Movies Like Parallel Mothers (2021)

Parallel Mothers is a 2021 drama film from Pedro Almodóvar with a MovieMagicScore of 6.8/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Head in the Clouds and Prevenge.

Drama

Head in the Clouds

2004

Gilda Bessé shares her Paris apartment with an Irish schoolteacher, Guy Malyon, and Mia, a refugee from Spain. As the world drifts toward war, Gilda defiantly pursues her hedonistic lifestyle and her burgeoning career as a photographer. But Guy and Mia feel impelled to join the fight against fascism, and the three friends are separated.

5.9

MagicScore

Prevenge

2017

A pregnant widow, believing herself to be guided by her unborn child, embarks on a homicidal rampage.

5.5

MagicScore

Birth/Rebirth

2023

A single mother and a childless morgue technician are bound together by their relationship to a little girl they have reanimated from the dead.

6.3

MagicScore

The Back-Up Plan

2010

When Zoe tires of looking for Mr. Right, she decides to have a baby on her own. But on the day she's artificially inseminated, she meets Stan, who seems to be just who she's been searching for all her life. Now, Zoe has to figure out how to make her two life's dreams fit with each other.

6.1

MagicScore

The Endless Trench

2019

A small village in Huelva, Andalusia, Spain, 1936. Higinio and Rosa have been married only for a few months when the Civil War breaks out. Higinio, being afraid of possible reprisals from the rebel faction, decides to use a hole dug in his own house as a temporary hideout.

6.9

MagicScore

Paper Birds

2010

At the end of the Spanish Civil War, the members of a group of vaudeville performers have been stripped of everything: all they have left is hunger and the instinct to survive. Day after day, agonizingly, lost and helpless between the victors and the vanquished, the musician Jorge, the ventriloquist Enrique, the couplet singer Rocío and the orphan Miguel search tirelessly for something to eat and a safe place to live.

6.6

MagicScore

Painless

2012

While searching for a solution to his serious health condition, David, a renowned neurosurgeon, discovers a sinister secret hidden in the past.

6.2

MagicScore

Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms

2018

Fleeing the war, the immortal Maquia, graced with eternal youth, finds a baby abandoned in the forest and decides to raise it as her own child, sparking a moving story between a mortal and a being who does not age.

8.1

MagicScore

The Lost Daughter

2021

A woman's seaside vacation takes a dark turn when her obsession with a young mother forces her to confront secrets from her past.

6.5

MagicScore

#10

The Photographer of Mauthausen

2018

Spanish photographer Francesc Boix, imprisoned in the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, works in the SS Photographic Service. Between 1943 and 1945, he hides, with the help of other prisoners, thousands of negatives, with the purpose of showing the freed world the atrocities committed by the Nazis, exhaustively documented. He will be a key witness during the Nuremberg Trials.

7.0

MagicScore

#11

Wasp

2003

Zoë is a single mother who lives with her four children in Dartford. She is poor and can't afford to buy food. One day her old flame drives by and asks her to go on a date with him. Scared that he doesn't want to go out with her, she lies and tells him that she is just babysitting the kids. This will be her first date in years.

7.2

MagicScore

#12

Mother's Day

2016

Sandy is a stressed-out, single mom who learns that her ex-husband is marrying a younger woman. Her friend Jesse's parents don't know that she has a family or that her sister, Gabi is married to a woman. Jesse's friend, Kristin, is juggling motherhood of a toddler, a patient boyfriend who keeps proposing, and searching for her biological mother. Bradley is a widower who's trying to raise two daughters on his own, while Miranda is too busy with her career to worry about children. When their respective problems intersect and start coming to a head, the Mother's Day holiday takes on a special meaning for all.

6.0

MagicScore

#13

Earth Mama

2023

A pregnant single mother, with two children in foster care, embraces her Bay Area community as she fights to reclaim her family.

5.9

MagicScore

#14

In Bed with Victoria

2016

Victoria is a thirty-something divorced lawyer who's struggling to raise her two daughters. She is canny and cynical but on the verge of an emotional breakdown. At a friend's wedding she reconnects with Vincent, an old friend, and Sam, an old client. Her life is about to take a new turn.

5.8

MagicScore

#15

Tully

2018

Marlo, a mother of three, including a newborn, is gifted a night nanny by her brother. Hesitant at first, she quickly forms a bond with the thoughtful, surprising, and sometimes challenging nanny named Tully.

6.8

MagicScore

#16

Kindred

2020

When her boyfriend Ben suddenly dies in an accident, mother-to-be Charlotte collapses upon receiving the news. She wakes up in Ben’s family home, a crumbling old manor house in the middle of nowhere with Ben’s overbearing mother and his controlling stepbrother who are determined to care for her. Grief-stricken and increasingly haunted by visions possibly brought on by the pregnancy, Charlotte begins to doubt the family's intentions and her suspicions grow that they may be trying to control her and her unborn baby.

5.4

MagicScore

#17

Boys in the Trees

2016

On Halloween 1997, two estranged teen skaters embark on a surreal journey through their memories, dreams and fears.

6.6

MagicScore

#18

Julieta

2016

The film spans 30 years in Julieta’s life from a nostalgic 1985 where everything seems hopeful, to 2015 where her life appears to be beyond repair and she is on the verge of madness.

7.0

MagicScore

#19

A Winter to Remember

2016

When we first meet Lucia she is withdrawn and isolated from her friends and family, dealing with anxiety attacks and a legion of secrets. But when she meets bright and carefree Olivia, Lucia seizes the opportunity to break out of her shell and live the life she was afraid to admit she wanted.

6.3

MagicScore

#20

Mothers and Daughters

2016

Interwoven stories of what it is to be a mom seen through the lens of photographer Rigby Gray.

5.3

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Parallel Mothers?

The top films similar to Parallel Mothers by MovieMagicScore are Head in the Clouds (5.9), Prevenge (5.5), Birth/Rebirth (6.3). Each shares drama themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Parallel Mothers worth watching?

Parallel Mothers holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.8/10 from 998 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Parallel Mothers?

Parallel Mothers (2021) is a drama film directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Penélope Cruz, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde.

Where can I find more recommendations like Parallel Mothers?

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 Head in the Clouds Movies like Prevenge Movies like Birth/Rebirth Movies like The Back-Up Plan Movies like The Endless Trench Movies like Paper Birds

About movies like Parallel Mothers

This ranked list pairs Parallel Mothers (2021), a drama film from Pedro Almodóvar, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Penélope Cruz 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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