Movies like Hold Back (2012)
The best movies like Hold Back (2012) are The Public Woman (1984), Time to Leave (2005) and The Swimming Pool (1969). If Hold Back hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLa Haine (1995)8.1/10 from 4,789 votes
- NewestStreet Flow 3 (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchThe Public Woman (1984)Also in French
The Public Woman (1984)
An inexperienced young actress is invited to play a role in a film based on Dostoyevsky's 'The Possessed'. The film director, a Czech immigrant in Paris, takes over her life, and in a short time she is unable to draw the line between acting and reality. She winds up playing a real-life role posing as the dead wife of another Czech immigrant, who is manipulated by the filmmaker into commiting a political assassination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTime to Leave (2005)
Romain, 31, a fashion photographer with terminal cancer, elects to die alone, preparing others to live past him rather than prolong the inevitable with chemotherapy or be smothered in sympathy by those who know him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Swimming Pool (1969)
Set in a magnificent villa near a sun-drenched St. Tropez, lovers Jean-Paul and Marianne are spending a happy, lazy summer holiday. Their only concern is to gratify their mutual passion - until the day when Marianne invites her former lover and his beautiful teenage daughter to spend a few days with them. From the first moment, a certain uneasiness and tension begin to develop between the four, which soon escalates in a dangerous love-game.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPolisse (2011)
Paris, France. Fred and his colleagues, members of the BPM, the Police Child Protection Unit, dedicated to pursuing all sorts of offenses committed against the weakest, must endure the scrutiny of Melissa, a photographer commissioned to graphically document the daily routine of the team.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLa Haine (1995)
After a chaotic night of rioting in a marginal suburb of Paris, three young friends, Vinz, Hubert and Saïd, wander around unoccupied waiting for news about the state of health of a mutual friend who has been seriously injured when confronting the police.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 thisCode Unknown (2000)
A series of events unfold like a chain reaction, all stemming from a minor event that brings the film's five characters together. Set in Paris, France, Anne is an actress whose boyfriend Georges photographs the war in Kosovo. Georges' brother, Jean, is looking for the entry code to Georges' apartment. These characters' lives interconnect with a Romanian immigrant and a deaf teacher.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYamakasi (2001)
Yamakasi - Les samouraïs des temps modernes is a 2001 French movie written by Luc Besson. It demonstrates the skills of the Yamakasi, a group of traceurs who battle against injustice in the Paris ghetto. They use parkour to steal from the rich in order to pay off medical bills for a kid injured copying their techniques.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHouse of Pleasures (2011)
The dawn of the 20th century: L’Apollonide, a luxurious and traditional brothel in Paris, is living its last days. In this closed world, where some men fall in love and others become viciously harmful, the women share their secrets, their fears, their joys and their pains.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLes Bonnes Femmes (1960)
Four Parisian women navigate the world of romance and daily life looking to fulfill their dreams.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Passengers of the Night (2022)
On election night in 1981, celebrations spill out onto the street and there is an air of hope and change throughout Paris. But for Elisabeth, her marriage is coming to an end and she will now have to support herself and her two teenage children. She finds work at a late-night radio show and encounters a troubled teenager named Talulah whom she invites into her home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree Nights a Week (2022)
When young Baptiste meets Cookie Kunty, a young Parisian drag queen, he feels compelled to start a new photographic project.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDivines (2016)
In a ghetto where religion and drug trafficking rub shoulders, Dounia has a lust for power and success. Supported by Maimouna, her best friend, she decides to follow in the footsteps of Rebecca, a respected dealer. But her encounter with Djigui, a young, disturbingly sensual dancer, throws her off course.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLes Misérables (2012)
An adaptation of the successful stage musical based on Victor Hugo's classic novel set in 19th-century France. Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSign of the Lion (1962)
An American in Paris lives by sponging off his working friends, and throws a party using borrowed money when his rich American aunt dies, believing firmly in his horoscope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Locket (1946)
A dark personal secret drives a young woman to use every man she encounters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStreet Flow 3 (2026)
Grieving and facing the consequences of their crimes, the Traoré brothers get one last chance to forge a new path.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Beasts (2022)
