Movies Like Dear Daughter

If you liked Dear Daughter (1996), a movie directed by Louis Lentin, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
★ 7.5/10
Three young Irish women struggle to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum.
2
White Oleander (2002)
★ 7/10
A teenager journeys through a series of foster homes after her mother goes to prison for committing a crime of passion.
3
Short Term 12 (2013)
★ 7.7/10
Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, helps at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled past, Grace's tough exterior begins eroding.
4
Philomena (2013)
★ 7.3/10
A woman searches for her adult son, who was taken away from her decades ago when she was forced to live in a convent.
5
Mommie Dearest (1981)
★ 6.4/10
Renowned film star Joan Crawford's abuse towards Christina, her adopted daughter, intensifies as her professional and romantic relationships turn sour.
6
An American Crime (2007)
★ 7.3/10
The true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.
7
A Thousand and One (2023)
★ 6.6/10
Struggling but unapologetically living on her own terms, Inez is moving from shelter to shelter in mid-1990s New York City. With her 6-year-old son Terry in foster care and unable to leave him again, she kidnaps him so…
8
Boy A (2008)
★ 7.1/10
Freed after a lengthy term in a juvenile detention center, convicted child killer Jack Burridge finds work as a deliveryman and begins dating co-worker Michelle. While out on the road one day, Jack notices a distressed…
9
Small Things Like These (2024)
★ 6.7/10
In 1985, while working as a coal merchant to support his family, Bill Furlong discovers disturbing secrets kept by the local convent and uncovers truths of his own; forcing him to confront his past and the complicit…
10
Angela's Ashes (1999)
★ 7.3/10
An Irish Catholic family returns to 1930s Limerick after a child's death in America. The unemployed I.R.A. veteran father struggles with poverty, prejudice, and alcoholism as the family endures harsh slum conditions.
11
Honey Boy (2019)
★ 7/10
The story of a child star attempting to mend his relationship with his law-breaking, alcohol-abusing father over the course of a decade, loosely based on Shia LaBeouf’s life.
12
Orphan (2009)
★ 7/10
After losing their baby, a married couple adopt 9-year old Esther, who may not be as innocent as she seems.
13
Speak (2004)
★ 7.1/10
Freshman high-school student Melinda has refused to speak ever since she called the cops on a popular summer party. With her old friends snubbing her for being a rat, and her parents too busy to notice her troubles…
14
The Boys of St. Vincent (1994)
★ 7.1/10
The true story of boys being sexually abused at their orphanage, run by a religious community in Newfoundland.
15
Blonde (2022)
★ 5.9/10
From her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, this reimagined fictional portrait of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore…
16
Lemonade Mouth (2011)
★ 7.4/10
When five ragtag freshman first meet in detention, it seems they have nothing in common. But, through music, they form an unbreakable bond and discover they have the makings of the greatest high school garage band in…
17
Doubt (2008)
★ 7.2/10
In 1964 Bronx, two Catholic school nuns question the new priest's ambiguous relationship with a troubled African-American student.
18
Gimme Shelter (2013)
★ 6.6/10
After running away from her abusive mother, a streetwise teen seeks refuge with her father, but he rejects her when he learns that she's pregnant.
19
Bloomington (2010)
★ 6.5/10
A former child actress attends college in search of independence and ends up becoming romantically involved with a female professor. Their relationship thrives until an opportunity to return to acting forces her to…
20
The Girl Next Door (2007)
★ 6.7/10
In a quiet suburban town in the summer of 1958, two recently orphaned sisters are placed in the care of their mentally unstable Aunt Ruth. But Ruth's depraved sense of discipline will soon lead to unspeakable acts of…