Movies like Manon of the Spring (1953)
The best movies like Manon of the Spring (1953) are The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963), My Mother's Castle (1990) and School of Life (2017). If Manon of the Spring hooked you with its drama and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)7.8/10 from 943 votes
- NewestIron Boy (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchMy Mother's Castle (1990)Also in French
The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963)
Although he's only seven, Eddie's got it all figured out. He wants his father, a widower, to get remarried — to the girl next door. Unfortunately, she's not one of the women that his dad's been dating.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisMy Mother's Castle (1990)
To his chagrin, young Marcel Pagnol and his family move back to their home in Marseille, France, far from their pastoral holiday cottage in the hills. Determined, Marcel makes the long voyage back to the cottage on foot and lands himself in trouble. One day Marcel's father discovers a shortcut to the cottage, but it requires trespassing. Despite their trepidations, Marcel and his family begin using the secret trail to reach their cottage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSchool of Life (2017)
Paris 1930. Paul has only ever had one and the same horizon: the high walls of the orphanage, an austere building in the Parisian working class suburbs. Entrusted to a joyful country woman, Célestine, and her husband, Borel, the rather stiff gamekeeper of a vast estate in Sologne, the city child, recalcitrant and stubborn, arrives in a mysterious and disturbing world, that of a sovereign and wild region. The huge forest, misty ponds, heaths, and fields all belong to the Count de la Fresnaye, an elderly taciturn man who lives alone in his manor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSix Pack (1982)
Stopping briefly in a small Texas town, an itinerant race car driver finds that his stock car, on a trailer behind his motor home, has just been quickly and expertly stripped. He chases down the miscreants, who turn out to be six orphan children. He has no recourse to the law, for the corrupt local sheriff takes most of the proceeds of their thievery in exchange for not putting them in an orphanage. They are charming rogues who are in turn charmed by him. Disliking their arrangement with the sheriff, they stow away with him, and he finds himself becoming a reluctant stepfather. Thanks to their enthusiasm and incredible mechanical know-how, he begins to make a name for himself on the racing circuit. But the sheriff doesn't take kindly to losing his extra income...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA California Christmas: City Lights (2021)
Follows Callie and Joseph one year after they fell in love, now running a dairy farm and winery, but their romance is threatened when business and family obligations call Joseph back to the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBoyfriends and Girlfriends (1987)
Middle-class Parisian suburbs: Blanche and Léa, office worker and student, meet and become friends. Léa is going out with Fabien, but is thinking of leaving him. Blanche falls for Léa's handsome and witty friend Alexandre, but is tongue-tied whenever she meets him. Léa goes on holiday and Blanche, still smitten with the dashing Alexandre, begins to get to know Fabien.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMoliere (2007)
Molière, a down-and-out actor-cum-playwright up to his ears in debt. When the wealthy Jourdain offers to cover that debt so that Molière's theatrical talents might help Jourdain win the heart of a certain widowed marquise, hilarity ensues.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPeace, Love & Misunderstanding (2011)
A conservative lawyer named Diane takes her two teenage children Jake and Zoe to meet their estranged, hippie grandmother in Woodstock after her husband asks for a divorce.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisSave the Last Dance (2001)
After the death of her mother, Sara moves to the South Side of Chicago to live with her father and gets transferred to a majority-black school. Her life takes a turn for the better when befriends Chenille and her brother Derek, who helps her with her dancing skills.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA California Christmas (2020)
With his carefree lifestyle on the line, a wealthy charmer poses as a ranch hand to get a hardworking farmer to sell her family’s land before Christmas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDiary of a Fleeting Affair (2022)
A single mother and a married man enter into an affair with the understanding that their relationship is purely sexual. Though they agree the relationship has no future, they find themselves increasingly drawn into each other's company.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChéri (2009)
The son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012)
A childless couple bury a box in their backyard, containing all of their wishes for an infant. Soon, a child is born, though Timothy Green is not all that he appears.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Longshots (2008)
The true story of Jasmine Plummer who, at the age of eleven, became the first female to play in Pop Warner football tournament in its 56-year history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Summer in Provence (2014)
In the wake of their parent's separation, three siblings spend the summer in the south of France with their estranged Grandfather. In less than 24 hours, a clash of generations has occurred between the teenagers and the old man. During this turbulent summer, both generations will be transformed by one another.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIron Boy (2026)
In rural France, 10-year-old Christophe tries to live up to his rigid and distant father on the family farm. But the young boy starts to lean over and collapse without warning — on the tractor, at school, at dinner... A doctor finds the solution: Christophe must wear an iron corset to keep himself upright. Forced to reinvent his life away from the farm, Christophe discovers a new passion for music, meets a new friend, and follows her into his first mischief. But will any of this really fix what is out of balance?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & family
