Movies like C'est la vie (2001)
The best movies like C'est la vie (2001) are Macadam Stories (2015), Under the Stars of Paris (2021) and Bon Voyage (2003). If C'est la vie hooked you with its drama and comedy, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBye Bye Morons (2020)7.2/10 from 981 votes
- NewestWhatever It Takes (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchMacadam Stories (2015)Also in French
Macadam Stories (2015)
Improbable encounters bring tenderness, laughter and compassion to a world of urban alienation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnder the Stars of Paris (2021)
Christine’s life has not been easy lately. Her lonely routine is divided between free food banks distributions and wandering the streets. On a cold winter night she founds Suli, an 8-year-old Eritrean boy, sobbing in front of her shelter. Christine understands that he is lost and has been separated from his mother. Bounded by their marginal condition, they embark together on an emotional journey to find Suli’s mother in the underground world of Paris...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBon Voyage (2003)
On the eve of World War II four Parisians cope with the impending invasion of their city by German forces. While the French government braces for impact, the intersected lives of a young writer, a vain movie star, a French politician and a young scientist are examined as they attempt to deal with war and evade German spies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTreasure (2024)
A music journalist accompanies her father, a charmingly stubborn Holocaust survivor, on a journey to his homeland. While she's eager to make sense of her family's past, her dad has an agenda of his own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFat Kid Rules The World (2012)
A dropout comes to the aid of a chubby and suicidal high-school kid by recruiting him as the drummer for his upstart punk-rock band.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeartstrings (2016)
A talented cellist, Marie, is secretly losing her sight due to a degenerative eye disease. Determined to attend a prestigious music school, she strikes a pact with her struggling classmate Victor: she’ll help him with his homework if he becomes her “eyes,” helping her hide her condition as she prepares for the entrance exam. As the two grow closer, their arrangement begins to change both of their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlice and the Mayor (2019)
The mayor of Lyon, Paul Théraneau, is in a delicate position. After 30 years in politics, he is running out of ideas and is faced with a feeling of existential emptiness. To overcome this, Paul hires a young and brilliant philosopher, Alice Heimann. Then follows a dialogue between two diametrically opposed personalities who will turn their certainties upside down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI’m Going Home (2001)
The comfortable daily routines of aging Parisian actor Gilbert Valence, 76, are suddenly shaken when he learns that his wife, daughter, and son-in-law have been killed in a car crash. Having to take care of his now-orphaned grandson, he struggles to go on with his lifelong acting career like he's used to. But the roles he is offered -- a flashy TV show and a hectic last-minute replacement in an English-language film of Joyce's Ulysses -- finally convince him that it's time to retire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFour Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (1987)
Two young girls meet, Reinette from the countryside and Mirabelle from Paris, and decide to take a flat together in Paris where they attend University. Four successive stories about their daily lives illustrate the very different views, characters and relation to the world of these two friends.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhatever It Takes (2026)
Rose and Jean have nothing in common. Rose is a force of nature who faces all her problems with a disarming joie de vivre. She lives with her 3 children upstairs in the family hotel that no longer belongs to her. They're not poor, they're broke... but only temporarily. Jean is a solitary, taciturn man who has buried his big heart under layers of modesty and resignation. When he arrives in this unusual family, however, he quickly becomes indispensable. What did they expect before they met? Probably nothing. He soon becomes indispensable.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUranus (1990)
After World War II, a small French village struggles to put the war behind as the controlling Communist Party tries to flush out Petain loyalists. The local bar owner, a simple man who likes to write poetry, who only wants to be left alone to do his job, becomes a target for Communist harassment as they try and locate a particular loyalist, and he pushes back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBye Bye Morons (2020)
When 43-year-old hairdresser Suze Trappet finds out that she's seriously ill, she decides to go looking for a child she was forced to abandon when she was only 15. On her madcap bureaucratic quest she crosses paths with JB, a 50-year-old man in the middle of a burnout, and Mr. Blin, a blind archivist prone to overenthusiasm. The unlikely trio set off on a hilarious and poignant helterskelter journey across the city in search of Suze's long-lost child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSubUrbia (1997)
A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Fired Up (1982)
Victor Valance, an absent father and gambler, works with shady casino operations abroad. When he returns to Paris in need of money, he plans to take advantage that Pauline, his eldest daughter now fully responsible for the whole family, has begun to work for the Ministry of Finance. Pauline thwarts his new projects but when she realizes gangsters are looking for Victor she will put her life at risk to help him and save their family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBon Voyage, Marie (2025)
An unexpected road trip brings a dysfunctional family together for one last journey with their elder, sparking moments of connection, joy, and reconciliation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll Together (2012)
Five old friends decide to move in together as an alternative to living in a retirement home. Joining them is an ethnology student whose thesis is on the aging population.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJuniper (2021)
When a self-destructive teenager is suspended from school and asked to look after his feisty alcoholic grandmother as a punishment, the crazy time they spend together turns his life around.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBig Kids (2023)
Yannick is a caregiver in a retirement home. Between permanent pressure and budget restrictions, he faces the lack of means with a contagious good mood. But when he is forced to share the dining room with a class of children, the situation becomes complicated. Their arrival, as well as that of his hostess, Aude, will shake up the daily life of everyone, especially the residents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOpen at Night (2017)
One night to change everything. One night to save a theater, one night to change one's perspective about life. Luigi will push and pull Faeza with him everywhere around Paris an entire night to save his theater.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnd the Party Goes On (2023)
In Marseille, Rosa, 60, dedicated her life to family and politics with the same sense of duty. Everyone considers her unwavering, until the day she falls in love with Henri. For the first time, Rosa is afraid to commit. Between the pressure of his family, politics and a desire to indulge in her feelings, the conflict is difficult to sustain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like C'est la vie?
The closest matches to C'est la vie are Macadam Stories (2015), Under the Stars of Paris (2021) and Bon Voyage (2003). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after C'est la vie?
Start with Macadam Stories (2015), the closest match to C'est la vie.
What is the highest-rated movie like C'est la vie?
Bye Bye Morons (2020), rated 7.2/10 by 981 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like C'est la vie?
Whatever It Takes (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like C'est la vie?
Yes: Macadam Stories (2015), Under the Stars of Paris (2021) and Bon Voyage (2003).
How are movies similar to C'est la vie chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside C'est la vie, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.