Movies like The Handyman (1980)
The best movies like The Handyman (1980) are The Best Years of a Life (2019), The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946) and Our Story (1984). If The Handyman hooked you with its drama and romance, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWaiting for Bojangles (2021)7.3/10 from 372 votes
- NewestDiary of a Fleeting Affair (2022)Released 2022
- In FrenchThe Best Years of a Life (2019)Also in French
The Best Years of a Life (2019)
They knew each other long ago: a man and a woman whose dazzling and unexpected romance captured in the now-iconic film revolutionized our understanding of love. Today, the former race car driver seems lost in the pathways of his memory. In order to help him, his son seeks out the woman his father wasn’t able to cherish but whom he constantly revisits in his thoughts and dreams. Anne reunites with Jean-Louis and their story picks up where they left it…
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Diary of a Chambermaid (1946)
Celestine, the chamber-maid, has a new job in the country, at the Lanlaires. She has decided to use her beauty to seduce a wealthy man, but Mr. Lanlaire is not a right choice: the house is firmly controlled by Madame Lanlaire, helped by the strange valet Joseph. Then she tries the neighbour, former officer Mauger. This seems to work. But soon the son of the Lanlaires comes back. He is young, attractive and does not share his mother's antirepublican opinions. So Celestine's beauty attracts Captain Mauger, young Georges Lanlaire, and Joseph. Three men, from three different social classes, with three different conceptions of life. Will Celestine be able to convince Georges of her sincerity?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOur Story (1984)
Robert Avranche, a middle-aged, alcoholic garage owner, is sitting on a train, reflecting on the emptiness of his life. An attractive young woman, Donatienne, suddenly enters the compartment and offers to make love to him. Robert accepts but, when the woman leaves the train afterwards, he decides to follow her...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good House (2021)
When wry New England realtor Hildy Good rekindles a romance with her old high-school flame, Frank Getchell, it ignites long-buried emotions and family secrets that propel Hildy toward a reckoning with the one person she's been avoiding for decades: herself. Based on the best-selling novel by Ann Leary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Well-Digger's Daughter (1940)
A rural maiden's two suitors go off to war, leaving her pregnant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRendezvous in Paris (1995)
Three stories of love and coincidence around the theme of dates in Paris.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnaïs in Love (2021)
A young woman struggling to stay on top of everything in her life meets a married publisher and begins an affair with him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMoliere (2007)
Molière, a down-and-out actor-cum-playwright up to his ears in debt. When the wealthy Jourdain offers to cover that debt so that Molière's theatrical talents might help Jourdain win the heart of a certain widowed marquise, hilarity ensues.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChéri (2009)
The son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow to Please a Woman (2022)
When her all-male house-cleaning business gets out of control, a mature woman must embrace her own sexuality, if she is to make a new life for herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWaiting for Bojangles (2021)
A boy and his eccentric parents leave their home in Paris for a country house in Spain. As the mother descends deeper into her own mind, it's up to the boy and his father to keep her safe and happy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDiary of a Fleeting Affair (2022)
A single mother and a married man enter into an affair with the understanding that their relationship is purely sexual. Though they agree the relationship has no future, they find themselves increasingly drawn into each other's company.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA California Christmas: City Lights (2021)
Follows Callie and Joseph one year after they fell in love, now running a dairy farm and winery, but their romance is threatened when business and family obligations call Joseph back to the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHe Said, She Said (1991)
Womanising, right-wing Dan Hanson and quiet, liberal Lorie Bryer work for the Baltimore Sun. Rivals for the job of new writer of a vacant column, the paper ends up instead printing their very different opinions alongside each other, which leads to a similarly combative local TV show. At the same time their initial indifference to each other looks like it may evolve into something more romantic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMadame (2017)
Anne and Bob, a well-to-do American couple, have just moved to a beautiful manor house in romantic Paris. To impress their sophisticated friends, they decide to host a lavish dinner party, but must disguise their maid as a noblewoman to even out the number of guests. When the maid runs off with a wealthy guest, Anne must chase her around Paris to thwart the joyous and unexpected love affair.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisLe Plaisir (1952)
Three stories about pleasure. The first one is about a man hiding his age behind a mask to keep going to balls and fancying women - pleasure and youth. Then comes the long tale of Madame Tellier taking her girls (whores) to the country for attending her niece's communion - pleasure and purity. And lastly, Jean the painter falls in love with his model - pleasure and death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Met a Girl (2020)
An aspiring musician struggling with schizophrenia falls for a mysterious woman who may be all in his head. When she suddenly vanishes, he takes off on a cross-country journey across Australia to find her, forcing his long-suffering brother to chase after him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYou Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
Two married couples find only trouble and heartache as their complicated lives unfold. After 40 years of marriage, Alfie leaves his wife to pursue what he thinks is happiness with a call girl. His wife, Helena, reeling from abandonment, decides to follow the advice of a psychic. Sally, the daughter of Alfie and Helena, is unhappy in her marriage and develops a crush on her boss, while her husband, Roy, falls for a woman engaged to be married.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLa Ronde (1950)
An all-knowing interlocutor guides us through a series of affairs in Vienna, 1900. A soldier meets an eager young lady of the evening. Later he has an affair with a young lady, who becomes a maid and does similarly with the young man of the house. The young man seduces a married woman. On and on, spinning on the gay carousel of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEverybody Loves Jeanne (2022)
Everybody has always loved Jeanne. These days, she hates herself. Up to her ears in debt, she has to go to Lisbon and sell her mother’s apartment, who passed away one year ago. At the airport, she runs into Jean, a whimsical and somewhat intrusive former high school classmate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Handyman?
The closest matches to The Handyman are The Best Years of a Life (2019), The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946) and Our Story (1984). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Handyman?
Start with The Best Years of a Life (2019), the closest match to The Handyman.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Handyman?
Waiting for Bojangles (2021), rated 7.3/10 by 372 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Handyman?
Diary of a Fleeting Affair (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like The Handyman?
Yes: The Best Years of a Life (2019), Our Story (1984) and The Well-Digger's Daughter (1940).
How are movies similar to The Handyman chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Handyman, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.