Movies like The Watchmaker of St. Paul (1974)
The best movies like The Watchmaker of St. Paul (1974) are Barron's Cove (2025), Maldoror (2024) and The Quiller Memorandum (1966). If The Watchmaker of St. Paul hooked you with its thriller and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedA Man Escaped (1956)7.9/10 from 648 votes
- NewestBarron's Cove (2025)Released 2025
- In FrenchMaldoror (2024)Also in French
Barron's Cove (2025)
When his young son is viciously murdered by a classmate, a grieving father with a history of violence kidnaps the child responsible, igniting a frenzied manhunt fueled by a powerful politician -- the father of the kidnapped boy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaldoror (2024)
When two girls go missing, Paul Chartier, an impulsive young police recruit, is assigned to “Maldoror”. This secret unit has been set up to monitor a dangerous sex offender. When the operation fails, fed up with the limits of the legal system, Chartier embarks on a solitary hunt to bring down the culprits.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Quiller Memorandum (1966)
After two British Secret Intelligence Service agents are murdered at the hands of a cryptic neo-Nazi group known as Phoenix, the suave agent Quiller is sent to Berlin to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisM (1951)
In the city, someone is murdering children. The police search is so intense, it is disturbing the 'normal' criminals, and the local hoods decide to help find the murderer as quickly as possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLa Balance (1982)
A Paris police detective plays rough with a prostitute and her pimp/lover, whom he wants as an informant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like this36th Precinct (2004)
In Paris, two cops are competing for the vacant job of chief of police, in the middle of the search for a gang of violent thieves. The movie is directed by Olivier Marchal, a former police officer who spent 12 years with the French police before creating this story, taken in part from real events of the 1980s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInnocents with Dirty Hands (1975)
Saint Tropez. Julie Wormser and her lover, writer and neighbour Jeff Marle, plan the murder of her wealthy husband Louis, an alcoholic impotent. She hits him, and leaves the rest of the task to Jeff. Julie finds herself alone the following day, and becomes therefore the prime suspect. Where is Louis' body? Where is Jeff? Is there any secret beyond a door?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlic Story (1975)
The film story depicts Emile Buisson, following the death of his wife and child, escaping from a psychiatric institution in 1947 and returning to Paris. Buisson, who three years later would become France's public enemy number one, begins a murderous rampage through the French capital.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMesrine: Public Enemy #1 (2008)
After nearly two decades of legendary criminal feats, making him France's most notorious criminal while simultaneously feeding his desire for media attention and public adoration, Mesrine becomes increasingly paranoid and isolated, leading to a dramatic confrontation with the law that ultimately seals his fate as the nation's most infamous public enemy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLost Bullet (2020)
A small time delinquent, turned police mechanic for a go fast task force, is forced to defend his innocence when his mentor is killed by dirty cops.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRighteous Kill (2008)
Two veteran New York City detectives work to identify the possible connection between a recent murder and a case they believe they solved years ago; is there a serial killer on the loose, and did they perhaps put the wrong person behind bars?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisColombiana (2011)
After witnessing her parents’ murder as a child in Bogota, Cataleya Restrepo grows up to be a stone-cold assassin. She works for her uncle as a hitman by day, but her personal time is spent engaging in vigilante murders that she hopes will lead her to her ultimate target: the mobster responsible for her parents' death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Squad: Home Run (2023)
Former Antigang legend Niels Cartier, known for his muscular and unconventional methods, left the force following an intervention that went wrong and led to the death of his wife. When the gang of bank robbers responsible for her death reappears eight years later, Niels won't let anyone stand in his way to seek revenge. Even if it means forming an explosive duo with his temperamental 14-year-old daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Night of the 12th (2022)
Young and ambitious Captain Vivés has just been appointed group leader at the Grenoble Criminal Squad when Clara's murder case lands on his desk. Vivés and his team investigate Clara's complex life and relations, but what starts as a professional and methodical immersion into the victim's life soon turns into a haunting obsession.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this6 Bullets (2012)
An ex-mercenary known for finding missing children is hired by a mixed martial arts fighter whose daughter has been kidnapped.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Stronghold (2021)
Tired of the small-time grind, three Marseille cops get a chance to bust a major drug network. But lines blur when a key informant makes a big ask.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Clovehitch Killer (2018)