Antoine and Olga, a French couple, have been living in a small village in Galicia for a long time. They practice eco-responsible agriculture and restore abandoned houses to facilitate repopulation. Everything should be idyllic except for their opposition to a wind turbine project that creates a serious conflict with their neighbors. The tension will rise to the point of irreparability.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKiller's Kiss (1955)
Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Rapallo, who has eyes for Gloria. The two decide to skip town, but before they can, Vincent and his thugs abduct Gloria, and Davey is forced to search for her among the most squalid corners of the city, with his enemy hiding in the shadows.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Life of Jesus (1997)
Twenty-something Freddy is becalmed in a podunk French village where the only sign of life is the local amateur brass band and youth aimlessly roaming around the countryside on scooters. He has an intense sexual connection with his girlfriend but has no joy or passion to give her. When she falls for a handsome Arab youth a tragedy unfolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lady of Scuderi (1955)
Several men have been murdered lately, mostly rich lovers on their way to meet their mistresses with gifts of fine jewelry. To fight this scourge, King Louis XIV decides to create a special court named "La chambre ardente", designed to find and punish the perpetrators of such heinous crimes. An unexpected person, Mademoiselle de Scudéry, the famous poetess, will find herself entangled in the web of a criminal intrigue linked with the jewel murders, along with a a goldsmith, his daughter and her fiancé...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Reprise (2006)
Fueled by literary aspirations and youthful exuberance, two competitive friends endure the pangs of love, depression, and burgeoning careers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFlight of the Red Balloon (2008)
The first part in a new series of films produced by Musée d'Orsay, 'Flight of the Red Balloon' tells the story of a French family as seen through the eyes of a Chinese student. The film was shot in August and September 2006 on location in Paris. This is Hou Hsiao-Hsien's first Western film. It is based on the classic French short The Red Balloon directed by Albert Lamorisse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Apartment (1996)
Max is a former playboy who has decided to settle down by marrying his current love, Muriel. However, when Max catches a glimpse of the great lost love of his life, he becomes obsessed with rekindling their relationship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWild Side (2004)
A transgender woman returns — with her two male lovers — to her family home in the countryside to look after her dying mother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Memoir of War (2017)
In the last days of the Nazi-occupied France, writer Marguerite Duras awaits the return of her husband, Robert Antelme, arrested for being a Resistance fighter and then deported, while she maintains a tense relationship with her ambiguous lover and a dangerous game with a French collaborationist. Even when the Liberation arrives, she must still endure the unbearable pain of waiting.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLe Deuxième Souffle (1966)
A gangster escapes jail and quickly makes plans to continue his criminal ways elsewhere, but a determined inspector is closing in.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Taste of Honey (1961)
While out to avoid spending time with her narcissistic and promiscuous mother, sixteen-year-old Jo has a brief affair that leaves her pregnant and abandoned. When her mother remarries, Jo's only support becomes her friend Geoffrey, a homosexual.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Sun Also Rises (1957)
A group of disillusioned American expatriate writers live a dissolute, hedonistic lifestyle in 1920's France and Spain.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Tai-Pan (1986)
The film begins following the British victory of the first Opium War and the seizure of Hong Kong. Although the island is largely uninhabited and the terrain unfriendly, it has a large port that both the British government and various trading companies believe will be useful for the import of merchandise to be traded on mainland China, a highly lucrative market.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Hold Back and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Hold Back?
The closest matches to Hold Back are The Public Woman (1984), Time to Leave (2005) and The Swimming Pool (1969). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Hold Back?
Start with The Public Woman (1984), the closest match to Hold Back.
What is the highest-rated movie like Hold Back?
La Haine (1995), rated 8.1/10 by 4,789 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Hold Back?
Street Flow 3 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Hold Back?
Yes: The Public Woman (1984), Time to Leave (2005) and The Swimming Pool (1969).
How are movies similar to Hold Back chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Hold Back, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.