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Movies like Five Pillars (2016)

The best movies like Five Pillars (2016) are Helen (2009), Disgrace (2008) and Acrimony (2018). If Five Pillars hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. Helen (2009)

    On the outside, Helen has it all – a loving family and a successful career – but when her suppressed mental illness resurfaces, the world crumbles around her. Crippled by depression, Helen finds solace through her friendship with Mathilda, a kindred spirit struggling with bipolar disorder.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  2. Disgrace (2008)

    Disgrace is the story of a South African professor of English who loses everything: his reputation, his job, his peace of mind, his good looks, his dreams of artistic success, and finally even his ability to protect his cherished daughter. After having an affair with a student, he moves to the Eastern Cape, where he gets caught up in a mess of post-apartheid politics.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  3. Acrimony (2018)

    Faithful wife Melinda, who is tired of standing by her devious husband Robert, is enraged when it becomes clear she has been betrayed. That's when she lost it, and now she cannot let it go.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  4. Frankie & Alice (2010)

    A drama centered on a go-go dancer with multiple personality disorder who struggles to remain her true self and begins working with a psychotherapist to uncover the mystery of the inner ghosts that haunt her.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  5. The Lords of Discipline (1983)

    Will arrives for his last year at Military Academy, in the Deep South USA, in the 1960's. A black student, Pearce, has been accepted, for the first time and Will is asked to keep an eye out for the inevitable racism. The racists come in the form of The Ten, a secret group of the elite students. They want Pearce to leave on his own free will, but are prepared to torture him to make it 'his free will'. Will is forced to help Pearce and he is prepared to risk his own career to do so.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  6. Goodbye June (2025)

    Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  7. Requiem for a Dream (2000)

    The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  8. Puncture (2011)

    Based on a true story. Mike Weiss (Chris Evans) is a brilliant but self-destructive Houston attorney whose drug addiction threatens to destroy his career. When he and his law partner Paul Danziger (Mark Kassen) take on a case involving a nurse injured by a contaminated needle, they uncover a $130 billion medical supply monopoly that has been blocking a life-saving safety

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

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  9. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

    Three childhood friends, Martha, Walter and Sam, share a terrible secret. Over time, the ambitious Martha and the pusillanimous Walter have married. She is a cold businesswoman; he is the district attorney: a perfect combination to dominate the corrupt city of Iverstown at will. But the unexpected return of Sam, after years of absence, deeply disturbs the life of the odd couple.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  10. Bastard 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 this
  11. Hands 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

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  12. 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

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  13. The 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

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  14. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

    In war-torn colonial America, in the midst of a bloody battle between British, the French and Native American allies, the aristocratic daughter of a British Colonel and her party are captured by a group of Huron warriors. Fortunately, a group of three Mohican trappers comes to their rescue.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  15. I Smile Back (2015)

    Laney is an attractive, intelligent suburban wife and devoted mother of two adorable children. She has the perfect husband who plays basketball with the kids in the driveway, a pristine house, and a shiny SUV for carting the children to their next activity. However, just beneath the façade lie depression and disillusionment that send her careening into a secret world of reckless compulsion. Only very real danger will force her to face the painful root of her destructiveness and its crumbling effect on those she loves.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  16. The Good Neighbor (2022)

    A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  17. The 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 this
  18. A Dry White Season (1989)

    During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  19. Addicted (2014)

    A gallerist risks her family and flourishing career when she enters into an affair with a talented painter and slowly loses control of her life.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

  20. uwantme2killhim? (2013)

    Based on the Vanity Fair article of the same title, a story about a young boy drawn into a web of lies through an online chatroom.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

  21. Gladiator (2000)

    After the death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, his devious son takes power and demotes Maximus, one of Rome's most capable generals who Marcus preferred. Eventually, Maximus is forced to become a gladiator and battle to the death against other men for the amusement of paying audiences.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  22. The Godfather Part II (1974)

    In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  23. Natural Born Killers (1994)

    Two victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  24. Zatoichi (2003)

    Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  25. Oliver Twist (2005)

    An orphan endures a harsh life in a workhouse before fleeing to London, where he falls in with a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the criminal Fagin, and eventually finds a better life, exposing the cruelties of poverty and child labor in Victorian England.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

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  26. The Gunman (2015)

    Eight years after fleeing the Congo following his assassination of that country's minister of mining, former assassin Jim Terrier is back, suffering from PTSD and digging wells to atone for his violent past. After an attempt is made on his life, Terrier flies to London to find out who wants him dead -- and why. Terrier's search leads him to a reunion with Annie, a woman he once loved, who is now married to an oily businessman with dealings in Africa.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  27. Scarface (1983)

    After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord in the state, controlling nearly all the cocaine that comes through Miami. But increased pressure from the police, wars with Colombian drug cartels and his own drug-fueled paranoia serve to fuel the flames of his eventual downfall.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Absolute CinemaMovies like this
  28. The Secret Life of Words (2005)

    A solitary nurse bonds with a badly burned patient who survived an accident on an oil rig.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  29. A History of Violence (2005)

    An average family is thrust into the spotlight after the father commits a seemingly self-defense murder at his diner.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  30. 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 this

Like Five Pillars and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Five Pillars?

The closest matches to Five Pillars are Helen (2009), Disgrace (2008) and Acrimony (2018). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Five Pillars?

Start with Helen (2009), the closest match to Five Pillars.

What is the highest-rated movie like Five Pillars?

The Godfather Part II (1974), rated 8.6/10 by 14,593 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Five Pillars?

Goodbye June (2025) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like Five Pillars?

Yes: Helen (2009), Disgrace (2008) and Acrimony (2018).

How are movies similar to Five Pillars chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Five Pillars, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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