8 Movies Like The Secret Woman You Must See

Netflix’s ‘The Secret Woman’ or ‘Den hemmelige kvinde’ begins with Louise Andersen (Natalie Wolfsberg Madueño) living an ordinary life on Norway’s Hidra island with her partner, Joachim (Pål Sverre Hagen). Their quiet existence is disrupted when a stranger approaches Louise with the disturbing claim that she is actually Helene Söderberg, a Danish woman who vanished three years earlier. Unable to ignore the possibility that her entire identity may be built on a mystery, Louise sets out to discover if she really is Helene. Her search takes her to a life she does not remember, including a marriage to Edmund (Claes Bang) and a young son, Alexander (David Elting). Louise also learns that, as Helene, she belongs to a wealthy family owning a major shipping empire, and that her father died shortly before her disappearance.

The answers, however, only make the mystery harder to understand. Louise attempts to reconstruct her forgotten past, but conversations with Edmund raise more questions than answers. The deeper she digs, the more she suspects that someone is hiding a disturbing truth and that she may have chosen to forget something about herself. Directed by Barbara Topsøe-Rothenborg, the Danish psychological thriller drama film is based on Anna Ekberg’s eponymous novel. These movies, similar to ‘The Secret Woman,’ feature mind-bending mysteries, complex character studies, inexplicable secrets, and the search for identity.

8. The Vanishing (1993)

In ‘The Vanishing,’ Diane (Sandra Bullock) disappears while traveling with her boyfriend Jeff (Kiefer Sutherland), leaving him with no explanation. Even after years have passed and Jeff has started a new relationship with Rita (Nancy Travis), he remains consumed by the need to discover what happened to Diane. His search eventually brings him into the path of Barney (Jeff Bridges), who has secretly spent years preparing to kidnap a woman and finally succeeded when Diane became his victim. Rather than simply revealing where Diane is, Barney offers Jeff a horrifying way to learn the truth.

Barney watches Jeff’s obsession grow, and the search for Diane turns into a dangerous confrontation in which finding the truth may require Jeff to risk his own life. Helmed by George Sluizer, the psychological thriller horror film is a remake of the eponymous French-Dutch film and is also based on the novel ‘Het Gouden Ei’ by Tim Krabbé. Akin to ‘The Secret Woman,’ the film uses a mysterious disappearance to open a much larger psychological mystery, as the person searching for answers gradually discovers that the truth is far more disturbing than expected.

7. A Simple Favor (2018)

‘A Simple Favor’ follows Stephanie (Anna Kendrick), a single mother whose cheerful online presence and involvement in her son’s school give her life a carefully organized routine. That changes after she becomes close to Emily (Blake Lively), a stylish mother whose polished lifestyle is completely different. Their friendship takes a sudden turn when Emily asks Stephanie to collect her son Nicky from school, only for Emily to disappear soon afterward. Unable to understand why her friend has vanished, Stephanie begins investigating on her own, eventually joined by Emily’s husband Sean (Henry Golding).

The deeper they look into Emily’s past, the more secrets they uncover, making it clear that her disappearance is connected to something far more puzzling. The Paul Feig directorial is a comedy mystery film based on the eponymous novel by Darcey Bell. ‘The Secret Woman’ and ‘A Simple Favor’ build their mysteries around a disappearance that raises questions about the missing woman’s identity, relationships, and hidden past in unexpected ways.

6. The Forgotten (2004)

Joseph Ruben steers ‘The Forgotten,’ which is the tale of Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore), a grieving mother coping with the tragic loss of her young son, Sam, who perished alongside other children in a plane crash. Once all physical proof of her son’s existence mysteriously vanishes, Telly is left in disbelief while those around her begin questioning her sanity. Determined to prove Sam was real, she searches for someone to corroborate her memories. Her pursuit brings her to Ash Correll (Dominic West), a father whose own daughter vanished in the same disaster and who has similarly had his memories erased.

Detective Anne Pope (Alfre Woodard) soon sees the strangeness in two people sharing the same delusion and helps them uncover the truth. The mystery surrounding the missing children gradually grows ever more puzzling. The psychological thriller film places a woman at the center of a mystery involving memories and an identity that no longer seems to match reality, much like ‘The Secret Woman.’ The narratives also explore the unsettling idea that the past can be manipulated or concealed.

5. The Woman in the Window (2021)

‘The Woman in the Window’ centers on Anna Fox (Amy Adams), a child psychologist whose agoraphobia has left her almost entirely confined to her Manhattan home. Separated from her husband and daughter, she spends her days isolated from the outside world, often watching her neighbors through the windows. Her routine changes when she observes the Russell family across the street and later believes she has witnessed a murder inside their home. The problem is that no one seems willing to believe her. With the police questioning her account and her own struggles with depression and drug dependence undermining her credibility, Anna is left to investigate what she saw herself.

