Best German movies
by CapitanSepp | created - 25 Jan 2021 | updated - 25 Jan 2021 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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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: 52,015 | Gross: $1.48M
2. Never Look Away (2018)
R | 189 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
German artist Kurt Barnert has escaped East Germany and now lives in West Germany, but is tormented by his childhood under the Nazis and the GDR-regime.
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | Stars: Tom Schilling, Sebastian Koch, Paula Beer, Saskia Rosendahl
Votes: 25,333 | Gross: $1.30M
3. Barefoot (2005)
118 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Hedonistic bachelor Nick falls for an escaped mental patient.
Director: Til Schweiger | Stars: Til Schweiger, Johanna Wokalek, Nadja Tiller, Michael Mendl
Votes: 11,208
4. The Princess and the Warrior (2000)
R | 135 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
Two enamoured strangers look for a warm place in a cold world.
Director: Tom Tykwer | Stars: Franka Potente, Benno Fürmann, Joachim Król, Lars Rudolph
Votes: 14,945 | Gross: $0.87M
5. Anatomy (2000)
R | 103 min | Horror, Thriller
A cute med student starts a summer course at Heidelberg University. David's on her dissection table. She met him the day before on the train. Something's wrong.
Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky | Stars: Franka Potente, Benno Fürmann, Anna Loos, Sebastian Blomberg
Votes: 14,032 | Gross: $0.01M
6. Barbara (I) (2012)
PG-13 | 105 min | Drama
A doctor working in 1980s East Germany finds herself banished to a small country hospital.
Director: Christian Petzold | Stars: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Rainer Bock, Christina Hecke
Votes: 15,959
7. Hinter Kaifeck (2009)
86 min | Mystery, Thriller
This film was inspired by the horrifying and mysterious crimes committed against the Gruber family in 1922 Germany.
Director: Esther Gronenborn | Stars: Benno Fürmann, Alexandra Maria Lara, Henry Stange, Michael Gwisdek
Votes: 444
8. 3 (2010)
Unrated | 119 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A Berlin-set drama centered on a 40-something couple who, separately, fall in love with the same man.
Director: Tom Tykwer | Stars: Sophie Rois, Sebastian Schipper, Devid Striesow, Angela Winkler
Votes: 5,391 | Gross: $0.06M
9. Bright Night (2014)
Unrated | 86 min | Drama, Mystery
Two couples visit a home from their past, and sexual tension brings out the worst in each other. Long-buried grudges resurface.
Director: Florian Gottschick | Stars: Anna Grisebach, Vladimir Burlakov, Benno Fürmann, Kai Ivo Baulitz
Votes: 1,329
10. Phoenix (II) (2014)
PG-13 | 98 min | Drama, History, Music
After surviving Auschwitz, a former cabaret singer has her disfigured face reconstructed and returns to her war-ravaged hometown to seek out her gentile husband, who may or may not have betrayed her to the Nazis.
Director: Christian Petzold | Stars: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf, Trystan Pütter
Votes: 20,663
11. Jerichow (2008)
Unrated | 93 min | Drama
The dishonorably discharged Afghanistan veteran Thomas returns to his home village of Jerichow. Ali, a local Turkish-German businessman, owner of a snack-bar chain, hires him as a driver. ... See full summary »
Director: Christian Petzold | Stars: Benno Fürmann, Nina Hoss, Hilmi Sözer, André Hennicke
Votes: 3,371 | Gross: $0.05M
12. Wolfsburg (2003)
90 min | Drama
Philipp Gerber is a smart, self-satisfied car salesman. In an inattentive moment at the wheel of his car, he runs over a young boy riding a bike and drives away. As he has feelings of guilt... See full summary »
Director: Christian Petzold | Stars: Benno Fürmann, Nina Hoss, Antje Westermann, Astrid Meyerfeldt
Votes: 1,314
13. 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: 96,093 | Gross: $0.14M
14. The Wave (2008)
Not Rated | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
A high school teacher's experiment to demonstrate to his students what life is like under a dictatorship spins horribly out of control when he forms a social unit with a life of its own.
