Movies like National Theatre Live: The Effect (2024)
The best movies like National Theatre Live: The Effect (2024) are The Pumpkin Eater (1964), Effie Gray (2014) and Rogue Agent (2022). If National Theatre Live: The Effect hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBurning (2018)7.4/10 from 1,928 votes
- NewestEleanor the Great (2025)Released 2025
The Pumpkin Eater (1964)
Jo, the mother of seven children, divorces her second husband in order to marry Jake, a successful but promiscuous screenwriter. Though they are physically and emotionally compatible, they are slowly torn apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEffie Gray (2014)
A look at the mysterious relationship between Victorian art critic John Ruskin and his teenage bride Effie Gray.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRogue Agent (2022)
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHungry Hearts (2015)
The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Enforcer (2022)
A noir thriller set in Miami, the film follows an enforcer who discovers his femme fatale boss has branched out into cyber sex trafficking, putting a young runaway he’s befriended at risk. He sacrifices everything to save the young girl from the deadly organization he’s spent his life building.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHands of Stone (2016)
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAddicted (2014)
A gallerist risks her family and flourishing career when she enters into an affair with a talented painter and slowly loses control of her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTalhotBlond (2012)
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Elizabeth Smart (2017)
The story of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and captivity, as told from her perspective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFast Girls (2012)
A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCome Sunday (2018)
Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Most Hated Woman in America (2017)
The true story of Madalyn Murray O'Hair -- iconoclast, opportunist, and outspoken atheist -- from her controversial rise to her untimely demise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBurning Sands (2017)
Deep into Hell Week, a favored pledgee is torn between honoring his code of silence or standing up against the intensifying violence of underground hazing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisGirl in the Box (2016)
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Neighbor (2022)
A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbove the Rim (1994)
Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSunshine State (2002)
A woman and her new husband returns to her hometown roots in coastal northern Florida, and must deal with family, business, and encroaching real estate development.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHere (2024)
An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJane Eyre (2011)
After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAwaara (1951)
A petty thief is put on trial for the attempted murder of a lawyer. Through a series of flashbacks, the intertwining lives of the thief, the lawyer, and the thief's defense lawyer are illustrated.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhat's Up with Cinta? (2002)
A popular high school girl strains her relationship with her close-knit clique when she begins falling for a reclusive, lower-class schoolmate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBurning (2018)
Deliveryman Jong-su is out on a job when he runs into Hae-mi, a girl who once lived in his neighborhood. She asks if he'd mind looking after her cat while she's away on a trip to Africa. On her return, she introduces to Jong-su an enigmatic young man named Ben, who she met during her trip. One day Ben tells Jong-su about his most unusual hobby.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRubatosis or Liberosis (2025)
In a tale of grief and rebirth, a young woman, paralyzed by the overwhelming weight of emotions, confronts the heart-wrenching choice between numbing her pain forever or embracing the agony to rediscover the beauty of feeling alive.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Hot Road (2014)
Teenager Kazuki Miyaichi has always felt unloved by her mother due the circumstances surrounding her birth. Because she harbors anxiety and perceives herself as being worthless to others, she engages in acts of juvenile delinquency. One day, a transfer student from Yokohama named Eri introduces her to Hiroshi Haruyama, a reckless youth who’s a member of the “Nights” motorcycle gang. Kazuki finds herself increasingly drawn to Hiroshi over time, but he soon becomes leader of the Nights and gets caught up in a conflict with a rival gang.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Finding Joy (2003)
Joy Brown (Billie Dean) is a 40-something woman with little confidence, less self-esteem and a burning desire to realise her dream of being a singer/songwriter. But she cant sing. When Joy takes in a stray dog, Raffi, her life immediately changes. Her best friend, the tarot card reading Tessa (Janet Watson Kruse), moves in, Joy changes her name to Luna Starr, and she meets Peter Wolfman (Andrew Einspruch). When Peter encourages her to perform with him at the local pizzerias folk music nights, Joy sings sort of hiding behind masks of wigs and silliness. Despite the singing, Peter and Joys relationship blossoms. But there are lots of hiccups along the way -- ex-wives, ex-husbands, frightening performances, and bucket loads of doubt. Set to the backdrop of the folk music scene in an arty country town, the film celebrates universal themes of friendship, low self-esteem, love relationships, and the joy of dogs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
It Ends with Us (2024)
When a woman's first love suddenly reenters her life, her relationship with a charming, but abusive neurosurgeon is upended, and she realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for her future.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOnce Upon a Time in Rio (2008)
Situated just above the awe-inspiring Ipanema beach in Rio is the Cantagalo slum. Every day, floods of Cantagalo residents make their way down the mountain, only to disappear into their surroundings as part of the invisible working-class that cleans apartments, works in restaurants, and sells food along the scenic, sun-drenched shores. Young Dé (Thiago Martins) is just such a man. Dé lives with his mother Bernadette (Cyria Coentro) in a cramped Cantagalo apartment, selling hot dogs on the beach in order to make the rent. His brother Beto was killed when Dé was just a young boy, and his adopted brother Carlão (Rocco Pitanga) has been jailed for a robbery that he didn't commit. One day, while working on the beach, Dé meets Nina (Vitória Frate). Nina is the only child of a successful lawyer named Evandro (Paulo César Grande), who's none to happy to discover that his daughter is dating a member of the lower class. How...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisControl Alt Delete (2010)
A moody romantic comedy exploring fetishism, addiction and love in the information age. As Lewis struggles to integrate his public and private personas, he realizes he may not be the only one harboring a dirty little secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like National Theatre Live: The Effect and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like National Theatre Live: The Effect?
The closest matches to National Theatre Live: The Effect are The Pumpkin Eater (1964), Effie Gray (2014) and Rogue Agent (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after National Theatre Live: The Effect?
Start with The Pumpkin Eater (1964), the closest match to National Theatre Live: The Effect.
What is the highest-rated movie like National Theatre Live: The Effect?
Burning (2018), rated 7.4/10 by 1,928 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like National Theatre Live: The Effect?
Eleanor the Great (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like National Theatre Live: The Effect?
Yes: The Pumpkin Eater (1964), Effie Gray (2014) and Rogue Agent (2022).
How are movies similar to National Theatre Live: The Effect chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside National Theatre Live: The Effect, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.