Best International Movies 2025 To Watch Now
It’s almost the end of the year, which makes it a good moment to look back. I’ll share my favorite reads from last year soon,
There’s a distinct mood that we experience while watching Scandinavian movies. Some unique elements involve snow-covered streets, grey skies, and characters carrying heavy emotional weight. Sunshine is always rare, and when it appears, it often signals hope amid slow-burning tension.
The storytelling is also realistic, characters take their time, and there’s a psychological depth that takes priority in the narrative. Not surprisingly, these Nordic movies from gripping crime thrillers to noir dramas are fan favourites and major award contenders in arthouse cinema.
And this is very unlike Hollywood where the script has an action driven approach. Also, you don’t have any heroes or villains. A film like The Hunt, for example, constantly shifts your sympathies, until the story leaves you shattered.
That quiet intensity is exactly what makes Scandinavian cinema so memorable. So, if you’re ready, here are 10 of the best Scandinavian movies to start with.
Festen is a landmark Danish film by the director Thomas Vinterberg. Thomas Vinterberg is one of the pioneers of the Dogme 95 movement, which focuses on natural lighting, handheld cameras, and realistic storytelling. And Festen was the first Nordin movie under the Dogme 95 movement.
The movie is about Helge Klingenfeldt, the patriarch of a wealthy family, who’s celebrating his 60th birthday at his country estate. The family and close friends gather for the occasion. At start, his birthday is a joyful celebration but secrets and resentments quickly unravel.
In the evening, Helge’s son Christian during a speech accuses his father of sexually abusing him and his twin sister during their childhood. Most of the family dismiss the claim as a joke.
But Christian refuses to back down.
As more details emerge, the family’s attempts to protect Helge collapse. The dinner turns into a tense confrontation, exposing denial and complicity.
Festen was one of the best Scandinavian movies, and it went on to win the Jury Prize at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.
Ingmar Bergman is one of the greatest directors of Scandinavian cinema or, I should say, world cinema. He has given some of the greatest Scandinavian movies to the world, winning all the major global awards.
For our list, I have selected Fanny and Alexander, another family saga. It is about siblings Fanny and Alexander, part of Ekdahl family. Their early life has plenty of fun, drama and the chaos of a theatrical household.
Everything changes when their father unexpectedly dies. Soon after, their mother marries Bishop Edvard Vergerus, a strict and authoritarian man whose rigidity disturbs the children’s lives.
Under the bishop, Alexander must follow the harsh discipline, while Fanny struggles to adapt. However, children secretly find ways to challenge the bishop’s authority that brings the movie to a dramatic confrontation.
This Scandinavia movie went on to win 4 Oscars, among many more major awards.
The Hunt is a modern Danish classic film by the director Thomas Vinterberg, his second movie in Scandinavian movies list. It stars the critically acclaimed actor and a global heartthrob, Mads Mikkelsen. A great movie on what happens when trust erodes in a close-knit community.
Lucas is a kindergarten teacher who’s trying to rebuild his life after a divorce. He has a stable job, supportive friends, and is reconnecting with his teenage son. His quiet routine shakes up when Klara, a young girl at the school, casually makes an unclear accusation.
What begins as a minor misunderstanding becomes a serious allegation of sexual abuse. Despite the lack of evidence, rumors spread, and the town turns against him. He loses his job and friends, and even faces violence.
Mads Mikkelsen won the Best Actor for Mads Mikkelsen at the Cannes Film Festival. Druk is another great Nordic movie by the same director starring Mads Mikkelsen. The Hunt was also in my best movies of 2023.
The Worst Person in the World is one of the latest Scandinavian movies by the director, Joachim Trier. It stars Renate Reinsve in her breakthrough role. This is a final film in Trier’s loose “Oslo Trilogy,” after Reprise and Oslo, August 31st.
Julie is unsure of what she wants from life, so she changes directions in her studies and love life continuously. She is in a relationship with a comic-book artist, Aksel, who is ready for commitment. But Julie is unsure about the future.
One night at a party, she meets Eivind, and leaves Aksel to start over. Everything is exciting at first, but her dissatisfaction grows again. These uncertainties eventually force her to confront the consequences of her indecision.
Apart from the story, the biggest thing from the movie was/is Renate Reinsve, who won Best Actress at Cannes. Recently, she also gave a great performance in another Scandinavia movie, Sentimental Value, by the same director.
Force Majeure is one of the best Scandinavian movies by the Swedish director, Ruben Östlund. The film has long, static shots that focus closely on behavior, which make tense moments really interesting. Dark humor is another reason to watch this Nordic movie.
Tomas and Ebba are a married couple on a family ski vacation with their two children in the French Alps. During lunch at a mountain restaurant, an avalanche appears to rush toward them (the scene itself has a separate meme fanbase). In panic, Tomas runs, leaving his family behind.
The avalanche stops, but the incident leaves some emotional cracks.
