Movies like The Pupil (2025)
The best movies like The Pupil (2025) are The Girl in the Book (2015), What Maisie Knew (2013) and I Never Sang for My Father (1970). If The Pupil hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedShort Term 12 (2013)7.7/10 from 1,474 votes
- NewestGunyo Cholo: A Girl Coming of Age Story (2024)Released 2024
The Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisWhat Maisie Knew (2013)
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Never Sang for My Father (1970)
A man living in the towering shadow of his aging father finds it difficult to start a new chapter in his life by marrying his girlfriend and moving to California.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGigi & Nate (2022)
A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGoal II: Living the Dream (2007)
Tempted away from Newcastle United to join Real Madrid, rising star Santiago Munez finds this latest change of fortune the greatest challenge yet - personally as well as professionally. He is reunited with Gavin Harris, though they must compete to be on the team, and estranged from fiancee Roz, whose nursing career keeps her back home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisGiant Little Ones (2019)
Two popular teen boys, best friends since childhood, discover their lives, families, and girlfriends dramatically upended after an unexpected incident occurs on the night of a 17th birthday party.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)
The story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisTyson's Run (2022)
When fifteen-year-old Tyson attends public school for the first time, his life is changed forever. While helping his father clean up after the football team, Tyson befriends champion marathon runner Aklilu. Never letting his autism hold him back, Tyson becomes determined to run his first marathon in hopes of winning his father's approval. With the help of an unlikely friend and his parents, Tyson learns that with faith in yourself and the courage to take the first step, anything is possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHome (2021)
An ex-felon returns home from prison and must confront the demons of his past.
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 thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCall Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShort Term 12 (2013)
Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, helps at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled past, Grace's tough exterior begins eroding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrand Upon the Brain! (2007)
After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMommie Dearest (1981)
Renowned film star Joan Crawford's abuse towards Christina, her adopted daughter, intensifies as her professional and romantic relationships turn sour.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 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 thisThe Sound of Silence (2019)
A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisI Am David (2003)
A 12-year-old boy manages to flee a Communist concentration camp on his own, through sheer will and determination. All he has in his possession is a loaf of bread, a letter to deliver to someone in Denmark, and a compass to help get him there.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSilverfish (TBA)
During the peak of an intense psychedelic trip in his dingy apartment, Alvin Cross is forced to confront his feelings for Sylvia Vale, an older woman with whom he shares a complicated history.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Innocent Games (2024)
Milos, a naive and lonely teenager in search of attention, descends into a dangerous online world that will lead to his downfall.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Midori (1992)
After losing her parents, young flower selling Midori is put up by a fairground group. She is abused and forced to slavery, until the arrival of an enigmatic magician of short stature, who gives her hope for a better future.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSenza amore (2007)
Luigi is a kid growing up in a socio-economically deprived family environment. He began dealing with Angelo, an non suspicious policeman, who seems to show a paternal attitude towards him, but he really has an ulterior motive turbid... He ends up abusing him. When Luigi tries to tell his mother what is happening, she does not want to believe him, his uncle gives helps. Luigi discovers his uncle had experienced the same kind of abuse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Private Lessons (2009)
An aspiring tennis player is taken under the wing of an established player as his family life falls apart.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Kinki (2014)
A teacher is sexually involved with an underage student. She visits her father's home and discovers a boy who's been kept as a sex slave. The teacher continues harboring the boy out of fear and begins to feel sexually attracted to him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Gunyo Cholo: A Girl Coming of Age Story (2024)
Gulabi is a transwoman groomed by her patriarchal father to join the military. When her father disowns her, Gulabi ends up living a life of prostitution in Kathmandu.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Otredad (TBA)
Juan Pablo, a 16-year-old gay teenager, lives trapped in a fractured family where conflict and silence make him invisible. Seeking an escape, he finds Francisco on a dating app, who appears to be his age. What begins as a sincere connection soon becomes complicated when it is discovered that Francisco is a man hiding his identity to fill his own loneliness. Between truth and deception, both face the fragility of a bond built on the need to be seen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Murder Games: The Life and Death of Breck Bednar (2016)
Murder Games tells the true story of Breck Bednar, the 14 year-old schoolboy who was lured to his death after being groomed online by Lewis Daynes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
My Acting Coach Nightmare (2024)
It's been years since her husband passed away, and Lisa's life finally has a solid foundation again--she has a high power job, a stable relationship with her longtime boyfriend Mark, and her teenage daughter, Sienna, is excelling in life. That is, until Sienna expresses her desire to become an actress.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The Pupil and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Pupil?
The closest matches to The Pupil are The Girl in the Book (2015), What Maisie Knew (2013) and I Never Sang for My Father (1970). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Pupil?
Start with The Girl in the Book (2015), the closest match to The Pupil.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Pupil?
Short Term 12 (2013), rated 7.7/10 by 1,474 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Pupil?
Gunyo Cholo: A Girl Coming of Age Story (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Pupil chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Pupil, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.