Dynamic Watchlist Hub: May 09, 2026

10 Best Movies Like Despair

If you loved Despair, we've curated the perfect watchlist for you based on shared genres, themes, and directorial style.

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Expert Review & Ratings

See our full critical analysis and audience score for Despair.

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#1
Helen

Helen

2009★ 6.5

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to Despair for fans of Drama. It captures a similar emotionally gripping atmosphere.

On the outside, Helen has it all – a loving family and a successful career – but when her suppressed mental illness resurfaces, the world crumbles around her. Crippled by depressio...

#2
Bastard Out of Carolina

Bastard Out of Carolina

1996★ 7.2

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to Despair for fans of Drama. It captures a similar emotionally gripping atmosphere.

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 a...

#3
The Secret Life of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees

2008★ 7.5

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to Despair for fans of Drama. It captures a similar emotionally gripping atmosphere.

Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationshi...

#4
The Safety of Objects

The Safety of Objects

2002★ 6.5

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to Despair for fans of Drama. It captures a similar emotionally gripping atmosphere.

In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, an...

#5
The Trials of Cate McCall

The Trials of Cate McCall

2013★ 6.4

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to Despair for fans of Drama. It captures a similar emotionally gripping atmosphere.

In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicte...

#6
Starving in Suburbia

Starving in Suburbia

2014★ 6.5

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to Despair for fans of Drama. It captures a similar emotionally gripping atmosphere.

When seventeen-year-old Hannah stumbles upon a website about Thinspiration--an online community devoted to anorexia as a life choice--she becomes an obsessive follower of the site ...

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