Although no one is hurt, Ebba confronts Tomas about abandoning them. Tomas initially denies it, but the resentment only grows. As the trip continues, they discuss the incident with friends and strangers, and the embarrassment and loss of trust increases.
The film also has a very bad Hollywood remake Downhill. As for Ruben Östlund’s other great works, you should also check his famous Nordic movies, Triangle of Sadness and The Square.
It’s time for some crime and thriller and there’s no better Scandinavian movie than The Guilty. This Nordic movie takes place almost entirely inside a single emergency call center. So, it relies on voice performances, sound design and close-ups.
Asger Holm is a police officer who’s on desk duty at an emergency dispatch center while awaiting an internal investigation. At the end of his shift, he receives a call from a woman who pretends to speak casually but is clearly in danger. Asger realizes she has been kidnapped and is being driven away in a van.
Unable to leave his desk, he manages the situation by coordinating patrol cars, tracking locations, and staying on the line with the lady and her daughter. As he gathers new information, the case becomes more complicated than it appears.
There’s also a somewhat reasonable American remake of the same name starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
A Man Called Ove is a Swedish comedy-drama film and is inspired from the bestselling novel by Fredrik Backman. The movie takes place in a small Swedish neighborhood, telling the story of a friendship that develops around a deeply grumpy and isolated man.
Ove is a strict and grumpy widower who has recently lost his job and doesn’t want to continue living after his wife’s death. He spends his days by staying inside. He also repeatedly attempts to end his life, but someone or funny circumstances always interrupt his attempt.
His routine changes when a lively immigrant family moves in next door, originally from Iran. Parvaneh, who’s pregnant, doesn’t feel intimidated by his cold behavior. And through small favors, Ove finally enjoys community life.
Throughout the movie, we also get to see Ove’s life, including his deep love for his wife and the hardships and how they made him lonely and angry.
This Nordic movie was nominated for two Academy Awards and there’s also an English-language remake.
Almost every cinephile knows about British black comedy dark films, Lock, Stock & Two Barrels and Snatch by Guy Ritchie. But few people know about Flickering Lights, a classic Scandinavian movie. This film also mixes crime, black comedy, but with redemption.
What happens is four small-time criminals steal money from their gangster boss and flee to Copenhagen. On their way to Barcelona, their car breaks down and they decide to temporarily stay in an empty farmhouse in the countryside.
As days turn into weeks, the group unexpectedly settles into rural life. They repair the farmhouse, open a small roadside restaurant, and make new connections.
Things take a comedic turn when their gangster boss tracks them down.
Today, the film remains a cult classic and one of the best movies of Nordic cinema.
I have always associated crime with silence and a cold environment but this is just my assumption. Anyway, Headhunters are the opposite with cold hearts and noise. And the film’s high-stakes action and dark humor makes it one of the best Scandinavian movies.
Roger Brown is a successful corporate headhunter who secretly leads a double life as an art thief. Although he appears wealthy, he steals expensive paintings to fund his lavish lifestyle and impress his wife.
When he meets Clas Greve, a former military officer who owns a valuable lost Rubens painting, he sees a perfect opportunity.
He breaks into Greve’s home to steal the artwork, but everything goes wrong. He discovers that Greve is far more dangerous. What follows is a tense thriller, as Roger runs for his life, while trying to outsmart a man trying to kill him.
Although Finland and Iceland don’t count as Scandinavian countries strictly, we can still consider these countries in broader regional terms. That’s why I am making an exception to include a movie from Finland to accommodate Nordic movies.
And I have chosen Compartment No. 6, which as the name suggests, happens mostly on a multi-day train ride from Moscow to Murmansk. And in a single train compartment, two strangers have no choice but to travel together.
Laura is a Finnish archaeology student, who leaves Moscow after breaking up with her girlfriend and travels north to see rock carvings. Hoping for a quiet trip, she instead has to share her sleeper cabin with Ljoha, a heavy-drinking miner who is messy and intimidating.
Stuck together for days, they argue, drink, miss connections, and spend time at small stations along the route. Gradually, Ljoha reveals his own disappointments, while Laura admits she feels lost about her future and relationships.
So, the journey becomes less about the destination and more about how small conversations help them confront their loneliness and rethink their lives.
The film won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and was also Finland’s official Academy Award entry.
One thing I found pretty fascinating about Scandinavian cinema is that it chooses restraint. These Scandinavian movies lean into silence, discomfort, and emotional realism.
And because of that, we see the tension coming from human behavior rather than spectacle. That quiet intensity is what makes these Nordic films deeply human and intimate.
And if you have any favourite Scandinavian movies, do share! And keep visiting CulturalReads for more great lists.
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It’s almost the end of the year, which makes it a good moment to look back. I’ll share my favorite reads from last year soon,
I have frequently talked on CulturalReads, Hollywood gets the limelight, even though many actors and directors are surprisingly from other countries. The Revenant, for example,
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