Movies like Iris
The best movies like Iris (2011) are Mr. Turner (2014), Mary (2024) and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017). If Iris hooked you with its drama and history, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Hill (2023)7.7/10 from 327 votes
- NewestMary (2024)Released 2024
Mr. Turner (2014)
Eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner lives his last 25 years with gusto and secretly becomes involved with a seaside landlady, while his faithful housekeeper bears an unrequited love for him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMary (2024)
A miraculous conception. A merciless king. A murderous pursuit. Mary's journey to give birth to Jesus unfolds in this biblical coming-of-age epic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017)
An African-American woman becomes an unwitting pioneer for medical breakthroughs when her cells are used to create the first immortal human cell line in the early 1950s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkater Girl (2021)
Prerna, a teenager growing up in rural India, comes of age when she’s introduced to the sport of skateboarding. As a result, she has to fight the odds to follow her dreams and compete in the national championship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Secret Garden (1993)
A young British girl born and reared in India loses her neglectful parents in an earthquake. She is returned to England to live at her uncle's castle. Her uncle is very distant due to the loss of his wife ten years before. Neglected once again, she begins exploring the estate and discovers a garden that has been locked and forgotten. Aided by one of the servants' boys, she begins restoring the garden, and eventually discovers some other secrets of the manor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFlicka (2006)
Katy McLaughlin desires to work on her family's mountainside horse ranch, although her father insists she finish boarding school. Katy finds a mustang in the hills near her ranch. The headstrong 16 year old then sets her mind to tame a mustang and prove to her father she can run the ranch. But when tragedy happens, it will take all the love and strength the family can muster to restore hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Believe (2019)
A 9 year old boy experiences God's power in a supernatural way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRadium Girls (2020)
Young women toiling in a factory are exposed to hazardous material which takes a disastrous toll on their health.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret Life of Bees (2008)
Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (2003)
Set in the Ozark Mountains during the Great Depression, Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for 2 years to achieve his dream of buying two coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in God as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with "Old Dan" and "Little Ann."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (1974)
Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for two years to achieve his dream of buying two red-bone coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in life as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with his dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Call to Spy (2020)
The story of Vera Atkins, a crafty spy recruiter, and two of the first women she selects for Churchill's "secret army": Virginia Hall, a daring American undaunted by a disability and Noor Inayat Khan, a pacifist. These civilian women form an unlikely sisterhood while entangled in dangerous missions to turn the tide of the war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hill (2023)
The story of Rickey Hill, who overcomes his physical disability and repairs his relationship with his father in a quest to become a major league baseball (MLB) player.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Rifleman (2023)
A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Beauty (1994)
The fates of horses, and the people who own and command them, are revealed as Black Beauty narrates the circle of his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret Garden (2020)
Mary Lennox is born in India to wealthy British parents who never wanted her. When her parents suddenly die, she is sent back to England to live with her uncle. She meets her sickly cousin, and the two children find a wondrous secret garden lost in the grounds of Misselthwaite Manor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnsung Hero (2024)
When David Smallbone's successful music company collapses, he moves his family from Australia to the United States in search of a brighter future. With nothing more than their six children, their suitcases, and their love of music, David and his pregnant wife Helen set out to rebuild their lives from the ground up. Based on a remarkable true story, a mum's faith stands against all odds; and inspires her husband and children to hold onto theirs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Good Witch (2008)
A mysterious woman comes in to town and inhabits the local haunted mansion, making everyone wonder if she's a witch or "The Grey Lady".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJimmy's Hall (2014)
In Depression-era Ireland, Jimmy Gralton returns home after a decade's exile in America. Witnessing the levels of poverty and oppression, his inner activist reawakens and he seeks to reopen the dance hall that led to his deportation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong (2009)
