Movies like Down by Love (2016)
The best movies like Down by Love (2016) are Racer and the Jailbird (2017), Sex Doll (2016) and Delicacy (2011). If Down by Love hooked you with its drama and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhat the Day Owes the Night (2012)7.6/10 from 254 votes
- NewestCoward (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchRacer and the Jailbird (2017)Also in French
Racer and the Jailbird (2017)
When Gino meets racing driver Bénédicte, it's love at first sight. But Gino has a secret. The kind of secret that can endanger their lives.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisSex Doll (2016)
High-priced London call girl Virginie goes about her work as a prostitute with a cool detachment, trading sex with wealthy businessmen for money, but never getting emotionally involved. That all changes when she meets Rupert, an enigmatic stranger with unclear intentions. Risking everything, Virginie plunges into a dangerous affair that puts her between a ruthless madam who forbids romantic attachment and a dark, sexy man who could be her saviour or her downfall.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisDelicacy (2011)
A French woman mourning over the death of her husband three years prior is courted by a Swedish co-worker.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParis, 13th District (2021)
Émilie meets Camille who is attracted to Nora, who crosses paths with Amber. Three girls and a boy – They're friends, sometimes lovers and often both.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJealousy (2013)
The professional and emotional cross-currents between two romantically entwined theater actors played by the director’s son Louis and Anna Mouglalis.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBye Bye Blondie (2012)
A love story of two women who meet up in their late forties and attempt to retrieve the romance they had in their youth.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe School of Flesh (1998)
Fashion executive Dominique's obsession for Quentin, a young bisexual hustler, fills her desire for physical love but leaves her taxed emotionally. Twists and turns in the relationship, along with the man's violent and abusive nature, force Dominique to reconcile the conflicts created by her passion. In this quest, Dominique is aided, and sometimes hindered, by friends, clients, and Quentin's former and current acquaintances.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Quantum Love (2014)
Pierre has been happily married for fifteen years and a good father. Still in love with his wife, he enjoys his wife and family and is content. One evening, he meets Elsa at a party and are immediately attracted to each other. Fifteen days later, they happen to meet again and the mutual attraction turns into infatuation. But his love for his wife and Elsa's rule about not dating married men prevents them from taking the next step. Instead, they fantasize about each other, and soon the fantasies mingle with the reality.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisFrom the Land of the Moon (2016)
In 1950s France, a free-spirited woman trapped in an arranged marriage falls in love with an injured veteran of the Indochinese War.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLila Says (2005)
Chimo develops a crush on the pretty, blond Lila, a girl who recently moved into his Arab ghetto with her aunt. When the leader of a rival gang also falls for Lila, the ensuing love triangle initiates a journey of sexual discovery -- and sets off a chain of devastating events.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlue Is the Warmest Color (2013)
Adèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself, finds herself.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIn the Shadow of Women (2015)
Pierre and Manon are poor. They make documentaries with nothing and they live by doing odd jobs. Pierre meets a young intern, Elisabeth, and she becomes his mistress. But Pierre will not leave Manon for Elisabeth; he wants to keep both.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisTurkish Delight (1973)
Gifted but hot-headed sculptor Eric has a stormy, erotic, and star-crossed romance with a beautiful young woman named Olga.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisÀ tout de suite (2004)
A girl from bourgeoisie discovers the pleasures of banditism, following her lover in his lifestyle.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
What the Day Owes the Night (2012)
Algeria, the 1930s. Younes is nine years old when he is put in his uncle's care in Oran. Rebaptized Jonas, he grows up among the Rio Salado youths, with whom he becomes friends. Emilie is one of the gang; everyone is in love with her. A great love story develops between Jonas and Emilie, which is soon unsettled by the conflicts troubling the country.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDouble Lover (2017)
Chloé, a fragile young woman, falls in love with her psychoanalyst, Paul. A few months later she moves in with him, but soon discovers that her lover is concealing a part of his identity.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Apartment (1996)
