The Sleeping Dictionary

20031h 49m6.6(192)

DramaRomance

In the 1930s, British officer John Truscott journeys to a remote village in colonial Malaysia to educate and Westernize the local Iban population. There, he's introduced to the lovely Selima. In keeping with tradition, Selima is assigned to sleep with Truscott and teach him the native language and customs. But when they fall in love, both colonists and natives object to their plans to marry.

CountryGermany, United Kingdom, United States of America

GenreDrama, Romance

ReleaseJanuary 31, 2003

DirectorGuy Jenkin

ProductionFine Line Features, Hat Trick Productions

CastJessica Alba, Brenda Blethyn, Hugh Dancy

More Like This

Drama • Romance

A privileged girl and a charismatic boy's instant desire sparks a love affair made only more reckless by parents trying to keep them apart.

6.9

Endless Love

2014

Drama • Romance

A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.

6.3

Not Easily Broken

2009

Drama • Romance

Muslim prince Ali and Georgian aristocrat Nino have grown up in the Russian province of Azerbaijan. Their tragic love story sees the outbreak of the First World War and the world’s struggle for Baku’s oil. Ultimately they must choose to fight for their country’s independence or for each other.

6.5

Ali and Nino

2016

Drama • Romance

Captives of the very relationships that define and sustain them, nine women resiliently meet the travails and disappointments of life.

6.1

Nine Lives

2005

Drama • Romance

Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet fall in love against the wishes of their feuding families. Driven by their passion, the young lovers defy their destiny and elope, only to suffer the ultimate tragedy.

7.4

Romeo and Juliet

1968

Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between

Romance • Drama

Clare and Aidan make a pact to break up before college — no regrets, no broken hearts. But will one epic goodbye date offer them a last chance at love?

6.1

Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between

2022

Drama • Romance

British teenager Leo Colston spends a summer in the countryside, where he develops a crush on the beautiful young aristocrat Marian. Eager to impress her, Leo becomes the "go-between" for Marian, delivering secret romantic letters to Ted Burgess, a handsome neighboring farmer.

6.8

The Go-Between

1971

Romance • Drama

Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.

6.9

The Fugitive Kind

1960

Romance • Drama

An early-20th-century tale of love across class boundaries which tells the legendary and romantic story of Lady Chatterley’s affair with her gamekeeper. Jed Mercurio’s adaptation of DH Lawrence’s classic.

6.3

Lady Chatterley's Lover

2015

Drama • Romance

A pair of former high school sweethearts reunite after many years when they return to visit their small hometown.

7.5

The Best of Me

2014

Drama • Romance

Trying to put her life back together after the death of her husband, Libby and her children move to her estranged Aunt's goat farm in central Texas.

6.8

The Lost Husband

2020

Drama • Romance

A road trip through Louisiana transforms three strangers who were originally brought together by their respective feelings of loneliness.

6.3

The Yellow Handkerchief

2009

Drama • Romance

In Colombia just after the Great War, an old man falls from a ladder; dying, he professes great love for his wife. After the funeral, a man calls on the widow - she dismisses him angrily. Flash back more than 50 years to the day Florentino Ariza, a telegraph boy, falls in love with Fermina Daza, the daughter of a mule trader.

6.7

Love in the Time of Cholera

2007

Romance • Drama

Seventeen-year-old Stella spends most of her time in the hospital as a cystic fibrosis patient. Her life is full of routines, boundaries and self-control — all of which get put to the test when she meets Will, an impossibly charming teen who has the same illness. There's an instant flirtation, though restrictions dictate that they must maintain a safe distance between them. As their connection intensifies, so does the temptation to throw the rules out the window and embrace that attraction.

8.2

Five Feet Apart

2019

Drama • Romance • War

France, 1940. In the first days of occupation, beautiful Lucile Angellier is trapped in a stifled existence with her controlling mother-in-law as they both await news of her husband: a prisoner of war. Parisian refugees start to pour into their small town, soon followed by a regiment of German soldiers who take up residence in the villagers' own homes. Lucile initially tries to ignore Bruno von Falk, the handsome and refined German officer staying with them. But soon, a powerful love draws them together and leads them into the tragedy of war.

7.2

Suite Française

2015

Romance • Drama

As he copes with the death of his fiancee along with her parents, a young man must figure out what he wants out of life.

6.3

Moonlight Mile

2002

Drama • Romance

After a stroke and no memories from his past, Phil encounters Millie who inhabits a desert part of Isle of Lewis. She will shortly entrust him with his deepest secret : they were in love.

6.7

Nobody Has to Know

2022

Drama • Romance

Three girlhood friends now at college share first loves, first kisses and first betrayals. At the center of it all is the best-looking boy on campus. Can a self-conscious dreamer hook the biggest fish in the pond?

6.3

Circle of Friends

1995

TV Movie • Romance • Drama

A struggling construction worker and an aspiring musician find themselves falling in love.

6.2

Disappearing Acts

2000

Romance • Drama • Thriller

A fiery Spanish woman is about to marry a kind British man when she meets a Brazilian actor who ignites in her a flame of lust she can't ignore.

6.0

Dot the I

2003