Movies like Absence (2017)
The best movies like Absence (2017) are Blind (2017), Not Easily Broken (2009) and Love Hurts (2002). If Absence 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 ratedLove Hurts (2002)8.2/10 from 393 votes
- NewestBoulevard (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishLove Hurts (2002)Also in Spanish
Blind (2017)
A novelist is blinded in a car crash that killed his wife and several years later rediscovers his passion for life and writing when he embarks on an affair with the neglected wife of an indicted businessman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNot Easily Broken (2009)
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Hurts (2002)
Family and friends try to sabotage the budding romance between a young upper class girl and a humble student.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 thisGabriel's Redemption: Part I (2023)
After leaving his prestigious post at the University of Toronto, Gabriel embarks on a new journey with Julia, and he is eager to become a father. However, Gabriel's idyllic vision is jeopardized when Julia's intensive program becomes all consuming. When Julia is granted a prestigious opportunity to deliver an academic lecture at Oxford, Gabriel challenges her about the subject of her presentation, which clashes with his own research. In Oxford, their past resurfaces, including an old nemesis determined to humiliate Julia and expose one of Gabriel's well-guarded secrets. Emotions run high, alliances are tested, and the couple must confront the shadows of their shared history in a battle for love, truth, and redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNine Lives (2005)
Captives of the very relationships that define and sustain them, nine women resiliently meet the travails and disappointments of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man from Elysian Fields (2001)
A failed novelist's inability to pay the bills strains relations with his wife and leads him to work at an escort service, where he becomes entwined with a wealthy woman whose husband is a successful writer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisBoulevard (2026)
Hasley, a girl with a list of unfulfilled dreams, and Luke, a complex and vulnerable boy marked by a tragic past, find refuge on the boulevard where they discover if love can conquer all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAshes in the Snow (2018)
The coming-of-age tale of 16-year-old Lina Vilkas who is deported to Siberia amid Stalin's reign of terror in the Baltic region during WWII. An aspiring artist, she secretly documents her harrowing journey with her drawings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSound of the Sea (2001)
A new literature teacher, Ulises, comes to a small town near the sea and falls in love with a young woman, Martina. This woman is loved by a rich businessman named Alberto but chooses Ulises. Soon after their marriage and the birth of their son, Ulises vanishes while fishing at sea. In the meanwhile Martina marries Alberto, but all is not what it seems...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCamila (1984)
In 1847 Buenos Aires, a young noblewoman and a young Jesuit fall in love, much to the disapproval of her family and the Church.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
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 thisTell Me Softly (2025)
Kamila has everything under control: studies, social life, her image... Everything except the unexpected return of her neighbors, the Di Bianco brothers, after seven years of absence. Thiago stole her first kiss, and Taylor was her best friend, but now their return will turn Kami's world upside down. Can the three overcome the past that binds them? Or will everything explode into pieces once again?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Everlasting (2016)
Bridger is a young outsider who's always wanted more. He and his mother flee an abusive home, eventually finding a small town in the middle of nowhere. Once there, Bridger finds true acceptance with another misfit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEl verano que vivimos (2020)
Year 1998. Isabel, a journalism student, is forced to do her internship in the newspaper of a small Galician coastal town in order to finish her degree. When she arrives, she wants to start investigating as soon as possible, to demonstrate everything she has learned in order to become a real journalist. But the position she is assigned is the last one she expected: the writing and management of the obituaries that reach the newsroom. But this, which might seem boring at first, becomes the door to an investigation that will take her through different parts of the Spanish geography in search of an impossible love story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNobody Has to Know (2022)
After a stroke and no memories from his past, Phil encounters Millie who inhabits a desert part of Isle of Lewis. She will shortly entrust him with his deepest secret : they were in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTear This Heart Out (2008)
A young girl recounts her girlhood and eventual marriage to a general of the Mexican revolution. by one of the most outstanding writers of the new feminist Mexican literature, it is at once a haunting novel of one woman's life and a powerful account of post-revolutionary Mexico from a female perspective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPurple Hearts (2022)
An aspiring musician agrees to a marriage of convenience with a soon-to-deploy Marine, but a tragedy soon turns their fake relationship all too real.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Secret: Dare to Dream (2020)
A widow with three children hires a handyman to fix her house during a major storm. When not doing home repairs, he shares his philosophy of believing in the power of the universe to deliver what we want.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhen Nietzsche Wept (2007)
Viennese doctor Josef Bruer meets with philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche to help him deal with his despair.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Absence?
The closest matches to Absence are Blind (2017), Not Easily Broken (2009) and Love Hurts (2002). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Absence?
Start with Blind (2017), the closest match to Absence.
What is the highest-rated movie like Absence?
Love Hurts (2002), rated 8.2/10 by 393 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Absence?
Boulevard (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Absence?
Yes: Love Hurts (2002), Boulevard (2026) and Sound of the Sea (2001).
How are movies similar to Absence chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Absence, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.