Movies like Le roman de Renan (2021)
The best movies like Le roman de Renan (2021) are Nowhere Special (2020), By the Grace of God (2019) and Evelyn (2002). If Le roman de Renan hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDiary of a Country Priest (1951)7.5/10 from 293 votes
- NewestThe Quiet Son (2025)Released 2025
- In FrenchBy the Grace of God (2019)Also in French
Nowhere Special (2020)
John, a 35-year-old window cleaner, has dedicated his life to bringing up his 4-year-old son, Michael, after the child's mother left them soon after giving birth. When John is given only a few months left to live, he attempts to find a new, perfect family for Michael, determined to shield him from the terrible reality of the situation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBy the Grace of God (2019)
Alexandre, a man in his 40s living in Lyon with his wife and children, discovers that the priest who abused him decades ago continues to work with children. He joins forces with others victims of the priest, to bring justice and “lift the burden of silence” about what they endured.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEvelyn (2002)
Desmond Doyle is devastated when his wife abandons their family on the day after Christmas. His unemployment, and the fact that there is no woman in the house to care for the children—Evelyn, Dermot and Maurice—make it clear to the authorities this is an untenable situation. The Catholic Church and the Irish courts decide to put the Doyle children into Church-run orphanages.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFatima (2020)
In 1917, outside the parish of Fátima, Portugal, a 10-year-old girl and her two younger cousins witness multiple visitations of the Virgin Mary, who tells them that only prayer and suffering will bring an end to World War I. As secularist government officials and Church leaders try to force the children to recant their story, word of the sighting spreads across the country, inspiring religious pilgrims to flock to the site in hopes of witnessing a miracle..
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSomeone Like You (2024)
Shocking news hits after young architect Dawson loses his best friend London. In his heartbreak, Dawson is compelled to launch an impossible search for London’s secret sister, twins separated as embryos. But along the way, Dawson never planned to fall in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLike Dandelion Dust (2009)
Rip Porter is sentenced to seven years in prison for beating his wife, Wendy. When he is released, he discovers that Wendy gave up their child, and the privileged Campbell family adopted him. The two families are soon in a legal battle for the child they both love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Dog Stupid (2019)
Henri is a middle-aged writer with fading inspiration who has published nothing worthy of note in years. Feeling increasingly misunderstood by his wife and four grown up deadbeat kids, he dreams of running away to start over again. Yet when he discovers an unattractive, bad-mannered dog in his garden, he decides to adopt him and both start developing an unexpected friendship that inevitably upsets Henri’s family and neighbors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisDiary of a Country Priest (1951)
An inexperienced, sickly priest shows up in the rural French community of Ambricourt, where he joins the community's clergy. But the locals don't take kindly to the priest, and his ascetic ways and unsociable demeanor make him an outcast. During Bible studies at the nearby girls school, he is continually mocked by his students. Then his attempt to intervene in a family feud backfires into a scandal. His failures, compounded with his declining health, begin to erode his faith.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMe, Myself and Mum (2013)
How to become a man when your mother and your closed circle have decided otherwise? This is the challenge Guillaume took up. The film recounts Guillaume's tragicomic battle from the young age of eight, as he adopts the role of a girl then of a homosexual... until, aged 30, he meets the woman who, after his mother, will become the other woman in his life. Beyond this story of a heterosexual coming-out, the film tells the tale of an actor who never stopped loving women, maybe even a little too much.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn Safe Hands (2018)
Théo is given up for adoption by his biological mother on the very day he is born. After this anonymous birth, the mother has two months to change her mind… Or not. The child welfare services and adoption service spring into action… The former have to take care of the baby and support it during this limbo-like time, this period of uncertainty, while the latter must find a woman to become his adoptive mother. She is called Alice, and she has spent the last ten years fighting to have a child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Color of Lies (1999)
