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Movies that feel like The Salesman (2016)

If you loved The Salesman, the closest films we have are Elle (2016), Cold in July (2014) and Ballerina (2023). All three share The Salesman's tense and relentless feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 10 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Netflix, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video and others, checked against today's data.

Forced out of their apartment due to dangerous works on a neighboring building, Emad and Rana move into a new flat in the center of Tehran. An incident linked to the previous tenant will dramatically change the young couple’s life.

🍅 96% Rotten Tomatoes7.7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Asghar Farhadicontemplativetensemelancholyrelentless
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If The Salesman hit the spot, these will too

Elle poster
Elle
2016 · dir. Paul Verhoeven
🍅 91%7.1drama · thriller

Common ground in both: rape and assault

When Michèle, the CEO of a gaming software company, is attacked in her home by an unknown assailant, she refuses to let it alter her precisely ordered life. She manages crises involving family, all the while becoming engaged in a game of cat and mouse with her stalker.

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Cold in July poster
Cold in July
2014 · dir. Jim Mickle
🍅 84%6.7drama · thriller

Contemplative where it counts, tense underneath

The difference: Missing the melancholy of The Salesman

While investigating noises in his house one balmy Texas night in 1989, Richard Dane puts a bullet in the brain of a low-life burglar. Although he’s hailed as a small-town hero, Dane soon finds himself fearing for his family’s safety when Freddy’s ex-con father rolls into town, hell-bent on revenge.

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Ballerina poster
Ballerina
2023 · dir. Lee Chung-hyun
🍅 91%6.3action · thriller

Melancholy and relentless in the same breath

The difference: Not nearly as contemplative as The Salesman

Grieving the loss of a best friend she couldn't protect, an ex-bodyguard sets out to fulfill her dear friend's last wish: sweet revenge.

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A Separation poster
A Separation
2011 · dir. Asghar Farhadi
🍅 99%8.3drama

Asghar Farhadi working the same nerve twice

A married couple are faced with a difficult decision – to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.

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About Elly poster
About Elly
2009 · dir. Asghar Farhadi
🍅 99%7.9drama

Asghar Farhadi directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The mysterious disappearance of a kindergarten teacher during a picnic in the north of Iran is followed by a series of misadventures for her fellow travelers.

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Lady Vengeance poster
Lady Vengeance
2005 · dir. Park Chan-wook
🍅 76%7.5drama · thriller

Drama built on stillness, twice over

Released after being wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for 13 years, a woman begins executing her elaborate plan of retribution.

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Kingdom: Ashin of the North poster
Kingdom: Ashin of the North
2021 · dir. Kim Seong-hun
6.9drama · fantasy · thriller

Tense thriller, and it commits to that

The difference: Sits closer to fantasy than The Salesman does

Tragedy, betrayal and a mysterious discovery fuel a woman's vengeance for the loss of her tribe and family.

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The Square poster
The Square
2008 · dir. Nash Edgerton
🍅 86%6.7crime · drama · thriller

Drama with a pulse of relentlessness, in both cases

The difference: Leans harder into crime than The Salesman does

Ray, a construction worker trapped in an unhappy marriage, pursues an affair with his neighbor, Carla. Carla's husband, Greg, is a mobster who keeps large sums of drug money in their home. With this in mind, Carla comes up with a plan: She and Ray will steal Greg's money, burn down her house, convince Greg the money was lost in the fire and then run away together. Carla's scheme, however, doesn't go off as planned.

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A Streetcar Named Desire poster
A Streetcar Named Desire
1951 · dir. Elia Kazan
🍅 97%7.9drama · thriller

Both keep coming back to the same thing: rape

The difference: 65 years apart, and the 1950s show

A disturbed, aging Southern belle moves in with her sister for solace — but being face-to-face with her brutish brother-in-law accelerates her downward spiral.

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The Villainess poster
The Villainess
2017 · dir. Jung Byung-gil
🍅 85%6.6action · thriller

Both lean on tension more than on thriller

Honed from childhood into a merciless killing machine by a criminal organization, assassin Sook-hee is recruited with the promise of freedom after ten years of service. However, secrets from her past destroy everything she’s worked for and now she embarks on a roaring rampage of revenge.

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Headshot poster
Headshot
2016 · dir. Kimo Stamboel
🍅 73%6.3action · thriller · drama

Contemplative drama in both cases

A young man washes ashore, his memory gone - but his past comes back to haunt him after he is nursed back to health and his killing ability is needed when he takes on a powerful drug lord.

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A Hero poster
A Hero
2021 · dir. Asghar Farhadi
🍅 97%7.5drama

Drama approached the same way

Rahim is in prison because of a debt he was unable to repay. During a two-day leave, he tries to convince his creditor to withdraw his complaint against the payment of part of the sum. But things don't go as planned. Is he truly a hero?

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In the mood for more contemplative?

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