Best movies like Shanghai Belle
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The destinies of five young women from all over the world intertwine in Paris as they embark on a roller-coaster ride of extremes in their search for love, sex and money. Based upon true stories, Shanghai Belle tells the destiny of five young women who all go through 'hell' to finally receive an unexpected redemption. Each of them states her intimate confessions through daily diaries. They experiment a journey on the 'edge'. The result of which is the loss of their innocence.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 84
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Best tv shows and movies like Shanghai Belle (2011):
Similar in 76%
Oscuro animal (2016)
Plot Summary:
Oscuro animal tells the story of three women forced to flee their homes in a war torn region in Colombia. Each of their journeys, marked by terror, takes them on a trek from the deep jungle to the outskirts of Bogotá, where they will gather new strength to start a new life.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 238
Genere: Drama
Country: Colombia, Argentina, Netherlands, Germany, Greece
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 80%
Yo-Yo Sexy Girl Cop (2006)
Plot Summary:
A beautiful "special student undercover cop" attends a prestigious high school in order to bust up a student prostitution ring in this sexy spoof of the popular Yo-Yo Girl Cop series. Saki (Mihiro) may look like you're average innocent schoolgirl, but in reality she's a highly skilled agent for the Japanese government. Armed with a lethal yo-yo and a special pair of see through underwear, Saki befriends a student prostitute named Asuka in hopes of identifying of the ringleaders and gathering the evidence that will bring them to justice. Accomplishing that goal is no simple task, however, because in addition to being bullied about her unconventional undergarments, Saki soon finds herself falling for handsome young classmate Takuya. Now torn between love and duty, Saki is shocked to learn that Asuka has been murdered after her double life was discovered, and that the leaders of the prostitution are none other than the Headmaster of the school and a highly respected teacher.
IMDB Rating: 4.0
IMDB Votes: 119
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: erotic, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, parody
Similar in 83%
Jan Dara: The Finale (2013)
Plot Summary:
Based on a famous Thai erotic novel, the film tells the story of Jan, a boy who grows up in a house lorded over by his sadistic and debauched father, Luang Wisnan. Set in the 1930′s the story recounts the growing pains of Jan, whose mother dies while giving birth to him and who’s intensely hated by his father. Jan grows up with Aunt Wad, his stepmother, and he struggles to reconcile his guilt and longing with different women in his life, including a girl called Hyacinth, whom he adores, and later Madame Boonleung, his father’s lover who becomes a key to Jan’s sexual awakening.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 669
Genere: Drama
Country: Thailand
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: erotic, sexy, psychological, suspense, disturbing, romantic
Similar in 77%
Day and Night (2010)
Plot Summary:
An unreservedly matter-of-fact look at two young women who consider prostitution an adventure until reality catches up with them.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 495
Genere: Drama
Country: Austria
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: erotic, psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, hot
Similar in 90%
Lazaro's Girlfriend (2002)
Plot Summary:
Lazarus is a Cuban appeal that makes a living in Madrid. When his girlfriend Dolores travels from Cuba to Spain to live with him, he is in prison for kidnapping and attempted rape. Dolores tries to survive with a broken heart, but his sympathy and sensuality will make adjusting to life in Madrid and try to exceed the Lazarus drug addiction.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 85
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, erotic
Similar in 84%
Top Girl or la déformation professionnelle (2014)
Plot Summary:
Helena, 29, a single mother with an 11-year-old daughter, is a moderately successful actress who earns a living as an escort in the sex industry. Her relationship with her own mother, a singing teacher, is tense, and she’s also increasingly annoyed with her job. Meeting David offers her an opportunity.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 94
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: tense, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 77%
Care (2018)
Plot Summary:
Jenny, a single mother raising two daughters after her husband leaves, is aided by her widowed mother, Mary. But Jenny struggles to stay afloat after Mary suffers a devastating stroke and develops dementia.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 414
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspenseful, thrilling
Similar in 79%
Voyage (2013)
Plot Summary:
