Movies like The Painting Pool (2013)
The best movies like The Painting Pool (2013) are 3 Faces (2018), The Mirror (1997) and Women Without Men (2009). If The Painting Pool hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAbout Elly (2009)7.5/10 from 581 votes
- NewestNo Bears (2022)Released 2022
3 Faces (2018)
Filmmaker Jafar Panahi and actor Behnaz Jafari travel to a tiny village after receiving a plea for help from a girl whose family has forbidden her from studying acting. Amusing encounters abound, but they soon discover that the local hospitality is rivaled by the desire to protect old traditions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mirror (1997)
When a young girl's mother doesn't meet her after school, she tries to navigate the streets of Tehran by herself.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWomen Without Men (2009)
Against the tumultuous backdrop of Iran's 1953 CIA-backed coup d'état, the destinies of four women converge in a beautiful orchard garden, where they find independence, solace and companionship.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Circle (2000)
Various women struggle to function in the oppressively sexist society of contemporary Iran.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShirin (2009)
A hundred and fourteen famous Iranian theater and cinema actresses and a French star: mute spectators at a theatrical representation of Khosrow and Shirin, a Persian poem from the twelfth century, put on stage by Kiarostami. The development of the text -- long a favorite in Persia and the Middle East -- remains invisible to the viewer of the film, the whole story is told by the faces of the women watching the show.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
No One Knows About Persian Cats (2009)
Iranian musicians Negar and Ashkan look for band members to play at a London concert ... and the visa that allows them to leave Tehran to do so.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYalda (2020)
Maryam accidentally killed her husband Nasser and is sentenced to death. The only person who can save her is Mona, Nasser's daughter. All Mona has to do is appear on a TV show and forgive Maryam. But forgiveness proves difficult when they are forced to relive the past.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo Bears (2022)
Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who has been barred from leaving the country, arrives at a village on the Iran-Turkey border to supervise a film based on a real-life couple seeking passports to Europe being shot in Turkey, but both his stay and the production run into trouble.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMother (1990)
The film progresses along two distinct but interwoven series of events. The first series involves young members of a family who have gathered round their old mother and revive their common childhood memories. the second line focuses on the old woman's preparations for her last journey and her joyous cooperation in arranging for the ceremonies that are to be observed after her death.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Nahid (2015)
A young divorcee living with her son in a small northern city of Iran, wants to marry the man she has fallen in love with. According to the current rules, the father has the custody of children; however, her ex-husband has granted her that right on the condition that she doesn’t remarry. Struggling to keep both of her beloved ones, she has to think about the third option: Temporary Marriage (Sighe). However, this will get her into a predicament, as despite its being legal, Sighe is not well-received by the society at all. Would temporary marriage be a good solution for her?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Leila (1999)
This film tells the story of a semi modern Iranian couple, who are trying to fight the old beliefs and old generation. This is a failing battle because the man is not strong enough.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTen (2002)
A visual social examination in the form of ten conversations between a driving woman and her various pick-ups and hitchhikers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTaxi (2015)
A yellow cab is driving through the vibrant and colourful streets of Tehran. Very diverse passengers enter the taxi, each candidly expressing their views while being interviewed by the driver who is no one else but the director Jafar Panahi himself. His camera placed on the dashboard of his mobile film studio captures the spirit of Iranian society through this comedic and dramatic drive…
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOffside (2006)
During the 2006 World Cup qualifying match between Iran and Bahrain, numerous young women are caught and rounded up for dressing as men so they could gain access to the game. Guarded by several soldiers in a holding pen, the women attempt to keep updated on the score.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMuch Loved (2015)
A social drama about four marginalized prostitutes in Marrakech and their complex relations with their families and society at large.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe White Meadows (2009)
Rahmat travels to a host of islands in a vast salt pan in order to collect the inhabitant's tears for an unknown purpose. He is joined on his mysterious journey by a young boy searching for his father. As their travel nears its end, a potent critique of Iran's political leadership emerges.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Closed Curtain (2013)
