Movies like She Once Was Distant (2018)
The best movies like She Once Was Distant (2018) are Fire with Fire (1986), The Secret: Dare to Dream (2020) and Newness (2017). If She Once Was Distant hooked you with its drama and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLife in a Year (2020)8.2/10 from 2,027 votes
- NewestChaser Game W: A Match Made in Heaven (2026)Released 2026
Fire with Fire (1986)
A tough, street-smart kid serving a sentence in a state youth reformatory meets a beautiful, innocent girl studying at a nearby convent. When forbidden love blossoms between them, they must fight the prison authorities, their parents and the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret: Dare to Dream (2020)
A widow with three children hires a handyman to fix her house during a major storm. When not doing home repairs, he shares his philosophy of believing in the power of the universe to deliver what we want.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNewness (2017)
In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAshes in the Snow (2018)
The coming-of-age tale of 16-year-old Lina Vilkas who is deported to Siberia amid Stalin's reign of terror in the Baltic region during WWII. An aspiring artist, she secretly documents her harrowing journey with her drawings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaria's Lovers (1984)
A World War II prisoner returns home to his childhood sweetheart. However, back home, he discovers that he has to compete to win her love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLovely, Still (2009)
A holiday fable that tells the story of an elderly man discovering love for the first time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNobody Has to Know (2022)
After a stroke and no memories from his past, Phil encounters Millie who inhabits a desert part of Isle of Lewis. She will shortly entrust him with his deepest secret : they were in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLife in a Year (2020)
A 17 year old finds out that his girlfriend is dying, so he sets out to give her an entire life, in the last year she has left.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLove Everlasting (2016)
Bridger is a young outsider who's always wanted more. He and his mother flee an abusive home, eventually finding a small town in the middle of nowhere. Once there, Bridger finds true acceptance with another misfit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Fugitive Kind (1960)
Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTwo for the Seesaw (1962)
After leaving his wife, lawyer Jerry Ryan moves from Omaha, Nebraska to New York City to start a new life. While studying for the New York Bar Examination and working to finalize his divorce, Ryan meets dancer Gittel Mosca, and the two begin a cautious courtship. However, Ryan feels that he must come to terms with his failed marriage and overcome his lingering attachment to his ex-wife before he can redefine himself and embrace his budding romance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Magic of Ordinary Days (2005)
Pregnant out of wedlock, an educated young woman is pressured by her father into an arranged marriage with a lonely farmer in this drama set during WWII.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lost Husband (2020)
Trying to put her life back together after the death of her husband, Libby and her children move to her estranged Aunt's goat farm in central Texas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDirt Music (2020)
Georgie is slowly suffocating in a loveless marriage to fishing tycoon Jim Buckridge. Handsome poacher Lu is an irresistible symbol of the excitement she craves. A passionate affair follows that reveals the dark secrets in Lu’s past and forces him to take flight into the blistering heat of the outback. Georgie follows, determined to find him and bring him back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarked Men: Rule + Shaw (2025)
Shaw Landon has loved Rule Archer from the moment she laid eyes on him. Rule, a fiery-tempered rebel tattoo artist, doesn’t have time for a good girl pre-med student like Shaw — even if she’s the only one who can see the person he truly is. She lives by other people’s rules; he makes his own. But a short skirt, too many birthday cocktails, and spilled secrets lead to a night neither can forget. Now, Shaw and Rule must figure out how a girl like her and a guy like him are supposed to be together without destroying their love…or each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNot Easily Broken (2009)
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like this1 Mile To You (2017)
After a teenager's friends die in an accident, he finds running allows him to remember them perfectly. Running, however, also brings him notoriety. He is caught between keeping the past alive and making new memories in the present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI'm in Love with a Church Girl (2013)
Miles Montego has it all - cars, boats, good looks, mansion, money, women, but more importantly, he has a past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisSalome (1953)
