Genre: Drama
Drama draws its power from conflict between people — the choices, betrayals, and reconciliations that test who characters are. The stakes are emotional, and they land hard.
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The Hunt (2012)
Vinterberg's 2012 Danish small-town drama. Mads Mikkelsen as a kindergarten teacher falsely accused of child abuse. Mob mentality study at its sharpest. -
Persona (1966)
Bergman's 1966 Swedish psychological drama. Two women at a beach cottage. Identity dissolves. The film Bergman called his closest to abstract music. -
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
Bergman's 1982 Swedish family epic. Theatrical cut three hours, TV cut five. The autobiographical work he meant to end his career on. -
Wings of Desire (1987)
Wenders's 1987 German fantasy. Angels watch over divided Berlin. Bruno Ganz, Otto Sander. The source Hollywood remade as City of Angels. -
The Lives of Others (2006)
Donnersmarck's 2006 German drama. A Stasi officer surveilling a playwright. Won Best Foreign Language Oscar. East Germany at the edge of collapse. -
Wild Strawberries (1957)
Bergman's 1957 Swedish drama. An aging professor's day-long road trip to accept an honorary degree. Memory, regret, dreams. Among Bergman's most accessible. -
8½ (1963)
Fellini's 1963 self-portrait. Mastroianni as a director who can't make his next film. Five Oscars. The film film school built itself around in Europe. -
La Dolce Vita (1960)
Fellini's 1960 Rome decadence drama. Three hours of Marcello Mastroianni drifting through high society. Gave English the word 'paparazzi.' -
Bicycle Thieves (1948)
De Sica's 1948 Italian neorealist drama. A father and son search Rome for a stolen bicycle. The foundation document of postwar realist cinema. -
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
Tornatore's 1988 Italian drama. A boy grows up in a small-town movie theater. The director's cut adds an hour and changes the film. The shorter cut is the one to watch.