Movies like The Children Are Sleeping (2009)
The best movies like The Children Are Sleeping (2009) are Shall We Dance? (2004), I Never Sang for My Father (1970) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1952). If The Children Are Sleeping hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBlue Valentine (2010)7.0/10 from 3,667 votes
- NewestAll of You (2025)Released 2025
Shall We Dance? (2004)
A bored estate lawyer spots a beautiful woman in the window of a ballroom dance studio. He secretly starts taking dancing lessons to be near her, and then over time discovers how much he loves dancing. His wife, meanwhile, has hired a private detective to find out why he has started coming home late smelling of perfume.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Never Sang for My Father (1970)
A man living in the towering shadow of his aging father finds it difficult to start a new chapter in his life by marrying his girlfriend and moving to California.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Importance of Being Earnest (1952)
Two young gentlemen living in 1890s England use the same pseudonym ('Ernest') on the sly, which is fine until they both fall in love with women using that name, which leads to a comedy of mistaken identities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNot Easily Broken (2009)
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this45 Years (2015)
There is just one week until Kate Mercer's 45th wedding anniversary and the planning for the party is going well. But then a letter arrives for her husband. The body of his first love has been discovered, frozen and preserved in the icy glaciers of the Swiss Alps. By the time the party is upon them, five days later, there may not be a marriage left to celebrate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTwelfth Night (1996)
Shakespeare's comedy of gender confusion, in which a girl disguises herself as a man to be near the count she adores, only to be pursued by the woman he loves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlue Valentine (2010)
Dean and Cindy live a quiet life in a modest neighborhood. They appear to have the world at their feet at the outset of the relationship. However, his lack of ambition and her retreat into self-absorption cause potentially irreversible cracks in their marriage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFootloose (2011)
Ren MacCormack is transplanted from Boston to the small southern town of Bomont where loud music and dancing are prohibited. Not one to bow to the status quo, Ren challenges the ban, revitalizing the town and falling in love with the minister’s troubled daughter Ariel in the process.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Human Voice (2020)
A woman watches time pass beside the suitcases of her ex-lover (who is supposed to come pick them up but never arrives) and a restless dog who doesn't understand that his master has abandoned him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEndless Love (2014)
A privileged girl and a charismatic boy's instant desire sparks a love affair made only more reckless by parents trying to keep them apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrictly Ballroom (1992)
Brave new steps put Scott's career in jeopardy. With a new partner and determination, can he still succeed?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Magic of Ordinary Days (2005)
Pregnant out of wedlock, an educated young woman is pressured by her father into an arranged marriage with a lonely farmer in this drama set during WWII.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRomeo and Juliet (1936)
Young love is poisoned by a generations long feud between two noble families.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ring (1927)
Both Jack Sander and Bob Corby are boxers in love with Mabel. Jack and Mabel wed, but their marriage is flat. The young wife looks to Bob for comfort.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisAll of You (2025)
Laura and Simon have been best friends since college. Over the years, they've realized their bond is more than platonic. Can they—and should they—risk everything to explore a love that has existed all along?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIt Ends with Us (2024)
When a woman's first love suddenly reenters her life, her relationship with a charming, but abusive neurosurgeon is upended, and she realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for her future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCloser (2004)
The relationships of two couples become complicated and deceitful when the man from one couple meets the woman of the other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMalcolm & Marie (2021)
As a filmmaker and his girlfriend return home from his movie premiere, smoldering tensions and painful revelations push them toward a romantic reckoning.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSleuth (2007)
Locked in a high-tech English manor, bound in a deadly duel of wits, Andrew Wyke and Milo Tindle come together as English gentlemen to discuss the matter of Wyke's wife: the woman both are sleeping with.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Children Are Sleeping?
The closest matches to The Children Are Sleeping are Shall We Dance? (2004), I Never Sang for My Father (1970) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1952). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Children Are Sleeping?
Start with Shall We Dance? (2004), the closest match to The Children Are Sleeping.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Children Are Sleeping?
Blue Valentine (2010), rated 7.0/10 by 3,667 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Children Are Sleeping?
All of You (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Children Are Sleeping?
Yes: Shall We Dance? (2004), I Never Sang for My Father (1970) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1952).
How are movies similar to The Children Are Sleeping chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Children Are Sleeping, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.