Movies like The Pornographer (2018)
The best movies like The Pornographer (2018) are Being Maria (2024), Every Man for Himself (1980) and Hounddog (2008). If The Pornographer hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTomboy (2011)7.3/10 from 775 votes
- NewestLove Bites (2025)Released 2025
- In FrenchBeing Maria (2024)Also in French
Being Maria (2024)
A young, struggling actress lands her dream role in a film by an emerging Italian director, starring alongside an American superstar. What begins as her big breakthrough quickly turns into a living hell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEvery Man for Himself (1980)
A look at the sexual and professional lives of three people — a television director, his ex-girlfriend, and a sex worker.
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 thisCuriosa (2019)
A passionate love story set against a backdrop of sexual freedom, loosely based on the relationship between 19th century authors Pierre Louÿs and Marie de Régnier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisKing Cobra (2016)
It’s 2006, YouTube is in its infancy, and internet porn is still behind a paywall. Taking the stage name Brent Corrigan, a fresh-faced, wannabe adult video performer is molded into a star by Stephen, a closeted gay porn mogul who runs the skin flick empire Cobra Video from his seemingly ordinary suburban home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisWorking Girls (1987)
A lesbian college graduate, trying to bankroll her own photography business, works as a high-priced New York City escort.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Brother the Devil (2012)
Fourteen-year-old Mo is a lonely, sensitive boy whose hunger for the rant and banter of buddies makes him prone to tread dangerous territories. He idolizes his handsome older brother, Rashid, a charismatic, well-respected member of a local gang, whose drug dealing enables “Rash” to provide for his family. Aching to be seen as a tough guy himself, Mo takes a job that unlocks a fateful turn of events and forces the brothers to confront their inner demons. It turns out that hate is easy. It is love and understanding that take real courage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLovelace (2013)
Story of Linda Lovelace, who is used and abused by the porn industry at the behest of her coercive husband, before taking control of her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShame (2011)
Brandon, a thirty-something man living in New York, eludes intimacy with women but feeds his deepest desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. When his younger sister temporarily moves into his apartment, stirring up bitter memories of their shared painful past, Brandon's life, like his fragile mind, gets out of control.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Little Prince(ss) (2021)
When Gabriel, a 7-year-old Chinese kid who loves ballet, becomes friends with Rob, another Chinese kid from school, Rob’s dad gets suspicious about Gabriel's feminine behavior and decides to intervene.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFrom Straight A's to XXX (2017)
When a change of circumstances leaves Miriam unable to pay her college tuition, she makes a surprising decision: to start performing in adult films, using the pseudonym Belle Knox. Miriam lies to her family and her friends at school, keeping her double life a secret. But soon rumours spread and Miriam becomes the subject of vicious online attacks and unwanted attention. Miriam fights back: she talks to the media, saying her new line of work empowers her as a feminist. But her confident stand has unintended consequences. Miriam is shunned by her conservative family and her colleagues in the adult film world. One impulsive decision has quickly spiralled out of control - and Miriam's problems are just beginning.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisHeaven Will Wait (2016)
Mélanie, 16 years old, lives with her mother. She likes going to school, her friends, playing the cello, and she wants to change the world. But when she meets a boy on the Internet and falls in love with him, her world changes as she is gradually recruited by Daesh. Sonia is 17 years old, and she almost did something irrevocable to “guarantee” her family a place in paradise. These teenage girls might be called Anaïs, Manon or Leila, and one day they all might go some way down the recruitment process. But can they ever come back from it?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFor a Woman (2013)
After the death of her mother, Anne makes a shocking discovery: an old photograph casts doubt on her origins and leads her to discover a mysterious uncle who lived with her parents after the war. As she lifts the lid on a long forgotten family secret, the young woman learns that her mother once succumbed to an amorous passion that was as intense as it was short-lived...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Chinese Botanist's Daughters (2006)
At the house of a famous Chinese botanist teacher his daughter and a female intern fall in love with each other - a forbidden love that must be kept secret.
