Movies like Waterland (1992)
The best movies like Waterland (1992) are Where the Truth Lies (2005), The History Boys (2006) and Keane (2004). If Waterland hooked you with its drama and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFreedom Writers (2007)7.9/10 from 2,524 votes
- NewestSteve (2025)Released 2025
Where the Truth Lies (2005)
An ambitious reporter probes the reasons behind the sudden split of a 1950s comedy team.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe History Boys (2006)
The story of an unruly class of bright, funny history students at a Yorkshire grammar school in pursuit of an undergraduate place at Oxford or Cambridge. Bounced between their maverick English master, a young and shrewd teacher hired to up their test scores, a grossly out-numbered history teacher, and a headmaster obsessed with results, the boys attempt to pass.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKeane (2004)
William Keane is barely able to cope. It has been six months since his six-year-old daughter was abducted from New York City’s Port Authority Bus Terminal while traveling with him. Repeatedly drawn to the site of the abduction, Keane wanders the bus station, compulsively replaying the events of that fateful day, as if hoping to change the outcome.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnd When Did You Last See Your Father? (2007)
The story of a son's conflicting memories of his dying father.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Browning Version (1994)
Andrew Crocker-Harris is an embittered and disliked teacher of Greek and Latin at a British prep school. After nearly 20 years of service, he is being forced to retire for 'health reasons', and perhaps may not even be given a pension. The boys regard him as a Hitler, with some justification. His unfaithful wife Laura tries to hurt him in any way she can. Andrew must come to terms with his failed life and at least regain his own self-esteem.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCracks (2009)
Jealousy flares after the headmistress of an elite boarding school for girls becomes obsessed with a new student.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFelicia's Journey (1999)
Seventeen and pregnant, Felicia travels to England in search of her lover and is found instead by Joseph Ambrose Hilditch, a helpful catering manager whose kindness masks an unsettling secret.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTriage (2009)
The wife of a photojournalist sets out to discover why he came home from a recent assignment without his colleague.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wave (1981)
A teacher conducts an experiment in an American high school where students learn how easy it is to be seduced by the same social forces which led to the horrors of Nazi Germany.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Adjuster (1991)
An uptight insurance man and his film-censor wife become a kinky couple's landlords.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEnduring Love (2004)
Two strangers become dangerously close after witnessing a deadly accident. On a beautiful cloudless day a young couple celebrate their reunion with a picnic. Joe has planned a postcard-perfect afternoon in the English countryside with his partner, Claire. But as Joe and Claire prepare to open a bottle of champagne, their idyll comes to an abrupt end. A hot air balloon drifts into the field, obviously in trouble. The pilot catches his leg in the anchor rope, while the only passenger, a boy, is too scared to jump down. Joe and three other men rush to secure the basket. But fate has other ideas...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisChromophobia (2006)
Encouraged by his editor to seek 'sexy stories that sell', a reporter preys upon the private life of an erstwhile friend, with disastrous results.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisApartment Zero (1989)
In a rundown area of Buenos Aires, at the dawn of the 1980s, Adrian LeDuc owns both a struggling movie theater and a shabby apartment building filled with eccentric, squabbling tenants. To make ends meet, Adrian takes in a roommate, Jack Carney, but soon begins to suspect that the quiet American is responsible for a series of political assassinations that are rocking the city.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChild's Play (1972)
At an exclusive boys' school, a new gym teacher is drawn into a feud between two older instructors, and he discovers that everything at the school is not quite as staid, tranquil and harmless as it seems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cokeville Miracle (2015)
On May 9, 1986, a small ranching community in Wyoming experiences a divine intervention when a couple detonates a bomb inside a crowded classroom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRememory (2017)
The widow of a wise professor stumbles upon one of his inventions that's able to record and play a person's memory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJasper Jones (2017)
Fourteen-year-old Charlie's life changes when Jasper takes his help to dispose of the body of his girlfriend, Laura. He decides to look for the murderer and falls in love with Laura's younger sister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDirty Teacher (2013)
When a high school senior discovers her teacher is seducing her boyfriend, events turn deadly after the teacher tries to cover it up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisPeacock (2010)
A minor train accident in rural Nebraska gradually unveils a mystery involving the town's reclusive bank clerk.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)
13-year-old Rynn Jacobs lives in a New England beach town. Whenever the landlady inquires after Rynn's father, she claims that he's not available. But when the landlady's son, Frank, won't leave Rynn alone, she teams up with a neighbor Mario to maintain the dark family secret that she's been keeping to herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Wonder (2022)
Haunted by her past, a nurse travels from England to a remote Irish village in 1862 to investigate a young girl's supposedly miraculous fast.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSteve (2025)
Over one intense day, the devoted head teacher of a last-chance reform school strives to keep his students in line while facing pressures of his own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAround the Bend (2004)
A tale of four generations of men, all of whom have had their offspring at a young age: a great-grandfather, a grandfather, a father in his twenties and a son who is about 7 years old. When the oldest member passes away, the trio heads out on the road together in the Southwest to search out an old family secret that connects to their past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFreedom Writers (2007)
A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBrave the Dark (2025)
When Mr. Deen discovers one of his students has been living out of his car and thrown into jail, he decides to bail him out. Determined to curb Nate’s self-destructive behavior, Deen quickly discovers a host of dark secrets slowly tearing Nate apart. What began as a good deed becomes a desperate fight to save Nate from his own demons. As Nate spirals deeper into despair, Deen must decide how far he’s willing to go to save a kid on the brink of losing everything—even himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Substitute 2: School's Out (1998)
When teacher Randall Thomasson is killed during a carjacking, an unexpected visitor shows up at his funeral - his estranged brother, Karl Thomasson. An ex-Green Beret turned mercenary, Karl signs on as a new substitute teacher in order to investigate Randall's murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Dry White Season (1989)
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Physician (2013)
England, 1021: Born in a miserable mining town, Robert Cole swears to become a physician and vanquish disease and death. His harsh path of many years, a quest for knowledge besieged by countless challenges and sacrifices, leads him to the remote Isfahan, in Persia, where he meets Ibn Sina, the greatest healer of his time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSubmission (2018)
A well-respected professor who is a celebrated novelist and loving husband loses himself when he becomes obsessed with an ambitious and talented student.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Marsh King's Daughter (2023)
Helena, a woman living a seemingly ordinary life, hides a dark secret—her father is the infamous 'Marsh King', the man who kept her and her mother captive in the wilderness for years. After a lifetime of trying to escape her past, Helena is forced to face her demons when her father unexpectedly escapes from prison.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Waterland?
The closest matches to Waterland are Where the Truth Lies (2005), The History Boys (2006) and Keane (2004). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Waterland?
People who watched Waterland most often go on to Where the Truth Lies (2005), The History Boys (2006) and Keane (2004).
What is the highest-rated movie like Waterland?
Freedom Writers (2007), rated 7.9/10 by 2,524 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Waterland?
Steve (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Waterland?
Yes: Where the Truth Lies (2005), The History Boys (2006) and Keane (2004).
How are movies similar to Waterland chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Waterland, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.