Movies like The Life of Jesus (1997)
The best movies like The Life of Jesus (1997) are Irreversible (2002), The Swimming Pool (1969) and Vortex (2021). If The Life of Jesus hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHis Secret Life (2001)7.3/10 from 610 votes
- NewestOut of Control (2025)Released 2025
- In FrenchIrreversible (2002)Also in French
Irreversible (2002)
A woman’s lover and her ex-boyfriend take justice into their own hands after she becomes the victim of a rapist. Because some acts can’t be undone. Because man is an animal. Because the desire for vengeance is a natural impulse. Because most crimes remain unpunished.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Swimming Pool (1969)
Set in a magnificent villa near a sun-drenched St. Tropez, lovers Jean-Paul and Marianne are spending a happy, lazy summer holiday. Their only concern is to gratify their mutual passion - until the day when Marianne invites her former lover and his beautiful teenage daughter to spend a few days with them. From the first moment, a certain uneasiness and tension begin to develop between the four, which soon escalates in a dangerous love-game.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVortex (2021)
Lui, a struggling author with a heart condition, and his wife Elle, a retired psychiatrist, find their idyllic life shattered when Elle begins to succumb to the effects of dementia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMuriel, or the Time of Return (1963)
In the seacoast town of Boulogne, antique furniture saleswoman Hélène lives with her stepson, Bernard, who's back from military duty in Algiers. An old lover of Hélène's comes to visit, Alphonse, with his niece Françoise; he too is back from Algiers, where he ran a café. Bernard speaks of his fiancée, Muriel, whom Hélène has not met. The past is obscured by guilt, misperceptions, and missed possibilities. Appearances deceive, things change. As Hélène and Alphonse try to sort out a renewal, everyone seems off-kilter just enough to hint that all cannot end well.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Passengers of the Night (2022)
On election night in 1981, celebrations spill out onto the street and there is an air of hope and change throughout Paris. But for Elisabeth, her marriage is coming to an end and she will now have to support herself and her two teenage children. She finds work at a late-night radio show and encounters a troubled teenager named Talulah whom she invites into her home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Minister (2011)
Transport Minister Bertrand Saint-Jean is awoken in the middle of the night by his head of staff. A bus has gone off the road into a gully. He has no choice but to go to the scene of the accident. Thus begins the odyssey of a politician in a world that is increasingly more complex and hostile.
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 Public Woman (1984)
An inexperienced young actress is invited to play a role in a film based on Dostoyevsky's 'The Possessed'. The film director, a Czech immigrant in Paris, takes over her life, and in a short time she is unable to draw the line between acting and reality. She winds up playing a real-life role posing as the dead wife of another Czech immigrant, who is manipulated by the filmmaker into commiting a political assassination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Prodigal Daughter (1981)
A young woman in a deep depression leaves her husband and returns to her parents. She discovers her father is having an affair, becomes jealous of his mistress and tries to turn his feelings in her direction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Secret (2007)
In 1953, a sensitive French boy finds out from a neighbor that his family's Jewish. François Grimbert becomes a physician, and gradually peels the layers of his buried family history which resulted in his difficult upbringing, raised as Catholic by his "Aryan" appearing parents. His athletic father labored to stamp out stereotypical Jewish characteristics he perceived in his son, to keep the family's many secrets, as most relatives fought in World War II, and later were hauled off to labor and death camps by the Gestapo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSister My Sister (1994)
A true story of shocking violence catapults a picturesque little town into history. The close sibling relationship between the two maids takes on a new dimension as their overbearing employer discovers a sexual fever between the two sisters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisCarne (1991)
After a dreadful incident coupled with an ungovernable paroxysm of violence, a butcher will fall into a downward spiral that will burn to the ground whatever dignity still remained in him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Nest (2020)
Rory is an ambitious entrepreneur who brings his American wife and kids to his native country, England, to explore new business opportunities. After abandoning the sanctuary of their safe American suburban surroundings, the family is plunged into the despair of an archaic '80s Britain and their unaffordable new life in an English manor house threatens to destroy the family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cat (1971)
Julien Bouin, a former typographist, and his wife Clemence, who used to perform in a circus, hardly talk to each other in their small house, soon to be demolished. His cat Greffier being the only one he still gives affection to, he becomes the object of Clemence's anger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMonsieur Ibrahim (2003)
Paris, 1960s. Momo, a resolute and independent Jewish teenager who lives with his father, a sullen and depressed man, in a working-class neighborhood, develops a close friendship with Monsieur Ibrahim, an elderly Muslim who owns a small grocery store.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lords of Discipline (1983)
