Movies like Journey of a Dying Wife (2011)
The best movies like Journey of a Dying Wife (2011) are Maborosi (1995), The Last Bus (2021) and The Sea of Trees (2016). If Journey of a Dying Wife hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedClouds (2020)8.2/10 from 1,072 votes
- NewestAll of a Sudden (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseMaborosi (1995)Also in Japanese
Maborosi (1995)
A tragedy strikes a young woman's life without warning or reason. She continues living while searching for meaning in a lonely world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Bus (2021)
Widower Tom, on the recent passing of his wife Mary, uses his free bus pass to travel the length of Britain from John O'Groats in Caithness to Land's End in Cornwall, their shared birthplace, using only local buses. It's an incident-fuelled nostalgia trip and his encounters with local people make him a media phenomenon. Tom is totally unaware and to his surprise on arrival at Land’s End he’s greeted as a celebrity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sea of Trees (2016)
In Japan's Aokigahara Forest, a troubled teacher meets a mysterious lost stranger who takes him on a life-changing journey of love and redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOmaha (2025)
A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrian's Song (1971)
Based on the real-life relationship between teammates Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers and the bond established when Piccolo discovers that he is dying.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll of a Sudden (2026)
Director of a care facility for the elderly, Marie-Lou strives to introduce an innovative care philosophy based on listening and respecting residents’ dignity, despite resistance from part of her staff. Her encounter with Mari, a Japanese theater director battling cancer, will profoundly reshape her path. By forming a deep, supportive friendship, the two women join forces in a shared struggle to make the impossible possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLiving (2022)
London, 1953. Mr. Williams, a veteran civil servant, is an important cog within the city's bureaucracy as it struggles to rebuild in the aftermath of World War II. Buried under paperwork at the office and lonely at home, his life has long felt empty and meaningless. Then a devastating medical diagnosis forces him to take stock, and to try and grasp some fulfilment before it passes permanently beyond reach.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHungry Hearts (2015)
The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hitch-Hiker (1953)
Roy and Gilbert's fishing trip takes a terrifying turn when the hitchhiker they pick up turns out to be a sociopath on the run from the law. He's killed before, and he lets the two know that as soon as they're no longer useful, he'll kill again. The two friends plot an escape, but the hitchhiker's peculiar physical affliction, an eye that never closes even when he sleeps, makes it impossible for them to tell when they can make a break for it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClouds (2020)
Young musician Zach Sobiech discovers his cancer has spread, leaving him just a few months to live. With limited time, he follows his dream and makes an album, unaware that it will soon be a viral music phenomenon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHello Sister, Goodbye Life (2006)
A college student must take care of her 7-year-old half sister after the death of their parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Christmas Shoes (2002)
Two separate stories mesh - in the first, a young music teacher, Maggie Andrews, begins dying of a heart condition and her son Nathan tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for her before she dies. In the second, lawyer Robert Layton and his wife Kate are slowly drifting apart and the matter comes to a head during Christmas when Kate takes over for Maggie for the school choir.
