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The Second Mother poster

Movies that feel likeThe Second Mother (2015)

After leaving her daughter Jessica in a small town in Pernambuco to be raised by relatives, Val spends the next 13 years working as a nanny to Fabinho in São Paulo. She has financial stability but has to live with the guilt of having not raised Jessica herself. As Fabinho’s university entrance exams approach, Jessica reappears in her life and seems to want to give her mother a second chance. However, Jessica has not been raised to be a servant and her very existence will turn Val’s routine on its head. With precision and humour, the subtle and powerful forces that keep rigid class structures in place and how the youth may just be the ones to shake it all up.

If you loved The Second Mother, the closest films we have are Treeless Mountain (2009), Like Father, Like Son (2013) and Brainstorm (2001). All three share The Second Mother's contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Dog (2013).

🍅 98% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Anna Muylaertcontemplative
5 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video · Fandor · AMC+

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If The Second Mother hit the spot, these will too

Treeless Mountain poster
Treeless Mountain
2009 · dir. So Yong Kim
🍅 86%★ 7drama

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

A Korean woman leaves her two young daughters with her sister-in-law to search for their estranged father.

Like Father, Like Son poster
Like Father, Like Son
2013 · dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
🍅 86%★ 7.8drama

Both are working the same pair: parents and children, class differences

Ryota Nonomiya is a successful businessman driven by money. He learns that his biological son was switched with another child after birth. He must make a life-changing decision and choose his true son or the boy he raised as his own.

Brainstorm poster
Brainstorm
2001 · dir. Laís Bodanzky
★ 7.7drama

Contemplative drama in both cases

Neto is a middle class teenager living a normal life. After his father finds a marijuana cigarette on his pocket, he is sent to a mental institution, where he gets to know a completely absurd and inhumane reality in which people are devoured by a corrupt and cruel system.

Queen of Hearts poster
Queen of Hearts
2019 · dir. May el-Toukhy
🍅 97%★ 7drama

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

Anne, a brilliant and dedicated advocacy lawyer specialising in society’s most vulnerable, children and young adults, lives what appears to be the picture-perfect life with her doctor-husband, Peter, and their twin daughters. When her estranged teenage stepson, Gustav, moves in with them, Anne’s escalating desire leads her down a dangerous rabbit hole which, once exposed, unleashes a sequence of events destined to destroy her world.

Our Little Sister poster
Our Little Sister
2015 · dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
🍅 93%★ 7.6drama

The drama is handled with the same confidence

After the death of their estranged father, 3 adult sisters invite their teenaged half-sister to live with them.

Aquarius poster
Aquarius
2016 · dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho
🍅 97%★ 7.4drama

Drama in the same key

Clara, a vibrant former music critic and widow with flowing tresses is the only remaining apartment owner in a beautiful older building targeted for demolition by ruthless luxury high-rise developers. Clara proves to be a force to be reckoned with as she thwarts the builders plans to kick her out of the apartment.

Return poster
Return
2011 · dir. Liza Johnson
🍅 83%★ 6.1drama

Drama of the same temperament

Back from a tour of duty, Kelli struggles to find her place in her family and the rust-belt town she no longer recognizes.

Rams poster
Rams
2015 · dir. Grímur Hákonarson
🍅 95%★ 7.2drama

Both are drama through and through

In a secluded valley in Iceland, Gummi and Kiddi live side by side, tending to their sheep. Their ancestral sheep-stock is considered one of the country’s best and the two brothers are repeatedly awarded for their prized rams who carry an ancient lineage. Although they share the land and a way of life, Gummi and Kiddi have not spoken to each other in four decades. When a lethal disease suddenly infects Kiddi’s sheep, the entire valley comes under threat. The authorities decide to cull all the animals in the area to contain the outbreak. But Gummi and Kiddi don’t give up so easily – and each brother tries to stave off the disaster in his own fashion: Kiddi by using his rifle and Gummi by using his wits.

Loveless poster
Loveless
2017 · dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev
🍅 95%★ 7.6drama

Both play drama straight

Zhenya and Boris are going through a vicious divorce marked by resentment, frustration and recriminations. Already embarking on new lives, each with a new partner, they are impatient to start again, to turn the page – even if it means threatening to abandon their 12-year-old son Alyosha. Until, after witnessing one of their fights, Alyosha disappears.

Invisible Life poster
Invisible Life
2019 · dir. Karim Aïnouz
🍅 94%★ 7.7dramaPrime Video

Cut from the same drama cloth

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1950. In the conservative home of the Gusmão family, Eurídice and Guida are two inseparable sisters who support each other. While Guida can share with her younger sister the details of her romantic adventures, Eurídice finds in her older sister the encouragement she needs to pursue her dream of becoming a professional pianist.

Clergy poster
Clergy
2018 · dir. Wojtek Smarzowski
★ 7.3drama

Drama approached the same way

The fate of three Catholic priests were linked together through tragic events a few years back. Every year, on the anniversary of the catastrophe, they gather to celebrate their survival of the tragedy. Lisowski works at a curia in a big city, building his career while dreaming of the Vatican. Standing in his way, Mordowicz, the archbishop, a luxurious church dignitary who is making use of his political connections to build the largest sanctuary in Poland. Trybus, is a parish priest and often submits to human weaknesses. Kukuła also is not doing well. Despite his passion for faith, he is losing the trust of his flock. Soon, through new tragic events, the paths of the three priests will cross again.

The Dog poster
The Dog
2013 · dir. François Keraudren
🍅 93%★ 6.7documentary

Products of the same few years

The difference: Sits closer to documentary than The Second Mother does

In 1972, John Wojtowicz attempted to rob a Brooklyn bank to pay for his lover’s sex-change operation. The story was the basis for the film Dog Day Afternoon. The Dog captures John, who shares his story for the first time in his own unique, offensive, hilarious and heartbreaking way. We gain a historic perspective on New York's gay liberation movement, in which Wojtowicz played an active role. In later footage, he remains a subversive force, backed by the unconditional love of his mother Terry, whose wit and charm infuse the film. How and why the bank robbery took place is recounted in gripping detail by Wojtowicz and various eyewitnesses.

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