Really Good Scandinavian Movies
by prohibited-name-1595 | created - 13 May 2011 | updated - 16 May 2011 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Ariel (1988)
Not Rated | 72 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
A Finnish man goes to the city to find a job after the mine where he worked is closed and his father commits suicide.
Director: Aki Kaurismäki | Stars: Turo Pajala, Susanna Haavisto, Matti Pellonpää, Eetu Hilkamo
Votes: 8,304
2. The Bohemian Life (1992)
Not Rated | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Three struggling artists try to make passable livings in Paris despite setbacks and tragedies.
Director: Aki Kaurismäki | Stars: Matti Pellonpää, Evelyne Didi, André Wilms, Kari Väänänen
Votes: 6,416
3. Bænken (2000)
93 min | Drama
Kaj is an alcoholic living on the money the Danish state is providing him. Him and his friends spend their time drinking beer at a public bench. One day Kaj's life turns upside down when a young lady and her child moves in next to him.
Director: Per Fly | Stars: Jesper Christensen, Marius Sonne Janischefska, Stine Holm Joensen, Nicolaj Kopernikus
Votes: 4,421
4. Dancer in the Dark (2000)
R | 140 min | Crime, Drama, Musical
An Eastern European US immigrant with a love for musicals has to cope with the gradual loss of her vision.
Director: Lars von Trier | Stars: Björk, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Peter Stormare
Votes: 116,754 | Gross: $4.18M
5. The Simple-Minded Murderer (1982)
108 min | Drama
A mentally challenged man escapes from his tyrannical master and finds happiness when a poor family takes him in.
Director: Hans Alfredson | Stars: Stellan Skarsgård, Maria Johansson, Hans Alfredson, Per Myrberg
Votes: 3,709
6. The Seventh Seal (1957)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Fantasy
A knight returning to Sweden after the Crusades seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Max von Sydow, Gunnar Björnstrand, Bengt Ekerot, Nils Poppe
Votes: 198,347
7. Dogville (2003)
R | 178 min | Crime, Drama
A woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town she finds out that their support has a price.
Director: Lars von Trier | Stars: Nicole Kidman, Paul Bettany, Lauren Bacall, Harriet Andersson
Votes: 158,585 | Gross: $1.53M
8. They Call Us Misfits (1968)
100 min | Documentary
The first entry in a series of films about the lives of social misfits Kenneth 'Kenta' Gustafsson and Gustav 'Stoffe' Svensson.
Directors: Stefan Jarl, Jan Lindqvist | Stars: Stefan Jarl, Kenneth 'Kenta' Gustafsson, Gustav 'Stoffe' Svensson, Pundar-Bosse
Votes: 1,605
9. You, the Living (2007)
Not Rated | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
You, the Living is a film about humankind, its greatness and its baseness, joy and sorrow, its self-confidence and anxiety, its desire to love and be loved.
Director: Roy Andersson | Stars: Elisabeth Helander, Jörgen Nohall, Jan Wikbladh, Björn Englund
Votes: 16,287 | Gross: $0.02M
10. After the Wedding (2006)
R | 120 min | Drama
A manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-altering family secret.
Director: Susanne Bier | Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Rolf Lassgård, Neeral Mulchandani
Votes: 37,059 | Gross: $0.41M
11. En sång för Martin (2001)
PG-13 | 117 min | Drama, Music, Romance
Swedish composer/conductor Martin and concertmaster Barbara fall in love. After their divorces, they're happily married. While composing an opera, Martin is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. It slowly changes him.
Director: Bille August | Stars: Sven Wollter, Viveka Seldahl, Reine Brynolfsson, Linda Källgren
Votes: 1,229 | Gross: $0.03M
12. A Respectable Life (1979)
102 min | Documentary
About a couple of friends in Stockholms drug world.
Director: Stefan Jarl | Stars: Kenneth 'Kenta' Gustafsson, Gustav 'Stoffe' Svensson, Eva Blondin, Patric Gustafsson
Votes: 1,233
13. Fanny and Alexander (1982)
R | 188 min | Drama
Two young Swedish children in the 1900s experience the many comedies and tragedies of their lively and affectionate theatrical family, the Ekdahls.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Bertil Guve, Pernilla Allwin, Kristina Adolphson, Börje Ahlstedt
Votes: 67,467 | Gross: $4.97M
14. The Celebration (1998)
R | 105 min | Drama
At Helge's 60th birthday party, some unpleasant family truths are revealed.
