Movies like The French Governess (1976)
The best movies like The French Governess (1976) are Things We Don't Say (2026), Gioia (2026) and Five Seconds (2025). If The French Governess hooked you with its drama, these 30 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
- NewestGioia (2026)Released 2026
- In ItalianThings We Don't Say (2026)Also in Italian
Things We Don't Say (2026)
Carlo and Elisa are a successful couple. He’s a university professor and writer facing a creative block; she’s a brilliant, sharp-witted journalist, known for her internationally published editorials. They live in Rome, moving between accomplishments and routine, affection and something that might be fading. In search of new energy, they travel to Morocco with their lifelong friends, Anna and Paolo, and their thirteen-year-old daughter Vittoria—bright, curious, a little eccentric. Tensions soon rise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGioia (2026)
Gioia is a high school teacher who has never known any other love than the oppressive bond with her own parents, with whom she still lives. One of the students at her school, Alessio, is cashing in on his own body to make a couple of hundred euros to help his mother, a cashier in a supermarket. The relationship that dawns between Gioia and Alessio is forbidden fruit, fragile yet, inexplicably, one they can’t do without. Still, Alessio’s desire to improve his social standing is a silent killer that prevents him from ultimately accepting Gioia’s surprising affection for him. He goes and destroys it all, cancelling the only person who has ever loved him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFive Seconds (2025)
Adriano is a middle-aged man living in a dilapidated villa in Tuscany, when a group of young idealistic students arrives to restore the villa's vineyards.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFinally Dawn (2024)
A young Roman woman during the 1950s is on the verge of becoming engaged to a man. She goes to Cinecittà to do an audition as an extra and is thrust into this almost infinite night during which she discovers herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Tennis Maestro (2025)
Italy, 1989. After years of hard training, 13-year-old Felice, carrying his father's expectations on his shoulders, finally sets out to compete in the national tennis tournaments. While dreaming of a simple summer vacation, he's instead placed under the wing of ex tennis champion Raul, an unconventional coach hired by his father. Match after match, the two embark on a journey that will lead Felice to discover the taste of freedom, and Raul to glimpse the possibility of a fresh start. As they travel along the Italian coast, an unexpected, deep, and sincere bond between them develops.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMisunderstood (2014)
Rome, 1984, Aria is nine-year-old girl. On the verge of divorce, Aria's infantile and selfish parents are too preoccupied with their careers and extra-marital affairs to properly tend to any of Aria's needs. While her two older sisters are pampered, Aria is treated with cold indifference. Yet she yearns to love and to be loved. At school, Aria excels academically but is considered a misfit by everyone. She is misunderstood. Aria finds comfort in her cat - Dac and in her best friend - Angelica. Thrown out of both parents' homes, abandoned by all, even her best friend, Aria finally reaches the limit of what she can bear. She makes an unexpected decision in her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHardball (2001)
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUltras (2020)
An aging soccer fanatic faces down the reality of his past while struggling to give himself and a young follower very different futures.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisMia Madre (2015)
Margherita, a director in the middle of an existential crisis, has to deal with the inevitable and still unacceptable loss of her mother.
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 thisA Chiara (2021)
The Guerrasio family and friends gather to celebrate Claudio and Carmela’s oldest daughter’s 18th birthday. There is a healthy rivalry between the birthday girl and her 15-year-old sister Chiara as they compete on the dancefloor. It is a happy occasion, and the close-knit family are on top form. However, everything changes the next day when the father disappears. Chiara, unconvinced by the cover story, starts to investigate. As she gets closer to the truth, she is forced to decide what kind of future she wants for herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this1 Chance 2 Dance (2014)
When a 17-year old aspiring dancer is uprooted in her high school senior year, she finds herself divided between two boys, and she will have one last shot at making her dream a reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBebo's Girl (1964)
At the end of World War II, shallow, self-centered Mara is the prettiest girl in her small Italian village; Bebo is a Communist partisan who is finding it difficult to adjust to the dull banalities of life in peacetime. When Mara’s father, a passionate Communist, declares that his daughter will marry the returning hero, her reactions range from joy to bitter resentment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977)
A disturbed and institutionalized 16-year-old girl struggles between fantasy and reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisGiovanna's Father (2008)
Michele Casali is a middle-class professor in Fascist Italy who teaches at the same high school attended by his only daughter, Giovanna. A shy and sensitive girl, her insecurities are only magnified by Michele's overprotectiveness—reaching a point of no return.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHands of Stone (2016)
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Terrace (1980)
A terrace in Rome is a recurrent gathering place for a group of friends from the intellectual upper-class. Their lives unfold and intertwine, as they struggle with aging, disappointment and disillusion, until they are left with the realization that their generation, and everything it stood for, is coming to an end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Woman on Fire (1969)
Clara, the sexually frustrated wife of a businessman goes on vacation with her husband, daughter and best friend. While there, she finally learns that sex can be passionate and wonderful, something she was never able to discover with the help of her husband. Unfortunately, she learns this with a handsome lifeguard, who finally makes her succumb to his psycho-sexual games.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Olga O's Strange Story (1995)
When Olga Roli returns to her birthplace after a nervous breakdown, it quickly becomes much worse for her. Anonymous, threatening phone calls to deal with her as Olga O, her stage name from her time working in a local strip club, soon followed by a near miss with a murderous motorcyclist.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Libido (1965)
A young man visits his ancestral home accompanied by his guardian and their wives, where he is plagued by the memories and influence of his murderous, psychosexual father.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Seducers (1969)
Ulla, a prostitute is hired by the despicable Mudy, mother of the shy and mentally disturbed 20-year-old Tony with a tendency toward pyromania. She is invited on a sea cruise where she is meant to "take" his virginity. Also invited on the cruise are the provocative Paula and her husband Aldo, who are constantly striving to win the favor of a wealthy woman in hope of obtaining an oil concession. Despite her efforts, Ulla has no effect on the young man until the yacht stops on a Mediterranean island inhabited only by a goat herder and his wife, Beba. Tony is attracted to her, but little by little his mental disorders arise, and the story ends in tragedy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Samaj Ko Badal Dalo (1947)
1947 film by Vijay Bhatt
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Memória: História é filme, não é foto. (TBA)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Belle da morire (1992)
Edward Sacchi is a wealthy and apparently content married man but underneath he is driven by a desire to seduce and discard women. One of his conquests, Lucy, falls in love with him and when spurned, commits suicide. Edward is shocked but continues as before. Each of his lovers are subsequently murdered and he is arrested. However, his wife saves him by arranging an appointment with the real killer...
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Talent Agency (1993)
James, an unscrupulous director, and George are the joint owners of a film studio. One morning, the corpse of a messenger boy is found by a cleaning lady, but the identity of the youth's killer remains a mystery. Gloria, a stunning actress who is seeing George, rejects unwelcome advances from James. Determined to get the attractive actress into bed, James reveals that he has video footage which shows her killing the messenger. It emerges that she murdered the young man after he tried to sexually assault her. However, there is a twist...
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The French Governess?
The closest matches to The French Governess are Things We Don't Say (2026), Gioia (2026) and Five Seconds (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The French Governess?
Start with Things We Don't Say (2026), the closest match to The French Governess.
What is the highest-rated movie like The French Governess?
What Maisie Knew (2013), rated 7.1/10 by 466 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The French Governess?
Gioia (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like The French Governess?
Yes: Things We Don't Say (2026), Gioia (2026) and Five Seconds (2025).
How are movies similar to The French Governess chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The French Governess, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.