Max is a former playboy who has decided to settle down by marrying his current love, Muriel. However, when Max catches a glimpse of the great lost love of his life, he becomes obsessed with rekindling their relationship.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOrphan (2017)
A young woman moves to Paris and has a brush with disaster. Grown-up at last, an accomplished woman thought she was safe from her own past. Gradually, these characters come together to form a single heroine.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLover for a Day (2017)
After a bad breakup, a college-aged Parisian moves into her father's flat only to discover that he is living with his new girlfriend - a young woman her age.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDevil in the Flesh (1947)
In France during World War I, Marthe waits for her husband, Jacques, while he fights on the front lines. Marthe then begins a tempestuous affair with 17-year-old François, with whom she had a dalliance before marrying Jacques. Jealous François struggles with the fact that Marthe is married, while she tries to prove her devotion to her young, hotheaded lover. Things become even more complex when Marthe becomes pregnant with Jacques' baby.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Flanders (2006)
André Demester secretly and painfully loves Barbe, his childhood friend, accepting from her the little that she gives him. He leaves home to be a soldier in a war in a far off land. Barbarity, camaraderie and fear turn him into a warrior. As the seasons go by, Barbe, alone and wasting away, waits for the soldiers to return. Will Demester’s boundless love for Barbe save him?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSibyl (2019)
Sibyl, a jaded psychotherapist, returns to her first passion: writing. But her newest patient Margot, a troubled up-and-coming actress, proves to be a source of inspiration that is far too tempting. Fascinated almost to the point of obsession, Sibyl becomes more and more involved in Margot’s tumultuous life, reviving volatile memories that bring her face to face with her past.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisRust and Bone (2012)
Put in charge of his young son, Ali leaves Belgium for Antibes to live with his sister and her husband as a family. Ali's bond with Stephanie, a killer whale trainer, grows deeper after Stephanie suffers a horrible accident.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHotel Desire (2011)
Antonia is a single mother who works as a hotel maid in Berlin. A normal hot summer day takes a dramatic turn when she crosses paths with a particular guest of the hotel, famous blind portrait painter Julius Pass.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCoward (2026)
Surrounded by brutality but bound by a tender intimacy, two World War I soldiers find a fragile sanctuary of love and art amid the shadows of the Belgian trenches.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Mr & Mme Adelman (2017)
How did Sarah and Victor get along for more than 45 years? Who was this enigmatic woman living in the shadow of her husband? Love, ambition, betrayals and secrets feed the story of this extraordinary couple, as they experience both the large and small moments of the last century's history.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFire with Fire (1986)
A tough, street-smart kid serving a sentence in a state youth reformatory meets a beautiful, innocent girl studying at a nearby convent. When forbidden love blossoms between them, they must fight the prison authorities, their parents and the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaria's Lovers (1984)
A World War II prisoner returns home to his childhood sweetheart. However, back home, he discovers that he has to compete to win her love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Fault: London (2025)
18-year-old Noah moves from America to London, with her mother who's recently fallen in love with William, a wealthy British businessman. Noah meets William’s son, bad-boy Nick, and soon discovers there is an attraction between them neither can avoid. As Noah spends the summer adjusting to her new life, her devastating past will catch up with her while falling in love for the first time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy King (2015)
Tony is admitted to a rehabilitation center after a serious ski accident. Dependent on the medical staff and pain relievers, she takes time to look back on a turbulent relationship that she experienced with Georgio.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Down by Love?
The closest matches to Down by Love are Racer and the Jailbird (2017), Sex Doll (2016) and Delicacy (2011). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Down by Love?
People who watched Down by Love most often go on to Racer and the Jailbird (2017), Sex Doll (2016) and Delicacy (2011).
What is the highest-rated movie like Down by Love?
What the Day Owes the Night (2012), rated 7.6/10 by 254 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Down by Love?
Coward (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Down by Love?
Yes: Racer and the Jailbird (2017), Sex Doll (2016) and Delicacy (2011).
How are movies similar to Down by Love chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Down by Love, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.