Movies like Papa s'en va (2020)
The best movies like Papa s'en va (2020) are Trevor Noah: You Laugh But It's True (2011), Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie (2003) and American Pie: Revealed (2004). If Papa s'en va hooked you with its documentary and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedI Am Heath Ledger (2017)7.4/10 from 233 votes
- NewestCome See Me in the Good Light (2025)Released 2025
- In FrenchThanks Boss! (2016)Also in French
Trevor Noah: You Laugh But It's True (2011)
In the world of stand-up comedy in South Africa, Trevor Noah uses his childhood experiences in a biracial family during apartheid to prepare for his first one-man show.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie (2003)
The comedic stylings of four sort-of famous funnymen are brought to the big screen courtesy of this 2002 documentary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmerican Pie: Revealed (2004)
Documentary about the making of American Pie (1999), American Pie 2 (2001) and American Wedding (2003).
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThanks Boss! (2016)
A family fired by a company owned by LVMH (Group owned by French billionaire, Bernard Arnault) seeks reparation from their previous employer with the help of the movie director.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDick Johnson Is Dead (2020)
With this inventive portrait, director Kirsten Johnson seeks a way to keep her 86-year-old father alive forever. Utilizing moviemaking magic and her family’s dark humor, she celebrates Dr. Dick Johnson’s last years by staging fantasies of death and beyond. Together, dad and daughter confront the great inevitability awaiting us all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStories We Tell (2012)
Canadian actress and filmmaker Sarah Polley investigates certain secrets related to her mother, interviewing a group of family members and friends whose reliability varies depending on their implication in the events, which are remembered in different ways; so a trail of questions remains to be answered, because memory is always changing and the discovery of truth often depends on who is telling the tale.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAs I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000)
A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like this"Sr." (2022)
A portrait of the life and career of Robert Downey Sr. (1936-2021), the visionary and fearless US filmmaker — father of actor Robert Downey Jr. — who in the sixties and seventies laid the foundations for countercultural comedy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (2016)
An intimate portrait of Hollywood royalty featuring Debbie Reynolds, Todd Fisher, and Carrie Fisher.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisWhitney: Can I Be Me (2017)
The life and tragic death of Whitney Houston.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSidney (2022)
This revealing documentary honors the legendary Sidney Poitier—iconic actor, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. Featuring interviews with Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Halle Berry, and more.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisSeduced and Abandoned (2013)
SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVal (2021)
For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood's most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors, has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and Batman Forever. This raw, wildly original and unflinching documentary reveals a life lived to extremes and a heart-filled, sometimes hilarious look at what it means to be an artist and a complex man.
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 thisMy Mom Jayne (2025)
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisI Am Heath Ledger (2017)
The life and career of an actor, artist, and icon. His own journey through his own camera.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNight Will Fall (2014)
When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008)
Fueled by a raging libido, Wild Turkey, and superhuman doses of drugs, Thompson was a true "free lance, " goring sacred cows with impunity, hilarity, and a steel-eyed conviction for writing wrongs. Focusing on the good doctor's heyday, 1965 to 1975, the film includes clips of never-before-seen (nor heard) home movies, audiotapes, and passages from unpublished manuscripts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAntonia's Line (1995)
After World War II, Antonia and her daughter, Danielle, go back to their Dutch hometown, where Antonia's late mother has bestowed a small farm upon her. There, Antonia settles down and joins a tightly-knit but unusual community. Those around her include quirky friend Crooked Finger, would-be suitor Bas and, eventually for Antonia, a granddaughter and great-granddaughter who help create a strong family of empowered women.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisQatar, une dynastie à la conquête du monde (2022)
For three decades now, Qatar, this small desert kingdom, has not stopped being talked about; because of its financial power and the secrecy that surrounds it, the royal family that runs it fascinates as much as it frightens.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
I Don't Want to Be a Grown-Up (1982)
The parents of six-year-old Pavlik want to make an erudite out of their beloved son. They constantly force the boy to read a lot, study and achieve success. Mom and dad so want their son to be the first in everything. One day Pavlik comes to visit his grandmother in the village. Grandmother allows her grandson to go out alone for a walk. The walk turns into a fun journey for the young hero to Moscow...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Meet the Robinsons (2007)
Lewis, a brilliant young inventor, is keen on creating a time machine to find his mother, who abandoned him in an orphanage. Things take a turn when he meets Wilbur Robinson and his family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThumbsucker (2005)
Justin Cobb, a teenager in suburban Oregon, copes with his thumb-sucking problem, romance, and his diagnosis with ADHD and subsequent experience using Ritalin.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPieces of April (2003)
Quirky and rebellious April Burns lives with her boyfriend in a low-rent New York City apartment miles away from her emotionally distant family. But when she discovers that her mother has a fatal form of breast cancer, she invites the clan to her place for Thanksgiving. While her father struggles to drive her family into the city, April -- an inexperienced cook -- runs into kitchen trouble and must ask a neighbor for help.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Other Side of the Wall (2017)
Honduran immigrants living in Mexico, teenage siblings Rocío and Ale must take over care of their two younger siblings after their mother is sentenced to prison on dubious grounds. Tensions grow between the pair as the decision must be made on whether to stay together in Mexico or split the family up to cross into the US to work.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Day After (TBA)
A terrorist attack hits Shira's homeland shortly after she moves to the United States. Picking up a camera, she looks for ways to cope with the tragedy, thousands of miles away from those she loves and lost.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Miracle of Father Malachia (1961)
The ardent prayer of a monk brings about a true miracle in a West German industrial town, which, however, is not understood by the people but only exploited as a lucrative sensation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Treasure Hunt (1952)
Short of money the owners of Ballyroden Hall must attempt to run it as a guest house, but not everyone is happy about the plan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Papa s'en va?
The closest matches to Papa s'en va are Trevor Noah: You Laugh But It's True (2011), Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie (2003) and American Pie: Revealed (2004). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Papa s'en va?
Start with Trevor Noah: You Laugh But It's True (2011), the closest match to Papa s'en va.
What is the highest-rated movie like Papa s'en va?
I Am Heath Ledger (2017), rated 7.4/10 by 233 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Papa s'en va?
Come See Me in the Good Light (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Papa s'en va?
Yes: Thanks Boss! (2016) and Qatar, une dynastie à la conquête du monde (2022).
How are movies similar to Papa s'en va chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Papa s'en va, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.