Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire, or simply Precious, is a 2009 American drama film, directed and co-produced by Lee Daniels. Its script was written by Geoffrey S. Fletcher, adapted from the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire. The film stars Gabourey Sidibe and Mo'Nique, alongside Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd, and Lenny Kravitz. This marked the acting debut of Sidibe, who portrays a young woman struggling against poverty and abuse. Filming took place in New York City from October to December 2007.

Precious, then without a distributor, premiered to acclaim at both the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, under its original title of Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire. At Sundance, it won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for best drama, as well as a Special Jury Prize for supporting actress Mo'Nique. After Precious' screening at Sundance in January 2009, Tyler Perry announced that he and Oprah Winfrey would be providing promotional assistance to the film, which was released through Lionsgate Entertainment. Precious won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The film's title was changed from Push to Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, to avoid confusion with the 2009 action film Push.

Lionsgate gave the film a limited release in North America on November 6, 2009, with an expanded release on November 20. Precious received positive reviews from critics; the performances of Sidibe and Mo'Nique, the story, and its message were highly praised. The film was a box office success, earning over $63 million on a $10 million budget.

Precious received six nominations at the 82nd Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Daniels, and Best Actress for Sidibe. Mo'Nique won the award for Best Supporting Actress, while Geoffrey Fletcher won for Best Adapted Screenplay, becoming the first African-American to win a screenplay award at the Oscars.

In 1987, 16-year-old Claireece Precious Jones lives in New York City's Harlem neighborhood with her unemployed mother, Mary, who has long subjected her to physical, sexual, and verbal abuse. Precious has also been raped by her now-absent father, Carl, resulting in two pregnancies. The family resides in a Section 8 tenement and survives on welfare.

Precious's first child, a daughter named "Mongo", short for Mongoloid, has Down syndrome and is being cared for by Precious's grandmother, while Mary forces the family to pretend that Mongo lives with her and Precious so she can receive extra money from the government. When Precious's second pregnancy is discovered, her junior high principal, Mrs. Lichtenstein, arranges for her to attend an alternative school program called Each One Teach One, where she hopes Precious can change her life's direction. Precious finds a way out of her traumatic daily life by escaping into daydreams in which she is loved and appreciated.

Despite her mother's insistence that Precious apply for welfare, Precious goes to the location of the alternative school and enrolls. She meets her new teacher, Ms. Blu Rain, as well as several other girls who all come from troubled backgrounds and are looking to get their GED to advance their educations. Precious's life begins to turn around when she slowly starts to learn to read and write with the help of Ms. Rain and finds herself inspired by her. While she learns, she starts to meet with social worker Ms. Weiss, who learns about the sexual assault in the household when Precious accidentally reveals who fathered her children. One day, while telling a story in class, Precious's water breaks, and she is rushed to the hospital. She gives birth to a healthy son named Abdul and is acquainted with a kind nursing assistant named John McFadden. While in the hospital, Precious writes letters to Ms. Rain through her notebook that is taken to and from her by Joann, one of the girls in her class.

Once discharged from the hospital, Precious returns home to find Mary waiting for her. Mary asks to hold Abdul, but deliberately drops him before attacking Precious, angrily declaring Precious's revelation about the abuse has resulted in the termination of welfare payments. Precious throws Mary against a wall, retrieves Abdul, and after falling down the stairs and narrowly avoiding Mary deliberately dropping her television set on them from the top of the stairwell, she flees the apartment and eventually breaks into her school classroom for shelter. When Ms. Rain discovers Precious and Abdul sleeping the next morning, she frantically calls local shelters in search of a safe place for Precious and Abdul to live, but they end up staying with Ms. Rain and her live-in girlfriend for the holiday. The next morning, Ms. Rain takes Precious and Abdul to find assistance, and Precious is able to continue her schooling while raising Abdul in a halfway house.