Movies Like Ils étaient cinq permissionnaires

If you liked Ils étaient cinq permissionnaires (1945), a movie directed by Pierre Caron, 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
Jean de Florette (1986)
★ 7.7/10
In a rural French village, an old man and his only remaining relative cast their covetous eyes on an adjoining vacant property. They need its spring water for growing their flowers, and are dismayed to hear that the…
2
My Summer in Provence (2014)
★ 6.3/10
In the wake of their parent's separation, three siblings spend the summer in the south of France with their estranged Grandfather. In less than 24 hours, a clash of generations has occurred between the teenagers and…
3
The Well Digger's Daughter (2011)
★ 6.8/10
It's the beginning of the WWII. South of France. Patricia, 18, is the oldest daughter of a well-digger, Pascal, who considers her a princess because of her moral qualities. She's kind, devoted. One day, she briefly…
4
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
★ 7.6/10
Born under unusual circumstances, Benjamin Button springs into being as an elderly man in a New Orleans nursing home and ages in reverse. Twelve years after his birth, he meets Daisy, a child who flits in and out of…
5
Manon of the Spring (1986)
★ 7.6/10
In this, the sequel to Jean de Florette, Manon has grown into a beautiful young shepherdess living in the idyllic Provencal countryside. She plots vengeance on the men who greedily conspired to acquire her father's…
6
The Weight (2026)
★ 6.7/10
When Samuel is torn from his daughter and sent to a brutal prison, Warden Clancy offers him a high-stakes proposition: smuggle gold out of a remote mine with a dangerous crew of prisoners and he’ll win his freedom.
7
The Lost Daughter (2021)
★ 6.4/10
A woman's seaside vacation takes a dark turn when her obsession with a young mother forces her to confront secrets from her past.
8
Bonjour Tristesse (2025)
★ 6.1/10
At the height of summer, 18-year-old Cécile is relaxing by the French seaside with her father and falling in love with her new boyfriend. The arrival of her late mother's enigmatic friend turns her world upside down.
9
One Wild Moment (2015)
★ 5.8/10
Antoine and Laurent, old friends, spend their vacation in Corsica with their respective daughters: seventeen-year-old Louna and eighteen-year-old Marie. One evening at the beach, Louna seduces Laurent. Louna is in…
10
Head Full of Honey (2018)
★ 6.3/10
A young girl tries to help her grandfather, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, navigate his increasing forgetfulness, and ends up going on a remarkable adventure with him.
11
Long Way North (2015)
★ 7.4/10
In 1892 Saint Petersburg, when her explorer grandfather's failure to return from his latest expedition brings dishonour to her aristocratic family, a resilient teenager runs away to follow in his trail in search of his…
12
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…
13
The Sower (2017)
★ 6/10
In 1852, the mountain village in Provence where Violette lives is brutally deprived of all its men after the repression of the republicans ordered by Napoleon III. Women spend months in total isolation, desperate to…
14
L'Argent (1928)
★ 7.1/10
Adapted from the novel L'Argent by Émile Zola, the film portrays the world of banking and the stock market in Paris in the 1920s.
15
Bonjour Tristesse (1958)
★ 6.7/10
A spoiled teenager spends the summer at the French Riviera with her rich, widower, playboy father, but when his old flame resurfaces, she resolves to keep her frivolous lifestyle at all costs.
16
Army of Shadows (1969)
★ 7.9/10
Betrayed by an informant, Philippe Gerbier finds himself trapped in a torturous Nazi prison camp. Though Gerbier escapes to rejoin the Resistance in occupied Marseilles, France, and exacts his revenge on the informant…
17
De Gaulle: Résistance (2026)
★ 7.8/10
June, 1940. France collapses and signs the armistice. In the midst of the chaos, one man refuses to give up. Alone against the odds, this unknown general flees to London to save what remains of freedom.
18
All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
★ 7.2/10
When lovely and virtuous governess Henriette Deluzy comes to educate the children of the debonair Duc de Praslin, a royal subject to King Louis-Philippe and the husband of the volatile and obsessive Duchesse de…
19
Treasure Island (1972)
★ 5.9/10
Young Jim Hawkins finds himself serving with pirate captain Long John Silver in search of a buccaneer's treasure, in this short adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale.
20
Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
★ 7.5/10
A socialite marries a prominent novelist, which spurs a violent, obsessive, and dangerous jealousy in her.