feelsalike.comSign in
The Prestige poster

Movies that feel likeThe Prestige (2006)

A mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy -- full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences.

If you loved The Prestige, the closest films we have are Thelma (2017), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Contact (1997). All three share The Prestige's contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Marjorie Prime (2017).

11 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

Stream it:Netflix ↗
See it on the Mood Map

When is The Prestige streaming? →

If The Prestige hit the spot, these will too

Thelma poster
Thelma
2017 · dir. Joachim Trier
🍅 92%★ 6.9drama · mystery · thriller

Hidden powers and repressed desire building to eerie revelations

The difference: Cold Scandinavian pacing — mood matters more than mechanism

A college student starts to experience extreme seizures. She soon learns that the violent episodes are a symptom of inexplicable abilities.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind poster
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1977 · dir. Steven Spielberg
🍅 91%★ 7.6science fiction · dramaPeacock

Obsession consuming a life in pursuit of the impossible

The difference: Wonder-struck, not vengeful

After an encounter with UFOs, an electricity linesman feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.

Contact poster
Contact
1997 · dir. Robert Zemeckis
🍅 69%★ 7.5drama · science fiction · mystery

Obsession with the unknowable, rigorously constructed

The difference: Cosmic sincerity, no rivalry

A radio astronomer receives the first extraterrestrial radio signal ever picked up on Earth. As the world powers scramble to decipher the message and decide upon a course of action, she must make some difficult decisions between her beliefs, the truth, and reality.

Memento poster
Memento
2000 · dir. Christopher Nolan
🍅 94%★ 8.4mystery · thrillerNetflixPrime Video

Nolan's puzzle-box construction at its purest

The difference: Backwards structure, grief-fueled

Leonard Shelby is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty of locating his wife's killer, however, is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of short-term memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his accident, Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he's going, or why.

Eyes Wide Shut poster
Eyes Wide Shut
1999 · dir. Stanley Kubrick
🍅 77%★ 7.5drama · thriller · mysteryMax

Obsession leading a man into a world of masks and ritual

The difference: Marital psychodrama, mysteries unresolved

After Dr. Bill Harford's wife, Alice, admits to having sexual fantasies about a man she met, Bill becomes obsessed with having a sexual encounter. He discovers an underground sexual group and attends one of their meetings -- and quickly discovers that he is in over his head.

Basic Instinct poster
Basic Instinct
1992 · dir. Paul Verhoeven
🍅 56%★ 7.1thriller · mysteryParamount+

A duel of wits where every seduction might be a setup

The difference: Erotic-thriller sleaze — lurid where Nolan is clinical

Catherine, a novelist with an insatiable sexual appetite, becomes a prime suspect when her boyfriend is brutally murdered -- a crime she had described in her latest story.

8MM poster
8MM
1999 · dir. Joel Schumacher
🍅 23%★ 6.6thriller · crime · mystery

Both keep coming back to the same thing: obsession

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

A small, seemingly innocuous plastic reel of film leads surveillance specialist Tom Welles down an increasingly dark and frightening path. With the help of the streetwise Max, he relentlessly follows a bizarre trail of evidence to determine the fate of a complete stranger. As his work turns into obsession, he drifts farther and farther away from his wife, family and simple life as a small-town PI.

The Girl on the Train poster
The Girl on the Train
2016 · dir. Tate Taylor
🍅 44%★ 6.5crime · mystery · thrillerStarz

An unreliable mind picking at a mystery it can't leave alone

The difference: Domestic-thriller pulp — the puzzle is thinner than it looks

Rachel Watson, devastated by her recent divorce, spends her daily commute fantasizing about the seemingly perfect couple who live in a house that her train passes every day, until one morning she sees something shocking happen there and becomes entangled in the mystery that unfolds.

The Number 23 poster
The Number 23
2007 · dir. Joel Schumacher
🍅 7%★ 6.4thriller · mystery · crime

A man consumed by a puzzle that seems written just for him

The difference: Critically savaged — the twist collapses rather than astonishes

Animal control officer Walter Sparrow becomes obsessed with a novel that he believes was written about him, as more and more similarities between himself and his literary alter ego seem to arise.

Vertigo poster
Vertigo
1958 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 94%★ 8.2mystery · romance · thriller

Common ground: obsession

The difference: Takes it somewhere less contemplative than The Prestige does

A retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.

Heat poster
Heat
1995 · dir. Michael Mann
🍅 84%★ 8.3crime · drama · actionPrime Video

Contemplative where it counts, obsessive underneath

The difference: Trades the twists of The Prestige for an angle of its own

Obsessive master thief Neil McCauley leads a top-notch crew on various daring heists throughout Los Angeles while determined detective Vincent Hanna pursues him without rest. Each man recognizes and respects the ability and the dedication of the other even though they are aware their cat-and-mouse game may end in violence.

Marjorie Prime poster
Marjorie Prime
2017 · dir. Michael Almereyda
🍅 89%★ 6.3drama · mystery · science fiction

A sci-fi conceit used to ask what memory and identity really are

The difference: A chamber piece of conversations — no rivalry, no showmanship

A service which creates holographic projections of late family members allows an elderly woman to spend time with a younger version of her deceased husband.

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies →

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