Movies Like The Lower Depths
If you loved The Lower Depths's Drama storytelling, these films deliver a similar experience — carefully selected for tone, themes, and emotional depth. Each pick includes where to watch it right now.
★ Top Picks

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
An unexpected love triangle, a seduction trap, and a random encounter are the three episodes, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and regrets.

Ugetsu
In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.

It Ends with Us
When a woman's first love suddenly reenters her life, her relationship with a charming, but abusive neurosurgeon is upended, and she realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for her future.

Dodes'ka-den
On a Tokyo dump’s shantytown edge, interwoven vignettes follow residents scraping by: a boy who “drives” an imaginary trolley, a homeless father and son designing a dream house, a young woman brutalized at home, drunks, schemers, and saints of small kindnesses. Kurosawa crafts a ragged mosaic of hardship, fantasy, and flickers of grace that keep people moving forward.

Psychic School Wars
It's a new school year at the local Junior High School i Kamakura. The school year starts off with a new transfer student Ryoichi Kyogoku who joins the 8th grade class. He has been ordered to join the school, and use his special gift of telepathy and take over their school. This boy who happens to be handsome, and be a charismatic person, gains popularity, and using his powers takes over the entire school, except for Seki. This begins a war to regain their freedom for their school and themselves.

Hana
In a poor district of Edo lives a young samurai named Soza. He has been sent by his clan to avenge the death of his father. He isn't an accomplished swordsman however, and he prefers sharing the life of the residents, teaching the kids how to write etc. When he finally finds the man he is looking for, he will have to decide whether he follows the way of the samurai or chooses peace and reconciliation.

No Longer Heroine
Hatori Matsuzaki is a female high school student. She has a crush on her childhood friend Rita Terasaka and believes he will eventually choose her as her heroine, but Rita Terasaka begins dating Miho Adachi. Meanwhile, the most popular male student, Kosuke Hiromitsu takes an interest in Hatori Matsuzaki.

My Happy Marriage
An unhappy young woman from an abusive family is married off to a fearsome and chilly army commander. But the two learn more about each other, love may have a chance.
More Movies Like The Lower Depths

My Rainy Days
Because of her past, 17-year-old Rio lives her days filling the emptiness in her heart with money—until one day, she meets a university professor named Kouki and falls in love.

After the Rain
A group of travelers is stranded in a small country inn when the river floods during heavy rains. As the bad weather continues, tensions rise amongst the trapped travelers.

Tokyo!
Three distinct tales unfold in the bustling city of Tokyo. Merde, a bizarre sewer-dweller, emerges from a manhole and begins terrorizing pedestrians. After his arrest, he stands trial and lashes out at a hostile courtroom. A man who has resigned himself to a life of solitude reconsiders after meeting a charming pizza delivery woman. And finally, a happy young couple find themselves undergoing a series of frightening metamorphoses.

After the Rain
Akira Tachibana is a soft-spoken high school student who used to be a part of the track and field club. Working part-time at a restaurant, she finds herself inexplicably falling in love with her manager, a divorced 45-year-old man.

Never Let Me Go
As children, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy spend their childhood at an idyllic and secluded English boarding school. As they grow into adults, they must come to terms with the complexity and strength of their love for one another while also preparing for the haunting reality awaiting them.

Persuasion
Anne Elliot was once in love with Frederick Wentworth, a commander in the Royal Navy who was rejected by her snobby parents eight years ago. When the family hits hard times and are forced to rent out their mansion to his brother-in-law, Frederick returns as a captain - but will he remember Anne?

The Stranger by the Shore
Abandoned after coming out, Shun befriends Mio just before he has to move. Years later, Mio returns with a confession. How will Shun feel?

Dolls
Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto and Sawako, a young couple whose relationship is about to be broken apart by the former's parents, who have insisted their son take part in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter.

Brooklyn
In 1950s Ireland and New York, young Eilis Lacey has to choose between two men and two countries.

Close Range Love
A smart high school student falls in love with her English teacher after she receives one-on-one tutoring from him.

anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day - The Movie
A year has passed since Menma's ghostly return to the Super Peace Busters. Although the time they spent together during that summer was short, the five members reminisce about what happened as they each write a letter to their lost friend.
Why These Movies Are Similar
These recommendations share core qualities with The Lower Depths (1957): Drama themes, similar narrative structure, and comparable emotional depth. NoBadPicks uses a combination of TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface films most likely to resonate with fans of The Lower Depths.
See full details for The Lower Depths (1957)
