Movies like The Mad Women's Ball (2021)
The best movies like The Mad Women's Ball (2021) are Plan A (2021), The Pentagon Papers (2003) and The Round Up (2010). If The Mad Women's Ball hooked you with its thriller and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedInglourious Basterds (2009)8.2/10 from 25,149 votes
- NewestThe Rays and Shadows (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchThe Round Up (2010)Also in French
Plan A (2021)
Germany 1945, Max, a Jewish Holocaust survivor, meets a radical group of Jewish resistance fighters, who, like him, lost all hope for their future after they were robbed of their existence and their entire families were killed by the Nazis. They dream of retaliation on an epic scale for the Jewish people. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Max starts identifying with the group's monstrous plans...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pentagon Papers (2003)
This compelling political drama is based on the true story of high-ranking Pentagon official Daniel Ellsberg, who, during the Nixon era, strove to preserve American democracy by leaking top-secret documents to the New York Times and Washington Post. The documents in question would eventually become famous as the Pentagon Papers, which revealed the true reasons for U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Round Up (2010)
A faithful retelling of the 1942 "Vel' d'Hiv Roundup" and the events surrounding it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Perfect Enemy (2021)
Famed architect Jeremy Angust is approached on his trip to the Paris Airport by a chatty girl named Texel Textor who needs a ride. He obliges and after they part ways at the airport entrance, he misses his flight. As he settles in the lounge, he encounters the mysterious young Texel again, who insists on telling her strange story — and the conversation grows stranger and more twisted until it turns sinister and deadly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Emperor of Paris (2018)
Paris, France, early 19th century. The legendary convict François Vidocq lives in disguise trying to escape from a tragic past that torments him. When, after an unfortunate event, he crosses paths with the police chief, he makes a bold decision that will turn the ruthless mastermind of the Parisian underworld against him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGreta (2019)
A young woman returns a lonely widow’s lost purse, leading to an unlikely relationship between the two — until the young woman discovers the widow might not be all that she seems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Tenant (1976)
A quiet and inconspicuous man rents an apartment in Paris where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLes Misérables (2019)
Stéphane has recently joined the Anti-Crime Squad in Montfermeil, in the suburbs of Paris, France, where Victor Hugo set his famed novel “Les Miserables”. Alongside his new colleagues Chris and Gwada – both experienced members of the team – he quickly discovers tensions running high between local gangs. When the trio finds themselves overrun during the course of an arrest, a drone captures the encounter, threatening to expose the reality of everyday life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpider (2002)
A mentally disturbed man takes residence in a halfway house. His mind gradually slips back into the realm created by his illness, where he replays a key part of his childhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisApaches: Gang of Paris (2023)
Paris, 1884. The lives of three orphaned children wandering the streets dominated by ruthless criminals change tragically when they carry out a daring robbery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisM (1951)
In the city, someone is murdering children. The police search is so intense, it is disturbing the 'normal' criminals, and the local hoods decide to help find the murderer as quickly as possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKompromat (2022)
Mathieu, a member of the French institute in Irkutsk, is arrested overnight by the Russian authorities. Imprisoned and accused of sexual abuse on his own daughter, he realises he is a victim of a Kompromat. With the help of the FSB, someone has built up a case to frame him. Isolated, he has no one to turn to. Proving his innocence is impossible: the only solution is to escape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIrreversible (2002)
A woman’s lover and her ex-boyfriend take justice into their own hands after she becomes the victim of a rapist. Because some acts can’t be undone. Because man is an animal. Because the desire for vengeance is a natural impulse. Because most crimes remain unpunished.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Rays and Shadows (2026)
Jean and Otto, a French newspaperman and a young German Francophile, are fighting for peace in Europe. Jean’s daughter, Corinne, is launching a brilliant acting career in the film world, but war breaks out and France is occupied. The two friends have a major role to play in this new France. Jean becomes a big press baron and an ardent advocate of collaboration with the occupying forces, while Otto becomes the Reich’s ambassador in Paris. Corinne, meanwhile, finds herself thrown into the lion’s pit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSister My Sister (1994)
A true story of shocking violence catapults a picturesque little town into history. The close sibling relationship between the two maids takes on a new dimension as their overbearing employer discovers a sexual fever between the two sisters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisFlic Story (1975)
The film story depicts Emile Buisson, following the death of his wife and child, escaping from a psychiatric institution in 1947 and returning to Paris. Buisson, who three years later would become France's public enemy number one, begins a murderous rampage through the French capital.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMesrine: Killer Instinct (2008)