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisUnder the Stars of Paris (2021)
Christine’s life has not been easy lately. Her lonely routine is divided between free food banks distributions and wandering the streets. On a cold winter night she founds Suli, an 8-year-old Eritrean boy, sobbing in front of her shelter. Christine understands that he is lost and has been separated from his mother. Bounded by their marginal condition, they embark together on an emotional journey to find Suli’s mother in the underground world of Paris...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo Love Lost (2023)
A single father, Étienne, is preparing for his daughter Rosa to leave home, but his life is upended when he sees his long-lost wife, Valérie, on TV, forcing a confrontation with the past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJust to Be Sure (2017)
Erwan, a strapping Breton who clears mines for a living, is shaken when he discovers that his father is not his father. Despite his affection for the man who raised him, he quietly sets out to find his biological father, and succeeds in locating Joseph, an endearing old codger he takes a liking to. Just when things look settled, another unexpected “bomb” hits Erwan in the form of Anna, an elusive nymph.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLuna (2018)
A film in which the director captures the beautiful and accurate qualities of reality when building the energetic portrait of a 16-year-old girl immersed in the macho culture of urban suburban south-west France, just a stone’s throw away from the nearby countryside.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Good Year (2006)
Failed London banker Max Skinner inherits his uncle's vineyard in Provence, where he spent many childhood holidays. Upon his arrival, he meets a woman from California who tells Max she is his long-lost cousin and that the property is hers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Taste of Tea (2004)
A spell of time in the life of the five-piece Haruno family in rural Tochigi Prefecture. Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project. Uncle Ayano, a successful music producer, is looking to get his head together after living in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Sachiko is concerned with why she seems to be followed by a giant version of herself. As the lazy days pass by, each member of the family is followed in a series of episodic vignettes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSkylark (1993)
Jacob's farm is in trouble from a severe drought. Jacob and Sarah begin to wonder if Sarah can stay, and what will happen to Jacob if she and the children have to leave the farm.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & family
Just Add Water (2008)
An offbeat romantic comedy about a decent guy, Ray Tuckby, with a dead-end life in the dead-end town of Trona, CA. After encouragement from a stranger whom he happens upon, Ray begins to dream again. He sheds the parasites in his life, musters the nerve to pursue his childhood love, and finally takes back his community by toppling the local teenage Meth-baron.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMy Life as a Dog (1985)
A boy, obsessed with comparing himself with those less fortunate, experiences a different life at the home of his aunt and uncle in 1959 Sweden.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpirit World (2025)
Legendary singer Claire Emery flies to Japan for a final sold-out concert. But when the show ends, so does Claire’s life on earth. However, an unexpected new life in the spirit world - where she will be guided by Yuzo, one of her biggest fans - awaits.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
In the questionable town of Deer Meadow, Washington, FBI Agent Desmond inexplicably disappears while hunting for the man who murdered a teen girl. The killer is never apprehended, and, after experiencing dark visions and supernatural encounters, Agent Dale Cooper chillingly predicts that the culprit will claim another life. Meanwhile, in the more cozy town of Twin Peaks, hedonistic beauty Laura Palmer hangs with lowlifes and seems destined for a grisly fate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRobbery Under Arms (1957)
During the mid 1860s, brothers Dick and Jim Marston are drawn into a life of crime by their ex-convict father Ben and his friend, infamous cattlethief Captain Starlight. Making their way to Melbourne with the proceeds of a recent raid, the brothers meet and romance the Morrison sisters, Kate and Jean, whom they eventually marry; but just as they are poised to start a new life in America, Captain Starlight and his gang arrive in town, planning a raid at the local bank.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Canterbury Tale (1944)
Three modern-day pilgrims investigate a bizarre crime in a small town while on their way to Canterbury.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Manon of the Spring?
The closest matches to Manon of the Spring are The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963), My Mother's Castle (1990) and School of Life (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Manon of the Spring?
Start with The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963), the closest match to Manon of the Spring.
What is the highest-rated movie like Manon of the Spring?
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), rated 7.8/10 by 943 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Manon of the Spring?
Iron Boy (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Manon of the Spring?
Yes: My Mother's Castle (1990), School of Life (2017) and Boyfriends and Girlfriends (1987).
How are movies similar to Manon of the Spring chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Manon of the Spring, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.