A young psychiatrist ventures into a lone voyage to fight his depression. On the sea he records stories of people departed from this world prematurely, while what awaits him on the shore is the ultimate irony of life. Shot in Mongolia, Malaysia, Australia, Germany, Amsterdam and Hong Kong.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 233
Genere: Drama
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: erotic, psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 82%
I still hide to smoke (2016)
Plot Summary:
Α tragi-comedy about 9 women of different ages and various backgrounds that gather in an Algerian hammam to talk about their lives.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Greece, Algeria
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, independent film
Similar in 90%
Hotel Coppelia (2021)
Plot Summary:
1965, Dominican Republic. At a seaside brothel, the lives of a group of prostitutes take a dramatic turn when freedom fighters stage a revolutionary coup, making them realise they can have a better life and perhaps find love. But everything changes when the US army supresses the revolution and takes the brothel as a military base: the girls will have to face the dilemma of either sleeping with the enemy or protecting their dignity at all costs.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 685
Genere: Drama
Country: Dominican Republic
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: tense, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 85%
Ama (2021)
Plot Summary:
A portrait of the myth of maternity around the story of Pepa and her daughter, who are evicted from their home and forced to wander for a place to live with no support network.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 256
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 79%
Her Way (2021)
Plot Summary:
Marie, an independent and militant woman, has never needed anyone's help, including when it comes to raise her son. When the latter is expelled from his certificate of professional competence training class, Marie cannot accept it. Dreaming of a brighter future for him, she decides to enroll him in one of the best cooking schools in France.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 582
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 81%
Minor Freedoms (2008)
Plot Summary:
Set in the Greek highlands, the story presents a violent, domineering man who deals in the trafficking of emigrants and young, Balkan prostitutes. Addicted to drugs and mentally unstable, the man's teenage daughter Fanny succumbs to her father's violence and ends up working for him as a prostitute. The man also wishes to prostitute his young son, the immature Christos, who is dominated by his father's violence and engages in suicidal behavior. There is a special bond between brother and sister, who have only each other, yet no one admits this. Fanny falls apart day by day but the father maintains his reign as Christos, however, resists. "But in the kingdom of the father, the last word belongs to the king," according to the director.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 97
Genere: Drama
Country: Greece, Denmark
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 76%
Little Feather (2016)
Plot Summary:
Martina is 18, loves dancing and goes by a nick name Shakira. Also, today she is leaving an orphanage.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 84%
Glamour Girls (2022)
Plot Summary:
Their life as luxury escorts offered these women glamour, money and a chance to reinvent themselves…until a murder and a robbery ruined everything.
IMDB Rating: 3.6
IMDB Votes: 208
Genere: Drama
Country: Nigeria
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 77%
The Fortress of Sleeping Butterflies (2012)
Plot Summary:
Monika, a middle-aged wealthy woman, goes through a marriage crisis with her younger husband Linas. A car accident leads Monika to meeting three young girls, Kristina, Egle and Gitana, who happen to be ex-prostitutes extradited from Germany. The lady and the girls settle down in a country mansion, to form a relationship that will change their lives forever.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 565
Genere: Drama
Country: Lithuania
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 77%
Happy Lambs (2015)
Plot Summary:
The perfect world of a small family breaks, when Can discover that his mother works in a brothel. In a maelstrom of anger, guilt and despair Mother and son are forced to forgive himself.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 213
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, sexy
Similar in 85%
Perfect Education 6 (2004)
Plot Summary:
Fumiya owes 5 million yen to a female load shark for a gambling debt, while having affair an with Mrs. Hosoi who offers him 5 million to murder her husband. Fumiya has no choice but to kill Mr. Hosoi. Unfortunately he's see by a neighbor. In the escape, he meets a girl named Akiko. He hides in her house. Later on, Fumiya and Akiko fall in love and have sex. After that, he finds that the house owner Shin kidnapped Akiko whem she was a little girl and has kept her in the house for over a decade. Fumiya is determined to take her away from Shin's brutal confinement. A battle of wills between jailer, prisoner and accidental savior begins….