Jacques Mesrine, a loyal son and dedicated soldier, is back home and living with his parents after serving in the Algerian War. Soon he is seduced by the neon glamour of sixties Paris and the easy money it presents. Mentored by Guido, Mesrine turns his back on middle class law-abiding and soon moves swiftly up the criminal ladder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisParis Belongs to Us (1961)
A young woman joins a theatrical troupe where she slowly believes that the director is involved with a secret group and that he is in grave danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInglourious Basterds (2009)
In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds, lead by Lt. Aldo Raine soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPoint Blank (1967)
After being double-crossed and left for dead, a mysterious man named Walker single-mindedly tries to retrieve the rather inconsequential sum of money that was stolen from him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRaazi (2018)
An Indian spy is married to a Pakistani military officer during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFatso (1980)
Dominick DiNapoli is a man who loves food and is overweight as a result. After an obese cousin dies due to health problems, Dominick's sister Antoinette sets out to help him lose weight. Although he has a hard time trying to slim down, Dominick finds inspiration when he meets and falls for shop owner Lydia. Can he get up the courage to ask her out, or will he go back to the comfort of overeating?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisPreludes to Ecstasy (1961)
Sten Lehtoja, a married, middle-aged businessman, picks up a young hitchhiker, Elsie, while driving to his summer home. Elsie spends the night and becomes his mistress. Later during the summer, Elsie also begins an affair with Reino, the teenage son of a local storekeeper. Sten offers to divorce his wife, and Elsie, attracted by the prospect of a secure social position, agrees to marry him when the divorce becomes final. One night when the couple are in bed, Reino climbs a ladder and attempts to force his way into their room; he falls and breaks his neck, and to avoid scandal Sten hides the body. But the strain of guilt ruins the romance, and Elsie contacts the police, who arrest her lover.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Welcome to the Quiet Room (2007)
28 year old freelance writer Sakura Asuka wakes up tied in a white room. The white room is a protected room located in an isolated ward of a psychiatric hospital. Sakura first became unconscious because of heavy alcohol use and a druge overdose. She’s confined in the single room because of her high risk of committing suicide. Sakura tried to talk to the nurses and doctors but they didn’t listen to her. Under the circumstances another patient Miki, who suffers from an eating disorder, leads her to understand the unknown world. But, Sakura is looking for the way to get back to the real world as soon as possible.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Blonde (2022)
From her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, this reimagined fictional portrait of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore the widening split between her public and private selves.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLocomotive Teacher (2004)
Seigo Yoshioka (Kenji Sakaguchi) is a teacher that became mute after a kendo accident. He feels lost after the accident and eventually decides to teach again on a small island where his mother was born. The children there on the island quickly name him "Kikansha Sensei" (Teacher Locomotive) after learning he is mute. The parents on the island are mostly hostile to Seigo Yoshioka, believing he is incapable of teaching their children. But with Seigo Yoshioka's determination and kindness, a strong bond develops between the students and the mute teacher, which then changes the parents' opinions of Seigo Yoshioka. Suddenly, tragedy then strikes ...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Madame X (1929)
A young, unfaithful wife and mother is thrown out by her cold, unforgiving husband, the Attorney General of France. She is barred from ever seeing her three year old son again despite her earnest attempts to make amends. For many years the mother seeks refuge overseas and in Absinthe. In the end, her son, a young and promising lawyer unknowingly defends her in court. Ruth Chatterton gives a marvelous performance in this early talkie in her portrayal of Madame X.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
In My Life (2009)
A headstrong woman moves to New York and must come to terms with her estranged gay son and his partner.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Wilma or The Ghosts of Freedom (2025)
Wilma has many qualifications and talents, yet suffers just as many disappointments in life. After she catches her husband cheating, she runs away to Vienna in search of a new life. There she lives with bustling bohemians, tries her luck at a variety of jobs and perhaps... at love again.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bihter: A Forbidden Passion (2023)
Bihter, who is desperate for love, sees Adnan, a wealthy and respected older guy, as a way out of the stereotype that society and her materialistic mother have given her. But she soon discovers that she is not satisfied with his attention and has other needs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Mad Women's Ball?
The closest matches to The Mad Women's Ball are Plan A (2021), The Pentagon Papers (2003) and The Round Up (2010). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Mad Women's Ball?
Start with Plan A (2021), the closest match to The Mad Women's Ball.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Mad Women's Ball?
Inglourious Basterds (2009), rated 8.2/10 by 25,149 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Mad Women's Ball?
The Rays and Shadows (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like The Mad Women's Ball?
Yes: The Round Up (2010), The Emperor of Paris (2018) and Les Misérables (2019).
How are movies similar to The Mad Women's Ball chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Mad Women's Ball, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.