Finding movies similar to 50 Shades of Grey doesn’t have to take forever! By following the summarized and user-friendly guide we offer below, you’ll be able to find your perfect film in only a few minutes!
The best part is that all of the movies we listed are entertaining, so you can’t really make a mistake no matter which one you choose. Let’s start!
Top 15 Best Movies Like 50 Shades of Grey To Watch
1. Secretary
First of all, watching this movie solely because Maggie Gyllenhaal is a goddess would be good enough for us. Her performance as Lee Holloway, a young lady with a background of serious mental problems, in this movie is a treat. She starts working as a secretary for a demanding lawyer while she recovers at home with her controlling parents.
And who might this lawyer be? Edward Grey, portrayed by James Spader. Yet another sexy Mr. Grey! Watch as the two enter into a sadomasochistic relationship and the plot reveals all the juicy details.
It is very obvious that “Fifty Shades” was influenced by Steven Shainberg’s film considering the character name E. Edward Grey, as well as that both revolve around a lady finding her sexuality through the realm of BDSM.
Shainberg’s film portrays a captivating woman growing into her own as a sexual being and doesn’t shirk from tackling touchy subjects like sexual taboos and mental health.
2. Belle de Jour
Luis Buñuel’s “Belle du Jour” is a sparkling classic that explores female sensuality and stars the great French actress Catherine Deneuve. Despite being in French, this film’s hot narrative is simple to understand. A stunning housewife becomes tired of her husband and yearns for bondage- and sadism-heavy sexual life. She takes vacations from her opulent lifestyle and enjoys herself in brothels while her spouse is gone. She eventually finds a hot mobster, and their sexual encounters are magnificent.
The late Roger Ebert claimed this may be the finest and most well-known sexual movie of all time. That’s because it comprehends sensuality from the inside out and knows that it lives in the mind rather than in perspiration and skin.
3. A Dangerous Method
Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen, and Keira Knightley are three excellent reasons to see this movie at least once, despite the fact that critics appeared to like it more than viewers did. We can even provide Sarah Gadon and Vincent Cassel as more examples. Essentially, the entire ensemble in this spicy play about the beginnings of psychoanalysis is excellent.
Knightley portrays Sabina Spielrein, a lady who is being treated for hysteria by Fassbender’s character, Carl Jung. And you are aware of how hysteria was handled in the past, correct? Add it to your list if you enjoy history and don’t mind a few individuals in the buff.
4. In the Realm of the Senses
“In the Realm of the Senses,” a movie that makes “Fifty Shades of Grey” seem like “Winnie the Pooh,” is all about shattering sexual taboos and breaking down barriers. Sada Abe (Eiko Matsuda) was a pretty successful prostitute before becoming a hotel maid in 1930s Tokyo.
She is assaulted by Kicizo Ishida (Tatsuya Fuji), the hotel’s owner, and this acts as the catalyst for a hardcore relationship. The two appear to indulge their every sexual urge with little reluctance, taking every chance to further their sexual experimentation.
You have to see it to believe it, but the movie also has one of the most startling endings in cinematic history. The movie is so disturbing that it has never been shown without restrictions in its native Japan. You will never forget seeing it since it is bizarre, sluggish, and totally unforgettable.
5. Lust, Caution
Both 1938 Hong Kong and 1942 Shanghai, which are occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army, are shown in the epic film. The movie centers on a gang of college students who plan to kill a special agent in an effort to end the occupation. The group chooses to employ Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei), a stunning lady who serves as a honeypot and is one of their own, to seduce and kill Mr. Yee (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai).
Intricate period detail, seductive acting, and graphic sex are all abundant in Lee’s movie. The movie is lengthy, clocking in at about three hours, but Lee works his camera like a pro, making “Lust, Caution” seem much shorter than it is. If you enjoy sensual romance with a dash of espionage, Lust, Caution by Ang Lee is the movie for you.
6. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover
Helen Mirren plays Georgina in this Peter Greenaway’s movie, who has severe emotional repression as a result of her marriage to a criminal Albert (Michael Gambon). Georgina discovers that she is attracted to Michael (Alan Howard), a somewhat shy bookshop proprietor who regularly visits the same restaurant that Georgina and Albert frequent every evening.
It won’t be long until Georgina and Michael are sharing beds whenever possible. The picture contains some genuinely frightening, wicked atrocities, including torture, murder, and a good dose of cannibalism, after Albert finds his wife’s infidelity. However, it also includes all the qualities we love about Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele—it’s beautiful, seductive, and gloomy.
7. Friends with Benefits
“Friends With Benefits” is unquestionably the lightest movie on this list and kind of the antithesis of a rom-com. Jamie (Mila Kunis) and Dylan (Justin Timberlake) are the first characters to be dumped by their respective lovers in the story.
Just before meeting Jamie in New York to interview Dylan for a key position at GQ magazine, Dylan goes from LA to New York to take this meeting. After Dylan ultimately accepts the position, the two start dating, but they have one big agreement: they won’t engage in any emotional entanglements that come with a romantic connection.
There is a lot of sex as a result of this. The movie soon transitions to an all-in romantic comedy, but Kunis and Timberlake’s chemistry is undeniable, and it’s a lot of fun to see the two first get busy and then arrive at the inevitable.