Will arrives for his last year at Military Academy, in the Deep South USA, in the 1960's. A black student, Pearce, has been accepted, for the first time and Will is asked to keep an eye out for the inevitable racism. The racists come in the form of The Ten, a secret group of the elite students. They want Pearce to leave on his own free will, but are prepared to torture him to make it 'his free will'. Will is forced to help Pearce and he is prepared to risk his own career to do so.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Finishers (2013)
Julien, 17, is wheelchair-bound due to cerebral palsy. Despite their love for him, his family is gradually falling apart under the strain of dealing with his disability. In a bid to bond with his father, Julien challenges him to participate with him in the Ironman race in Nice (French Riviera), a triathlon in which his father has previously competed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOut of Control (2025)
Julien and Marie have enjoyed 15 years of seemingly stable marriage until Anaëlle, Julien’s childhood flame, returns. Her sudden presence awakens old insecurities in Marie, who begins to doubt Julien’s devotion and question her self-worth. Amid this emotional storm, Marie is drawn to Thomas, a charismatic stranger who offers her the validation she craves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Divide (2021)
Raf and Julie, a couple on the verge of breaking up, find themselves in an emergency ward bordering on collapse on the evening of a Parisian Yellow Vest protest. Their encounter with Yann, an angry and injured demonstrator, will shatter each person's certainties and prejudices. Outside, the tension escalates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTen 'Til Twelve (TBA)
Ashton and Nico come to terms with the hardest part about their break up-- saying goodbye to the memories.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Gridlock'd (1997)
After a friend overdoses, Spoon and Stretch decide to kick their drug habits and attempt to enroll in a government detox program. Their efforts are hampered by seemingly endless red tape, as they are shuffled from one office to another while being chased by drug dealers and the police.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrontier(s) (2007)
A gang of young thieves flee Paris during the violent aftermath of a political election, only to hole up at an Inn run by neo-Nazis.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Aura (2005)
A quiet, epileptic taxidermist plans the perfect crime. All he needs is the right opportunity. An accident, perhaps…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRent: Filmed Live on Broadway (2008)
Set in New York City's gritty East Village, the revolutionary rock opera RENT tells the story of a group of bohemians struggling to live and pay their rent. "Measuring their lives in love," these starving artists strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness and the AIDS epidemic.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDying or Feeling Better (2008)
After his father leaves home for another woman, 16-year-old Martial has to move with his mother, Sabine, to a more modest apartment. Martial finds it difficult to fit in his new life. His mother offers to help him, but she only makes the situation worse. Martial then forms a bond with two twin sisters his own age, with whom he has a series of exciting and disturbing experiences.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Catarina and the others (2011)
Outside, the first sun rays break the dawn. Sixteen years old Catarina can't fall asleep. Inconsequently, in the big city adults are moved by desire... Catarina found she is HIV positive. She wants to drag everyone else along.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBlack Tea (2024)
Aya, a young Ivorian woman in her early thirties, says no on her wedding day, to everyone’s astonishment. After emigrating to Asia, she works in a tea export shop with Cai, a 45-year-old Chinese man. Aya and Cai fall in love but can their affair survive the turmoil of their past and other people’s prejudices?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHis Secret Life (2001)
When Antonia's husband Massimo is killed in a car accident, she accidentally discovers that he has been having a same-sex affair with a produce wholesaler named Michele.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSorry Angel (2018)
At once an intimate chronicle of a romance and a sprawling portrait of life in early 1990s France following the intertwining journeys of Jacques, a worldly Parisian writer, and Arthur, a curious, carefree and much-younger university student who is just beginning to live. Brought together by chance, the two men find themselves navigating a casual fling that gradually deepens into a tender, transformative bond.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like The Life of Jesus and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Life of Jesus?
The closest matches to The Life of Jesus are Irreversible (2002), The Swimming Pool (1969) and Vortex (2021). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Life of Jesus?
Start with Irreversible (2002), the closest match to The Life of Jesus.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Life of Jesus?
His Secret Life (2001), rated 7.3/10 by 610 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Life of Jesus?
Out of Control (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like The Life of Jesus?
Yes: Irreversible (2002), The Swimming Pool (1969) and Vortex (2021).
How are movies similar to The Life of Jesus chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Life of Jesus, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.