Best German Films
by Lebowski_smokes | created - 18 Nov 2017 | updated - 16 Oct 2022 | Public- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Toni Erdmann (2016)
R | 162 min | Comedy, Drama
A practical joking father tries to reconnect with his hard working daughter by creating an outrageous alter ego and posing as her CEO's life coach.
Director: Maren Ade | Stars: Sandra Hüller, Peter Simonischek, Michael Wittenborn, Thomas Loibl
Votes: 52,083 | Gross: $1.48M
2. Victoria (II) (2015)
Not Rated | 138 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A young Spanish woman who has recently moved to Berlin finds her flirtation with a local guy turn potentially deadly as their night out with his friends reveals a dangerous secret.
Director: Sebastian Schipper | Stars: Laia Costa, Frederick Lau, Franz Rogowski, Burak Yigit
Votes: 63,162
3. Der Wald vor lauter Bäumen (2003)
Not Rated | 81 min | Drama
As an awkward idealistic high school teacher begins her first job in the city, things turn out to be much tougher than she had imagined.
Director: Maren Ade | Stars: Eva Löbau, Daniela Holtz, Jan Neumann, Ilona Schulz
Votes: 1,899 | Gross: $0.00M
4. Die Unberührbare (2000)
110 min | Drama
Flanders, a famous female author, travels 1989 after the fall of the Berlin wall into the German capital. She is deeply depressed of the events because she saw the communistic states as a ... See full summary »
Director: Oskar Roehler | Stars: Hannelore Elsner, Vadim Glowna, Tonio Arango, Michael Gwisdek
Votes: 887
5. Love Steaks (2013)
89 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Luxury hotel. Luxury clientele. Irritable staff. A couple who might fall in love, or they might leave their relationship in its raw state - like the titular steaks.
Director: Jakob Lass | Stars: Lana Cooper, Franz Rogowski, Kerstin Abendroth, Daniel Alznauer
Votes: 2,347
6. The City Below (2010)
105 min | Drama
Steve recently moved to Frankfurt for work. His wife is a stranger in the new city, bored and vulnerable. She meets her husband's boss who is going through some big events in his life as well. They start to have an affair.
Director: Christoph Hochhäusler | Stars: Nicolette Krebitz, Robert Hunger-Bühler, Mark Waschke, Corinna Kirchhoff
Votes: 744
7. Montag kommen die Fenster (2006)
88 min | Drama
Frieder and his wife Nina, a doctor, are fixing up their house, though their relationship is obviously strained. Instead of picking up their young daughter Charlotte, Nina drives off to ... See full summary »
Director: Ulrich Köhler | Stars: Isabelle Menke, Hans-Jochen Wagner, Amber Bongard, Trystan Pütter
Votes: 407
8. A Coffee in Berlin (2012)
Not Rated | 86 min | Comedy, Drama
An aimless university dropout attempts to make sense of life as he spends one fateful day wandering the streets of Berlin.
Director: Jan-Ole Gerster | Stars: Tom Schilling, Katharina Schüttler, Justus von Dohnányi, Andreas Schröders
Votes: 17,536 | Gross: $0.15M
9. Tough Love (2015)
89 min | Biography, Drama
A karate expert recounts his early life, his turbulent childhood, rife with sexual abuse and a career as a pimp. Andreas "Karate Andy" Marquardt's subsequent rehabilitation treatment, ... See full summary »
Director: Rosa von Praunheim | Stars: Andreas Marquardt, Marion Erdmann, Hanno Koffler, Luise Heyer
Votes: 310
10. Hell (2011)
R | 89 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
In the not too distant future, people struggle to survive their greatest enemy, the sun.
Director: Tim Fehlbaum | Stars: Lilo Baur, Marco Calamandrei, Lisa Vicari, Lars Eidinger
Votes: 12,387
11. Muxmäuschenstill (2004)
89 min | Comedy, Drama
A pseudo documentary study of an archetypal German who tries to model his world according to his ideas of law and (sexual) order.
