Movies like A Private Affair (2002)
The best movies like A Private Affair (2002) are Like Minds (2006), Farewell, My Lovely (1975) and Secret in Their Eyes (2015). If A Private Affair hooked you with its thriller and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPrisoners (2013)8.1/10 from 13,751 votes
- NewestVultures (2025)Released 2025
- In FrenchVultures (2025)Also in French
Like Minds (2006)
A forensic psychologist must determine if a minor should be charged with murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFarewell, My Lovely (1975)
Private eye Philip Marlowe is hired by ex-con Moose Malloy to find his girlfriend, a former lounge dancer. While also investigating the murder of a client and the theft of a jade necklace, Marlowe becomes entangled with seductress Helen Grayle and discovers a web of dark secrets that are better left hidden.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSecret in Their Eyes (2015)
A tight-knit team of FBI investigators, along with their District Attorney supervisor, is suddenly torn apart when they discover that one of their own teenage daughters has been brutally murdered.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrooked House (2017)
A private investigator helps a former flame solve the murder of her wealthy grandfather, who lived in a sprawling estate surrounded by his idiosyncratic family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCult Killer (2024)
A private investigator is forced into a dangerous alliance with a killer in order to uncover a quiet town’s grisly criminal underbelly and clear the name of her mentor, who is implicated in the crimes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStriking Distance (1993)
Demoted Pittsburgh cop Tom Hardy works river patrol while a serial killer targets women from his past, forcing him to conduct an unauthorized investigation to prove his innocence and expose a dirty cop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisRighteous Kill (2008)
Two veteran New York City detectives work to identify the possible connection between a recent murder and a case they believe they solved years ago; is there a serial killer on the loose, and did they perhaps put the wrong person behind bars?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisTightrope (1984)
Wes Block is a detective who's put on the case of a serial killer whose victims are young and pretty women. The murders are getting personal when the killer chooses victims who are acquaintances of Block. Even his daughters are threatened.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKiss the Girls (1997)
Forensic psychologist and detective Alex Cross travels to North Carolina and teams with escaped kidnap victim Kate McTiernan to hunt down "Casanova," a serial killer who abducts strong-willed women and forces them to submit to his demands. The trail leads to Los Angeles, where the duo discovers that the psychopath may not be working alone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEdge of Darkness (2010)
As a seasoned homicide detective, Thomas Craven has seen the bleakest side of humanity. But nothing prepares him for the toughest investigation of his life: the search for his only daughter Emma's killer. Now, he is on a personal mission to uncover the disturbing secrets surrounding her murder, including corporate corruption, government collusion and Emma's own mysterious life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEvery Secret Thing (2014)
One clear summer day in a Baltimore suburb, a baby goes missing from her front porch. Two young girls serve seven years for the crime and are released into a town that hasn't fully forgiven or forgotten. Soon, another child is missing, and two detectives are called in to investigate the mystery in a community where everyone seems to have a secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMulholland Falls (1996)
In 1950s Los Angeles, a special crime squad of the LAPD investigates the murder of a young woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVultures (2025)
Samuel, a journalist, and Ava, his intern and daughter, cover the murder of a young girl for their magazine. Through their investigation, they discover disturbing similarities with the murder of another woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmerican Gigolo (1980)
Julian makes a lucrative living as an escort to older women in the Los Angeles area. He begins a relationship with Michelle, a local politician's wife, without expecting any pay. One of his clients is murdered and Detective Sunday begins pumping him for details on his different clients, something he is reluctant to do considering the nature of his work. Julian begins to suspect he's being framed. Meanwhile Michelle begins to fall in love with him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisToo Late (2016)
Private investigator Mel Sampson is tasked with tracking down the whereabouts of a missing woman from his own past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like this6 Bullets (2012)
An ex-mercenary known for finding missing children is hired by a mixed martial arts fighter whose daughter has been kidnapped.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Night of the 12th (2022)
Young and ambitious Captain Vivés has just been appointed group leader at the Grenoble Criminal Squad when Clara's murder case lands on his desk. Vivés and his team investigate Clara's complex life and relations, but what starts as a professional and methodical immersion into the victim's life soon turns into a haunting obsession.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrisoners (2013)
After his six-year-old daughter is abducted, a desperate father takes justice into his own hands when he loses faith in the detective leading the investigation, setting both men on a collision course as the search descends into obsession and moral compromise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisI See You (2019)
When a 12-year-old boy goes missing at a local park, a detective investigates the case to help the boy's family find answers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNeighborhood Watch (2025)
When a mentally ill young man thinks he witnesses an abduction and the police refuse to believe him, he reluctantly turns to his next door neighbor – a bitter, retired security guard – to help him find the missing woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Night of the Generals (1967)
A German intelligence officer investigates a prostitute's killing in Warsaw during World War II. He lands on three major Nazi generals as suspects, two of whom are also involved in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRoad to Nowhere (2010)
A passionate filmmaker creating a film based upon a true crime casts an unknown mysterious young woman bearing a disturbing resemblance to the femme fatale in the story. Unsuspectingly, he finds himself drawn into a complex web of haunting intrigue: he becomes obsessed with the woman, the crime, her possibly notorious past, and the disturbing complexity between art and truth. From the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina to Verona, Rome, and London, new truths are revealed and clues to other crimes and passions, darker and even more complex, are uncovered.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Double Hour (2009)
A chambermaid and a former cop meet at a speed dating event and a romance develops. But during a romantic getaway things suddenly take a turn for the worse when her mysterious past is revealed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Scarlet Claw (1944)
When a woman is found dead with her throat torn out, the local villagers blame a supernatural monster. But Sherlock Holmes, who gets drawn into the case from nearby Quebec, suspects a human murderer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlexandria, Private (2005)
When a woman is accused of a high-profile murder, a young lawyer takes on her defense, only to uncover a web of secrets, deceit, and hidden motives. As he digs deeper, the case becomes more personal—and far more dangerous than he ever expected.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
The Shanghai Gesture (1941)
A gambling queen uses blackmail to stop a British financier from closing her Chinese clip joint.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExperiment in Terror (1962)
A man with an asthmatic voice telephones and assaults clerk Kelly Sherwood at home and coerces her into helping him steal a large sum from her bank.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMiss Marple: 4.50 from Paddington (1987)
Travelling on the 4.50 from Paddington, Mrs McGillicuddy witnesses a murder on a passing train - but where is the body?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWedding in Blood (1973)
In a small French town, the mayor discovers his wife is cheating on him, a betrayal that eventually leads to murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRoadgames (1981)
A truck driver plays a cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious serial killer in a van who lures young female hitchhiker victims on a desolate Australian highway.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Private Affair?
The closest matches to A Private Affair are Like Minds (2006), Farewell, My Lovely (1975) and Secret in Their Eyes (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Private Affair?
Start with Like Minds (2006), the closest match to A Private Affair.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Private Affair?
Prisoners (2013), rated 8.1/10 by 13,751 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Private Affair?
Vultures (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like A Private Affair?
Yes: Vultures (2025), The Night of the 12th (2022) and Wedding in Blood (1973).
How are movies similar to A Private Affair chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Private Affair, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.