Movies like Persona (2020)
The best movies like Persona (2020) are A Perfect Ending (2012), The World to Come (2021) and Sexual Tension: Violetas (2013). If Persona hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedParis Is Burning (1991)8.0/10 from 578 votes
- NewestTeenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishSexual Tension: Violetas (2013)Also in Spanish
A Perfect Ending (2012)
This intimate drama follows Rebecca, a woman who has kept her sexuality a secret from her friends but chooses to reveal it to a stranger. While Rebecca's revelations may not yield the results she expects, a perfect ending is still in reach.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe World to Come (2021)
In 1856, two women forge a close connection despite their isolation on the American frontier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSexual Tension: Violetas (2013)
What are the rules that determine how attraction and desire are set free? Glances, unexpected smiles, confiding in unknown women. Long cherished fantasies, intimate friendships and unexpected meetings. In Volume 2 of the Sexual Tension diptych, Marco Berger and Marcelo Mónaco take us on a journey through the twists and turns of female seduction: two guests of a hostel become roommates (and more); a keen shop assistant helps a woman uncertain about what dress to buy; the outset of a great passion between two girls during a picnic, even though one of them has a boyfriend. In the film we also find a conversation about Woody Allen between a waitress and a woman, which goes too far; and two high-class escorts who discover that they are attracted to each other, when they are in bed with a client. The film finally shows what could happen, but never did happen, and will probably never happen, to two thirty-year-old women. Maybe it would be better not to have sex with people we love. Sex ...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBetter Than Chocolate (1999)
Not long after moving into her own place, Maggie finds herself with two unsolicited roommates: her recently divorced mother, Lila, and her young brother. The timing is especially bad, considering Maggie has fallen hard for an attractive woman, Kim, only hours before they move in. What could be a nonissue becomes increasingly complicated -- since Maggie's family is unaware of her sexual orientation, and Maggie is not open to sharing that information.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisZerophilia (2005)
Luke, a young man insecure about his masculinity, discovers he's a Zerophiliac, with the ability to change sex at will. Join Luke as he journeys into the extraordinary world of Zerophilia where so many crazy questions arise, only one question matters: "Whom do you love?"
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisI Can't Think Straight (2008)
Tala, a London-based Palestinian, is preparing for her elaborate Middle Eastern wedding when she meets Leyla, a young British Indian woman who is dating her best friend. Spirited Christian Tala and shy Muslim Leyla could not be more different from each other, but the attraction is immediate and goes deeper than friendship. But Tala is not ready to accept the implications of the choice her heart has made for her and escapes back to Jordan, while Leyla tries to move on with her new-found life, to the shock of her tradition-loving parents. As Tala's wedding day approaches, simmering tensions come to boiling point and the pressure mounts for Tala to be true to herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove & Other Drugs (2010)
Maggie is an alluring free spirit who won't let anyone – or anything – tie her down. But she meets her match in Jamie, whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serves him well with the ladies and the cutthroat world of pharmaceutical sales. Maggie and Jamie's evolving relationship takes them both by surprise, as they find themselves under the influence of the ultimate drug: love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPariah (2011)
A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisXXY (2007)
Alex, an intersexed 15-year-old, is living as a girl, but she and her family begin to wonder whether she's emotionally a boy when another teenager's sexual advances bring the issue to a head. As Alex faces a final decision regarding her gender, she meets both hostility and compassion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this20,000 Species of Bees (2023)
Lucía is an eight-year-old girl, who sometimes struggles as the world tries to catch up with the fact that she is trans. As the summer holidays pass, she explores her femininity alongside the women of her family who at the same time reflect on their own femininity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Old Ass (2024)
An 18th birthday mushroom trip brings free-spirited Elliott face-to-face with her wisecracking 39-year-old self. But when Elliott’s "old ass" starts handing out warnings about what her younger self should and shouldn't do, Elliott realizes she has to rethink everything about family, love, and what's becoming a transformative summer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBelow Her Mouth (2017)
An unexpected affair quickly escalates into a heart-stopping reality for two women whose passionate connection changes their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDifferent for Girls (1997)
Paul and Kim meet when their vehicles collide. Paul is fascinated with the attractive Kim. It turns out that the two were childhood friends in Catholic boys' school, but back then, before the operation, Kim was named Karl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTeenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026)
An ambitious director sets out to revive a faded slasher franchise, but her meeting with the film’s reclusive original star spirals into a terrifying maze of obsession, fear, and blood-soaked delusion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParis Is Burning (1991)
Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIf These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000)
The stories of three lesbian couples -- who live in the same house at different periods of time -- who are at a crossroads in their lives. In 1961, Edith loses her lover, Abby, to a stroke. Linda and Amy struggle with feminist issues in 1972. And, in 2000, Kal and Fran try to have a baby with the help of sperm donor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirls Like Girls (2026)
After her mother's passing, 17-year-old Coley navigates new feelings of intimacy with Sonya in rural Oregon, where both girls must overcome their mutual uncertainties and self-doubt to embrace their connection.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhen Night Is Falling (1995)
Camille is a professor at a Protestant college and is in a long-term relationship with Martin, a respected minister and fellow professor. When Camille meets Petra, a bold and flamboyant performer in a circus troupe, she is inexplicably drawn. Pursuing Petra, Camille throws her whole conservative life into disarray.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGood Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022)
Nancy Stokes, a retired schoolteacher, is pretty sure she has never had good sex. Now that her husband has died, she is determined to take a tour of sexual vistas that until now she has only imagined. She even has a plan; it involves an anonymous hotel room, and a sex worker who calls himself Leo Grande.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHigh Art (1998)
When Syd, a young editor at an influential art magazine, becomes involved with her neighbor, a drug-addicted lesbian photographer, both seek to exploit each other for their respective careers while slowly falling in love with each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like Persona and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Persona?
The closest matches to Persona are A Perfect Ending (2012), The World to Come (2021) and Sexual Tension: Violetas (2013). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Persona?
Start with A Perfect Ending (2012), the closest match to Persona.
What is the highest-rated movie like Persona?
Paris Is Burning (1991), rated 8.0/10 by 578 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Persona?
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Persona?
Yes: Sexual Tension: Violetas (2013), XXY (2007) and 20,000 Species of Bees (2023).
How are movies similar to Persona chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Persona, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.