Movies like Five Girls and a Rope (1990)
The best movies like Five Girls and a Rope (1990) are Hounddog (2008), Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998) and The Girl in the Book (2015). If Five Girls and a Rope hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Magdalene Sisters (2002)7.4/10 from 495 votes
- NewestEleanor the Great (2025)Released 2025
- In ChineseDwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (2020)Also in Chinese
Hounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisXiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (2020)
In the Chinese town of Fuyang, four brothers go about their day-to-day lives, their destinies shaped by love and challenges.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBuddha Mountain (2011)
In Chengdu, China, a retired female opera singer named Master Chang takes in a trio of young tenants into her boarding home. The tenants include a rock singer and a college student who has run away from home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLighting Up the Stars (2022)
Having been released after serving his sentence, a funeral director accidentally crosses paths with a girl which brings about an unexpected change in his attitude towards life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGracie (2007)
A teenager faces an uphill battle when she fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWon't Back Down (2012)
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGigi & Nate (2022)
A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHands of Stone (2016)
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Day and a Night (2020)
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCall Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHoly Lands (2019)
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHerself (2020)
Struggling to provide her daughters with a safe, happy home, Sandra decides to build one - from scratch. Using all her ingenuity to make her ambitious dream a reality, Sandra draws together a community to lend a helping hand to build her house and ultimately recover her own sense of self.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Elizabeth Smart (2017)
The story of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and captivity, as told from her perspective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Girl Like Valerie (2023)
Valerie faces the challenge of leaving an abusive relationship with the help of her two friends.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Matter of Sex (1984)
Dramatization of the true story of the so-called Willmar Eight, a group of Minnesota bank workers who braved freezing conditions whilst picketing their branch in a struggle for union rights.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Break the Blade (2021)
Sebari Milach is an awareness film aimed at showing the dark ritualistic practices of female circumcision illegally practiced in Africa. This film touches on a true story about a young Ethiopian girl who gets tricked by her mother into getting circumcised at a ritual purification ceremony shortly after her sister passed away from the same practice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Chronicles of Her (2020)
Anthology film. Five heroines from five different, yet similar worlds face social and systematic oppression and injustice. We follow their journeys as they struggle for hope and a better life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Nola and the Clones (2016)
A homeless Irish girl encounters a series of men who appear strikingly similar to each other
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Dance for Heroes (1989)
Two women rebel against the traditions of a village society.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Film for Discussion (1973)
A docu-drama shot in 1970, but not completed until 1973, the film sought to encapsulate in an experimental form issues that were under discussion within the Women’s Liberation Movement at this time and to thus contribute to action for change. In its numerous community screenings, active debate was encouraged as part of the viewing experience.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
Three young Irish women struggle to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOrlando (1992)
England, 1600. Queen Elizabeth I promises Orlando, a young nobleman obsessed with poetry, that she will grant him land and fortune if he agrees to satisfy a very particular request.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMask of a Dream (TBA)
Sofía, a 16-year-old girl affected by the death of her father and the absence of her mother, finds refuge in her frustrated passion for the world of fashion, until one day an opportunity arises to fulfill a dream.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Five Girls and a Rope?
The closest matches to Five Girls and a Rope are Hounddog (2008), Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998) and The Girl in the Book (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Five Girls and a Rope?
Start with Hounddog (2008), the closest match to Five Girls and a Rope.
What is the highest-rated movie like Five Girls and a Rope?
The Magdalene Sisters (2002), rated 7.4/10 by 495 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Five Girls and a Rope?
Eleanor the Great (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like Five Girls and a Rope?
Yes: Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (2020), Buddha Mountain (2011) and Lighting Up the Stars (2022).
How are movies similar to Five Girls and a Rope chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Five Girls and a Rope, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.