HustonFirebrand Sam Adams tries to dissuade cousin John from defending redcoats in the Boston Massacre, but later John changes his mind and joins the revolutionary cause.1770-1774
- DirectorSaul DibbStarsKeira KnightleyRalph FiennesDominic CooperA chronicle of the life of 18th-century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who was revered for her extravagant political and personal life.1774-1792
- DirectorTom HooperStarsPaul GiamattiLaura LinneyStephen DillaneAfter the Battles of Lexington and Concord, John Adams becomes the voice for independence at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.1775-1776
- DirectorHugh HudsonStarsAl PacinoDonald SutherlandNastassja KinskiA trapper and his young son get pulled into the American revolution early as unwilling participants and remain involved through to the end.1776
- DirectorRobert HarmonStarsJeff DanielsRoger ReesSebastian RochéA dramatization of George Washington's perilous gamble of crossing the Delaware River and attacking the Hessian forces at Trenton.1776
- DirectorRoland EmmerichStarsMel GibsonHeath LedgerJoely RichardsonPeaceful farmer Benjamin Martin is driven to lead the Colonial Militia during the American Revolution when a sadistic British officer murders his son.1776-1781
- DirectorMario Van PeeblesStarsEmayatzy CorinealdiEmyri CrutchfieldMatthew GoodeRedcoats attempt to persuade slaves to run away and join the English army; Kunta escapes but slave catchers apprehend him and amputate half of his foot to ensure that he never runs off again. John Waller sells Kunta to his younger brother William.1776-1800
- CreatorCraig SilversteinStarsJamie BellHeather LindSamuel RoukinA Long Island farmer bands together a group of childhood friends to form an unlikely group of spies who turn the tide in America's fight for independence.1776-1814
- DirectorTom HooperStarsPaul GiamattiLaura LinneyDanny HustonJohn and John Quincy sail to France to join Benjamin Franklin as part of the American mission but Adams' blunt style is ill-suited to diplomacy.1777-1781
- DirectorAng LeeStarsChow Yun-FatMichelle YeohZiyi ZhangA young Chinese warrior steals a sword from a famed swordsman and then escapes into a world of romantic adventure with a mysterious man in the frontier of the nation.1779 (aka Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
- DirectorTom HooperStarsPaul GiamattiLaura LinneyStephen DillaneAdams is able to secure a loan from the Dutch for his fledgling country as Abigail joins him in France as he helps negotiate the peace treaty.1781-1789
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsF. Murray AbrahamTom HulceElizabeth BerridgeThe life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.1781-1823
- DirectorStephen FrearsStarsGlenn CloseJohn MalkovichMichelle PfeifferA scheming widow and her manipulative ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman.1782
- DirectorPatrice LeconteStarsCharles BerlingJean RochefortFanny ArdantTo get royal backing on a needed drainage project, a poor French lord must learn to play the delicate games of wit at court at Versailles.1783-1794
- DirectorJames IvoryStarsNick NolteGreta ScacchiGwyneth PaltrowWidower Thomas Jefferson (3rd US president 1801-09) lives in Paris 1785-90 with his daughter. He has a pretty slave girl accompany his other daughter to France. He has an alleged affair with her resulting in children.1784-1789
- DirectorRoger DonaldsonStarsMel GibsonAnthony HopkinsLaurence OlivierFed up with their Captain's harsh discipline, a sailing ship's crew decides to take action.1787-1790
- StarsRomola GaraiJack DavenportAlex O'LoughlinA young woman is transported to the New South Wales penal colony in 1788.1787-1793
- DirectorNicholas HytnerStarsNigel HawthorneHelen MirrenRupert GravesWhen King George III goes mad, his Lieutenants try to adjust the rules to run the country without his participation.1788-1789
- DirectorPhilippe de BrocaStarsPhilippe NoiretVincent SchmittRaoul BillereyIn 1793 when terror is widespread in France, peasants known as Chouans fight the revolutionaries in attempt to restore the monarchy.1789
