Movies like Il sera 1 fois... (2007)
The best movies like Il sera 1 fois... (2007) are Brother (2019), The Minister (2011) and The Long Absence (1961). If Il sera 1 fois... hooked you with its drama, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhat Maisie Knew (2013)7.1/10 from 466 votes
- NewestAnother Day (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchBrother (2019)Also in French
Brother (2019)
Because he wanted to protect his little brother, Teddy, a young man without a history, is accused of the murder of his father and sent to a closed educational center, waiting for his trial for parricide. He then plunges into a brutal universe of which he does not know the rules.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Minister (2011)
Transport Minister Bertrand Saint-Jean is awoken in the middle of the night by his head of staff. A bus has gone off the road into a gully. He has no choice but to go to the scene of the accident. Thus begins the odyssey of a politician in a world that is increasingly more complex and hostile.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Long Absence (1961)
Therese, a café owner, mourns the mysterious disappearance of her husband sixteen years earlier. A tramp arrives in the town and she believes him to be her husband. But he is suffering from amnesia and she tries to bring back his memory of earlier times.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSecret Name (2021)
Nelie escaped a miserable existence by becoming a frontline nurse in 1914. One day, she takes the identity of Rose, a young woman from a good family, who dies in front of her. She presents herself in her place at Madame de Lengwil's house, to become the reader of this wealthy woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe 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 thisUncontrollable Circumstances (1989)
Philippe and Daniel decide to go on vacation Southeast Asia, where they meet Hans, a European who livesthere and he becomes their guide and host. Once the holidays are over, before leaving to return to Paris, decided to give a small gift to Hans: a small piece of hashish.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnother Day (2026)
Over an eight-year journey in Paris, a struggling young actress turns to alcohol to cope with her anxieties, spiraling into self-destruction before finding a path toward recovery through a new romance and her ailing sister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBloody Milk (2017)
Pierre, in his thirties, is a breeder of dairy cattle. His life revolves around his farm, his veterinarian sister and his parents whose livestock he took over. As the first cases of a zoonotic outbreak are reported in France, Pierre discovers that one of his animals is infected. He cannot cope with the perspective of losing the whole herd. They are everything he has and he will do whatever it takes to save them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChaos (2001)
A bourgeois couple, modern yet conventional. One night by accident, a young prostitute barges into their lives. Hounded down, beaten up, threatened, she will continue to struggle, with the help of a well off lady, first for her survival-her resurrection-then for her dignity and freedom. Stormy encounters for everyone involved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHaute Couture (2021)
Esther is at the end of her career as Head Seamstress at Dior Avenue Montaigne workshop. One day, she gets her handbag stolen in the metro by a 20 years old girl, Jade. Instead of calling the police she decides to take care of Jade. She sees in her the opportunity to pass on her skills, the craft of dressmaking, her only wealth. In the frenetic world of Haute Couture, Esther will give Jade la beauté du geste, a way to reach beyond herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Secret (2007)
In 1953, a sensitive French boy finds out from a neighbor that his family's Jewish. François Grimbert becomes a physician, and gradually peels the layers of his buried family history which resulted in his difficult upbringing, raised as Catholic by his "Aryan" appearing parents. His athletic father labored to stamp out stereotypical Jewish characteristics he perceived in his son, to keep the family's many secrets, as most relatives fought in World War II, and later were hauled off to labor and death camps by the Gestapo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Passengers of the Night (2022)
On election night in 1981, celebrations spill out onto the street and there is an air of hope and change throughout Paris. But for Elisabeth, her marriage is coming to an end and she will now have to support herself and her two teenage children. She finds work at a late-night radio show and encounters a troubled teenager named Talulah whom she invites into her home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll to Play For (2023)
Sylvie lives with her two children whom she’s raising on her own. One evening, there’s an accident, and her youngest son is removed from her care. Sylvie must subsequently fight to get her son back and to keep herself afloat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKompromat (2022)
Mathieu, a member of the French institute in Irkutsk, is arrested overnight by the Russian authorities. Imprisoned and accused of sexual abuse on his own daughter, he realises he is a victim of a Kompromat. With the help of the FSB, someone has built up a case to frame him. Isolated, he has no one to turn to. Proving his innocence is impossible: the only solution is to escape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Maisie Knew (2013)
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight of the Kings (2021)
A young man is sent to "La Maca," a prison in the middle of the Ivorian forest ruled by its inmates. As tradition goes with the rising of the red moon, he is designated by the Boss to be the new "Roman" and must tell a story to the other prisoners. Learning what fate awaits him, he begins to narrate the mystical life of the legendary outlaw named "Zama King" and has no choice but to make his story last until dawn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisImperial Dreams (2014)
A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisÉlisa (1995)
Marie has had a tough childhood ever since her mother Elisa committed suicide. She has spent most of her life in an orphanage and now makes a living as a small time criminal in Paris. Now she wants to unravel her past and find her father whom she blames for her mother's death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisColonel Chabert (1994)
When Colonel Chabert returns from the war, he discovers that he has lost everything.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Il sera 1 fois...?
The closest matches to Il sera 1 fois... are Brother (2019), The Minister (2011) and The Long Absence (1961). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Il sera 1 fois...?
Start with Brother (2019), the closest match to Il sera 1 fois....
What is the highest-rated movie like Il sera 1 fois...?
What Maisie Knew (2013), rated 7.1/10 by 466 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Il sera 1 fois...?
Another Day (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Il sera 1 fois...?
Yes: Brother (2019), The Minister (2011) and The Long Absence (1961).
How are movies similar to Il sera 1 fois... chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Il sera 1 fois..., then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.