Movies like Les Vacances (1997)
The best movies like Les Vacances (1997) are Aftersun (2022), Angel Face (2018) and Summer Hours (2008). If Les Vacances hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAftersun (2022)7.7/10 from 2,046 votes
- NewestBlue Heron (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchAngel Face (2018)Also in French
Aftersun (2022)
Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. Memories fill the gaps between camcorder footages as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the troubled man she didn't.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAngel Face (2018)
8-year-old Elli and her mother, Marlène, live in a small town by the French Riviera where they act out to relieve boredom and hide from social services. When Marlène caves in to yet another night of excess, she chooses to leave Elli behind for a man she just met. The young child must confront her mother's demons in order to get her back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSummer Hours (2008)
After the death of a septuagenarian woman, her three children deliberate over what to do with her estate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYoung Mothers (2025)
Housed in a shelter for young mothers, Jessica, Perla, Julia, Ariane, and Naïma, all of whom have grown up in difficult circumstances, struggle to obtain a better life for themselves and their children.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove You to Death (2019)
Inspired by a true story, this film tells the shocking tale of a mother and daughter who are nothing like they seem, their tumultuous relationship ending in a brutal murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMildred Pierce (1945)
A hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPonette (1996)
After losing her mother in a car accident that leaves her with a broken arm, 4-year-old Ponette struggles with anguish and fear. Left by her father with a caring aunt and her children, Ponette grieves, secretly hoping her mother will somehow come back. Confused by the religious explanations provided by adults, and challenged by the cruel taunts of a few children at school, little Ponette must make her way through her emotional turmoil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI'll Be Home for Christmas (2016)
Jackie Foster, a dynamic Assistant District Attorney and single mom, is looking forward to wrapping up her latest case and spending Christmas with Gracie, her adorable and precocious, eight-year old daughter. But when Jackie’s estranged dad, Jack , a gruff retired police officer, unexpectedly shows up at her door, they will be forced to confront old wounds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Time of Secrets (2022)
Marseille, July 1905. Nearly a teenager, Marcel Pagnol embarks in his last summer vacation before high school and returns, at last, to his beloved hills in Provence. What begins as a summer of boyhood adventures becomes one of the first loves, and unearthed secrets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Taste of Honey (1961)
While out to avoid spending time with her narcissistic and promiscuous mother, sixteen-year-old Jo has a brief affair that leaves her pregnant and abandoned. When her mother remarries, Jo's only support becomes her friend Geoffrey, a homosexual.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJanet Planet (2024)
In rural Western Massachusetts, 11-year-old Lacy spends the summer of 1991 at home, enthralled by her own imagination and the attention of her mother, Janet. As the months pass, three visitors enter their orbit, all captivated by Janet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlue Heron (2026)
A family of six's fresh start on 1990s Vancouver Island unravels as their youngest child, Sasha, witnesses the increasingly dangerous behavior of her older brother, Jeremy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPetite Maman (2021)
After the death of her beloved grandmother, eight-year-old Nelly meets a strangely familiar girl her own age in the woods. Instantly forming a connection with this mysterious new friend, Nelly embarks on a fantastical journey of discovery which helps her come to terms with this newfound loss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThree Wishes (1995)
While Jane Holman is driving with her two sons, she accidentally runs into a drifter, Jack McCloud, who breaks his leg. Being responsible, Jane invites Jack, and his dog, to stay at her home until his leg has healed. Jack struggles to adapt their lifestyle, and finds himself loved by the family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995)
Two teen girls, one from the city, one from the country, try to find the hidden gold of Bear Mountain learning about friendship, loyalty and courage on the way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFamily Romance, LLC (2019)
Love is a business at Family Romance, a company that rents human stand-ins for any occasion. Founder Yuichi Ishii helps make his clients’ dreams come true. But when the mother of 12-year-old Mahiro hires Ishii to impersonate her missing father, the line between acting and reality threatens to blur.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Child (2005)
A poor young Belgian mother wants her petty thief of a boyfriend to be gainfully employed to raise their newborn child, but he has other ideas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Little Princess (2011)
Young Violetta and her mother Hannah are a peculiar couple. Ten-year-old Violetta lives a quiet life with her grandmother, while her mother Hannah is an unpredictable photographer who lives off of the generosity of others. When Hannah forces her daughter to pose as a model, Violetta finds her life with her loving grandmother turned upside down.The resulting pictures quickly become a sensation for the trendy 70's Paris art scene, and Violetta finds herself caught in between her new stature as an art muse and her dull childhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI, Daniel Blake (2016)
A 59-year-old carpenter recovering from a heart attack befriends a single mother and her two kids as they navigate the impersonal, Kafkaesque benefits system. With equal amounts of humour, warmth and despair, the journey is heartfelt and emotional until the end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIf Anything Happens I Love You (2020)
Grieving parents journey through an emotional void as they mourn the loss of a child after a tragic school shooting.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNot Panic (2010)
They go sledging behind a car. They earn extra by fixing the roof of a neighbor's house. They are young and want to fulfill their dreams, but before them an uncertain future prevails. We are there as one of them, equally present, equally absent.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Grandmother's Eye (2010)
A constant motion from a distance all the way into an elderly ladies eye.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Last Post (2011)
An old lady in a nursing home is visited by a mysterious man no one else seems to be able to see.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Amsterdam to Anatolia (2019)
Elissa's life takes a turn when she meets a mysterious man in her English class and she has to quickly decide between her family and him- and going from family-life to a life on the run is a wild choice to everyone but her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Safe Word (2023)
Cesar, an emotionally stunted masochist, must confront his self-loathing after his dissatisfied-yet-caring Dom, Bear, reinterprets the rules of their game. They arrive at a paradigm-shifting result neither one of them expects.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
F Is for Friendship (2017)
Emily decides to air the skeletons in her closet and brave the scrutiny of a catty dinner party to win back her name.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Oasis (2014)
After her husband dies, Nieves inherits his job as the super of a decaying apartment complex in New York City. But the job becomes more difficult than she anticipated when she discovers a disturbing secret in one of the units.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
I Stand Alone (1999)
After completing jail time for beating up a man who tried to seduce his mentally-handicapped teenage daughter, the Butcher wants to start life anew. He institutionalizes his daughter and moves to the Lille suburbs with his mistress, who promises him a new butcher shop. Learning that she lied, the Butcher returns to Paris to find his daughter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCarne (1991)
After a dreadful incident coupled with an ungovernable paroxysm of violence, a butcher will fall into a downward spiral that will burn to the ground whatever dignity still remained in him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Les Vacances?
The closest matches to Les Vacances are Aftersun (2022), Angel Face (2018) and Summer Hours (2008). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Les Vacances?
Start with Aftersun (2022), the closest match to Les Vacances.
What is the highest-rated movie like Les Vacances?
Aftersun (2022), rated 7.7/10 by 2,046 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Les Vacances?
Blue Heron (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Les Vacances?
Yes: Angel Face (2018), Summer Hours (2008) and Young Mothers (2025).
How are movies similar to Les Vacances chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Les Vacances, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.