A fourth grader and her friends deal with bullying from a more popular girl in their class.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrincess Fragrance (1987)
Princess Fragrance is a 1987 Hong Kong film based on Louis Cha's novel The Book and the Sword. The film is a sequel to The Romance of Book and Sword, which was released earlier in the same month and was also directed by Ann Hui.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
The Preacher's Wife (1996)
Good-natured Reverend Henry Biggs finds that his marriage to choir mistress Julia is flagging, due to his constant absence caring for the deprived neighborhood they live in. On top of all this, his church is coming under threat from property developer Joe Hamilton. In desperation, Biggs prays to God for help – which arrives in the form of an angel named Dudley.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLove Don't Co$t a Thing (2003)
A high school outcast pays a cheerleader to pose as his girlfriend so he can be considered cool.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMorgengrauen (1992)
Two children fleeing from a recon helicopter. They flee to a village and, without knowing it, bring the horror with them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
High Society (2014)
Class barriers threaten the budding romance of two young lovers striving to realize their artistic ambitions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Great Man (2014)
Sent to Afghanistan for 6 months, legionnaires Markov and Hamilton are caught in an ambush during an unauthorized expedition. Markov saves Hamilton, seriously wounded by rebel fire, but leaves the Legion without honors. Once back in Paris, Hamilton, convalescing, hopes to remain a legionnaire, while Markov, now a civilian and without working papers, tries to make ends meet with his son Khadji. Hamilton lends his identity to his Chechen friend, so that he can work legally. But one day, Markov disappears, leaving Hamiltion disorientated and Khadji alone in the world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Traces of Sandalwood (2014)
Despite her fame and fortune, Mina, a successful Indian actress in Mumbai, can't forget her little sister Sita, from whom she was forced to separate after their mother's death in a village. Thirty years later she will finally find out that Sita is alive and well in Barcelona. However, Sita's adoptive parents have erased all traces of her past. She is now called Paula, works as a researcher in Biology and has no recollection of her Indian background, let alone of Mina. Faced with the shocking truths of her past, Paula begins a long journey of self-discovery, aided along the way by her budding romance with the handsome Indian immigrant Prakash. A story of hope and love across Mumbai and Barcelona; from India to the Mediterranean and all the way back.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Alone Man (2016)
The film tells the story of Arnaldo, that to get rid of his miserable life, seeks of a clinic that promises to copy people. With a copy occupying his place, he would take a new life. But, when having his request denied, Arnaldo has no choice but to try and change the course of his history. When he falls in love with Josie, the clerk of a pet cemetery, Arnaldo believes that he found a chance to finally be happy. But maybe he's wrong. A Lone Man is an urban fable that addresses the complexity of relationships, with a good dose of irony, and humor.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Hayflower, Quiltshoe and the Feisty First-grader (2020)
Hayflower has started school, where she learns a lot of exciting brand new things. Quiltshoe doesn’t like to stay home without a sister to play with. When Hayflower tells about an upcoming fishing trip with her class, Quiltshoe comes up with a complicated plan, so that it will be Quiltshoe attending the trip instead of Hayflower. The trip evolves into a memorable and chaotic happening,
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family
Once in a Lifetime (2000)
Mona Bergström is a sweet eurovision-obsessed woman in her 30s. She is married to a lazy husband and has four children, all named after her favorite Swedish Eurovision popstars. Her brother is a crossdressing guy self-titled "Candy Darling". Mona works in a retirement home for disabled people, where she is responsible for taking care of a young man named David who suffers a movement-restricting disease forcing him into a wheelchair. David's parents have abandoned him, as they wanted a normal child. Mona holds a big place in David's heart, and vica versa. David's goal is to get his parents to come and visit him, and he wants to show them that he is a great person, despite his handicap. Therefore he works with music on his computer, and his goal is to create a song, send it to "The Cardigans", a famous Swedish band and have them play the song and credit him, hoping his parents would spot it and want to visit him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Iris and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Iris?
The closest matches to Iris are Mr. Turner (2014), Mary (2024) and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Iris?
Start with Mr. Turner (2014), the closest match to Iris.
What is the highest-rated movie like Iris?
The Hill (2023), rated 7.7/10 by 327 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Iris?
Mary (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Iris chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Iris, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.