The more she tries to piece together the events surrounding the Russell family, however, the more difficult it becomes to separate what she knows from what she fears may be happening. With Joe Wright in the director’s chair, the psychological thriller film is an adaptation of A. J. Finn’s novel of the same. ‘The Woman in the Window’ and ‘The Secret Woman’ are interested in hidden lives and unreliable appearances. In both films, what initially seems ordinary gradually grows suspicious as the main characters discover that the people and circumstances around them may not be what they appear to be.

4. The Invisible Guest (2016)

Director Oriol Paulo’s ‘The Invisible Guest’ or ‘Contratiempo’ delves into the life of Adrián Doria (Mario Casas), a successful businessman who finds himself facing a murder charge after waking up in a locked hotel room beside the body of his lover, Laura. With little time before the case moves forward, Adrián turns to Virginia Goodman (Ana Wagener), an experienced lawyer brought in to prepare him for his defense. Adrián describes a past, but Virginia is not convinced that his account explains everything.

She keeps pushing him to fill in the gaps as he offers different pieces of his story. Eventually, lies and reality become increasingly difficult to distinguish, leaving Adrián’s fate hanging in the balance. The Spanish mystery thriller film, similar to ‘The Secret Woman,’ centers on a mystery in which the truth lies hidden beneath conflicting versions of the past. Adrián reconstructs events to explain a murder, while Louise tries to reconstruct a life she can no longer remember.

3. The Girl on the Train (2016)

Based on Paula Hawkins’ eponymous novel, ‘The Girl on the Train’ deals with Rachel Watson (Emily Blunt), a divorced woman whose daily train journeys keep taking her past the neighborhood where she once lived with her former husband. Watching from the train window, Rachel becomes absorbed in the lives of Megan Hipwell (Haley Bennett) and Scott Hipwell (Luke Evans), imagining the couple to be happy. That image changes when Rachel believes she saw Megan being attacked during one of her journeys. When Megan subsequently disappears, Rachel becomes convinced that what she witnessed may hold the key to the case. However, her difficulty separating what she remembers from what actually happened makes her an uncertain witness.

This puzzling situation forces her to confront unsettling truths that may alter her reality. The psychological thriller film from director Tate Taylor is a poignant take on memory, identity, truth, and fate, much like ‘The Secret Woman.’ Rachel’s investigation forces her to revisit her own troubled past, while Louise’s search for answers takes her into a forgotten life that may hold the key to her present circumstances.

2. Secret Obsession (2019)

Helmed by Peter Sullivan, ‘Secret Obsession’ is a psychological thriller film that follows Jennifer Williams (Brenda Song), who is left with severe memory loss after surviving a violent attack. With no clear recollection of who she is or what happened to her, she depends on her husband, Russell Williams (Mike Vogel), to guide her. After returning home, Jennifer tries to settle back into her old routine while Russell patiently fills in the missing pieces of her past. But as her memory slowly begins to return, the details of Russell’s story start to feel increasingly questionable.

Russell’s reluctance to let her look too closely into her previous life only heightens Jennifer’s suspicions, leaving her to wonder whether the man helping her recover is actually hiding something sinister. Both ‘The Secret Woman’ and ‘Secret Obsession’ turn memory loss into a source of psychological suspense. Rather than simply trying to remember, Louise and Jennifer must determine whether the people helping them recover their past can be trusted.

1. Before I Go to Sleep (2014)

In ‘Before I Go to Sleep,’ Christine Lucas (Nicole Kidman) is a woman whose life has been left in chaos after a violent attack caused her to lose the ability to retain new memories. Each morning, she wakes up unable to recognize Ben (Colin Firth), who claims to be her husband. Under the guidance of her psychologist, Dr. Nasch (Mark Strong), Christine begins recording a video diary to leave information for her future self and gradually piece together what happened to her. When fragments of memory return, Christine discovers details that do not fit the story she has been told. Her attempts to understand her past become a question of trust as she begins to wonder whether the people closest to her are actually protecting her or hiding something far more disturbing.

Crafted under the direction of Rowan Joffé and penned by Joffé, the British-US psychological thriller film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by S. J. Watson. Like ‘The Secret Woman,’ the movie centers on a woman trying to reconstruct a missing part of her own life, with both Louise and Christine discovering that recovering their past may be much more complicated than simply remembering it. The films also tackle the complexities of identity, the husband-wife relationship, and female liberation.