In a small Breton town, a 10-year-old girl is found murdered. René, her art teacher, a professional painter, is the last person to have seen her alive. The inspector in charge of the investigation immediately questions him. In this small provincial town where people all know each other and regularly meet at the Bar des Amis, René is increasingly unsettled by the other inhabitants' suspicions and by the inspector's investigation. Children stop coming to him for lessons. His wife, Viviane, a district nurse, protects him and supports him with her love. However, a self-centred media-star writer adds to René's confusion...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisRenoir (2012)
In the French Riviera in the summer of 1915, Jean Renoir, son of the Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste, returns home to convalesce after being wounded in World War I. At his side is Andrée, a young woman who rejuvenates, enchants, and inspires both father and son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot (2024)
Led by Donna and Reverend W.C. Martin, 22 families from a rural Black church in the small East Texas town of Possum Trot adopt 77 of the most difficult-to-place kids in the foster system and kickstart a movement in the process.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMurmur of the Heart (1971)
This loosely plotted coming-of-age tale follows the life of 15-year-old Laurent Chevalier as he stumbles his way over the burgeoning swell of adolescence in 1950s France. After having his first sexual experience with a prostitute and dodging the lips of a priest, Chevalier contracts a case of scarlet fever. When the fever leaves him with a heart murmur, Chevalier is placed in a sanatorium, along with his over-attentive and adulterous mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisL'Amour flou (2018)
Romane and Philippe separate. After 10 years together, two children and a dog, they do not love each other anymore. They give birth to a "separation": two separate apartments, communicating only through the room of their children.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Quiet Son (2025)
Pierre, a devoted father in his 50s, raises his two sons alone. When Louis, the youngest, leaves home to attend the Sorbonne in Paris, Fus, slightly older and not as successful academically, becomes more and more secretive. Driven by a fascination for violence, he gets entangled in far-right extremist groups, at the very opposite of his father’s values. Between them, there is love and hate, until tragedy happens.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Song of Bernadette (1943)
In 1858 Lourdes, France, adolescent peasant Bernadette has a vision of "a beautiful lady" in the Massabielle grotto - the townspeople assume this lady to be the Virgin Mary. Pompous government officials think the girl is insane, doing their best to suppress her and her followers, while the church wants nothing to do with the matter. But as Bernadette attracts wider and wider attention, the phenomenon overtakes everyone in the town, ultimately transforming their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Well Digger's Daughter (2011)
It's the beginning of the WWII. South of France. Patricia, 18, is the oldest daughter of a well-digger, Pascal, who considers her a princess because of her moral qualities. She's kind, devoted. One day, she briefly meets a young man, Jacques, the son of Mazel, owner of the shop where her father buy his material. He's handsome and teasing. Her father's friend, Felipe, would love to marry her, and he invites her to an aviation show. She accepts his invitation only because she knows Jacques is a pilot and will be there. Soon, she'll carry his child, and he'll be gone, and the family will have to deal with this out-of-wedlock pregnancy...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYou Are So Beautiful (2005)
Aymé Pigrenet, a recently widowed farmer, is eager to find a new wife to help him run his farm. Desperate, he seeks the aid of a local matchmaker who suggest that he go to Romania to find a new wife. There he meets Elena.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChocolat (2000)
In the winter of 1959, a single mother and her young daughter arrive in a rural French town, where they open an unusual chocolate shop that disrupts the moral fiber of the strictly Catholic townsfolk and mayor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Le roman de Renan?
The closest matches to Le roman de Renan are Nowhere Special (2020), By the Grace of God (2019) and Evelyn (2002). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Le roman de Renan?
Start with Nowhere Special (2020), the closest match to Le roman de Renan.
What is the highest-rated movie like Le roman de Renan?
Diary of a Country Priest (1951), rated 7.5/10 by 293 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Le roman de Renan?
The Quiet Son (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Le roman de Renan?
Yes: By the Grace of God (2019), My Dog Stupid (2019) and Diary of a Country Priest (1951).
How are movies similar to Le roman de Renan chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Le roman de Renan, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.