Movies like Beau Travail (2000)
The best movies like Beau Travail (2000) are Polina (2016), White Material (2010) and 35 Shots of Rum (2009). If Beau Travail 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 4,793 votes
- NewestAnother Day (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchPolina (2016)Also in French
Polina (2016)
Polina is a young dancer from a modest family. After years of ballet academy, she is accepted by the Bolshoi; still, she decides to try and audition of a modern dance company in France. She makes it, but her journey will not end there...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhite Material (2010)
In the midst of a volatile regime change in a Francophone African state, Maria Vial is fighting to sustain her family’s coffee plantation. With rebels and the army struggling for control, French peacekeeping forces move out, warning the remaining white residents that they’re on their own. But Maria refuses to be driven off the land, even as tragedy looms.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this35 Shots of Rum (2009)
A widower and his daughter witness the retirement of a colleague of his and the closing of her department at her university.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJoy of Learning (1969)
While alone in an abandoned television studio, two militants, Emile Rousseau and Patricia Lumumba, have a discourse on language. Referring to spoken word as "the enemy"--the weapon used by the establishment to confuse liberation movements--the two deconstruct the meanings of sounds and images in an attempt to "return to zero" and truly experience the joy of learning.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Goodbye to Language (2014)
"The idea is simple / A married woman and a single man meet / They love, they argue, fists fly / A dog strays between town and country / The seasons pass / The man and woman meet again / The dog finds itself between them / The other is in one, / the one is in the other / and they are three / The former husband shatters everything / A second film begins: / the same as the first, / and yet not / From the human race we pass to metaphor / This ends in barking / and a baby's cries / In the meantime, we will have seen people talking of the demise of the dollar, of truth in mathematics and of the death of a robin." -JLG
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCold Water (1994)
An outer suburb of Paris, 1972. Gilles and Christine, both sixteen, are classmates and lovers who have become frustrated with the aloofness of their families and the general monotony of their lives. When the pair are caught shoplifting, Christine's father ships her off to a home for emotionally disturbed children, temporarily putting space between her and Gilles. Luckily for them, though, she escapes and the couple contemplate running away together.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Class (2008)
Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFilm Socialisme (2010)
A symphony in three movements. Things such as a Mediterranean cruise, numerous conversations, in numerous languages, between the passengers, almost all of whom are on holiday... Our Europe. At night, a sister and her younger brother have summoned their parents to appear before the court of their childhood. The children demand serious explanations of the themes of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Our humanities. Visits to six sites of true or false myths: Egypt, Palestine, Odessa, Hellas, Naples and Barcelona.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Intruder (2005)
An emotionally cold man leaves the safety of his Alpine home to seek a heart transplant and an estranged son.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTime of the Wolf (2003)
A middle-class family flees an unspecified disaster that has struck the city and takes refuge in their country home. They think this will allow them to escape the chaos, but they soon realize that getting away won’t be so easy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBamako (2007)
Caught in the stranglehold of debt and structural adjustment, Africa is fighting for its survival. In the face of disaster, representatives of African society bring an action against international financial institutions. The trial takes place in Bamako, in the yard of a house, among its inhabitants.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisClip (2012)
Jasna, a beautiful teenager, leads a crude life in post-war Serbia. She goes on a spree of sex, drugs and partying until she finds love and tenderness in a harsh environment.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLovers (1999)
A French woman falls in love with a Yugoslavian man, not realizing that he is an illegal immigrant.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
The 400 Blows (1959)
For young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel, life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents, Antoine spends his days with his best friend, Rene, trying to plan for a better life. When one of their schemes goes awry, Antoine ends up in trouble with the law, leading to even more conflicts with unsympathetic authority figures.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHail Mary (1985)
A college student gets pregnant without having intercourse, affecting people close and unrelated to her in different ways.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHorses of God (2013)
The film follows two brothers over the course of a decade. While they begin as kids in search of thrills in the sprawling slums of Morocco’s Sidi Moumen, we witness their gradual, and ultimately shocking, radicalisation.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDheepan (2015)
Three war-torn strangers posing as a family flee Sri Lanka’s civil war to start over in a troubled Paris suburb, but their past traumas resurface as they struggle to survive in their new environment.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005)
A ruthless real estate agent discovers a passion for piano and auditions with help from a young virtuoso, but the pressures of his corrupt career threaten to derail his musical aspirations.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVivre Sa Vie (1962)
Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIt All Starts Today (1999)
In a mining town which has been blighted by economic downturns, an elementary school headmaster struggles to obtain social services on behalf of his students.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMysterious Skin (2005)
A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFor My Country (2023)
Aissa, a young officer of Algerian origin, tragically loses his life during a fresher initiation ritual at the prestigious French military academy of Saint-Cyr. As the death tears through his family, controversy arises over Aissa’s funeral plans when the Army refuses to take responsibility. Ismael, his older, rebellious brother, tries to keep the family united as they fight to win justice for Aissa.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisL.627 (1992)
In Paris, Lulu, a passionate policeman, works with the faith of a rookie, despite the sclerotic bureaucracy and the incompetence or negligence of some of his colleagues. In his new position as a narcotics inspector, he tries to keep his sanity as he witnesses the worst of the human condition.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Self-Made Hero (1996)
Set in France at the end of World War II Albert Dehousse finds out his father wasn't a war hero and his mother is a collaborator.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHoly Motors (2012)
We follow 24 hours in the life of a being moving from life to life like a cold and solitary assassin moving from hit to hit. In each of these interwoven lives, the being possesses an entirely distinct identity: sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, sometimes youthful, sometimes old. By turns murderer, beggar, company chairman, monstrous creature, worker, family man.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this7 Days in Havana (2012)
A lesbian, an aspiring actor, an aspiring singer, a low-class marriage, a neighborhood community and 2 renowned directors have memorable less-than-24-hour-long experiences while living in/visiting the capital of Cuba.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisViolette (2013)
Born out of wedlock early in the last century, Violette Leduc meets Simone de Beauvoir in postwar Saint-Germain-des-Près. An intense lifelong relationship develops between the two women authors, based on Violette's quest for freedom through writing and on Simone's conviction that she holds in her hands the destiny of an extraordinary writer.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBlame It on Fidel! (2006)
A 9-year-old girl weathers big changes in her household as her parents become radical political activists in 1970-71 Paris.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnother Day (2026)
Over an eight-year journey in Paris, a struggling young actress turns to alcohol to cope with her anxieties, spiraling into self-destruction before finding a path toward recovery through a new romance and her ailing sister.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Beau Travail?
The closest matches to Beau Travail are Polina (2016), White Material (2010) and 35 Shots of Rum (2009). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Beau Travail?
People who watched Beau Travail most often go on to Polina (2016), White Material (2010) and 35 Shots of Rum (2009).
What is the highest-rated movie like Beau Travail?
La Haine (1995), rated 8.1/10 by 4,793 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Beau Travail?
Another Day (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Beau Travail?
Yes: Polina (2016), White Material (2010) and 35 Shots of Rum (2009).
How are movies similar to Beau Travail chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Beau Travail, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.