Director: Thomas Vinterberg | Stars: Ulrich Thomsen, Henning Moritzen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Paprika Steen
Votes: 93,818 | Gross: $1.65M
15. The Match Factory Girl (1990)
Not Rated | 69 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A woman's terribly dull life is upended by a one-night stand pregnancy, causing her to seek retribution.
Director: Aki Kaurismäki | Stars: Kati Outinen, Elina Salo, Esko Nikkari, Vesa Vierikko
Votes: 11,624
16. The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix (1975)
G | 88 min | Animation, Comedy, Family
Reodor Felgen decides that he will enter a car race to defeat his former friend who has stolen his plans for a car.
Director: Ivo Caprino | Stars: Wenche Foss, Per Theodor Haugen, Harald Heide-Steen Jr., Leif Juster
Votes: 14,329
17. Show Me Love (1998)
Not Rated | 89 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two teenage girls in small-town Sweden. Elin is beautiful, popular, and bored with life. Agnes is friendless, sad, and secretly in love with Elin.
Director: Lukas Moodysson | Stars: Alexandra Dahlström, Rebecka Liljeberg, Erica Carlson, Mathias Rust
Votes: 55,387 | Gross: $0.17M
18. Autumn Sonata (1978)
PG | 99 min | Drama, Music
A devoted wife is visited by her mother, a successful concert pianist who had little time for her when she was young.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullmann, Lena Nyman, Halvar Björk
Votes: 37,751
19. Jalla! Jalla! (2000)
88 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Roro, a foreign worker in Swedish parks, loves his girlfriend and wants to marry her, but he is about to marry another girl to prevent her from being sent back to her homeland, Lebanon. ... See full summary »
Director: Josef Fares | Stars: Fares Fares, Torkel Petersson, Tuva Novotny, Laleh Pourkarim
Votes: 14,647
20. The Virgin Spring (1960)
Not Rated | 89 min | Drama
In 14th-century Sweden, an innocent yet pampered teenage girl and her family's pregnant and jealous servant set out from their farm to deliver candles to church, but only one returns from events that transpire in the woods along the way.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Max von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom, Birgitta Pettersson
Votes: 31,632 | Gross: $1.53M
21. Let the Right One In (2008)
R | 114 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Oskar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl.
Director: Tomas Alfredson | Stars: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl
Votes: 226,690 | Gross: $2.12M
22. Manderlay (2005)
Not Rated | 139 min | Drama
A story of slavery, set in the southern U.S. in the 1930s.
Director: Lars von Trier | Stars: Bryce Dallas Howard, Isaach De Bankolé, Danny Glover, Willem Dafoe
Votes: 25,171 | Gross: $0.08M
23. The Man Without a Past (2002)
PG-13 | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
M arrives in Helsinki only to be viciously attacked by thugs and pronounced dead by medics. He revives but with no memory of his past or his identity. He rebuilds his life from scratch, but the past inevitably catches up with him.
Director: Aki Kaurismäki | Stars: Markku Peltola, Kati Outinen, Annikki Tähti, Juhani Niemelä
Votes: 26,062 | Gross: $0.92M
24. Midvinterduell (1983 TV Movie)
52 min | Drama
A vendetta between Egon Lundin and the Swedish National Road Administration concerning one, in their opinion, illegally built milk pallet.
Director: Lars Molin | Stars: Ingvar Hirdwall, Mona Malm, Andreas Höghede, Tommy Johnson
Votes: 301
25. My Life as a Dog (1985)
Unrated | 101 min | Drama, Comedy
In the late '50s, young Ingemar learns a lot about life and himself when he is sent away from his sick mother to live with his aunt and uncle in a town full of eccentrics.
Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Anton Glanzelius, Tomas von Brömssen, Anki Lidén, Melinda Kinnaman
Votes: 22,526 | Gross: $8.35M
26. Winter Light (1963)
Not Rated | 81 min | Drama
A small-town priest struggles with his faith.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Gunnel Lindblom, Max von Sydow
Votes: 27,075
27. Drifting Clouds (1996)
Not Rated | 95 min | Comedy, Drama
The recession hits a couple in Helsinki.
