1. Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället)
Crotchety retired doctor Isak Borg travels from Stockholm to Lund, Sweden, with his pregnant and unhappy daughter-in-law, Marianne, in order to receive an honorary degree from his alma mater. Along the way, they encounter a series of hitchhikers, each of whom causes the elderly doctor to muse upon the pleasures and failures of his own life. These include the vivacious young Sara, a dead ringer for the doctor's own first love.
It has an average vote of 8.126 on TMDB.
2. The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet)
When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death to a chess match for his life. Tormented by the belief that God does not exist, Block sets off on a journey, meeting up with traveling players Jof and his wife, Mia, and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives.
It has an average vote of 8.196 on TMDB.
3. Hour of the Wolf (Vargtimmen)
While vacationing on a remote German island with his pregnant wife, an artist has an emotional breakdown while confronting his repressed desires.
It has an average vote of 7.405 on TMDB.
4. Cries and Whispers (Viskningar och rop)
As Agnes slowly dies of cancer, her sisters are so deeply immersed in their own psychic pains that they can't offer her the support she needs. Maria is wracked with guilt at her husband's attempted suicide, caused by his discovery of her extramarital affair. The self-loathing, suicidal Karin seems to regard her sister with revulsion. Only Anna, the deeply religious maid who lost her young child, seems able to offer Agnes solace and empathy.
It has an average vote of 7.928 on TMDB.
5. Stalker (Сталкер)
Near a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, a place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers, and where the normal laws of physics are victim to frequent anomalies. A stalker guides two men into the Zone, specifically to an area in which deep-seated desires are granted.
It has an average vote of 8.161 on TMDB.
6. Autumn Sonata (Höstsonaten)
After a seven-year absence, Charlotte Andergast travels to Sweden to reunite with her daughter Eva. The pair have a troubled relationship: Charlotte sacrificed the responsibilities of motherhood for a career as a classical pianist. Over an emotional night, the pair reopen the wounds of the past. Charlotte gets another shock when she finds out that her mentally impaired daughter, Helena, is out of the asylum and living with Eva.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
7. Winter Light (Nattvardsgästerna)
A Swedish pastor fails a loving woman, a suicidal fisherman and God.
It has an average vote of 7.854 on TMDB.
8. Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette)
Unemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle—essential to his work—gets stolen. His job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his son, Antonio combs the city, becoming desperate for justice.
It has an average vote of 8.199 on TMDB.
9. The Silence (Tystnaden)
Traveling through an unnamed European country on the brink of war, sickly, intellectual Ester, her sister Anna and Anna's young son, Johan, check into a near-empty hotel. A basic inability to communicate among the three seems only to worsen during their stay. Anna provokes her sister by enjoying a dalliance with a local man, while the boy, left to himself, has a series of enigmatic encounters that heighten the growing air of isolation.
It has an average vote of 7.496 on TMDB.
10. Some Mother's Son
Based on the true story of the 1981 hunger strike in a British prison, in which IRA prisoner Bobby Sands led a protest against the treatment of IRA prisoners as criminals rather than as prisoners of war. The film focuses on the mothers of two of the strikers, and their struggle to save the lives of their sons.
It has an average vote of 6.632 on TMDB.
11. The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups)
For young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel, life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents, Antoine spends his days with his best friend, Rene, trying to plan for a better life. When one of their schemes goes awry, Antoine ends up in trouble with the law, leading to even more conflicts with unsympathetic authority figures.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
12. Red Desert (Il deserto rosso)
In an industrializing Italian town, a married woman, rendered mentally unstable after a traffic accident, drifts into an affair with a friend of her husband.
It has an average vote of 7.4 on TMDB.
13. Jules and Jim (Jules et Jim)
In the carefree days before World War I, introverted Austrian author Jules strikes up a friendship with the exuberant Frenchman Jim and both men fall for the impulsive and beautiful Catherine.
It has an average vote of 7.58 on TMDB.
14. The Battle of Algiers (La battaglia di Algeri)
Tracing the struggle of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale to gain freedom from French colonial rule as seen through the eyes of Ali from his start as a petty thief to his rise to prominence in the organisation and capture by the French in 1957. The film traces the rebels' struggle and the increasingly extreme measures taken by the French government to quell the revolt.
It has an average vote of 7.869 on TMDB.
15. Mirror (Зеркало)
A dying man in his forties recalls his childhood, his mother, the war and personal moments that tell of and juxtapose pivotal moments in Soviet history with daily life.
It has an average vote of 7.978 on TMDB.
16. Fanny and Alexander (Fanny och Alexander)
As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie, marries a stern bishop. The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.
It has an average vote of 7.8 on TMDB.
17. Rashomon (羅生門)
Brimming with action while incisively examining the nature of truth, "Rashomon" is perhaps the finest film ever to investigate the philosophy of justice. Through an ingenious use of camera and flashbacks, Kurosawa reveals the complexities of human nature as four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.
It has an average vote of 8.1 on TMDB.
18. Vivre Sa Vie (Vivre sa vie: film en douze tableaux)
Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.
It has an average vote of 7.8 on TMDB.
19. Candy
A poet falls in love with an art student, who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle — and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.
It has an average vote of 7.1 on TMDB.
20. Cléo from 5 to 7 (Cléo de 5 à 7)
Agnès Varda eloquently captures Paris in the sixties with this real-time portrait of a singer set adrift in the city as she awaits test results of a biopsy. A chronicle of the minutes of one woman’s life, Cléo from 5 to 7 is a spirited mix of vivid vérité and melodrama, featuring a score by Michel Legrand and cameos by Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.
It has an average vote of 7.68 on TMDB.
