Movies like Saṃsāra (2021)
The best movies like Saṃsāra (2021) are Eleanor the Great (2025), All Day and a Night (2020) and For Colored Girls (2010). If Saṃsāra hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHere (2024)6.5/10 from 739 votes
- NewestGoodbye June (2025)Released 2025
Eleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Day and a Night (2020)
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFor Colored Girls (2010)
A film about existence from the perspective of 20 nameless black females. Each of the women portray one of the characters represented in the collection of twenty poems, revealing different issues that impact women in general and women of color in particular.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHome (2021)
An ex-felon returns home from prison and must confront the demons of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHere (2024)
An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoodbye June (2025)
Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)
Nothing is as it seems when a woman experiencing misgivings about her new boyfriend joins him on a road trip to meet his parents at their remote farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHelen (2009)
On the outside, Helen has it all – a loving family and a successful career – but when her suppressed mental illness resurfaces, the world crumbles around her. Crippled by depression, Helen finds solace through her friendship with Mathilda, a kindred spirit struggling with bipolar disorder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalomé (2013)
After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Mouthful of Air (2021)
Julie is a new mom and children's book author, who escapes into the bright Crayola-colored world of her creation in order to leave behind the darkness caused by her post-partum depression.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLorelei (2020)
A man is released from prison after 15 years. He reunites with his high school girlfriend, now a single mother of three. What follows is a lyrical take on love, regret and second chances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCall Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFlashbacks of a Fool (2008)
An aging Hollywood star, Joe Scott, lives a life of narcissistic hedonism, observed by his laconic personal assistant, Ophelia. The death of his childhood best friend, Boots, takes our protagonist, and the movie, into an extended flashback to a sea-side town in 1970s Britain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMindwalk (1991)
On the French island of Mont Saint-Michel, Jack, a failed presidential candidate, Tom, a poet and Sonia, a physicist, engage in an intellectual conversation about politics, philosophy and life over the course of a single day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPlay Dirty (1969)
During World War II in North Africa, a group of British commandos disguised as Italian soldiers must travel behind enemy lines and destroy a vital Nazi oil depot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisO.G. (2018)
Louis Menkins is five weeks away from being released after 26 years in prison. He is faced with the decision to put his own release at risk in order to protect a young man named Beecher from growing gang controversies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisHoly Lands (2019)
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Beaver (2011)
Suffering from a severe case of depression, toy company CEO Walter Black begins using a beaver hand puppet to help him open up to his family. With his father seemingly going insane, adolescent son Porter pushes for his parents to get a divorce.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA l'Aube d'un Renouveau (2023)
In this farewell letter to Ana (aka Anorexia), I reveal the suffering associated with this illness. I express my desire to regain my freedom and vitality by sharing not only my progress but also my relapses. Through the interweaving of drawings and poetry, I share this quest for reconstruction, which I hope will help raise awareness of this mental illness and bring a little hope to people affected by it and those around them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ether (2024)
A movie that provokes reflection on the nature of reality and the veracity of our relationships and experiences. On questions of what is real and what is merely an illusion, the magic of the film's journey through different levels of consciousness, full of mysterious corners and strange memories, is revealed. The borders between dream and reality blur, creating an extraordinary story about feelings and the condition of human existence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dumpster Duchess (2025)
Four Montrealers search for their path within their failing metropolis, mirroring the deterioration of their deepest ambitions. A cinepoetic journey through Montréal- both modest and morose- woven together by the sounds of small things.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Coda (2013)
A lost soul stumbles drunken through the city. In a park, Death finds him and shows him many things.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSkywhales (1983)
A race of aliens living on a floating island prepares to hunt the giant Skywhales whose origins are slowly unveiled.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Pathless (2023)
A poetic translation of the universal feeling at one's unknown next step. It connects to the overwhelming periods of doubtful thoughts yet resilient ambition one may encounter. A visual and aural combination of fear yet fearlessness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ellie and Sol (2025)
At the height of their relationship, two great friends since junior high school realize a significant life change may come sooner than later.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dragphoria (2025)
Dragphoria is a short film about drag and identity, finding yourself in a noisy crowd, and slowly accepting yourself after a long-awaited denial.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Saṃsāra?
The closest matches to Saṃsāra are Eleanor the Great (2025), All Day and a Night (2020) and For Colored Girls (2010). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Saṃsāra?
Start with Eleanor the Great (2025), the closest match to Saṃsāra.
What is the highest-rated movie like Saṃsāra?
Here (2024), rated 6.5/10 by 739 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Saṃsāra?
Goodbye June (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Saṃsāra?
Yes: Eleanor the Great (2025), All Day and a Night (2020) and For Colored Girls (2010).
How are movies similar to Saṃsāra chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Saṃsāra, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.