Movies like The Man I Love (1997)
The best movies like The Man I Love (1997) are Just an Illusion (2026), I Got Life! (2017) and Three Months (2022). If The Man I Love hooked you with its drama and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks
- Highest ratedThree Colors: White (1994)7.4/10 from 1,400 votes
- NewestJim Queen and the Quest for Chloroqueer (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchJust an Illusion (2026)Also in French
Just an Illusion (2026)
In 1985 suburban Paris, 12-year-old Vincent lives with his distant older brother and quarrelling parents. Amid laughter and unease, he navigates friendship and first love, while beginning to confront the adult world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Got Life! (2017)
Aurore has separated, just lost her job, and learns that she is going to be a grandmother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree Months (2022)
Caleb, a South Florida teen, loves his camera, his weed and his grandmother. On the eve of his high school graduation, everything changes when he's exposed to HIV. While he waits three months for his results, Caleb finds love in the most unlikely of places.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGood Grief (2023)
When his husband unexpectedly dies, Marc's world shatters, sending him and his two best friends on a soul-searching trip to Paris that reveals some hard truths they each needed to face.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr. Morgan's Last Love (2013)
A widowed professor living in Paris develops a special relationship with a younger French woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisImaginary Heroes (2004)
Matt Travis is good-looking, popular, and his school's best competitive swimmer, so everyone is shocked when he inexplicably commits suicide. As the following year unfolds, each member of his family struggles to recover from the tragedy with mixed results.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeep End (1971)
London, England. Mike, a fifteen-year-old boy, gets a job in a bathhouse, where he meets Susan, an attractive young woman who works there as an attendant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThree Colors: White (1994)
Polish immigrant Karol Karol finds himself out of a marriage, a job and a country when his French wife, Dominique, divorces him after six months due to his impotence. Forced to leave France after losing the business they jointly owned, Karol enlists fellow Polish expatriate Mikołaj to smuggle him back to their homeland.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Hedgehog (2009)
Paloma is a serious and highly articulate but deeply bored 11-year-old who has decided to kill herself on her 12th birthday. Fascinated by art and philosophy, she questions and documents her life and immediate circle, drawing trenchant and often hilarious observations on the world around her. But as her appointment with death approaches, Paloma finally meets some kindred spirits in her building's grumpy janitor and an enigmatic, elegant neighbor, both of whom inspire Paloma to question her rather pessimistic outlook on life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSink or Swim (2018)
40-year-old Bertrand has been suffering from depression for the last two years and is barely able to keep his head above water. Despite the medication he gulps down all day, every day, and his wife's encouragement, he is unable to find any meaning in his life. Curiously, he will end up finding this sense of purpose at the swimming pool, by joining an all-male synchronised swimming team.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMister Lonely (2008)
In Paris, a young American working as a Michael Jackson lookalike meets Marilyn Monroe, who invites him to her commune in Scotland, where she lives with Charlie Chaplin and her daughter, Shirley Temple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWilly the 1st (2016)
Willy, a boorish 50 something, finally moves out of his parents’ to start a new life
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisStranger by the Lake (2013)
Franck spends his summer days hopelessly searching for companionship at a popular cruising spot on the shores of a lake in rural France. One day, he meets Michel, an attractive yet darkly mysterious man and falls blindly in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Love to Hide (2005)
A young Jewish girl, Sara, is looking to escape the clutches of the Third Reich after seeing her parents and sister brutally slain by a smuggler who betrayed them while attempting to escape to England. Terrified, she is sheltered by her childhood friend Jean, a homosexual in a clandestine relationship with his lover Philippe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisLa Cage aux Folles (1978)
Two gay men living in St. Tropez have their lives turned upside down when the son of one of the men announces he is getting married. They try to conceal their lifestyle and their ownership of the drag club downstairs when the fiancée and her parents come for dinner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Revenge of the Shiny Shrimps (2022)
Two years after the death of Jean, Matthias, the coach, decides to take Selime, a young man from the suburbs he believes is gay, to accompany the Shiny Shrimps to the Gay Games in Tokyo, on a trip to pay tribute to their friend who left too early. But after they miss their connection, they find themselves stranded in Russia, in one of the not the most gay-friendly regions in the world. The start of a crazy adventure as incredible as it is perilous.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMe, Myself and Mum (2013)
