Movies like L'Arbre et le Soleil (1990)
The best movies like L'Arbre et le Soleil (1990) are À propos de Nice (1930), Naqoyqatsi (2002) and Dolphin Reef (2018). If L'Arbre et le Soleil hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedKoyaanisqatsi (1983)7.9/10 from 814 votes
- NewestCome See Me in the Good Light (2025)Released 2025
- In FrenchÀ propos de Nice (1930)Also in French
À propos de Nice (1930)
What starts off as a conventional travelogue turns into a satirical portrait of the town of Nice on the French Côte d'Azur, especially its wealthy inhabitants.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNaqoyqatsi (2002)
A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDolphin Reef (2018)
Echo is a youngster who can't quite decide if it's time to grow up and take on new responsibilities-or give in to her silly side and just have fun. Dolphin society is tricky, and the coral reef that Echo and his family call home depends on all of its inhabitants to keep it healthy. But Echo has a tough time resisting the many adventures the ocean has to offer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCome See Me in the Good Light (2025)
In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHeart of an Oak (2022)
Once upon a time, there was a pedunculate oak (Quercus robur), born in 1810, 210 years old and a pillar in its kingdom. This spectacular adventure features an extraordinary cast: squirrels, barnacles, jays, ants, field mice... This vibrant, whirring, marvelous little world seals its destiny around the majestic tree that welcomes them, feeds them and protects them from its roots to its crown. A poetic ode to life, in which nature alone expresses itself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlong the Coast (1958)
Tongue-in-cheek look at the French Riviera, especially in summer when it overflows with tourists. Reviews its history and famous visitors; displays its faux-exotic buildings, its crowded beaches, its trees and monuments; and, pokes fun at the colors women wear and the vagaries of fashion. The film celebrates the use of "Eden" as a place name, suggesting that paradise comes to the coast after all are gone, perhaps only on a remote island beach.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJLG/JLG: Self-Portrait in December (1995)
Director Jean-Luc Godard reflects in this movie about his place in film history, the interaction of film industry and film as art, as well as the act of creating art.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)
Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France, capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHeart of a Dog (2015)
Musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother and her beloved dog.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOn the Adamant (2023)
The Adamant is a unique day-care centre. A floating structure located on the Seine in the heart of Paris, it welcomes adults suffering from mental disorders, offering the kind of care that grounds them in time and space and helps them to recover or keep up their spirits. The team running it tries to resist the deterioration and dehumanisation of psychiatry as best as they can.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMicrocosmos (1996)
A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Know That Voice (2014)
Filmmaker Lawrence Shapiro discusses voice-over acting with the talented people behind the characters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPowaqqatsi (1988)
An exploration of technologically developing nations and the effect the transition to Western-style modernization has had on them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lovely Month of May (1963)
Candid interviews of ordinary people on the meaning of happiness, an often amorphous and inarticulable notion that evokes more basic and fundamentally egalitarian ideals of self-betterment, prosperity, tolerance, economic opportunity, and freedom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDaguerréotypes (1978)
An intimate portrait of the small shops and shopkeepers of the Rue Daguerre in Paris, a picturesque street that has been the filmmaker’s home for more than 50 years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLouis Theroux: Twilight of the Porn Stars (2012)
In 1997, Louis Theroux made a documentary about the world of male porn performers in Los Angeles. 15 years later, he returns to find a business struggling with the deluge of free porn on the internet. Louis revisits some of the original programme's contributors as well as meeting the latest crop of porn performers dreaming of porn stardom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKoyaanisqatsi (1983)
Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBruce Lee, the Legend (1984)
The Official Golden Harvest tribute to the Master of the Martial Arts Film, Bruce Lee.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisJust Don't Think I'll Scream (2019)
January 2016. The love story that brought me to this village in Alsace where I live ended six months ago. At 45, I am now alone, without a car, a job or any real prospects, surrounded by luxuriant nature, the proximity of which is not enough to calm the deep distress into which I am plunged. I am lost and I watch four to five films a day. I decide to record this stagnation, not by picking up a camera but by editing shots from the stream of films I watch.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSherman's March (1986)
Documentarian Ross McElwee originally set out to make a travelogue of sorts tracing General William T. Sherman's infamous scorched-earth march through the Confederacy in the latter stages of the Civil War. Instead, haunted by a recent breakup with a girlfriend, McElwee ends up documenting his progress -- or lack thereof -- in starting a new relationship. His journey then becomes one of self-reflection and self-discovery rather than a historical/sociological exploration.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRiding Giants (2004)
Riding Giants is story about big wave surfers who have become heroes and legends in their sport. Directed by the skateboard guru Stacy Peralta.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlbert Camus, la tragédie du bonheur (1999)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Manic Magic: a Poem in Four Parts (2025)
A poem about mania written by Omar Zefier. His second film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Who's Afraid of Kathy Acker? (2007)
Documentary tracing the extreme life of outlaw writer, performance artist and punk icon, Kathy Acker. Through animation, archival footage, interviews and dramatic reenactments, director Barbara Caspar explores Acker's colorful history, from her well-heeled upbringing to her role as the scribe of society's fringe.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Cacaso (2016)
Cacaso, a Brazilian poet, lived in Rio de Janeiro. Born Antonio Carlos de Brito (1944-1987) he was one of the leaders of the marginal poetry movement. Cacaso filled notebooks not only with poems but reflections, drawings and collages. He also became a lyricist and partner of celebrated songwriters such as Tom Jobim, Edu Lobo, Toninho Horta, João Donato and Sivuca.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Retratação (2019)
Fernando Lemos, a Portuguese surrealist artist, fled from dictatorship to Brazil in 1952 searching for something better. The movie follows the last moments of his journey and the struggle for the preservation of his legacy, trying to fulfill his last great desire: to be a good dead man.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Ana Enriqueta Terán (1996)
Video-essay about poet Ana Enriqueta Terán.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Dans les yeux d'Elsa Triolet (2022)
Portrait of the writer Elsa Triolet, wife of poet Louis Aragon. The tile is a play on a famous poem by Louis Les yeux d'Elsa.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Elfriede & Elfriede (2004)
Two friends, two Viennese, two poets, two unusual women. They have known each other for 30 years. Elfriede Jelinek is the better known of the two, the great author with her analytical mind and her social commitment against the whole "politician's docks." The now deceased lyricist Elfriede Gerstl remains rather tender with her poetry, although her poems do not miss a certain amount of sharpness, albeit ironically packed. When the two Elfrieden sit in their Viennese coffee house and drink the little brown, they usually talk about clothes, they talk about the fashion that Elfriede Gerstl has just collected again.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Wormwood Star (1956)
A portrait of artist, actress, poet and occultist Marjorie Cameron, presenting images of her paintings and recitations of her poems.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like L'Arbre et le Soleil?
The closest matches to L'Arbre et le Soleil are À propos de Nice (1930), Naqoyqatsi (2002) and Dolphin Reef (2018). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after L'Arbre et le Soleil?
Start with À propos de Nice (1930), the closest match to L'Arbre et le Soleil.
What is the highest-rated movie like L'Arbre et le Soleil?
Koyaanisqatsi (1983), rated 7.9/10 by 814 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like L'Arbre et le Soleil?
Come See Me in the Good Light (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like L'Arbre et le Soleil?
Yes: À propos de Nice (1930), Heart of an Oak (2022) and Along the Coast (1958).
How are movies similar to L'Arbre et le Soleil chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside L'Arbre et le Soleil, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.