Movies like The Father (2020)
The best movies like The Father (2020) are The Beloved (2026), The Whale (2022) and It's Only the End of the World (2016). If The Father 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 Hunt (2012)8.1/10 from 5,083 votes
- NewestMiss You, Love You (2026)Released 2026
The Beloved (2026)
Acclaimed film director Esteban Martínez is a legend both for his films and for his past marked by violence and excess. For his latest project, he offers his daughter Emilia a role under the pretext of helping her with her stalled acting career. Living together on set will foster a closeness they haven’t shared for years, but it will also reopen old wounds that never healed.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Whale (2022)
A reclusive English teacher suffering from severe obesity attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter for one last chance at redemption.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIt's Only the End of the World (2016)
Louis, a terminally ill writer, returns home after a long absence to tell his family that he is dying.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDon't Make Me Go (2022)
A terminally ill man and his teenage daughter embark on a road trip from California to New Orleans for his 20th college reunion. While there, he secretly hopes she can reunite with the mother who left them long ago.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisToni Erdmann (2016)
Convinced that his daughter has forgotten how to laugh, a father shows up unannounced while she's living abroad and bombards her with outrageous jokes.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSentimental Value (2025)
Sisters Nora and Agnes reunite with their estranged father, the charismatic Gustav, a once-renowned director who offers stage actress Nora a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film. When Nora turns it down, she soon discovers he has given her part to an eager young Hollywood star.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Sunset Limited (2011)
A deeply religious black ex-con thwarts the suicide attempt of an asocial white college professor who tries to throw himself in front of an oncoming subway train, 'The Sunset Limited.' As the one attempts to connect on a rational, spiritual and emotional level, the other remains steadfast in his hard-earned despair. Locked in a philosophical debate, both passionately defend their personal credos and try to convert the other.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Humans (2021)
Erik Blake has gathered three generations of his Pennsylvania family to celebrate Thanksgiving at his daughter’s apartment in lower Manhattan. As darkness falls outside and eerie things start to go bump in the night, the group’s deepest fears are laid bare.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisManchester by the Sea (2016)
After his older brother passes away, Lee Chandler is forced to return home to care for his 16-year-old nephew. There he is compelled to deal with a tragic past that separated him from his family and the community where he was born and raised.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAftersun (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: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRabbit Hole (2010)
Life for a happy couple is turned upside down after their young son dies in an accident.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVortex (2021)
Lui, a struggling author with a heart condition, and his wife Elle, a retired psychiatrist, find their idyllic life shattered when Elle begins to succumb to the effects of dementia.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLong Day's Journey Into Night (1962)
An Irish miser, his morphine addicted wife, their debauched older son, and a gravely ill younger son. A quiet Connecticut vacation home on one foggy day in August 1912 becomes the backdrop for domestic decline.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Son (2022)
A successful lawyer, with a new wife and infant, agrees to care for his teenage son from a previous marriage after his ex-wife becomes concerned about the boy's wayward behavior.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Fine Morning (2022)
With a father suffering from neurodegenerative disease, a young woman lives with her eight-year-old daughter. While struggling to secure a decent nursing home, she runs into an unavailable friend with whom she embarks on an affair.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Separation (2011)
A married couple are faced with a difficult decision – to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCarnage (2011)
Two pairs of parents hold a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behavior throws the discussion into chaos.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOn Golden Pond (1981)
For Norman and Ethel Thayer, this summer on golden pond is filled with conflict and resolution. When their daughter Chelsea arrives, the family is forced to renew the bonds of love and overcome the generational friction that has existed for years.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Straight Story (1999)
Retired farmer and widower Alvin Straight learns one day that his estranged brother Lyle has suffered a severe stroke. Alvin is determined to make things right with Lyle while he still can, but his brother lives in Wisconsin, while Alvin is stuck in Iowa with no car and no driver's license. He then has the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOrdinary People (1980)
Beth, Calvin, and their son Conrad are living in the aftermath of the death of the other son. Conrad is overcome by grief and misplaced guilt to the extent of a suicide attempt. He is in therapy. Beth had always preferred his brother and is having difficulty being supportive to Conrad. Calvin is trapped between the two trying to hold the family together.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisColumbus (2017)
When a renowned architecture scholar falls suddenly ill during a speaking tour, his son Jin finds himself stranded in Columbus, Indiana - a small Midwestern city celebrated for its many significant modernist buildings. Jin strikes up a friendship with Casey, a young architecture enthusiast who works at the local library.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Hunt (2012)
A teacher lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son’s custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent little lie.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBirdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
A fading actor best known for his portrayal of a popular superhero attempts to mount a comeback by appearing in a Broadway play. As opening night approaches, his attempts to become more altruistic, rebuild his career, and reconnect with friends and family prove more difficult than expected.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStill Mine (2012)
Craig, a fiercely determined New Brunswick farmer, sets out to build a more suitable house for his ailing wife, Irene, despite their children's concerns. As he starts building, he is blindsided by the bureaucratic codes and officials. As Irene becomes increasingly ill, Craig fights back. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Son's Room (2001)
A psychoanalyst and his family go through profound emotional trauma when their son dies in a scuba diving accident.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisElsinore (2026)
The deeply emotional and inspirational true story of Ian Charleson, a gifted actor whose greatest challenge becomes his greatest triumph. Facing his own mortality with unflinching honesty, wit, and grace, Charleson delivers a courageous performance that becomes a source of healing and inspiration for those around him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Coming SoonMovies like thisThe Kindergarten Teacher (2018)
Lisa Spinelli is a Staten Island teacher who is unusually devoted to her students. When she discovers one of her five-year-olds is a prodigy, she becomes fascinated with the boy, ultimately risking her family and freedom to nurture his talent.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPhilomena (2013)
A woman searches for her adult son, who was taken away from her decades ago when she was forced to live in a convent.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMiss You, Love You (2026)
Forced to plan her late husband's funeral with her estranged gay son's assistant, a blunt, grieving widow forms an unlikely bond with the total stranger as confronting their shared grief surfaces deep family secrets and long-held resentments.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Father?
The closest matches to The Father are The Beloved (2026), The Whale (2022) and It's Only the End of the World (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Father?
People who watched The Father most often go on to The Beloved (2026), The Whale (2022) and It's Only the End of the World (2016).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Father?
The Hunt (2012), rated 8.1/10 by 5,083 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Father?
Miss You, Love You (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Father?
Yes: The Whale (2022), Don't Make Me Go (2022) and The Sunset Limited (2011).
How are movies similar to The Father chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Father, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.