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 thisJust Charlie (2017)
Football star Charlie has the world at her feet. With a top club desperate to sign her, her future is seemingly mapped out. But the teenager sees only a nightmare. Raised as a boy, Charlie is torn between wanting to live up to her father's expectations and shedding this ill fitting skin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPariah (2011)
A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPimp (2018)
An urban love story set on the hard streets of the Bronx. A struggling female pimp, named Wednesday, grows up learning the game from her dad. Once he's gone she's left to look out for her prostitute mother and girlfriend Nikki.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTomboy (2011)
Ten-year-old Laure isn't like most girls. She prefers football to dolls and sweaters to dresses. When Laure and her family move to a new neighbourhood, local girl Lisa mistakes Laure for a boy. Indulging in this exciting new identity, Laure becomes Mickaël, and so begins a summer of long sunny afternoons, playground games and first kisses. Yet with the school term fast approaching, and with suspicions arising amongst friends and family, Laure must face up to an uncertain future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
Two drag performers and a transgender woman travel across the desert to perform their unique style of cabaret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Mousetrap (2016)
Baptiste is a gay man who can't stop dreaming about a woman who works at a local pub. His desire for her makes him go on a journey that he could had never imagined.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
I Am Curious Gay (1970)
On his 21st birthday, Davy wanders into a gay bar and meets the man of his dreams.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Walk a Crooked Path (1969)
Set in an exclusive boy's school, about a man who plans to kill off his wealthy teacher wife by encouraging her to drink and pushing her into suicide. To assist him he recruits a young student who will claim that he was sexually assaulted by her. (from: http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/390627)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Kirepapa. (2008)
Chisato is a beautiful 35-year-old writer, who looks like 18, and the father of Riju, a cute 15-year-old boy. Chisato's hobby is to drive away all of Riju's friends because he thinks they want to corrupt his precious child, so he shows his good side to these boys while he poisons the cake he brings them with a smile; however, there is one guy, Shunsuke, who doesn't fall for the tricks. But is Shunsuke really aiming for Riju? Who is that mysterious writer Chisato loves so much? And why is Chisato convinced that Riju's friends want to take advantage of him?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Tidal Time (2018)
After a boat accident where he puts his son Flavio’s life at risk, fisherman Capudemazza decides to never go fishing again. Ten years later a discovery about his son awakens a feeling in him that had been buried.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Love Bites (2025)
Just out of their teens, young men Liam and Anatole were in the throes of an exciting relationship- until they had fight, and Anatole disappeared. Liam can’t accept breakup. And, since his boyfriend doesn’t reply to his calls and text messages, Liam decides to follow him to a Halloween organized by one of Anatole’s friends to try find him. The wild night that ensues will test boys’ true feelings for each other, as well as force them to confront some hard inner truths once and for all.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Oasis (2016)
When an introverted teenager photographs an charming backpacker naked in a caravan shower block he must choose between keeping his precious secret or saving his friendship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Little Gay Boy (2013)
A young gay boy, from his birth to his teenage years, in which he experiments his sexuality and his own boundaries, to the day he finally meets his father. In three acts: Act I — L'Annonciation or The Conception of a Little Gay Boy (2011); Act II — Little Gay Boy, ChrisT is Dead (2012); and Act III — Holy Thursday (The Last Supper) (2013).
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Time for Love (2018)
Two men hold hands in a public place, but even in 2018, something’s not quite right.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Pornographer?
The closest matches to The Pornographer are Being Maria (2024), Every Man for Himself (1980) and Hounddog (2008). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Pornographer?
Start with Being Maria (2024), the closest match to The Pornographer.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Pornographer?
Tomboy (2011), rated 7.3/10 by 775 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Pornographer?
Love Bites (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like The Pornographer?
Yes: Being Maria (2024), Every Man for Himself (1980) and Curiosa (2019).
How are movies similar to The Pornographer chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Pornographer, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.