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Movies like The Second Mother

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Film · 10 connections

The Second Mother (2015)

  • Drama
  • 112 min
  • AL age guide
  • ★ 8.0/10 from 799 ratings

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.

Directed byAnna Muylaert

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What to watch after The Second Mother

A feature-film shortlist from the cached Film Atlas engine. The interactive map may include more titles or newer results. These are similarity matches, not a guarantee of age suitability.

  1. 01

    Manas

    Strong story similarity

    2025 · 101 min · Drama

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    Thirteen-year-old Marcielle lives on Marajó Island in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. To break a terrible cycle that imprisons the women around her in an isolated region, she must do the impossible to liberate herself and her younger sister from a dark abyss of silence held by her own family.

    Why it connects

    • strong story and style similarity
    • strong genre and movie-style overlap
    • shared theme: woman director
    Explore movies like Manas
  2. 02

    Durval Discos

    Same director

    2002 · 93 min · Comedy · Drama · Music · Thriller

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    Durval and his mother Carmita live at the back of a record store they own in São Paulo specializing in vinyl records. They lead a boring and unattractive life, until the day Durval hires a maid, Celia, to help his mother with the housekeeping. However, on her second day, Celia goes away leaving a 5-year-old child behind, Kiki, and a note promising to be back in a couple of days. Durval and Celia are charmed by the child at first, but soon they see some sad news about Celia and Kiki on TV that change the whole situation.

    Why it connects

    • strong story and style similarity
    • the same director
    • shared theme: woman director
    Explore movies like Durval Discos
  3. 03

    Pérola

    Strong story similarity

    2023 · 91 min · Comedy · Drama

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    Soon after learning of the death of his mother Pérola, Mauro returns to his old family home in Bauru (São Paulo, Brazil). A look back into his mother’s peculiar habits, her illusions, sense of humor, spirituality, and desire to control all things... with the love and tenderness that only distance and time allow. A reunion between mother and son: their conflicts, conversations, and dreams of a better life all converge in constructing a swimming pool in their backyard. It is a portrait of an ordinary family that fights, makes up, celebrates, cries, and carries on, full of stories just like any other.

    Why it connects

    • strong story and style similarity
    • substantial genre overlap
    • shared production studio: Globo Filmes
    Explore movies like Pérola
  4. 04

    Casa Grande

    Strong story similarity

    2014 · 117 min · Drama

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    As a privileged teenager living in an affluent suburb of Rio de Janeiro, Jean has little to worry about beyond games, grades and girls. But as his overbearing father drags the family into debt, Jean is forced into a change of lifestyle which opens his eyes to the world beyond his 'casa grande' - not least that of the feisty, mixed-race firecracker Luiza. Cultures, classes and generations collide in this engrossing coming-of-age drama from Brazil.

    Why it connects

    • strong story and style similarity
    • strong genre and movie-style overlap
    • a closely matched era
    Explore movies like Casa Grande
  5. 05

    The Movie of My Life

    Strong story similarity

    2017 · 113 min · Drama

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    The sierras of southern Brazil, 1963. The son of an French man and a Brazilian woman, Tony is a young man with a profound love of cinema and poetry. After graduating from college he returns to his small town in rural Brazil, to find out that his father had left for good, back to France. Tony then looks for the company of his fathers friends in search of information and references of a lost male role-model. He becomes a school teacher and a male figure to kids, in an attempt to provide them with something he lacks himself. A series of developments lead him to a surprising final lead on his fathers' whereabouts and reasons for leaving.

    Why it connects

    • strong story and style similarity
    • strong genre and movie-style overlap
    • a closely matched era
    Explore movies like The Movie of My Life
  6. 06

    She Said, He Said

    Strong story similarity

    2019 · 78 min · Comedy · Romance

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    Rosa (Duda Matte) is dedicated to study, Leo (Marcus Bessa) is a good soccer player. She is always on time, he is always late. She hates Julia (Maisa), the most popular girl in high school, he kind of likes her. They are both new students at school and, besides having to learn how to deal with new friends and family problems, they find out that they have much more in common than they thought. Based on the successful book by Thalita Rebouças, they will find that growing up may seem complicated but deep down it's a great adventure.

    Why it connects

    • strong story and style similarity
    • a closely matched era
    • shared production studio: Globo Filmes
    Explore movies like She Said, He Said
  7. 08

    Linha de Passe

    Strong story similarity

    2008 · 108 min · Drama

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    In the periphery of São Paulo, the pregnant single mother Cleuza works as maid in the apartment of a middle-class family. Each of her sons has a different unknown father: the oldest, Dênis, has a baby son that lives with his mother and he works as motorcycle courier.

    Why it connects

    • strong story and style similarity
    • strong genre and movie-style overlap
    • shared theme: woman director
    Explore movies like Linha de Passe
  8. 09

    Our Secret

    Strong story similarity

    2026 · 108 min · Drama · Fantasy

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    A Black Brazilian family in the city of Belo Horizonte, tries to rebuild their home after a recent loss. Caught between memories and nightmares, and unable to express what they feel to each other, a mother and her children shield themselves from the pain of grief through their individual routines. Only the youngest child understands the secret that the house holds within its four walls and tries to reveal it to the others, only to fall on deaf ears. Finally, confronted with the truth, they face the deep roots of their grief and come together to traverse this moment with love and courage.

    Why it connects

    • strong story and style similarity
    • substantial genre overlap
    • shared production studio: Globo Filmes
    Explore movies like Our Secret
  9. 10

    The Cotton Wool War

    Strong story similarity

    2020 · 84 min · Drama

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    Dora is a German-raised teenager visiting her enigmatic Brazilian grandmother for the first time. While trying to return to Germany at all costs, she discovers the incredible history behind the women of her family.

    Why it connects

    • strong story and style similarity
    • strong genre and movie-style overlap
    Explore movies like The Cotton Wool War

How these movie recommendations work

Film Atlas combines story similarity, movie metadata and TMDB relationship signals. Shared studios can support a match; audience and film-format safeguards help avoid poor fits. The explanations above come from the engine’s recorded evidence—not invented reviews.

A similarity match is different from a quality rating. Use the map to explore the connections and decide what fits your mood.

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