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Movies like Rud's Wife (1986)

The best movies like Rud's Wife (1986) are Come Sunday (2018), The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972) and What Maisie Knew (2013). If Rud's Wife hooked you with its drama, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. Come Sunday (2018)

    Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

  2. The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)

    Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  3. What Maisie Knew (2013)

    In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  4. Bastard Out of Carolina (1996)

    A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  5. Skin (2009)

    Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  6. Omaha (2025)

    A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  7. The Kindness of Strangers (2019)

    Clara and her two sons escape from her abusive husband with little more than their car and plan to start over in New York. After the car towed away, the family meets Alice, who gets them into an emergency shelter. While stealing food at a Russian restaurant called ‘Winter Palace’, Clara meets Marc, who has been given the chance to help the old eatery regain its former glory. The ‘Winter Palace’ soon becomes a place of unexpected encounters between people who are all undergoing some sort of crisis and whom fate has now brought together.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  8. Most (2003)

    A poetic and powerful story of a father forced to choose between love and duty.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  9. Winged Creatures (2009)

    A psychotic man opens fire in a diner, murdering numerous people before killing himself. The survivors struggle in different ways following this horrendous event: a doctor doubts his own instincts and elects to use an experimental medical procedure on his wife, while a gambler believes he's on a lucky streak. A waitress begins engaging in promiscuous sex, and a young girl whose father is among the dead gains unexpected fame.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

  10. Imperial Dreams (2014)

    A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  11. Adopt a Highway (2019)

    Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  12. El Chicano (2019)

    A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  13. Lorelei (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 this
  14. Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980)

    Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  15. The 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 this
  16. Kisses (2008)

    Two kids, Dylan and Kylie, run away from home on Christmas Day and spend a night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  17. The Padre (2018)

    American retired Judge Randall Nemes and his hired gun, Gaspar, track down a con man posing as a priest in a small Colombian town only to be thrown off-course by a scrappy 16-year-old girl intent on reuniting with her sister in the United States.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

  18. Tigertail (2020)

    A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  19. Daddy Longlegs (2010)

    After months of living a solitary existence, Lenny, 34, picks up his kids from school. Every year he spends a couple of weeks with his sons Sage, 9, and Frey, 7. Lenny hosts his kids within a midtown studio apartment in New York. During these two weeks, he must figure out if he wants to act as their father or be their friend. Ultimately, their trip upstate results in complete lawlessness taking over their lives.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  20. The Sound of Silence (2019)

    A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

Like Rud's Wife and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Rud's Wife?

The closest matches to Rud's Wife are Come Sunday (2018), The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972) and What Maisie Knew (2013). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Rud's Wife?

Start with Come Sunday (2018), the closest match to Rud's Wife.

What is the highest-rated movie like Rud's Wife?

Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980), rated 7.3/10 by 326 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Rud's Wife?

Omaha (2025) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like Rud's Wife?

Yes: Come Sunday (2018), The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972) and What Maisie Knew (2013).

How are movies similar to Rud's Wife chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Rud's Wife, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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