Movies like Chaos and Desire (2002)
The best movies like Chaos and Desire (2002) are Possession (2002), Falcon Lake (2022) and The Paradine Case (1947). If Chaos and Desire hooked you with its drama and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLeave Her to Heaven (1945)7.5/10 from 298 votes
- NewestFalcon Lake (2022)Released 2022
- In FrenchFalcon Lake (2022)Also in French
Possession (2002)
Maud Bailey, a brilliant English academic, is researching the life and work of poet Christabel La Motte. Roland Michell is an American scholar in London to study Randolph Henry Ash, now best-known for a collection of poems dedicated to his wife. When Maud and Roland discover a cache of love letters that appear to be from Ash to La Motte, they follow a trail of clues across England, echoing the journey of the couple over a century earlier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFalcon Lake (2022)
A shy teenager on a summer vacation experiences the joy and pain of young adulthood when he forges an unlikely bond with an older girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Paradine Case (1947)
In London, barrister Anthony Keane takes the case of Maddalena Paradine, a beautiful woman accused of poisoning her blind husband. Though happily married, Keane becomes infatuated with his enigmatic client and convinced of her innocence. His obsession clouds his judgment as he builds a defense implicating her servant, André Latour—an act that leads to devastating consequences both in court and at home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA 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 · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisElena Undone (2010)
The wife of a pastor who preaches against homosexuality embarks on an affair with a female writer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Caveman's Valentine (2001)
Romulus, a misunderstood musician turned recluse hiding from personal demons in a New York City cave, finds the frozen body of a young drifter in a tree. The authorities, including his police officer daughter, claim the death is accidental. Romulus is convinced the man was murdered by a prominent art photographer but how can he prove he's right when everyone thinks he's insane?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisDeparture (2016)
An English mother and her teenage son spend a week preparing the sale of their remote holiday house in the South of France. Fifteen-year-old Elliot struggles with his dawning sexuality and an increasing alienation from his mother, Beatrice. She in turn is confronted by the realisation that her marriage to his father, Philip, has grown loveless and the life she knows is coming to an end. When an enigmatic local teenager, Clément, quietly enters their lives, both mother and son are compelled to confront their desires and, finally, each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Children of the Century (1999)
True tale of the tumultuous love affair between two French literary icons of the 19th Century, novelist George Sand and poet Alfred de Musset. But their affair falls apart during an excursion to Venice, Italy where Musset is distracted by drugs and Sand by a handsome doctor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisDisappearing Acts (2000)
A struggling construction worker and an aspiring musician find themselves falling in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSteel Magnolias (2012)
In an updated contemporary version of the beloved stage play and 1989 film, "Steel Magnolias" chronicles the lives and friendship of six women in Louisiana. Supporting each other through their triumphs and tragedies, they congregate at Truvy’s beauty shop to ponder the mysteries of life and death, husbands and children - and hair and nails - all the important topics that truly unite and celebrate women.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Fine Morning (2022)
With a father suffering from neurodegenerative disease, a young woman lives with her eight-year-old daughter. While struggling to secure a decent nursing home, she runs into an unavailable friend with whom she embarks on an affair.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy First Time (2012)
Zachary is 20 years old. Dark and independent, he collects amorous conquests and school failure. Sarah is 18 years old. First class, fragile, she fills her emotional gaps with perfect control of his life. Nothing should close and yet, the year of the tank, for six months, they will live a love against which nothing can be, the true, the big one that marks a life forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRemember (2015)
With the aid of a fellow Auschwitz survivor and a hand-written letter, an elderly man with dementia goes in search of the person responsible for the death of his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lost Husband (2020)
Trying to put her life back together after the death of her husband, Libby and her children move to her estranged Aunt's goat farm in central Texas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight Train to Lisbon (2013)