Director: Dennis Gansel | Stars: Jürgen Vogel, Frederick Lau, Max Riemelt, Jennifer Ulrich
Votes: 115,082
15. Labyrinth of Lies (2014)
R | 124 min | Drama, History
A story that exposes the conspiracy of prominent German institutions and government branches to cover up the crimes of Nazis during World War II.
Director: Giulio Ricciarelli | Stars: André Szymanski, Alexander Fehling, Friederike Becht, Johannes Krisch
Votes: 13,992 | Gross: $0.79M
16. The Captain (2017)
118 min | Drama, History, Thriller
In the last moments of World War II, a young German soldier fighting for survival finds a Nazi captain's uniform. Impersonating an officer, the man quickly takes on the monstrous identity of the perpetrators he's escaping from.
Director: Robert Schwentke | Stars: Max Hubacher, Alexander Fehling, Sebastian Rudolph, Max Thommes
Votes: 21,568 | Gross: $0.11M
17. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005)
Not Rated | 120 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A dramatization of the final days of Sophie Scholl, one of the most famous members of the German World War II anti-Nazi resistance movement, The White Rose.
Director: Marc Rothemund | Stars: Julia Jentsch, Fabian Hinrichs, Alexander Held, Johanna Gastdorf
Votes: 28,662 | Gross: $0.68M
18. Suck Me Shakespeer (2013)
119 min | Comedy
A comedy that follows an ex-convict who lands a position at a school that sits over the spot where money from one of his earlier robberies was stashed.
Director: Bora Dagtekin | Stars: Elyas M'Barek, Karoline Herfurth, Katja Riemann, Jana Pallaske
Votes: 31,675
19. Good Bye Lenin! (2003)
R | 121 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.
Director: Wolfgang Becker | Stars: Daniel Brühl, Katrin Sass, Chulpan Khamatova, Florian Lukas
Votes: 152,616 | Gross: $4.06M
20. Look Who's Back (2015)
Not Rated | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Adolf Hitler wakes up in the 21st century. He quickly gains media attention, but while Germany finds him hilarious and charming, Hitler makes some serious observations about society.
Director: David Wnendt | Stars: Oliver Masucci, Thomas M. Köppl, Marc-Marvin Israel, David Gebigke
Votes: 49,622
21. 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: 410,386 | Gross: $11.29M
22. Lore (2012)
Not Rated | 109 min | Drama, Romance, War
As the Allies sweep across Germany, Lore leads her siblings on a journey that exposes them to the truth of their parents' beliefs. An encounter with a mysterious refugee forces Lore to rely on a person she has always been taught to hate.
Director: Cate Shortland | Stars: Saskia Rosendahl, Kai-Peter Malina, Nele Trebs, Ursina Lardi
Votes: 15,930 | Gross: $0.97M
23. My Blind Date with Life (2017)
111 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
An ambitious young man struggles to achieve his dream of becoming an employee in a Munich luxury hotel despite being strongly visually impaired.
Director: Marc Rothemund | Stars: Kostja Ullmann, Jacob Matschenz, Anna Maria Mühe, Johann von Bülow
Votes: 5,778
24. Balloon (2018)
PG-13 | 125 min | Drama, History, Thriller
East Germany, 1979. After initially failing to flee from the East to the West in a self-built hot-air balloon, two families struggle to make a second attempt, while the East German State Police are chasing them.
