Movies like The Woman from Sarajevo (1980)
The best movies like The Woman from Sarajevo (1980) are The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), Hands of Stone (2016) and The Carpetbaggers (1964). If The Woman from Sarajevo hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (2011)8.4/10 from 204 votes
- NewestEvelyn (2026)Released 2026
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 Carpetbaggers (1964)
Jonas Cord is a disagreeable young tycoon who's building planes, directing films, and catting around on the corporate make in 1930s Hollywood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWonderstruck (2017)
The story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the same mysterious connection.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrue to the Game (2017)
Based on the Terri Woods best selling novel, True to the Game is the love story of Quadir Richards, a charismatic drug lord, and Gena Rollins, a young girl from the projects of Philly. Quadir was able to gain the trust and love of Gena and was on his way out of the game to start a new life with his future bride when tragedy strikes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Padre (2018)
American retired Judge Randall Nemes and his hired gun, Gaspar, track down a con man posing as a priest in a small Colombian town only to be thrown off-course by a scrappy 16-year-old girl intent on reuniting with her sister in the United States.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisPeaceful Warrior (2006)
A chance encounter with a stranger changes the life of a college gymnast.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Trials of Cate McCall (2013)
In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.
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 thisThe 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFatima (2020)
In 1917, outside the parish of Fátima, Portugal, a 10-year-old girl and her two younger cousins witness multiple visitations of the Virgin Mary, who tells them that only prayer and suffering will bring an end to World War I. As secularist government officials and Church leaders try to force the children to recant their story, word of the sighting spreads across the country, inspiring religious pilgrims to flock to the site in hopes of witnessing a miracle..
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNightmare Alley (1947)
A roustabout joins a traveling carny and schemes to figure out the mind-reading act of Mademoiselle Zeena and her alcoholic husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSalomé (2013)
After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
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 thisBastard 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 thisThe Boy in the Woods (2023)
The remarkable true-life survival story of a Jewish boy hiding and being hunted in the forests of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, based on Maxwell Smart's memoir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWon't Back Down (2012)
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Walk the Line (1970)
Henry Tawes, a middle-aged sheriff in a rural Tennessee town, is usually the first man to criticize others for their bad behavior. Miserable in his marriage, Henry falls in love with teenage seductress Alma, who is the daughter of local criminal and moonshiner Carl McCain. Henry's moral character comes further into question when he is tempted to conceal Carl's crimes in order to prolong his relationship with Alma.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (2011)
A disfigured musical genius, hidden away in the Paris Opera House, terrorises the opera company for the unwitting benefit of a young protégée whom he trains and loves. The 25th anniversary of the first public performance of Phantom of the Opera was celebrated with a grand performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisEvelyn (2026)
As the main caretaker of her alcoholic father, a young woman experiences doubts as she prepares to leave her stagnant life behind for a boyfriend she may not fully trust. Based on "Eveline" by James Joyce.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Animal Farm (2026)
A group of farm animals rise up against their neglectful owner, dreaming of equality and freedom. But as the pigs take control, the revolution turns into tyranny, with truth rewritten and dissent crushed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrisoners of Paradise (2025)
Love was their greatest rebellion. Set on the enchanting island of Mauritius in 1925, recently orphaned Lucy is sent to live with her charming but controlling uncle. When she defies his plans to marry her off for financial gain, she falls deeply in love with Krishna, a handsome local worker. But the world has other plans, and Lucy and Krishna must risk everything and defy the forces determined to tear them apart. Starring Ellie Bamber (William Tell, The Serpent), Rhona Mitra (Hollow Man, Red Sonja), Rupert Penry-Jones (Match Point, Spooks), Mehdi Dehbi (Messiah). Directed by Mitch Jenkins (A Million Days, The Show). Inspired by the lives of Alan and Maria Govinden and the book 'Prisoner of Paradise' written by Romesh Gunesekera.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Seven Days… Seven Nights (1960)
Anne Desbarèdes is a young woman who is married to a wealthy businessman and lives a monotonous existence in the small commune town of Blaye. After indirectly witnessing a murder in a café, she returns to the scene of the crime the next day and meets Chauvin, who informs her in more detail about the events that took place. Mentally unbalanced, Anne begins to believe that Chauvin intends to kill her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlmos' a Man (1976)
Although Dave (LeVar Burton) and his family are poor sharecroppers in the Deep South in the 1930s, this 15-year-old's problem is shared by teenagers today: he stands with one foot in adulthood and the other in childhood. "Almos' A Man", yet still treated like a child, he struggles for an identity. There's one thing, one symbol of manhood, Dave thinks, that could guarantee him instant respect: a gun.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Fires of Envy (1957)
A dramatization of Canadian author W.O. Mitchell's penetrating story about the racial prejudice encountered by a Polish immigrant farmer in a rural Saskatchewan community.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Anna Karenina (1935)
In Imperial Russia, Anna, wife of the officer Karenin, goes to Moscow to visit her brother. On the way, she meets charming cavalry officer Vronsky, to whom she's immediately attracted. But in St. Petersburg’s high society, a relationship like this could destroy a woman’s reputation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr Malcolm's List (2022)
When she fails to meet an item on his list of requirements for a bride, Julia Thistlewaite is jilted by London’s most eligible bachelor, Mr Jeremy Malcolm. Feeling humiliated and determined to exact revenge, she convinces her friend Selina Dalton to play the role of his ideal match. Soon, Mr Malcolm wonders whether he’s found the perfect woman...or the perfect hoax.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisSuch A Girl Like Me (2012)
'...is unsuitable for any man's love.' (Xi Xi, A Woman Like Me) Sum-yin patches up wounds, masks scars and performs other beautician services that, when done well - as she always does - bring comfort to her and appreciation from grateful families. But inside she's hurting. Her job as a mortuary cosmetologist makes her self-conscious about the smell of death that seems to be seeping through and under her skin and looming over her stagnant relationship with Kwan, her oblivious boyfriend. No amount of cigarettes and perfume and cleaning will rid of it. At some point, a decision has to be made.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The Woman from Sarajevo and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Woman from Sarajevo?
The closest matches to The Woman from Sarajevo are The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), Hands of Stone (2016) and The Carpetbaggers (1964). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Woman from Sarajevo?
Start with The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), the closest match to The Woman from Sarajevo.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Woman from Sarajevo?
The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (2011), rated 8.4/10 by 204 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Woman from Sarajevo?
Evelyn (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Woman from Sarajevo chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Woman from Sarajevo, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.