In the reign of emperor Tiberius, Gallilean prophet John the Baptist preaches against King Herod and Queen Herodias. The latter wants John dead, but Herod fears to harm him due to a prophecy. Enter beautiful Princess Salome, Herod's long-absent stepdaughter. Herodias sees the king's dawning lust for Salome as her means of bending him to her will. But Salome and her lover Claudius are–contrary to Scripture–nearing conversion to the new religion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisHello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between (2022)
Clare and Aidan make a pact to break up before college — no regrets, no broken hearts. But will one epic goodbye date offer them a last chance at love?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWish That You Were Here (2026)
Ilyse and Ella's love for each other endures despite the distance between them -- but are text messages and shared memories enough to sustain them through an uncertain future? Set in the backdrop of a rural and urban Philippines, Wish That You Were Here is a love letter to those in the closet.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Today Tmr, I Love You (2022)
Two women who never met before, Chenny and Leakna, slowly develop a deep connection and begin to fall in love with each other. Chenny is a strong and independent woman who finds in Leakna a fierce and independent partner. As they get to know each other better, Chenny realizes that Leakna is someone she used to love when they were children. They fall in love again, but their relationship is eventually broken by Jenny's father, who doesn't approve of their love. Leakna decides to sacrifice everything to protect Chenny, going as far as offering her own eyes to save her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Chaser Game W: A Match Made in Heaven (2026)
Seven years after the events of “Chaser Game W2: The Beautiful Celestial Maidens”—Itsuki and Fuyu now live in Ito City, Shizuoka Prefecture, with their daughter Tsuki, who is in middle school. Amid their busy daily lives filled with housework, parenting, and work, the time they spend together has gradually become something they take for granted. Over the course of those seven years, their relationship has shifted from “lovers” to “family,” and subtle emotional distance has begun to emerge between them. Though their hearts are shaken by each other’s casual words and actions, they continue to maintain the appearance of a peaceful household. However, their daughter Tsuki senses the growing unease between her parents. One day, after getting caught up in trouble, Tsuki is helped by a taxi driver named Kozue. This encounter becomes a turning point, prompting Itsuki and Fuyu to finally confront their true feelings and reexamine the form their love has taken as it drifted apart.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Contact (2025)
In a heartfelt night of vulnerability and laughter, two mismatched young women navigate through 'The 36 Questions That Lead to Love' experiment, where they must engage in an intimate four-minute gaze of uninterrupted eye contact, challenging their perceptions of connection and the possibility of falling in love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIRREVERSIBLE (2020)
Vicki is in love with Ana, but she has an abusive boyfriend. With the help of her brothers, Vicki devises a scheme to separate Ana from Thiago, but things can turn out to be quite violent.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Premonitions of Sleep (2019)
After crushing on her for quite some time, Valerie finally asks out the girl in her college econ class.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
The Waves (2020)
A sapphic spoken word short movie
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
I Am Lesbian (2023)
Coming out isn't easy. A lesbian coming out to her sister. Will she understand LGBTQIA needs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Edge of Heaven (2007)
The lives of six German-Turkish immigrants are drawn together by circumstance: An old man and a prostitute forging a partnership, a young scholar reconciling his past, two young women falling in love, and a mother putting the shattered pieces of her life back together.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like She Once Was Distant?
The closest matches to She Once Was Distant are Fire with Fire (1986), The Secret: Dare to Dream (2020) and Newness (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after She Once Was Distant?
Start with Fire with Fire (1986), the closest match to She Once Was Distant.
What is the highest-rated movie like She Once Was Distant?
Life in a Year (2020), rated 8.2/10 by 2,027 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like She Once Was Distant?
Chaser Game W: A Match Made in Heaven (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like She Once Was Distant?
Yes: Fire with Fire (1986), The Secret: Dare to Dream (2020) and Newness (2017).
How are movies similar to She Once Was Distant chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside She Once Was Distant, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.