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 thisDetour (1945)
The life of Al Roberts, a pianist in a New York nightclub, turns into a nightmare when he decides to hitchhike to Los Angeles to visit his girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHere (2024)
An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow Sarah Got Her Wings (2015)
Good Samaritan Sarah Fitzpatrick has a fatal accident just before Christmas, and finds herself in the lobby before the gates of Heaven. Certain that she will be let in, she is shocked to find that her name is not on the reservation list. However, she is granted the chance to return to Earth as an "angel in training" with the requirement to help a soul in need. Sarah has the 12 days before Christmas to secure her place on the list leaving her in the race for her after-life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisZigeunerweisen (1980)
A surreal period film following a university professor and his eerie nomad friend as they go through loose romantic triangles and face death in peculiar ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Other Woman (2010)
Emilia, a law-school graduate, falls in love with her married boss, Jack. After Emilia marries Jack, her happiness turns unexpectedly to grief following the death of her infant daughter. Devastated, Emilia nonetheless carries on, attempting to forge a connection with her stepson William and to resist the interference of Jack's jealous ex-wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEichmann (2007)
Based upon the final confession of Adolf Eichmann, made before his execution in Israel, of his role in Hitler's plan for the final solution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Believe in Unicorns (2015)
Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSunday in August (2004)
A couple on a boat. Their love is burnt out. But how to let go when souls are entangled?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009)
After her much older husband forces a move to a suburban retirement community, Pippa Lee engages in a period of reflection and finds herself heading toward a quiet nervous breakdown.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisVan Gogh (1991)
After leaving the asylum, Vincent van Gogh settles in the home of Doctor Gachet, where he keeps painting amidst the torments of his failing mental health. He begins an affair with his host’s daughter, however, she soon realizes that he doesn’t love her and that his heart beats only for art.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLangit Mo Kaligayahan Ko (2004)
This sensual drama depicts the story of an inseparable couple trying to cope with the obstacle in life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Executioner (1963)
An undertaker gets married to an old executioner's daughter and, although he doesn't like it, must continue the profession of his father-in-law after his retirement.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTSANGAAN. (2025)
The Tsangaan people have lived ‘in the middle of nowhere’ since ancient times. Now, only one person remains to represent the entire nation. Word of the last Tsangaan reaches a young man in Tartu, who decides to venture into the unknown wilderness to find the final guardian of the vanishing people. Although at first, the young man feels like an outsider in the mystical world of the Tsangaan, he gradually discovers many layers within himself that connect him to this new environment. With each passing day, he grows closer to the last Tsangaan, leaving more and more of his previous life and identity behind. Reborn, the young man’s journey leads him to a place where he becomes the last person to have ever encountered a Tsangaan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Alex: The Life of a Child (1986)
Based on true events, 'Alex: The Life of a Child' follows former 'Sports Illustrated' writer Frank Deford and his wife Carole when their happy, all-American family is rocked to the core when their baby daughter Alex is diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. While CF sufferers were almost certainly doomed to an early death in the Seventies, Alex grew into a child who showed remarkable courage and strength in face of her illness. Her loving family were quick to rally around her, determined to show the same bravery as the little girl as they supported and cherished her through life and struggled to move on after her death at the tragically young age of eight.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Body of Lies (2008)
The CIA’s hunt is on for the mastermind of a wave of terrorist attacks. Roger Ferris is the agency’s man on the ground, moving from place to place, scrambling to stay ahead of ever-shifting events. An eye in the sky – a satellite link – watches Ferris. At the other end of that real-time link is the CIA’s Ed Hoffman, strategizing events from thousands of miles away. And as Ferris nears the target, he discovers trust can be just as dangerous as it is necessary for survival.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Jam Jar (2021)
n the Jam Jar is an invitation to the intimacy of 81-year-old Joan’s final days, whose musings silently echo with Dan’s, her 50-year-old son. This fiction short-movie is a dive into death and grief, a tribute to maternal love comprised of nail clippings, aquarelle, strawberry jam and a ghost radar.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Brute (1997)
Shipped off to a Romanian orphanage to finish his sentence, a British criminal finds romance but also discovers corruption inside the facility.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Journey of a Dying Wife and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Journey of a Dying Wife?
The closest matches to Journey of a Dying Wife are Maborosi (1995), The Last Bus (2021) and The Sea of Trees (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Journey of a Dying Wife?
Start with Maborosi (1995), the closest match to Journey of a Dying Wife.
What is the highest-rated movie like Journey of a Dying Wife?
Clouds (2020), rated 8.2/10 by 1,072 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Journey of a Dying Wife?
All of a Sudden (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Journey of a Dying Wife?
Yes: Maborosi (1995), All of a Sudden (2026) and Zigeunerweisen (1980).
How are movies similar to Journey of a Dying Wife chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Journey of a Dying Wife, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.