Movies like Justine and the Whip (1979)
The best movies like Justine and the Whip (1979) are Pimp (2018), Finally Dawn (2024) and The Pumpkin Eater (1964). If Justine and the Whip hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedQuills (2000)7.2/10 from 762 votes
- NewestGioia (2026)Released 2026
- In ItalianFinally Dawn (2024)Also in Italian
Pimp (2018)
An urban love story set on the hard streets of the Bronx. A struggling female pimp, named Wednesday, grows up learning the game from her dad. Once he's gone she's left to look out for her prostitute mother and girlfriend Nikki.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFinally Dawn (2024)
A young Roman woman during the 1950s is on the verge of becoming engaged to a man. She goes to Cinecittà to do an audition as an extra and is thrust into this almost infinite night during which she discovers herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pumpkin Eater (1964)
Jo, the mother of seven children, divorces her second husband in order to marry Jake, a successful but promiscuous screenwriter. Though they are physically and emotionally compatible, they are slowly torn apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisHusbands and Lovers (1991)
Stefan finds that he can no longer tolerate the arrangement of his cheating wife ... he, the husband, gets her during the week and her lover gets her on the weekends. At the same time the wife finds herself increasingly drawn to the violence of her lover versus the adoration of her husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Maisie Knew (2013)
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGioia (2026)
Gioia is a high school teacher who has never known any other love than the oppressive bond with her own parents, with whom she still lives. One of the students at her school, Alessio, is cashing in on his own body to make a couple of hundred euros to help his mother, a cashier in a supermarket. The relationship that dawns between Gioia and Alessio is forbidden fruit, fragile yet, inexplicably, one they can’t do without. Still, Alessio’s desire to improve his social standing is a silent killer that prevents him from ultimately accepting Gioia’s surprising affection for him. He goes and destroys it all, cancelling the only person who has ever loved him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Butcher (1998)
Alina is a brilliant and enterprising woman who runs a successful art gallery in Palermo. Her husband Daniele, a successful orchestra conductor, cultured and intelligent, is not a regular presence. One day, while accompanying Daniele to the airport, Alina feels a sense of emptiness. She will try to fill it with a butcher who is always joking and full of erotic allusions and who arouses a strong attraction in her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHardball (2001)
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFast Girls (2012)
A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Raffle (1991)
Struggling with a financial crisis, a good-looking widow decides to put herself up for grabs. However, going through with it becomes almost impossible with a new love and the legal system thrown into the mix.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEl Chicano (2019)
A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.
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 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 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 thisThe Cut (2025)
A retired boxer intends to return to the ring for one last shot at the title, but first he must make the weight. Holed up in a room in Las Vegas with an unscrupulous trainer, he embarks on an intensive and illegal weight-cutting program.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMammal (2016)
After Margaret, a divorcée living in Dublin, loses her teenage son, she develops an unorthodox relationship with Joe, a homeless youth. Their tentative trust is threatened by his involvement with a violent gang and the escalation of her ex-husband's grieving rage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDormant Beauty (2012)
A mosaic of several intertwined stories questioning the meaning of life, love and hope, set during the last six days in the life of Eluana Englaro, a young woman who spent 17 years in a vegetative state.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sound of Silence (2019)
A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisQuills (2000)
In early 19th-century France, the Marquis de Sade is confined to an asylum where his forbidden writings continue to circulate beyond its walls. As the authorities tighten control, a clash unfolds between the Marquis’ unyielding imagination, the reformist ideals of the Abbé in charge, and the repressive measures of a doctor sent to silence him. Desire, power, and censorship collide in a battle over freedom of expression.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEugenie de Sade (1973)
Eugenie, a beautiful but shy young girl, lives with her stepfather, a famous writer specializing in stories of erotica. One day she happens to read one of his "erotic" books and its power so affects her that begins to find herself sexually attracted to her stepfather. He notices this, and eventually brings her into his dark world of sexual perversion and murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMarquis de Sade: Justine (1969)
Without a family, penniless and separated from her sister, a beautiful chaste woman will have to cope with an endless parade of villains, perverts and degenerates who will claim not only her treasured virtue but also her life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisWicked Memoirs of Eugenie (1980)
Eugenie is the capricious daughter of a rich diplomat, living in a seaside resort in Spain. She exhibits her young and splendid body in the beach and night-clubs. She feels an incredible adoration for her father who returns his daughter's passion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Marquis de Sade (1996)
Based on the true story of the notorious Marquis de Sade. In 18th century Paris, an innocent beauty's search for her missing sister leads her into the deadly sensuous realm of the infamous Marquis de Sade. Imprisoned for his sordid crimes, the Marquis likewise has the beauty morally trapped... for she must help him complete his banned book of lust, or never learn the fate of her sister. It becomes a test of wills and wit, as the Marquis attempts to convert her to his deviously sexual philosophy. When the Marquis escapes his prison, she must follow him to his remote chateau of sin to finally discover her sister's fate, and to face her own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
S & M: Les Sadiques (2016)
Marie, a teenage vagabond whose lust for life will eventually lead her to the bed of the mysterious Sandra. What begins as a blissful relationship soon takes a violent turn however, as Sandra tries to take full control over the innocent girl's life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002)
The strange comedy film of two close brothers; one, Wilbur, who wants to kill himself, and the other, Harbour, who tries to prevent this. When their father dies leaving them his bookstore they meet a woman who makes their lives a bit better yet with a bit more trouble as well.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Valley Without Spring (1972)
Two men living in a snow-bound town in the mountains fall in love with the same girl
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mother's Revolution (1950)
Ester is a housewife and struggles for the family but is oppressed by both her husband and her oldest children. When Ester's sister comes to visit for a week, she sees what is going on in the family and she tries to convince Ester to come with her to the city and live with her. Just as a small test.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sixth and Main (1977)
Monica Cord is planning to write a book about the homeless. She observes the men who attend a rescue mission and shelter in downtown Los Angeles. Monica becomes intrigued by one particular derelict, a tall, quiet man known only as John Doe.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Justine and the Whip and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Justine and the Whip?
The closest matches to Justine and the Whip are Pimp (2018), Finally Dawn (2024) and The Pumpkin Eater (1964). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Justine and the Whip?
Start with Pimp (2018), the closest match to Justine and the Whip.
What is the highest-rated movie like Justine and the Whip?
Quills (2000), rated 7.2/10 by 762 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Justine and the Whip?
Gioia (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like Justine and the Whip?
Yes: Finally Dawn (2024), Husbands and Lovers (1991) and Gioia (2026).
How are movies similar to Justine and the Whip chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Justine and the Whip, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.