A picture-perfect family is torn apart after Tyler finds a cache of disturbing images in his father's possession. He begins to suspect that the man he trusts most in the world may be responsible for the murder of 13 women ten years prior.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like this3 Days to Kill (2014)
A dangerous international spy is determined to give up his high stakes life to finally build a closer relationship with his estranged wife and daughter. But first, he must complete one last mission - even if it means juggling the two toughest assignments yet: hunting down the world's most ruthless terrorist and looking after his teenage daughter for the first time in ten years, while his wife is out of town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStriking Distance (1993)
Demoted Pittsburgh cop Tom Hardy works river patrol while a serial killer targets women from his past, forcing him to conduct an unauthorized investigation to prove his innocence and expose a dirty cop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisPasha (1968)
Six months before his retirement from the criminal police, inspector Joss finds his colleague Gouvion dead, in a poorly faked suicide attempt. Joss loses his temper, and investigates on his own, which leads him through the bas-fond of Paris...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRipley Under Ground (2007)
Now living a quiet, luxurious life at his French estate—funded by past crimes and his marriage to an heiress—Tom Ripley finds that an art scam he supports—selling forged paintings by a supposedly living artist named Derwatt—beginning to collapse. An inquisitive American collector suspects his Derwatt painting is fake and demands answers. As the situation escalates, Ripley turns to murder and elaborate identity deception to protect his reputation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Man Escaped (1956)
A captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from prison.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMadame X (1929)
A young, unfaithful wife and mother is thrown out by her cold, unforgiving husband, the Attorney General of France. She is barred from ever seeing her three year old son again despite her earnest attempts to make amends. For many years the mother seeks refuge overseas and in Absinthe. In the end, her son, a young and promising lawyer unknowingly defends her in court. Ruth Chatterton gives a marvelous performance in this early talkie in her portrayal of Madame X.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Real Steel (2011)
Charlie Kenton is a washed-up fighter who retired from the ring when robots took over the sport. After his robot is trashed, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son to rebuild and train an unlikely contender.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCoco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009)
Paris 1913. Coco Chanel is infatuated with the rich and handsome Boy Capel, but she is also compelled by her work. Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is about to be performed. The revolutionary dissonances of Igor's work parallel Coco's radical ideas. She wants to democratize women's fashion; he wants to redefine musical taste. Coco attends the scandalous first performance of The Rite in a chic white dress. The music and ballet are criticized as too modern, too foreign. Coco is moved but Igor is inconsolable.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSorcerer (1977)
Four men from different countries flee to an impoverished South American village, Povernir, to hide from their pasts. When an oil well explodes, chaos and barbarism roam the streets. Desperate to leave, they agree to risk their lives to transport several crates of nitroglycerin across treacherous jungle terrain.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDelta of Venus (1995)
A struggling American writer and a fellow American expatriate begin a sordid affair among the chaos and discord of 1940 Paris, France on the brink of World War II.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisPolish Wedding (1998)
The film centers on a big Polish family. Jadzia is the mother and the ruler of the Pzoniak family (she has five children). Though she's happily married to Bolek, she is also having a long-time affair with Roman. Her young daughter Hala is having an affair with neighbour cop Russell and becomes pregnant by him. Russell is pressed hard to marry Hala.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBravetown (2015)
After an accidental drug overdose, a talented teenage DJ goes to live with his estranged father in a small Army town, where he gets to the bottom of his own pain and learns empathy for others.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMelissa P. (2005)
An adolescent girl, living with her mother and her grandmother, will have her first sexual experiences in a heavy and excessive way.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Watchmaker of St. Paul?
The closest matches to The Watchmaker of St. Paul are Barron's Cove (2025), Maldoror (2024) and The Quiller Memorandum (1966). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Watchmaker of St. Paul?
Start with Barron's Cove (2025), the closest match to The Watchmaker of St. Paul.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Watchmaker of St. Paul?
A Man Escaped (1956), rated 7.9/10 by 648 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Watchmaker of St. Paul?
Barron's Cove (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like The Watchmaker of St. Paul?
Yes: Maldoror (2024), La Balance (1982) and 36th Precinct (2004).
How are movies similar to The Watchmaker of St. Paul chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Watchmaker of St. Paul, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.