Movies Like The Governess (1998)

The Governess is a 1998 drama, romance film from Sandra Goldbacher with a MovieMagicScore of 5.8/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Student Services and Gentleman's Agreement.

Drama Romance

Student Services

2010

Nineteen-year-old Laura is stressed by her first year at college when money worries distract her from her studies and so, desperate for cash, she answers an online advertisement for intimate companionship that leads her down a dangerous path.

5.3

MagicScore

Gentleman's Agreement

1947

A magazine writer poses as a Jew to expose anti-Semitism.

7.0

MagicScore

Water Lilies

2007

Set during a sultry summer in a French suburb, Marie is desperate to join the local pool's synchronized swimming team, but is her interest solely for the sake of sport or for a chance to get close to Floriane, the bad girl of the team? Sciamma, and the two leads, capture the uncertainty of teenage sexuality with a sympathetic eye in this delicate drama of the angst of coming-of-age.

6.5

MagicScore

Lady Bird

2017

Lady Bird McPherson, a strong willed, deeply opinionated, artistic 17 year old comes of age in Sacramento. Her relationship with her mother and her upbringing are questioned and tested as she plans to head off to college.

7.2

MagicScore

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

1982

Based on the real-life adventures chronicled by Cameron Crowe, Fast Times follows a group of high school students growing up in Southern California. Stacy Hamilton and Mark Ratner are looking for love, and are helped along by their older classmates, Linda Barrett and Mike Damone. Jeff Spicoli, a perpetually stoned surfer faces-off with the resolute teacher, Mr. Hand. Hilarity and heartbreak ensue.

6.8

MagicScore

Unclenching the Fists

2021

In a former mining town in North Ossetia, a young woman struggles to escape the stifling hold of the family she loves as much as she rejects.

6.3

MagicScore

Sleeping with Other People

2015

Can two serial cheaters get a second chance at love? After a one-night stand in college, New Yorkers Lainey and Jake meet by chance twelve years later and discover they each have the same problem: because of their monogamy-challenged ways, neither can maintain a relationship. Determined to stay friends despite their mutual attraction, they make a pact to keep it platonic, a deal that proves easier said than done.

6.3

MagicScore

Tell It to the Bees

2019

Dr. Jean Markham returns to the town she left as a teenager to take over her late father's medical practice. When a school-yard scuffle lands Charlie in her surgery, she invites him to visit the hives in her garden and tell his secrets to the bees, as she once did. The new friendship between the boy and the bee keeper brings his mother Lydia into Jean's world.

7.5

MagicScore

Summer '03

2018

16-year-old Jamie Winkle and her extended family are left reeling after her calculating grandmother unveils an array of secrets on her deathbed. As her family deals with her grandmother's surprising dying messages, Jamie sets out to make the most of her summer and explores her sexuality.

5.8

MagicScore

#10

Coming Soon

1999

Privileged teenage friends Jenny, Nell and Stream spend their senior year on a quest to rid Stream of her virginity. However, Stream wants more than just her first sexual experience. She wants to have an orgasm -- but achieving this proves problematic, as the boys she meets are hardly sensitive enough to provide her the release she seeks. When it becomes clear that Nell and Jenny have never experienced an orgasm either, all three set out to get one.

5.7

MagicScore

#11

Nina's Heavenly Delights

2006

A feisty young woman returns to Glasgow to run her deceased father's curry house.

6.7

MagicScore

#12

The Decoy Bride

2011

A local woman is hired to draw paparazzi away from a Hollywood actress who has come to Scotland to get married.

6.0

MagicScore

#13

Death Defying Acts

2007

On a tour of Britain in 1926, Harry Houdini enters into a passionate affair with a psychic out to con the famous magician.

6.0

MagicScore

#14

Joy of Sex

1984

Mistakenly believing that she has just weeks to live, teenager Leslie Hindenberg tries to lose her virginity before she dies.

4.0

MagicScore

#15

Blockers

2018

When three parents discover that each of their daughters have a pact to lose their virginity at prom, they launch a covert one-night operation to stop the teens from sealing the deal.

6.3

MagicScore

#16

Ratcatcher

1999

James Gillespie is 12 years old. The world he knew is changing. Haunted by a secret, he has become a stranger in his own family. He is drawn to the canal where he creates a world of his own. He finds an awkward tenderness with Margaret Anne, a vulnerable 14 year old expressing a need for love in all the wrong ways, and befriends Kenny, who possesses an unusual innocence in spite of the harsh surroundings.

7.1

MagicScore

#17

Dear Frankie

2004

Nine-year-old Frankie and his single mum Lizzie have been on the move ever since Frankie can remember, most recently arriving in a seaside Scottish town. Wanting to protect her deaf son from the truth that they've run away from his father, Lizzie has invented a story that he is away at sea on the HMS Accra. Every few weeks, Lizzie writes Frankie a make-believe letter from his father, telling of his adventures in exotic lands. As Frankie tracks the ship's progress around the globe, he discovers that it is due to dock in his hometown. With the real HMS Accra arriving in only a fortnight, Lizzie must choose between telling Frankie the truth or finding the perfect stranger to play Frankie's father for just one day...

7.0

MagicScore

#18

Stealing Beauty

1996

Lucy Harmon, an American teenager is arriving in the lush Tuscan countryside to be sculpted by a family friend who lives in a beautiful villa. Lucy visited there four years earlier and exchanged a kiss with an Italian boy with whom she hopes to become reacquainted.

6.7

MagicScore

#19

The Outrun

2024

Fresh out of rehab, Rona returns to the Orkney Islands—a place both wild and beautiful, right off the Scottish coast. Now 29 and after more than a decade of living life on the edge in London, where she both found and lost love, Rona attempts to come to terms with her troubled past. As she reconnects with the dramatic landscape where she grew up, memories of her traumatic childhood merge with more recent challenging events that have set her on the path to recovery.

6.8

MagicScore

#20

Morvern Callar

2002

After her boyfriend commits suicide, a young woman attempts to use the unpublished manuscript of a novel and a sum of money he left behind to reinvent her life.

6.6

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like The Governess?

The top films similar to The Governess by MovieMagicScore are Student Services (5.3), Gentleman's Agreement (7.0), Water Lilies (6.5). Each shares drama/romance themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is The Governess worth watching?

The Governess holds a MovieMagicScore of 5.8/10 from 27 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is The Governess?

The Governess (1998) is a drama, romance film directed by Sandra Goldbacher, starring Minnie Driver, Tom Wilkinson, Harriet Walter.

Where can I find more recommendations like The Governess?

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 Student Services Movies like Gentleman's Agreement Movies like Water Lilies Movies like Lady Bird Movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High Movies like Unclenching the Fists

About movies like The Governess

This ranked list pairs The Governess (1998), a drama and romance film from Sandra Goldbacher, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Minnie Driver 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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