Movies like Sons and Lovers (1960)
The best movies like Sons and Lovers (1960) are The Damned Don't Cry (1950), October Sky (1999) and No Man of Her Own (1950). If Sons and Lovers hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPaper Moon (1973)7.9/10 from 891 votes
- NewestOmaha (2025)Released 2025
The Damned Don't Cry (1950)
Fed up with her small-town marriage, a woman goes after the big time and gets mixed up with the mob.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOctober Sky (1999)
The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNo Man of Her Own (1950)
A penniless pregnant woman adopts the identity of a rich woman killed in a train crash.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Long, Hot Summer (1958)
Accused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Strange Woman (1946)
In early 19th century New England, an unscrupulous woman uses her beauty and wits to seduce, deceive and control the men around her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSounder (1972)
The oldest son of a loving and strong family of black sharecroppers comes of age in the Depression-era South after his father is imprisoned for stealing food.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOur Mother's House (1967)
Seven children bury their mother and hide her death - until their long-lost father returns.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMrs Lowry & Son (2019)
An intimate portrayal of the relationship between one of greatest artists of the 20th century, L.S. Lowry and his unhappy and controlling mother, Elizabeth, whom he lived with all his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHamlet (1996)
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother now marrying the murderer... his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFinding Neverland (2004)
During a writing slump, playwright J.M. Barrie meets a widow and her four children, all young boys—who soon become an important part of Barrie’s life and the inspiration that lead him to create his masterpiece. Peter Pan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNicholas Nickleby (2002)
Nicholas Nickleby, a young boy in search of a better life, struggles to save his family and friends from the abusive exploitation of his coldheartedly grasping uncle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisStill Alice (2014)
Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children, is a renowned linguistics professor who starts to forget words. When she receives a devastating diagnosis, Alice and her family find their bonds tested.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Railway Children (1970)
At the dawn of the 20th century, following their father's arrest on suspicion of betraying state secrets, the three Waterbury children—Bobbie, Phyllis and Peter—move with their mother to Yorkshire, where they find themselves involved in unexpected dramas along the railway by their new home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOn Dangerous Ground (1951)
A big-city cop is reassigned to the country after his superiors find him too angry to be an effective policeman. While on his temporary assignment he assists in a manhunt of a suspected murderer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhere'd You Go, Bernadette (2019)
When architect-turned-recluse Bernadette Fox goes missing prior to a family trip to Antarctica, her 15-year-old daughter, Bee, goes on a quest with Bernadette's husband to find her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Little Foxes (1941)
In 1900, a clan attempts to strike a deal with a Chicago industrialist to get him to build cotton mills in their Deep South town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSabotage (1936)
Karl Anton Verloc and his wife own a small cinema in a quiet London suburb where they live seemingly happily. But Mrs. Verloc does not know that her husband has a secret that will affect their relationship and threaten her teenage brother's life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOmaha (2025)
A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945)
George Sanders stars in this engrossing melodrama about a very domineering sister who holds a tight grip on her brother -- especially when he shows signs of falling in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPelle the Conqueror (1987)
In the late 19th century, two Swedish emigrants, Lasse Karlsson and his son Pelle, arrive on the Danish island of Bornholm hoping to find work on a farm and save enough money to travel to the United States of America.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Sassy Girl (2001)
A young man’s world is turned upside down when a female force of nature takes his life by storm in this outrageous and uplifting ode to true love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTouching the Void (2003)
The true story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates' disastrous and nearly-fatal mountain climb of 6,344m Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEvil (2003)
Stockholm, in the 1950s. Erik is expelled from the local school for getting into one brawl too many. To protect Erik from his violent stepfather’s reaction to his expulsion, Erik's mother arranges for Erik to spend a year at Stjärnsberg Boarding School, the only school willing to accept him. This is Erik's last chance to graduate to Upper School and he promises his mother, for his and her sake, to do all he can to stay out of trouble.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeneath the Surface (TBA)
Beneath the Surface introduces readers to the story of the wealthy Kingsley family of Southern California. At the center of the action are the power-hungry children of an aging billionaire, who prove unprepared for a storm of deceptions and ruthless family ambition, while out on a weekend voyage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bloody Crayons (2017)
A group of friends goes to an island for a short film project when they are attacked by a mysterious killer after playing a game of bloody crayons.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Omega Man (1971)
Due to an experimental vaccine, Dr. Robert Neville is the only human survivor of an apocalyptic war waged with biological weapons. Besides him, only a few hundred deformed, nocturnal people remain; sensitive to light, and homicidally psychotic.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret Garden (1993)
A young British girl born and reared in India loses her neglectful parents in an earthquake. She is returned to England to live at her uncle's castle. Her uncle is very distant due to the loss of his wife ten years before. Neglected once again, she begins exploring the estate and discovers a garden that has been locked and forgotten. Aided by one of the servants' boys, she begins restoring the garden, and eventually discovers some other secrets of the manor.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPaper Moon (1973)
During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Night at 14th Parallel (1972)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Sons and Lovers and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Sons and Lovers?
The closest matches to Sons and Lovers are The Damned Don't Cry (1950), October Sky (1999) and No Man of Her Own (1950). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Sons and Lovers?
Start with The Damned Don't Cry (1950), the closest match to Sons and Lovers.
What is the highest-rated movie like Sons and Lovers?
Paper Moon (1973), rated 7.9/10 by 891 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Sons and Lovers?
Omaha (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Sons and Lovers?
Yes: The Damned Don't Cry (1950), October Sky (1999) and No Man of Her Own (1950).
How are movies similar to Sons and Lovers chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Sons and Lovers, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.