In a secluded house by the sea with the curtains shut, a screenwriter hides from the world with only his dog as company. The tranquility is abruptly broken one night by the arrival of a young woman fleeing from the authorities. Refusing to leave, she takes refuge in the house. But come dawn, another unexpected presence will change everything.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
24 Frames (2018)
A collection of 24 short four-and-a-half minutes films inspired by still images, including paintings and photographs. An experimental project made by filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami in the last three years of his life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Song of Sparrows (2008)
When an ostrich-rancher focuses on replacing his daughter's hearing aid, which breaks right before crucial exams, everything changes for a struggling rural family in Iran. Karim motorbikes into a world alien to him - incredibly hectic Tehran, where sudden opportunities for independence, thrill and challenge him. But his honor and honesty, plus traditional authority over his inventive clan, are tested, as he stumbles among vast cultural and economic gaps between his village nestled in the desert, and a throbbing international metropolis.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLeila's Brothers (2022)
At the age of 40, Leila has spent her entire life caring for her parents and four brothers. A family that is constantly arguing and under pressure from various debts in the face of sanctions against Iran. While her brothers are struggling to make ends meet, Leila makes a plan.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Wind Will Carry Us (1999)
Irreverent city engineer Behzad comes to a rural Kurdish village in Iran to keep vigil for a dying relative. In the meanwhile the film follows his efforts to fit in with the local community and how he changes his own attitudes as a result.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBaran (2001)
On a building site in present-day Tehran, Lateef, a 17-year-old Turkish worker is irresistibly drawn to Rahmat, a young Afghan worker. The revelation of Rahmat's secret changes both their lives.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCrimson Gold (2003)
Pizza man Hussein is a daily witnesses to the unjust distribution of wealth in his native Iran. One day, he finds a purse filled with shockingly expensive receipts from an upscale jewelry store. He attempts to bring the purse back to the store, but because of his working-class attire, he's not allowed inside. Then, during a delivery, a rich man invites Hussein into his extravagant mansion – an event that spurs Hussein to make a desperate bid for wealth.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Traveler (1974)
Hassan Darabi, a troublesome, amoral 10-year-old boy in a small Iranian town wishes to see the Iran national football team play an important match in Tehran. In order to achieve that, he scams his friends and neighbors.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAbout Elly (2009)
The mysterious disappearance of a kindergarten teacher during a picnic in the north of Iran is followed by a series of misadventures for her fellow travelers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThere Is No Evil (2020)
Set against the backdrop of Iran's strict and oppressive legal system, this anthology film tells the stories of four men who each face a moral crisis when having to deal with death penalties.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeautiful City (2004)
Akbar, 18, has been held in a rehabilitation centre for committing murder at the age of sixteen. Now, Akbar is transferred to prison to await the day of his execution. A’la, a friend of Akbar, tries desperately to gain the consent of Akbar’s plaintiff so as to stop the execution.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTehran Taboo (2017)
The lives of three strong-willed women and a young musician cross paths in Tehran’s schizophrenic society where sex, adultery, corruption, prostitution and drugs coexist with strict religious law. In this bustling modern metropolis, avoiding prohibition has become an everyday sport and breaking taboos can be a means of personal emancipation.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnd Life Goes On (1992)
After the earthquake of Guilan, a film director and his son travel to the devastated area to search for the actors from the movie the director made there a few years previously. In their search, they see how people who have lost everything in the earthquake still have hope and try to live life to the fullest.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Regular Woman (2019)
Hatun Aynur Sürücü, a German woman of Kurdish origin, was shot dead by her brothers at a bus stop in 2005. The story of a woman who fought for her freedom and independence despite her family's objections, and whose life ended in a horrific murder.
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 The Painting Pool?
The closest matches to The Painting Pool are 3 Faces (2018), The Mirror (1997) and Women Without Men (2009). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Painting Pool?
People who watched The Painting Pool most often go on to 3 Faces (2018), The Mirror (1997) and Women Without Men (2009).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Painting Pool?
About Elly (2009), rated 7.5/10 by 581 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Painting Pool?
No Bears (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Painting Pool chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Painting Pool, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.