Director: Marcus Mittermeier | Stars: Jan Henrik Stahlberg, Fritz Roth, Wanda Perdelwitz, Markus von Lingen
Votes: 2,724
12. Hotte im Paradies (2002 TV Movie)
118 min | Drama
Director: Dominik Graf | Stars: Misel Maticevic, Nadeshda Brennicke, Birge Schade, Stefanie Stappenbeck
Votes: 500
13. Revanche (2008)
Not Rated | 121 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Ex-con Alex plans to flee to the South with his girl after a robbery. But something terrible happens and revenge seems inevitable.
Director: Götz Spielmann | Stars: Johannes Krisch, Irina Potapenko, Andreas Lust, Ursula Strauss
Votes: 15,964
14. The Experiment (2001)
R | 120 min | Drama, Thriller
For two weeks, 20 male participants are hired to play prisoners and guards in a prison. The "prisoners" have to follow seemingly mild rules, and the "guards" are told to retain order without using physical violence.
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel | Stars: Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel, Oliver Stokowski, Wotan Wilke Möhring
Votes: 96,115 | Gross: $0.14M
15. Wild (I) (2016)
97 min | Drama, Mystery
An anarchist young woman breaks the tacit contract with civilization and fearlessly decides on a life without hypocrisy or an obligatory safety net.
Director: Nicolette Krebitz | Stars: Lilith Stangenberg, Georg Friedrich, Silke Bodenbender, Saskia Rosendahl
Votes: 1,624
16. The Poll Diaries (2010)
129 min | Drama
In the summer of 1914, thirteen-year-old Oda von Siering (Paula Beer) leaves Berlin to join her family and an assortment of German and Russian aristocrats on an estate in Estonia. The von ... See full summary »
Director: Chris Kraus | Stars: Paula Beer, Edgar Selge, Tambet Tuisk, Jeanette Hain
Votes: 1,064
17. Home from Home: Chronicle of a Vision (2013)
Not Rated | 231 min | Drama, History
Jakob longs for a new life for himself and his troubled family in Brazil.
Director: Edgar Reitz | Stars: Jan Dieter Schneider, Antonia Bill, Maximilian Scheidt, Marita Breuer
Votes: 1,539
18. Solo Sunny (1980)
104 min | Drama, Music
Sunny is a singer in a band which is constantly on the road. She therefore leads a relatively restless life, which she cannot afford to give up, having to rely on the fee she gets paid..
Directors: Konrad Wolf, Wolfgang Kohlhaase | Stars: Renate Krößner, Alexander Lang, Heide Kipp, Dieter Montag
Votes: 824
19. The Dark Valley (2014)
Not Rated | 115 min | Action, Drama, Western
Through a hidden path, a lone rider reaches a little town high up in the Alps. Nobody knows where the stranger comes from, nor what he wants there. But everyone knows that they don't want him to stay.
Director: Andreas Prochaska | Stars: Sam Riley, Tobias Moretti, Paula Beer, Thomas Schubert
Votes: 14,312
20. Pina (2011)
PG | 103 min | Documentary, Music
A tribute to the late German choreographer Pina Bausch, as her dancers perform her most famous creations.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Pina Bausch, Regina Advento, Malou Airaudo, Ruth Amarante
Votes: 15,953 | Gross: $3.52M
21. The White Ribbon (2009)
R | 144 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. Who is responsible?
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Christian Friedel, Ernst Jacobi, Leonie Benesch, Ulrich Tukur
Votes: 77,680 | Gross: $2.22M
22. The Edge of Heaven (2007)
Not Rated | 122 min | Drama
A Turkish man travels to Istanbul to find the daughter of his father's former girlfriend.
Director: Fatih Akin | Stars: Baki Davrak, Gürsoy Gemec, Cengiz Daner, Tuncel Kurtiz
Votes: 33,526 | Gross: $0.74M
23. The Lives of Others (2006)
R | 137 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | Stars: Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur
Votes: 410,673 | Gross: $11.29M
24. Downfall (2004)
R | 156 min | Biography, Drama, History
Traudl Junge, the final secretary for Adolf Hitler, tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel | Stars: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler
Votes: 375,395 | Gross: $5.51M
25. Grill Point (2002)
106 min | Comedy, Drama
Two couples, each married for quite a long time, live in a small East German town. The film focuses on the relationships between each of the four people and what happens when an affair ... See full summary »
Director: Andreas Dresen | Stars: Axel Prahl, Steffi Kühnert, Thorsten Merten, Gabriela Maria Schmeide
Votes: 1,667
26. Schtonk (1992)
115 min | Comedy, Crime
The slightly fictionalized story of an art forger, a journalist desperate for a big story, and the biggest press scandal in German history: the Hitler Diaries.