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 105
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 76%
Fire in Her Bed (2009)
Plot Summary:
In this re-imagining of Nick Philips 1972 FIRE IN HER BED a sheltered young woman moves to the city to attend University. There she becomes fascinated with a much more sophisticated and openly sensual woman. Overwhelmed by her feelings, she embarks upon an emotional and sexual journey that ultimately frees her from her past.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 112
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 76 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, independent film
Similar in 87%
Buy Me (2018)
Plot Summary:
Buy me is the dramatic story about hunger for fame. Katya, a young girl from a good family, a student of philology is awarded a grant to study archives in Paris but instead of heading to Paris she travels to the Arab Emirates to start international modeling career….
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 579
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, thought provoking, realistic, touching
Similar in 76%
New Tokyo Decadence: The Slave (2007)
Plot Summary:
A secretary is introduced to the world of BDSM by her boss. She becomes his personal slave as they take a walk on the wild side of experimentations. This film is based on main actress Rinako Hirasawa’s personal experiences.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 223
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 62 min
Plot tags: erotic, psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 81%
Alanis (2017)
Plot Summary:
A young Buenos Aires mother and sex worker suffers the hypocrisy of the laws that are supposed to protect her, in this compelling, profoundly political drama about the dismal choices foisted upon vulnerable women.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, art house
Similar in 82%
Gigola (2010)
Plot Summary:
George, a charismatic and adventurous young woman, born from an old, catholic family, falls in love, in her teens, with a female teacher named Sybil. Devastated by her lover's eventual suicide, some years later, George embarks on an exciting and reckless journey to the depths of Pigalle's nightlife, circa 1960. After an encounter with a very wealthy, still attractive, but older woman, Odete, who offers her money and gifts in return for sexual favours, George becomes Gigola, a kind of gigolo for women only.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 435
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sexy, controversial, stylized, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, sexual, erotic, queer cinema
Similar in 78%
Virgin 2: Not a Porn Movie (2009)
Plot Summary:
A friendship of two young girls, Tina and Nadya, who have fallen into dark professions. Friendships often come at a heavy price and end in tragic death, just when they want to change the course of their lives.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 77
Genere: Drama
Country: Indonesia
Duration:
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 87%
She's Lost Control (2014)
Plot Summary:
Ronah's life unravels when she starts working with a new client, Johnny.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, tense, realistic, sexy, captivating, independent film, sexual
Similar in 87%
She Walks (2015)
Plot Summary:
An illegal Chinese immigrant and her teenage daughter are held captive in their home after a stranger breaks in.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 50
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 86%
The Story of Richard O (2007)
Plot Summary:
Not for the easily embarrassed, “The Story of Richard O.” is an explicit take on sex as a way to connect with other people. Richard feels cornered and takes some time off from his girlfriend in order to come to terms with his relationship to women and to find a better version of himself. During the last month of summer, he goes on an erotic exploration through the streets of Paris, where he has 13 encounters with 13 women.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 648
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: erotic, psychological, captivating, disturbing, sexy
Similar in 76%
Not on My Watch (2017)
Plot Summary:
A single mother gets entangled in a web of lies to protect her sons.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 241
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 84%
Zero Fucks Given (2021)
Plot Summary:
Cassandre, 26, is a flight attendant for a low-cost airline. Based in Lanzarote, she’s always willing to take on extra hours and carries out her duties with robotic efficiency. On the side, she just goes with the flow and floats between Tinder, parties and lazy days. When she suddenly gets dismissed, she is forced to return home.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, art house
Similar in 78%
Dawn of the Felines (2017)
Plot Summary:
A glimpse into the lives of three prostitutes in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo and the clients who solicit them.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 387
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, sincere, captivating, suspense, disturbing