Director: Aki Kaurismäki | Stars: Kati Outinen, Kari Väänänen, Elina Salo, Sakari Kuosmanen
Votes: 9,043
28. Ordet (1955)
Not Rated | 126 min | Drama
Follows the lives of the Borgen family, as they deal with inner conflict, as well as religious conflict with each other, and the rest of the town.
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer | Stars: Henrik Malberg, Emil Hass Christensen, Preben Lerdorff Rye, Hanne Aagesen
Votes: 17,394
29. Persona (1966)
Not Rated | 83 min | Drama, Thriller
A nurse is put in charge of a mute actress and finds that their personae are melding together.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Margaretha Krook, Gunnar Björnstrand
Votes: 130,822
30. Potatishandlaren (1996 TV Movie)
48 min | Comedy, Drama
In this Swedish TV drama, a once-kittenish young woman has become a fortyish spinster, still helping her widowed father on the family farm. Marta drives tractors, does the planting and ... See full summary »
Director: Lars Molin | Stars: Ingvar Hirdwall, Eva Gröndahl, Rolf Lassgård, Göran Forsmark
Votes: 688
31. The Kingdom (1994–2022)
TV-MA | 60 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Doctors at an ultramodern hospital in Denmark become convinced, by way of weird, inexplicable happenings, that the place is haunted.
Stars: Ernst-Hugo Järegård, Kirsten Rolffes, Ghita Nørby, Søren Pilmark
Votes: 20,337 | Gross: $0.09M
32. Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
TV-PG | 283 min | Drama
Ten years within the marriage of Marianne and Johan.
Stars: Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Bibi Andersson, Gunnel Lindblom
Votes: 17,264
33. Shadows in Paradise (1986)
Not Rated | 74 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
An episode in the life of Nikander, a garbage man, involving the death of a coworker, a love affair and much more.
Director: Aki Kaurismäki | Stars: Matti Pellonpää, Kati Outinen, Sakari Kuosmanen, Esko Nikkari
Votes: 7,000
34. Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
Not Rated | 109 min | Comedy, Romance
In Sweden at the turn of the century, members of the upper class and their servants find themselves in a romantic tangle that they try to work out amidst jealousy and heartbreak.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Ulla Jacobsson, Eva Dahlbeck, Harriet Andersson, Margit Carlqvist
Votes: 14,668
35. Wild Strawberries (1957)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, Romance
After living a life marked by coldness, an aging professor is forced to confront the emptiness of his existence.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Victor Sjöström, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand
Votes: 114,907
36. Songs from the Second Floor (2000)
Not Rated | 98 min | Comedy, Drama
Where are we humans going? A film poem inspired by the Peruvian poet César Vallejo. We meet people in the city. People trying to communicate, searching compassion and get the connection of small and large things.
Director: Roy Andersson | Stars: Lars Nordh, Stefan Larsson, Bengt C.W. Carlsson, Torbjörn Fahlström
Votes: 20,339 | Gross: $0.00M
37. Together (2000)
R | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In 1975, the dynamics of a Swedish commune begin to change upon the arrival of a beaten wife and her two kids.
Director: Lukas Moodysson | Stars: Lisa Lindgren, Michael Nyqvist, Emma Samuelsson, Sam Kessel
Votes: 24,327 | Gross: $1.07M
38. The Silence (1963)
R | 96 min | Drama
Two estranged sisters, Ester and Anna, and Anna's 10-year-old son travel to the Central European country on the verge of war. Ester becomes seriously ill and the three of them move into a hotel in a small town called Timoka.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom, Birger Malmsten, Håkan Jahnberg
Votes: 21,330
39. Open Hearts (2002)
R | 113 min | Drama, Romance
A Dogme film about an engaged couple that is torn apart after the man is paralyzed in an accident, and the woman falls in love with the husband of the woman who caused the accident.
Director: Susanne Bier | Stars: Sonja Richter, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Mads Mikkelsen, Paprika Steen
Votes: 10,941 | Gross: $0.12M
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