Movies like The Secret Friend (2010)
The best movies like The Secret Friend (2010) are Mrs Palfrey at The Claremont (2005), Shadows in the Sun (2005) and I'll See You in My Dreams (2015). If The Secret Friend hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedVoicemails for Isabelle (2026)8.3/10 from 1,048 votes
- NewestVoicemails for Isabelle (2026)Released 2026
Mrs Palfrey at The Claremont (2005)
All but abandoned by her family in a London retirement hotel, an elderly woman strikes up a curious friendship with a young writer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShadows in the Sun (2005)
An aspiring young writer tracks a literary titan suffering from writers block to his refuge in rural Italy and learns about life and love from the irascible genius and his daughters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI'll See You in My Dreams (2015)
A sudden loss disrupts Carol’s orderly life, propelling her into the dating world for the first time in 20 years. Finally living in the present tense, she finds herself swept up in not one, but two unexpected relationships that challenge her assumptions about what it means to grow old.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVoicemails for Isabelle (2026)
A young woman's hilariously confessional voicemails to her late sister are unknowingly redirected to a stranger, who begins to fall in love from afar.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMr. Church (2016)
A unique friendship develops when a little girl and her dying mother inherit a cook - Mr. Church. What begins as an arrangement that should only last six months, instead spans fifteen years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOur Friend (2019)
After learning that his terminally ill wife has six months to live, a man welcomes the support of his best friend who moves into their home to help out.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCorrina, Corrina (1994)
When Manny Singer's wife dies, his young daughter Molly becomes mute and withdrawn. To help cope with looking after Molly, he hires sassy housekeeper Corrina Washington, who coaxes Molly out of her shell and shows father and daughter a whole new way of life. Manny and Corrina's friendship delights Molly and enrages the other townspeople.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll of You (2025)
Laura and Simon have been best friends since college. Over the years, they've realized their bond is more than platonic. Can they—and should they—risk everything to explore a love that has existed all along?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA-X-L (2018)
The life of a teenage boy is forever altered by a chance encounter with cutting edge military technology.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYou're Not You (2014)
When an accomplished pianist is diagnosed with the devastating and incurable disease ALS, she hires a directionless young woman who becomes her full-time caregiver. Complete opposites, the strangers form a life-changing bond inspiring each other to live life to fullest, while being brought together by the most challenging of circumstances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGood Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022)
Nancy Stokes, a retired schoolteacher, is pretty sure she has never had good sex. Now that her husband has died, she is determined to take a tour of sexual vistas that until now she has only imagined. She even has a plan; it involves an anonymous hotel room, and a sex worker who calls himself Leo Grande.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRobot & Frank (2012)
Curmudgeonly old Frank lives by himself. His routine involves daily visits to his local library, where he has a twinkle in his eye for the librarian. His grown children are concerned about their father’s well-being and buy him a caretaker robot. Initially resistant to the idea, Frank soon appreciates the benefits of robotic support – like nutritious meals and a clean house – and eventually begins to treat his robot like a true companion. With his robot’s assistance, Frank’s passion for his old, unlawful profession is reignited, for better or worse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Story (1970)
Harvard Law student Oliver Barrett IV and music student Jennifer Cavilleri share a chemistry they cannot deny - and a love they cannot ignore. Despite their opposite backgrounds, the young couple put their hearts on the line for each other. When they marry, Oliver's wealthy father threatens to disown him. Jenny tries to reconcile the Barrett men, but to no avail.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Friend of Dorothy (2025)
Dorothy is a lonely widow whose body is failing, but her mind remains as bright as ever. When 17-year-old JJ accidentally kicks his football into her garden, he upends Dorothy's daily routine of pills, prunes, and crosswords, and an unlikely friendship blossoms. Despite being worlds apart in every way, the two come to find they have more in common than they could ever imagine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisElsa & Fred (2014)
After his daughter persuades him to move into a new apartment, aged widower Fred strikes up a friendship with his eccentric 74-year-old neighbour Elsa, who convinces him it's never too late to keep enjoying life. Although he seemed resigned to a miserable bedridden existence, Fred embraces Elsa's youthful enthusiasm as she introduces him to the path of life and entertains him with outlandish stories about her past life. But when he discovers Elsa's terminally ill, Fred decides to accompany her on the trip of her dreams to the eternal city of Rome to help her fulfil a lifelong ambition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wings of the Dove (1997)
Kate is secretly betrothed to a struggling journalist, Merton Densher. But she knows her Aunt Maude will never approve of the match, since Kate's deceased mother has lost all her money in a marriage to a degenerate opium addict. When Kate meets a terminally ill American heiress named Millie traveling through Europe, she comes up with a conniving plan to have both love and wealth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Notebook (2004)
An epic love story centered around an older man who reads aloud to a woman with Alzheimer's. From a faded notebook, the old man's words bring to life the story about a couple who is separated by World War II, and is then passionately reunited, seven years later, after they have taken different paths.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisStarlet (2012)
An unlikely friendship forms between 21 year-old Jane and the elderly Sadie after Jane discovers a hidden stash of money inside an object at Sadie's yard sale.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTogether Together (2021)
When young loner Anna is hired as the surrogate for Matt, a single man in his 40s, the two strangers come to realize this unexpected relationship will quickly challenge their perceptions of connection, boundaries and the particulars of love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAs Good as It Gets (1997)
A misanthropic author, a single mother and waitress, and a gay artist form an unlikely friendship after the artist is assaulted in a robbery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Secret Friend?
The closest matches to The Secret Friend are Mrs Palfrey at The Claremont (2005), Shadows in the Sun (2005) and I'll See You in My Dreams (2015). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Secret Friend?
Start with Mrs Palfrey at The Claremont (2005), the closest match to The Secret Friend.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Secret Friend?
Voicemails for Isabelle (2026), rated 8.3/10 by 1,048 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Secret Friend?
Voicemails for Isabelle (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Secret Friend?
Yes: Mrs Palfrey at The Claremont (2005), Shadows in the Sun (2005) and I'll See You in My Dreams (2015).
How are movies similar to The Secret Friend chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Secret Friend, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.