How to become a man when your mother and your closed circle have decided otherwise? This is the challenge Guillaume took up. The film recounts Guillaume's tragicomic battle from the young age of eight, as he adopts the role of a girl then of a homosexual... until, aged 30, he meets the woman who, after his mother, will become the other woman in his life. Beyond this story of a heterosexual coming-out, the film tells the tale of an actor who never stopped loving women, maybe even a little too much.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJim Queen and the Quest for Chloroqueer (2026)
When Heterosis, a mysterious virus that turns gay men straight, sweeps through the Parisian gay scene, Jim, the six-packed sovereign of the Gym Queens, goes from Pride royalty to social outcast. With only Lucien, a freshly-out twink with more heart than abs, still by his side, Jim must race to find a cure before the disease erases the community that once worshipped him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
Two drag performers and a transgender woman travel across the desert to perform their unique style of cabaret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKirepapa. (2008)
Chisato is a beautiful 35-year-old writer, who looks like 18, and the father of Riju, a cute 15-year-old boy. Chisato's hobby is to drive away all of Riju's friends because he thinks they want to corrupt his precious child, so he shows his good side to these boys while he poisons the cake he brings them with a smile; however, there is one guy, Shunsuke, who doesn't fall for the tricks. But is Shunsuke really aiming for Riju? Who is that mysterious writer Chisato loves so much? And why is Chisato convinced that Riju's friends want to take advantage of him?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Love Bites (2025)
Just out of their teens, young men Liam and Anatole were in the throes of an exciting relationship- until they had fight, and Anatole disappeared. Liam can’t accept breakup. And, since his boyfriend doesn’t reply to his calls and text messages, Liam decides to follow him to a Halloween organized by one of Anatole’s friends to try find him. The wild night that ensues will test boys’ true feelings for each other, as well as force them to confront some hard inner truths once and for all.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Zwischen Flieder wandern und singen (2003)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
40 Days and 40 Nights (2002)
Matt Sullivan's last big relationship ended in disaster and ever since his heart's been aching and his commitment's been lacking. Then came Lent, that time of year when everybody gives something up. That's when Matt decides to go where no man's gone before and make a vow: No sex. Whatsoever. For 40 straight days. At first he has everything under control. That is until the woman of his dreams, Erica, walks into his life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisAmerican Gigolo (1980)
Julian makes a lucrative living as an escort to older women in the Los Angeles area. He begins a relationship with Michelle, a local politician's wife, without expecting any pay. One of his clients is murdered and Detective Sunday begins pumping him for details on his different clients, something he is reluctant to do considering the nature of his work. Julian begins to suspect he's being framed. Meanwhile Michelle begins to fall in love with him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mousetrap (2016)
Baptiste is a gay man who can't stop dreaming about a woman who works at a local pub. His desire for her makes him go on a journey that he could had never imagined.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
I Am Curious Gay (1970)
On his 21st birthday, Davy wanders into a gay bar and meets the man of his dreams.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Walk a Crooked Path (1969)
Set in an exclusive boy's school, about a man who plans to kill off his wealthy teacher wife by encouraging her to drink and pushing her into suicide. To assist him he recruits a young student who will claim that he was sexually assaulted by her. (from: http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/390627)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mary Queen of Scots (2018)
In 1561, Mary Stuart, widow of the King of France, returns to Scotland, reclaims her rightful throne and menaces the future of Queen Elizabeth I as ruler of England, because she has a legitimate claim to the English throne. Betrayals, rebellions, conspiracies and their own life choices imperil both Queens. They experience the bitter cost of power, until their tragic fate is finally fulfilled.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Man I Love?
The closest matches to The Man I Love are Just an Illusion (2026), I Got Life! (2017) and Three Months (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Man I Love?
Start with Just an Illusion (2026), the closest match to The Man I Love.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Man I Love?
Three Colors: White (1994), rated 7.4/10 by 1,400 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Man I Love?
Jim Queen and the Quest for Chloroqueer (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like The Man I Love?
Yes: Just an Illusion (2026), I Got Life! (2017) and Three Colors: White (1994).
How are movies similar to The Man I Love chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Man I Love, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.



























