Movies like The First Man (2011)
The best movies like The First Man (2011) are A Burning Hot Summer (2011), The Life of Jesus (1997) and Don't Worry, I'm Fine (2006). If The First Man hooked you with its drama, these 29 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDon't Worry, I'm Fine (2006)7.2/10 from 618 votes
- Newest180 (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchA Burning Hot Summer (2011)Also in French
A Burning Hot Summer (2011)
Paul reflects on the summer he met Angèle and Frédéric as he watches his friend being laid to rest.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Life of Jesus (1997)
Twenty-something Freddy is becalmed in a podunk French village where the only sign of life is the local amateur brass band and youth aimlessly roaming around the countryside on scooters. He has an intense sexual connection with his girlfriend but has no joy or passion to give her. When she falls for a handsome Arab youth a tragedy unfolds.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon't Worry, I'm Fine (2006)
A 19-year-old searches for her twin brother after he runs away from home, following a fight with their father.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove Me No More (2008)
Antoine Méliot is around 40 years old and has everything he needs to be happy: a beautiful wife, two adorable children, friends he can count on, a pretty house in the Yvelines and money. But one day he decides to ruin everything in one weekend.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBand of Brothers (2019)
Emil and his brother, Stanko, have something in common: they both remember a terrible event that happened when they were children in Montenegro. Both are now immigrants in France: Emil moves in with his friend Gabrielle, while Stanko attempts to climb the ladder on the fringes of lawfulness, in the world of gambling and cock fighting. Anna, their mother, who has never forgotten her home country, dreams of going back to Montenegro as a family. The arrival of Larkos, their uncle, who has finally been released from prison and is over the moon to be reunited with his first love, will catalyse events and the inevitable confrontation...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000)
In 1970s Germany, Léopold, a 50-year-old businessman, picks up and seduces 20-year-old Franz, who swiftly moves into his apartment. The dynamic between them intensifies with the sudden arrival of their ex-girlfriends.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon't Look Back (2009)
Panic attacks and memory loss signal the plight of a writer whose body is inexplicably being taken over by another woman.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisOutside Satan (2011)
Along the Côte d'Opale, near a hamlet, with its dunes and marshes, lives a mysterious wanderer from nowhere who struggles along, poaches, prays, and builds fires.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMöbius (2013)
An FSB officer falls in love with his agent, an American woman who works as a trader in a Russian bank.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Stranger (2025)
Algiers, 1938. Meursault, a quiet and unassuming employee in his early thirties, attends his mother's funeral without shedding a tear. The next day, he begins a casual affair with Marie, a work colleague. He quickly slips back into his usual routine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Passengers of the Night (2022)
On election night in 1981, celebrations spill out onto the street and there is an air of hope and change throughout Paris. But for Elisabeth, her marriage is coming to an end and she will now have to support herself and her two teenage children. She finds work at a late-night radio show and encounters a troubled teenager named Talulah whom she invites into her home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDNA (2020)
A woman has a close bond with her beloved Algerian grandfather, who protected her from a toxic home life as a child; his death triggers a deep identity crisis as tensions between her extended family members escalate, revealing new depths of resentment and bitterness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisThe Cage (1975)
The story of a woman who is suddenly visited by her estranged ex-husband. The ex-hubby wants to buy her country house, which she received in the divorce settlement. Instead he finds himself locked in a cage in the cellar.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlood Ties (2013)
Two brothers, on either side of the law, face off over organized crime in Brooklyn during the 1970s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThank You, Life (1991)
Camille, a naïve schoolgirl, meets an intriguing influence in Joelle, a slightly older and much more experienced spirit. Camille follows her new friend through the discovery of sex and the darker side of life. As the film progresses, Camille discovers AIDS and the fear that she may have picked up the disease in her early encounters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMichou d'Auber (2007)
Set in France during the struggle for Algerian independence, Messaoud's mother is terminally ill and his father, needing to work long hours in the factory, can't look after him, so decides to put him and his older brother Abdel in foster care. Sent to the countryside, Abdel has to work on a farm, but Messaoud is taken in by a childless woman, who conceals his Arab origins from her fiercely Gaullist ex-army husband. Re-named Michel/Michou, and with his hair comically dyed blond, the young boy quickly steals the hearts of both foster-parents, and eventually is instrumental in saving their troubled marriage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Minister (2011)
Transport Minister Bertrand Saint-Jean is awoken in the middle of the night by his head of staff. A bus has gone off the road into a gully. He has no choice but to go to the scene of the accident. Thus begins the odyssey of a politician in a world that is increasingly more complex and hostile.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOmar Killed Me (2011)
In the summer of 1991 an elderly woman Ghislaine Marchal is found murdered in the basement of her home with the message "Omar M'a Tuer" (Omar has kill me) written beside in her own blood. Despite a lack of forensic or DNA evidence, her Moroccan gardener Omar Raddad is found guilty and sentenced to 18 years in a French prison. Shocked by the case, and convinced of his innocence, journalist Pierre-Emmanuel Vaugrenard moves to Nice to investigate, and uncover the truth...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLa Belle Équipe (1936)
Five unemployed workers win 100,000 Francs in the national lottery. Instead of sharing the money, they buy a ruin and build an open-air cafe. But difficulties come to split their friendly group apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisChaos (2001)
A bourgeois couple, modern yet conventional. One night by accident, a young prostitute barges into their lives. Hounded down, beaten up, threatened, she will continue to struggle, with the help of a well off lady, first for her survival-her resurrection-then for her dignity and freedom. Stormy encounters for everyone involved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Long Absence (1961)
Therese, a café owner, mourns the mysterious disappearance of her husband sixteen years earlier. A tramp arrives in the town and she believes him to be her husband. But he is suffering from amnesia and she tries to bring back his memory of earlier times.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisL'Argent (1928)
Adapted from the novel L'Argent by Émile Zola, the film portrays the world of banking and the stock market in Paris in the 1920s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLike a Son (2024)
Jacques Romand is a history teacher who has lost faith in his vocation. One evening, witnessing a shopkeeper attacked by three young robbers, he catches one of the aggressors, Victor, a 14-year-old Roma boy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCéline (1992)
After the death of her father, 22-year-old Céline inherits most of his estate, but gives it to her stepmother, causing her greedy fiancé to leave her. Following several failed suicide attempts, Céline is hospitalized and comes to the attention of a nurse, Genevieve, who has struggled with depression. Under her personal care, Céline gradually recovers, and the two women grow close.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this180 (2026)
When an unexpected road rage incident puts his son in critical condition, an enraged father spirals down a dark path of emotional turmoil and vengeance.
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 this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The First Man?
The closest matches to The First Man are A Burning Hot Summer (2011), The Life of Jesus (1997) and Don't Worry, I'm Fine (2006). Below are 26 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The First Man?
People who watched The First Man most often go on to A Burning Hot Summer (2011), The Life of Jesus (1997) and Don't Worry, I'm Fine (2006).
What is the highest-rated movie like The First Man?
Don't Worry, I'm Fine (2006), rated 7.2/10 by 618 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The First Man?
180 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like The First Man?
Yes: A Burning Hot Summer (2011), The Life of Jesus (1997) and Don't Worry, I'm Fine (2006).
How are movies similar to The First Man chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The First Man, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.