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Secretary poster

Movies that feel likeSecretary (2002)

A young woman, recently released from a mental hospital, gets a job as a secretary to a demanding lawyer, where their employer-employee relationship turns into a sexual, sadomasochistic one.

If you loved Secretary, the closest films we have are The Girl on the Bridge (1999), Love Is All You Need (2012) and Sleepless in Seattle (1993). All three share Secretary's romantic and tender feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Meet John Doe (1941).

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If Secretary hit the spot, these will too

The Girl on the Bridge poster
The Girl on the Bridge
1999 Β· dir. Patrice Leconte
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.4drama Β· comedy Β· romance

The same preoccupation in both: suicide

It's night on a Paris bridge. A girl leans over Seine River with tears in her eyes and a violent yearning to drown her sorrows. Out of nowhere someone takes an interest in her. He is Gabor, a knife thrower who needs a human target for his show. The girl, Adele, has never been lucky and nowhere else to go. So she follows him. They travel along the northern bank of the Mediterranean to perform.

Love Is All You Need poster
Love Is All You Need
2012 Β· dir. Susanne Bier
πŸ… 75%β˜… 6.5comedy Β· romance Β· dramaRent or buy

Romantic where it counts, tender underneath

Ida, a Danish hairdresser who has lost her hair to cancer, returns home from the hospital one day to find her husband is cheating on her. She decides to travel to Italy on her own for her daughter's wedding, but discovers on arriving that the wedding gathering will present its own challenges.

Sleepless in Seattle poster
Sleepless in Seattle
1993 Β· dir. Nora Ephron
πŸ… 75%β˜… 6.8comedy Β· drama Β· romanceNetflix

Both land stillness and wit at once

After the death of his mother, a young boy calls a radio station in an attempt to set his father up on a date. Across the country, an engaged woman becomes convinced that they belong together, despite their never having met. Will their paths collide despite the odds?

Harold and Maude poster
Harold and Maude
1971 Β· dir. Hal Ashby
πŸ… 86%β˜… 7.8comedy Β· drama Β· romance

Common ground: suicide

The difference: 31 years apart, and the 1970s show

A deadpan young man obsessed with death meets an eccentric septuagenarian who teaches him to live life to the fullest.

Meet John Doe poster
Meet John Doe
1941 Β· dir. Frank Capra
πŸ… 92%β˜… 7.6drama Β· comedy Β· romance

Playful and melancholy in the same breath

As a parting shot, fired reporter Ann Mitchell prints a fake letter from unemployed "John Doe," who threatens suicide in protest of social ills. The paper is forced to rehire Ann and hires John Willoughby to impersonate "Doe." Ann and her bosses cynically milk the story for all it's worth, until the made-up "John Doe" philosophy starts a whole political movement.

The Apartment poster
The Apartment
1960 Β· dir. Billy Wilder
πŸ… 94%β˜… 8.3comedy Β· drama Β· romance

Both keep coming back to the same thing: clerk

Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he's left with a major problem to solve.

Life As We Know It poster
Life As We Know It
2010 Β· dir. Greg Berlanti
πŸ… 29%β˜… 6.5comedy Β· romance Β· drama

Romantic romance, and it commits to that

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

After a disastrous first date for caterer Holly and network sports director Messer, all they have in common is a dislike for each other and their love for their goddaughter Sophie. But when they suddenly become all Sophie has in this world, Holly and Messer must set their differences aside. Juggling careers and social calendars, they'll have to find common ground while living under the same roof.

Lolita poster
Lolita
1962 Β· dir. Stanley Kubrick
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.5drama Β· comedy Β· romance

Drama built on tenderness, twice over

Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged British novelist who is both appalled by and attracted to the vulgarity of American culture. When he comes to stay at the boarding house run by Charlotte Haze, he soon becomes obsessed with Lolita, the woman's teenaged daughter.

Closer poster
Closer
2004 Β· dir. Mike Nichols
πŸ… 67%β˜… 7.1drama Β· romance

Comedy with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

The difference: Easier on the wit than Secretary

The relationships of two couples become complicated and deceitful when the man from one couple meets the woman of the other.

P.S. I Love You poster
P.S. I Love You
2007 Β· dir. Richard LaGravenese
β˜… 7drama Β· romance

Both lean on melancholy more than on romance

A young widow discovers that her late husband has left her 10 messages intended to help ease her pain and start a new life.

Romeo + Juliet poster
Romeo + Juliet
1996 Β· dir. Baz Luhrmann
πŸ… 75%β˜… 6.7drama Β· romanceMaxHulu

Romantic drama in both cases

In this contemporary take on William Shakespeare's classic tragedy, the Montagues and Capulets have moved their ongoing feud to the sweltering suburb of Verona Beach, where Romeo and Juliet fall in love and secretly wed. Though the film is visually modern, the bard's dialogue remains.

City Lights poster
City Lights
1931 Β· dir. Charlie Chaplin
πŸ… 95%β˜… 8.5comedy Β· drama Β· romancePrime VideoMax

Comedy with a pulse of wit, in both cases

A tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind flower girl. His on-and-off friendship with a wealthy man allows him to be the girl's benefactor and suitor.

In the mood for more romantic?

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The best-reviewed films that share Secretary’s defining feeling.