- DirectorCharles ShyerStarsHilary SwankSimon BakerJonathan PryceIn pre-Revolutionary France, a young aristocratic woman left penniless by the political unrest in the country must avenge her family's fall from grace by scheming to steal a priceless necklace.1789
- DirectorBenoît JacquotStarsLéa SeydouxDiane KrugerVirginie LedoyenA look at the platonic relationship between Marie Antoinette and one of her female readers during the first days of the French Revolution.1789
- DirectorRobert EnricoRichard T. HeffronStarsKlaus Maria BrandauerJane SeymourFrançois CluzetA chronicle of the French Revolution from the calling of the Etats General in 1789 until the end of the Jacobin Terror in 1794.1789-1794
- DirectorTom HooperStarsPaul GiamattiLaura LinneyStephen DillaneFrustrated in his undefined role as Vice-President, Adams is at odds with Jefferson over his support of a strong central government.1789-1797
- DirectorEttore ScolaStarsJean-Louis BarraultMarcello MastroianniHanna SchygullaDuring the French Revolution, a surprising company shares a coach, trying to catch up something - the time itself, perhaps.1791 (aka "Il mondo nuovo")
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsLucy RussellJean-Claude DreyfusAlain LiboltDuring the French Revolution, a Scottish aristocrat and her former lover, the Duke of Orleans, find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict.1792-1794
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsGérard DepardieuWojciech PszoniakAnne AlvaroIn 1793, as the Terror begins in France, Georges Danton, a champion-of-the-people, returns to clash against Maximilien Robespierre and his extremist party.1794
- DirectorAng LeeStarsEmma ThompsonKate WinsletJames FleetRich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her three daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. The two eldest daughters are the title opposites.1792-1797
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsJavier BardemNatalie PortmanStellan SkarsgårdPainter Francisco Goya faces a scandal involving his muse, who is labeled a heretic by a monk.1792-1808
- DirectorWhit StillmanStarsKate BeckinsaleChloë SevignyXavier SamuelLady Susan Vernon takes up temporary residence at her in-laws' estate and, while there, is determined to be a matchmaker for her daughter Frederica--and herself too, naturally.1794
- DirectorYves SimoneauStarsChristian ClavierIsabella RosselliniGérard DepardieuA masterful soldier, tactician and statesmen, Napoleon Bonaparte's courage and love for his country sees him rise from an unpaid general consumed with ambition to the most powerful man in Europe.1795-1800
- DirectorJulian JarroldStarsAnne HathawayJames McAvoyJulie WaltersA biographical portrait of a pre-fame Jane Austen and her romance with a young Irishman.1795
- StarsColin FirthJennifer EhleSusannah HarkerWhile the arrival of wealthy gentlemen sends her marriage-minded mother into a frenzy, willful and opinionated Elizabeth Bennet matches wits with haughty Mr. Darcy.1796-1797
- DirectorJoe WrightStarsKeira KnightleyMatthew MacfadyenBrenda BlethynSparks fly when spirited Elizabeth Bennet meets single, rich, and proud Mr. Darcy. But Mr. Darcy reluctantly finds himself falling in love with a woman beneath his class. Can each overcome their own pride and prejudice?1796-1797
- DirectorPeter UstinovStarsRobert RyanPeter UstinovMelvyn DouglasWhen a kind-hearted sailor is made to join an English vessel at war in 1797, he finds himself caught between devotion to his crewmates and obedience to their hated, cruel master-at-arms.1797
- DirectorLewis GilbertStarsAlec GuinnessDirk BogardeMaurice DenhamOn the H.M.S. Defiant, during the French Revolutionary War, fair Captain Crawford is locked in a battle of wills against his cruel second-in-command Lieutenant Scott-Padget, whose heavy-handed command style pushes the crew to mutiny.1797
- DirectorErmanno OlmiStarsBud SpencerJun IchikawaSally Ming Zeo NiA young man enters a brothel and sees a staged narration of a Chinese folk tale concerning a female pirate.1797
- DirectorTom HooperStarsPaul GiamattiLaura LinneyStephen DillaneAfter Adams becomes President continues Washington's policy of neutrality between England and France despite opposition inside his own cabinet.1797-1801