Director: Helmut Dietl | Stars: Götz George, Uwe Ochsenknecht, Christiane Hörbiger, Dagmar Manzel
Votes: 4,031
27. Attention, Papa Arrives! (1991)
89 min | Comedy, Family
After ordering enough typewriting paper for 40 years, just to get discount, Heinrich Lohse is forced to retire. The former manager has plenty of time now to spend with his wife and their 16... See full summary »
Directors: Vicco von Bülow, Renate Westphal-Lorenz | Stars: Evelyn Hamann, Vicco von Bülow, Irm Hermann, Hans-Peter Korff
Votes: 5,948
28. Der Totmacher (1995)
110 min | Crime, Drama
Fritz Haarmann, who has killed at least 27 boys, is questioned by a psychology professor in order to find out whether he is sane and can be held responsible for his crimes. During this ... See full summary »
Director: Romuald Karmakar | Stars: Götz George, Jürgen Hentsch, Pierre Franckh, Hans-Michael Rehberg
Votes: 2,349
29. Sylvie (1973 TV Movie)
86 min | Drama, Romance
Fashion model Sylvie falls asleep drunk in the cab of Munich taxi driver Paul, and an impossible love affair beckons.
Director: Klaus Lemke | Stars: Sylvie Winter, Paul Lys, Del Negro, Ivan Desny
Votes: 63
30. World on a Wire (1973)
Not Rated | 212 min | Crime, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Somewhere in the future there is a computer project called Simulacron one of which is able to simulate a full featured reality, when suddenly project leader Henry Vollmer dies. His ... See full summary »
Stars: Klaus Löwitsch, Barbara Valentin, Mascha Rabben, Karl Heinz Vosgerau
Votes: 6,784
31. Go for It, Baby (1968)
79 min | Comedy
A free-wheeling comedy, Zur Sache Schaetzchen chronicles a day in the life of Martin, a witty yet lazy songwriter who'd rather not get out of bed. During the opening sequence, Martin ... See full summary »
Director: May Spils | Stars: Werner Enke, Uschi Glas, Henry van Lyck, Rainer Basedow
Votes: 547
32. Angst (I) (1983)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A troubled man gets released from prison and starts taking out his sadistic fantasies on an unsuspecting family living in a secluded house.
Director: Gerald Kargl | Stars: Erwin Leder, Robert Hunger-Bühler, Silvia Ryder, Karin Springer
Votes: 13,483
33. M (1931)
Passed | 99 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke
Votes: 168,539 | Gross: $0.03M
34. Metropolis (1927)
Not Rated | 153 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Votes: 185,613 | Gross: $1.24M
35. Funny Games (1997)
Not Rated | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Two violent young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Mühe, Arno Frisch, Frank Giering
Votes: 84,174
36. Dog Days (2001)
R | 121 min | Drama
In the tomb-like quiet of their ranch-style purgatory, a divorced husband and wife fight a wordless war while mourning an unspeakable mutual loss. A sadistic lover's ritual humiliation spawns both tenderness and revenge.
Director: Ulrich Seidl | Stars: Maria Hofstätter, Christine Jirku, Viktor Hennemann, Georg Friedrich
Votes: 6,548 | Gross: $0.01M
37. Trace of Stones (1966)
139 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A film about living and working conditions in the GDR of the 1960s, including a little love story, of course.
Director: Frank Beyer | Stars: Manfred Krug, Krystyna Stypulkowska, Jutta Hoffmann, Eberhard Esche
Votes: 981
38. The Edge of Heaven (2007)
Not Rated | 122 min | Drama
A Turkish man travels to Istanbul to find the daughter of his father's former girlfriend.
Director: Fatih Akin | Stars: Baki Davrak, Gürsoy Gemec, Cengiz Daner, Tuncel Kurtiz
Votes: 33,526 | Gross: $0.74M
Tell Your Friends