Raimund Gregorius, having saved a beautiful Portuguese woman from leaping to her death, stumbles upon a mesmerizing book by a Portuguese author, which compels him to suddenly abandon the boring life he has led for years and to embark on an enthralling adventure. In search of the author, Gregorius acts as detective, pulling together pieces of a puzzle that involves political and emotional intrigue and the highest possible stakes. His voyage is one that transcends time and space, delving into the realms of history, medicine and love, all in search of true meaning to his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBorrowed Hearts (1997)
Single mom Kathleen Russell (Roma Downey) and her daughter Zoey pretend to be Kathleen's boss's "family" so he can close a major business deal with the mysterious Mexican financier Javier Del Campo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLuna (2018)
A film in which the director captures the beautiful and accurate qualities of reality when building the energetic portrait of a 16-year-old girl immersed in the macho culture of urban suburban south-west France, just a stone’s throw away from the nearby countryside.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHe Loves Me… He Loves Me Not (2002)
A talented art student named Angélique is passionately in love with Dr. Loïc Le Garrec, a handsome married man whom she believes will leave his wife. When he eventually decides to stay in his marriage, it causes Angélique to spiral. However, as the story shifts from Angélique's perspective to Loïc's, the surprising truth about their relationship is revealed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMoonlight Mile (2002)
As he copes with the death of his fiancee along with her parents, a young man must figure out what he wants out of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLeave Her to Heaven (1945)
A socialite marries a prominent novelist, which spurs a violent, obsessive, and dangerous jealousy in her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002)
The strange comedy film of two close brothers; one, Wilbur, who wants to kill himself, and the other, Harbour, who tries to prevent this. When their father dies leaving them his bookstore they meet a woman who makes their lives a bit better yet with a bit more trouble as well.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisItalian for Beginners (2000)
Several lonely hearts in a semi-provincial suburb of a town in Denmark use a beginner's course in Italian as the platform to meet the romance of their lives. The film, which unspools the connections and family drama shared between the students, complies with several aesthetic principles of Dogme 95 movement.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLost in Translation (2003)
Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Life Without Me (2003)
A fatally ill mother with only two months to live creates a list of things she wants to do before she dies without telling her family of her illness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOpen Hearts (2002)
Cecilie and Joachim are about to get married when a freak car accident leaves Joachim disabled, throwing their lives into a spin. The driver of the other car, Marie, and her family don’t get off lightly, either. Her husband Niels works in the hospital where he meets Cecilie and falls madly in love with her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Secret Life of Words (2005)
A solitary nurse bonds with a badly burned patient who survived an accident on an oil rig.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDesert Hearts (1985)
While waiting for her divorce papers, a repressed literature professor finds herself unexpectedly attracted by a carefree, spirited young woman named Cay.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlistair1918 (2015)
A social work grad student’s film project on L.A. homelessness becomes something quite other when she and her friends encounter a man claiming to be from another time and place.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Afronauts (2014)
16th July 1969: America prepares to launch Apollo 11. Thousands of kilometers away, a ragtag group of Zambian exiles is trying to beat America to the Moon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Murder of a Cat (2014)
When someone murders his beloved cat, Clinton, an adult child, demands justice. Taking it upon himself to solve the case, he teams up with an unlikely ally, Greta, and the two set out to find the culprit lurking in their small suburban town. But as Clinton searches for the truth, he begins to uncover a conspiracy that goes far deeper than he anticipated.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Chaos and Desire?
The closest matches to Chaos and Desire are Possession (2002), Falcon Lake (2022) and The Paradine Case (1947). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Chaos and Desire?
Start with Possession (2002), the closest match to Chaos and Desire.
What is the highest-rated movie like Chaos and Desire?
Leave Her to Heaven (1945), rated 7.5/10 by 298 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Chaos and Desire?
Falcon Lake (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Chaos and Desire?
Yes: Falcon Lake (2022), The Children of the Century (1999) and One Fine Morning (2022).
How are movies similar to Chaos and Desire chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Chaos and Desire, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.