Movies Like Puzzle of a Downfall Child

If you liked Puzzle of a Downfall Child (1970), a drama movie directed by Jerry Schatzberg, 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
Hard Candy (2006)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
Hayley’s a smart, charming teenage girl. Jeff’s a handsome, smooth fashion photographer. An Internet chat, a coffee shop meet-up, an impromptu fashion shoot back at Jeff’s place. Jeff thinks it’s his lucky night. He’s…
2
A Girl Like Her (2015)
★ 7/10Also drama
Sophomore year has been a nightmare for Jessica Burns. Relentlessly harassed by her former friend Avery Keller, Jessica doesn't know what she did to deserve the abuse from one of South Brookdale High's most popular and…
3
Welcome to the Rileys (2010)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
Years after their teenage daughter’s death, Lois and Doug Riley, an upstanding Indiana couple, are frozen by estranging grief. Doug escapes to New Orleans on a business trip. Compelled by urgencies he doesn’t…
4
Mulholland Drive (2001)
★ 7.8/10Also drama
Blonde Betty Elms has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia. Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman's identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher…
5
sex, lies, and videotape (1989)
★ 7/10Also drama
Ann, a frustrated wife, enters into counseling due to a troubled marriage. Unbeknownst to her, her husband John has begun an affair with her sister. When John’s best friend Graham arrives, his penchant for interviewing…
6
The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004)
★ 5.8/10Also drama
Young Jeremiah lives in a stable environment with loving foster parents until the day his troubled mother, Sarah, returns to claim him. Jeremiah becomes swept up in his mother's dangerous world of drugs, seedy hotels…
7
Maps to the Stars (2014)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
Driven by an intense need for fame and validation, members of a dysfunctional Hollywood family chase celebrity, one another, and the relentless ghosts of their pasts. Their fragile ecosystem is disrupted by the arrival…
8
The Crush (1993)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
A precocious and obsessive teenager develops a crush on a naive writer with harrowing consequences.
9
May December (2023)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.
10
Luckiest Girl Alive (2022)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
A successful woman in New York City finds her life upended when she is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life.
11
Anna (2013)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
A man with the ability to enter peoples' memories takes on the case of a brilliant, troubled sixteen-year-old girl to determine whether she is a sociopath or a victim of trauma.
12
The Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story (2023)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
Based on a true story. 15-year-old Kara Robinson was kidnapped, assaulted and held captive for 18 hours. With her survival instincts kicking in, she plots a daring escape from the serial killer and leads police to his…
13
Woman of the Hour (2024)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
An aspiring actress crosses paths with a prolific serial killer in '70s LA when they're cast on an episode of "The Dating Game."
14
Natural Born Killers (1994)
★ 7/10Also drama
Two victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.
15
The Chronology of Water (2025)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
Plagued by an abusive childhood, a woman finds escape in competitive swimming, sexual experimentation, toxic relationships, and addiction before ultimately finding her voice through writing.
16
Girl in the Bunker (2018)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
When Elizabeth is abducted by a fugitive sexual predator, she realizes she must take matters into her own hands and plot her escape. Based on a true story.
17
Blonde (2022)
★ 5.9/10Also drama
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…
18
Lovelace (2013)
★ 6/10Also drama
Story of Linda Lovelace, who is used and abused by the porn industry at the behest of her coercive husband, before taking control of her life.
19
Mommie Dearest (1981)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
Renowned film star Joan Crawford's abuse towards Christina, her adopted daughter, intensifies as her professional and romantic relationships turn sour.
20
Mysterious Skin (2005)
★ 7.7/10Also drama
A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.