8. Basic Instinct
In “Basic Instinct” by Paul Verhoeven, detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) is looking into the death of a rock singer. Catherine Trammell (Sharon Stone), the victim’s lover and the author of a mystery book about a similar murder, is Curran’s top suspect. Even as he has an affair with her, Curran is certain Trammell committed the crime despite the absence of proof.
There are many legendary scenes in Verhoeven’s movie, but none are as memorable as Sharon Stone uncrossing her legs while being questioned by a bunch of male police officers without wearing any underwear. In fact, it could be among the finest scenes from 1990s movies.
9. Eyes Wide Shut
Since this is a Stanley Kubrick movie, you can expect it to leave you confused. Watching Dr. Bill Hartford (Tom Cruise) and his spouse Alice (Nicole Kidman) explore sexuality in their marriage through a secret sexual group surely encourages you to think about the inner workings of the human brain. Although there is an orgy and other dramatic erotic sequences, the examination of the couple’s relationship is just as captivating.
Finding and pursuing your deepest sexual impulses is the focus of this frightening masterpiece. Both Kidman and Cruise are outstanding, but Cruise is particularly captivating as a guy who is entirely unable to handle amorous emotions, playing against type and challenging the actor’s reputation as a sexual icon.
10. Sex, Lies, and Videotape
The film immediately established the 26-year-old Soderbergh as a filmmaker to watch. Andie MacDowell plays Ann Mullany, a character who is in an unhappy marriage with her successful lawyer husband John (Peter Gallagher).
Ann finds herself strangely drawn to Graham and his unusual “passion” for filming women as they describe their sex lives on videotape when John’s old college acquaintance Graham Dalton (James Spader) returns to their life.
Contrary to the title of the movie, “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” really has very little actual sex. As people are stretched to their breaking points and divulge their most secret desires, speech accounts for a large portion of the movie’s sexiness.
11. Love
The movie starts out with a prolonged, unsimulated, and graphic sex scene. In order to make Noe’s picture as overtly explicit as possible, it was even shot in 3D and shown that way. Murphy (Karl Glusman), an American studying filmmaking in Paris, is the subject of the movie. Murphy, who is attractive and sexually adventurous, becomes infatuated with his girlfriend Electra (Aomi Muyock).
Although they have strong sexual chemistry, other areas of their lives aren’t quite as pleasant. The two indulge in increasingly more offensive sexual acts as their courting shows signs of wear and tear in an effort to save what seems to be an irreparable romance. This movie is audacious, brazen, and daring.
12. The Dreamers
Matthew (Michael Pitt), an American student and movie enthusiast who travels to Paris to learn French, is the main character of “The Dreamers.” At a demonstration, he meets the enigmatic twins Théo (Louis Garrel) and Isabelle (Eva Green), with whom he strikes up a friendship over their shared love of film. It doesn’t take long for Matthew to move in with Isabelle and Théo at the brothers’ Left Bank retreat, where they quickly develop a passionate and hot relationship.
In their utopia, few people wear clothes because “The Dreamers” confronts taboo topics like incest head-on. It is an entertaining, sophisticated, and pleasantly erotic film that is genuine to its time. The three young performers portray it with unaffected sincerity.
13. Boogie Nights
In “Boogie Nights,” the heyday of pornography is shown. Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg), a high school dropout in the 1970s living with his abusive and controlling parents in California, is the focus of the movie.
He works as a dishwasher. Adams encounters pornographer Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds), who is impressed by Adams’ potential. Eddie grows into one of the most well-known figures in pornography after choosing the stage name Dirk Diggler.
The sex-filled movie by Anderson follows Diggler and the adult film business as a whole through their ups and downs during the 1970s and 1980s. Julianne Moore, Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, and Heather Graham are among the outstanding cast, and Anderson’s writing is filled with intriguing, enduring characters.
14. The Handmaiden
“The Handmaiden,” a convoluted and deliriously sensual sexual thriller, is fantastic. The intricate story follows pickpocket Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri), who is employed as Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee), a young niece of an extraordinarily wealthy collector, who has lately acquired a sizable fortune.
Count Fujiwara (Ha Jung-woo) is a conman who has tricked Sook-hee into helping him carry out his scheme to lure Hideko into marriage so he may take her enormous wealth. But there’s a problem: Sook-hee and Lady Hideko start to feel attracted to one another, which poses a significant threat to Fujiwara’s scheme.
Much more provocative than “Fifty Shades” might ever aspire to be, “The Handmaiden” is a magnificent work of entertainment. It’s an essential must-watch for “Fifty Shades of Grey” fans since it was superbly filmed, brilliantly performed, and immensely seductive.
15. 365 Days
When 365 Days debuted on Netflix in 2020, it sparked a great deal of controversy. Is it steamy? Yes. Is the acting so dreadful and excessively theatrical that it’s entertaining? Oh, yes. Do you really believe that a lady who has been abducted by a guy and held hostage for a year could, would, or should become infatuated with him? Yes, again.
If none of it terrifies you, you could like the movie’s primary method of sexual dominance. Just be aware that there are some issues with this one before you start. In other words, depending on your tolerance for this kind of content, it may make you feel heated and irritated.
The movie received a remarkable 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes after being trashed by critics. Although it still has loyal fans, “365 Days” features a surprising and divisive climax that has possibilities for a future movie. Fans will indeed receive that, as Netflix has announced that there will be a second and even a third installment.
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