Movies Like Waterland (1992)

Waterland is a 1992 drama, mystery film from Stephen Gyllenhaal with a MovieMagicScore of 6.3/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with The History Boys and The Official Story.

Drama Mystery

The History Boys

2006

The story of an unruly class of bright, funny history students at a Yorkshire grammar school in pursuit of an undergraduate place at Oxford or Cambridge. Bounced between their maverick English master, a young and shrewd teacher hired to up their test scores, a grossly out-numbered history teacher, and a headmaster obsessed with results, the boys attempt to pass.

6.6

MagicScore

The Official Story

1985

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1983. In the last and turbulent days of the military dictatorship, Alicia, a high school history teacher, begins to ask uncomfortable questions about the dark origins of Gaby, her adopted daughter.

7.4

MagicScore

Up the Down Staircase

1967

Sylvia, a novice schoolteacher, is hired to teach English in a high school, but she’s met with an apathetic faculty, a delinquent student body and an administration that drowns its staff in paperwork. The following days go from bad to worse as Sylvia struggles to reach her most troubled students.

7.0

MagicScore

Warrior

2011

The youngest son of an alcoholic former boxer returns home, where he's trained by his father for competition in a mixed martial arts tournament – a path that puts the fighter on a collision course with his estranged, older brother.

7.8

MagicScore

In My Father's Den

2004

War journalist Paul Prior returns to his New Zealand hometown after his father’s death, rekindling strained relationships with his brother and memories of a troubled past. He befriends Celia, a curious and aspiring writer, who shares a fascination with his world. When Celia mysteriously disappears, Paul becomes the prime suspect, forcing him to confront buried secrets and uncover the dark truths of his family and community.

7.0

MagicScore

Stand and Deliver

1988

Jaime Escalante is a mathematics teacher in a school in a hispanic neighbourhood. Convinced that his students have potential, he adopts unconventional teaching methods to try and turn gang members and no-hopers into some of the country's top algebra and calculus students.

7.6

MagicScore

Indian Summer

1972

In Italy, the gambler and professor of poetry Daniele Dominici arrives in the seaside town of Rimini and is hired to teach for four months in the local high school replacing another teacher. His relationship with his partner Monica is in crisis and he spends most of the time with his new acquaintances and gamblers Giorgio, Marcello and Gerardo. In classroom, he meets the gorgeous nineteen years old student Vanina Abati, who is Gerardo's girlfriend.

7.5

MagicScore

To Sir, with Love

1967

A British Guianese engineer starts a job as a high school teacher in London’s East End, where his uninterested and delinquent pupils are in desperate need of attention and care.

7.5

MagicScore

The Class

2008

Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.

7.0

MagicScore

#10

Coming Out

1989

Philipp, a closeted teacher, is dating a female colleague to keep up appearances. One night he stumbles into a gay bar and falls for a man. Transformed by this love, he is no longer afraid to face up to who he is.

6.5

MagicScore

#11

Hurricane Bianca

2016

A teacher from New York moves to a small town in Texas, gets fired for being gay, and returns disguised in drag to get revenge on the people who were nasty to him.

6.1

MagicScore

#12

Monster Pies

2013

Mike has felt alienated and alone for as long as he can remember, until a new boy arrives at his school - awakening feelings and a world of possibilities he'd never before dared to dream of.

5.6

MagicScore

#13

The English Teacher

2013

Small-town Pennsylvania schoolteacher Linda Sinclair balances her staid home life with an incredible passion for her subject. Then a former star pupil reenters her life after failing as a playwright in New York City. Seeing in his script the inspiration that she has always longed to instill in her students, this dyed-in-the-wool romantic enlists the help of long-suffering drama teacher Carl to mount the work as the high school’s next and riskiest production.

5.6

MagicScore

#14

All That's Left of You

2025

In the Occupied West Bank in Palestine of the 1980s, a Palestinian teenager is swept into a protest that changes the course of his family's life. Reeling from its aftermath, his mother, Hanan, shares the story that led them to that fateful moment. Spanning seven decades, this epic drama traces the hopes and heartaches of one uprooted family, revealing not only the scars of ethnic cleansing, but the unbreakable spirit of survival.

8.0

MagicScore

#15

Jacob's Ladder

1990

After returning home from the Vietnam War, veteran Jacob Singer struggles to maintain his sanity. Plagued by hallucinations and flashbacks, Singer rapidly falls apart as the world and people around him morph and twist into disturbing images. His girlfriend, Jezzie, and ex-wife, Sarah, try to help, but to little avail. Even Singer's chiropractor friend, Louis, fails to reach him as he descends into madness.

7.3

MagicScore

#16

The Man Who Stole the Sun

1979

A high school science teacher is the butt of all his students' jokes, until their bus is hijacked on a school trip. But something more sinister lurks beneath the surface: he's building an atomic bomb in his apartment.

7.3

MagicScore

#17

The Go-Between

1971

British teenager Leo Colston spends a summer in the countryside, where he develops a crush on the beautiful young aristocrat Marian. Eager to impress her, Leo becomes the "go-between" for Marian, delivering secret romantic letters to Ted Burgess, a handsome neighboring farmer.

6.8

MagicScore

#18

The Eagle Has Landed

1976

When the Nazi high command learns in late 1943 that Winston Churchill will be spending time at a country estate in Norfolk, it hatches an audacious scheme to kidnap the prime minister and spirit him to Germany for enforced negotiations with Hitler.

6.6

MagicScore

#19

Good Old Daze

1995

Ten years after their Upper Sixth, Bruno, Momo, Leon and Alain meet together in the waiting room of a maternity hospital. The father of the awaited baby is Tomasi, their best friend at that time, who died one month before due to an overdose. They remember their teenage, their laughs, their dreams, their stupid pranks... a description of the French youth in the middle of the seventies.

7.0

MagicScore

#20

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

2012

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1991. High school freshman Charlie is a wallflower, always watching life from the sidelines, until two senior students, Sam and her stepbrother Patrick, become his mentors, helping him discover the joys of friendship, music and love.

7.8

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Waterland?

The top films similar to Waterland by MovieMagicScore are The History Boys (6.6), The Official Story (7.4), Up the Down Staircase (7.0). Each shares drama/mystery themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Waterland worth watching?

Waterland holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.3/10 from 39 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Waterland?

Waterland (1992) is a drama, mystery film directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, starring Jeremy Irons, Sinéad Cusack, Grant Warnock.

Where can I find more recommendations like Waterland?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more drama recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like The History Boys Movies like The Official Story Movies like Up the Down Staircase Movies like Warrior Movies like In My Father's Den Movies like Stand and Deliver

About movies like Waterland

This ranked list pairs Waterland (1992), a drama and mystery film from Stephen Gyllenhaal, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Jeremy Irons take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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