Director: Michael Herbig | Stars: Friedrich Mücke, Karoline Schuch, David Kross, Alicia von Rittberg
Votes: 13,315 | Gross: $0.01M
25. How About Adolf? (2018)
91 min | Comedy
Stephan (Christoph Maria Herbst) and his wife Elisabeth (Caroline Peters) organize a dinner in their house in Bonn. Invited are family friend René (Justus von Dohnányi), Thomas (Florian ... See full summary »
Director: Sönke Wortmann | Stars: Christoph Maria Herbst, Florian David Fitz, Caroline Peters, Justus von Dohnányi
Votes: 7,639
26. The Collini Case (2019)
Not Rated | 123 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A young lawyer stumbles upon a vast conspiracy while investigating a brutal murder case.
Director: Marco Kreuzpaintner | Stars: Elyas M'Barek, Alexandra Maria Lara, Heiner Lauterbach, Manfred Zapatka
Votes: 12,986
27. The Tobacconist (2018)
117 min | Drama, History, War
Based on the international bestseller by Robert Seethaler. A tender, heart-breaking story about one young man and his friendship with Sigmund Freud during the Nazi occupation of Vienna....
Director: Nikolaus Leytner | Stars: Simon Morzé, Bruno Ganz, Johannes Krisch, Emma Drogunova
Votes: 2,002
28. System Crasher (2019)
125 min | Drama
9-year-old Benni is a toss-up between institutions that cannot tackle her outbursts. She wants to move in with her mother, but she can not handle her wild daughter. After Micha is hired Benni slowly opens up and attaches herself to him.
Director: Nora Fingscheidt | Stars: Helena Zengel, Albrecht Schuch, Gabriela Maria Schmeide, Lisa Hagmeister
Votes: 14,769
29. Tattoo (I) (2002)
R | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
Two police detectives, a grizzled veteran and one fresh-faced rookie, hunt a ritualistic serial killer murdering people with tattoos and skinning them.
Director: Robert Schwentke | Stars: August Diehl, Christian Redl, Nadeshda Brennicke, Johan Leysen
Votes: 3,292
30. Eight Miles High (2007)
Unrated | 114 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Uschi Obermeier, a German cover model from the 1960s who embodied the dreams of the hippie generation - joins a commune, begins a modelling career, meets rock stars, and travels the world in a bus, enjoying love, drugs and freedom.
Director: Akiz | Stars: Natalia Avelon, Matthias Schweighöfer, David Scheller, Friederike Kempter
Votes: 3,028
31. 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: 17,523 | Gross: $0.15M
32. Head-On (2004)
R | 121 min | Drama, Romance
With the intention to break free from the strict familial restrictions, a suicidal young woman sets up a marriage of convenience with a forty-year-old addict, an act that will lead to an outburst of envious love.
Director: Fatih Akin | Stars: Birol Ünel, Sibel Kekilli, Güven Kiraç, Zarah Jane McKenzie
Votes: 57,652
33. Run Lola Run (1998)
R | 80 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
After a botched money delivery, Lola has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks.
Director: Tom Tykwer | Stars: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup, Nina Petri
Votes: 206,953 | Gross: $7.27M
34. Christiane F. (1981)
R | 138 min | Biography, Drama
A teen girl in 1970s Berlin becomes addicted to heroin. Everything in her life slowly begins to distort and disappear as she befriends a small crew of junkies and falls in love with a drug-abusing male prostitute.
Director: Uli Edel | Stars: Natja Brunckhorst, Eberhard Auriga, Peggy Bussieck, Lothar Chamski
Votes: 29,396
35. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Not Rated | 67 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Hypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.
Director: Robert Wiene | Stars: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Feher, Lil Dagover
Votes: 70,040
36. Myriam (1982)
NC-17 | 96 min | Drama
Director: Andreas Katsimitsoulias | Stars: Bea Fiedler, Mario Pollak, Herbert Stiny, Eleonore Melzer
Votes: 62
37. The Decameron (1971)
R | 111 min | Comedy, Drama, History
An adaptation of nine stories from Boccaccio's "Decameron".
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini | Stars: Franco Citti, Ninetto Davoli, Jovan Jovanovic, Vincenzo Amato
Votes: 12,076
38. The Story of O (1975)
NC-17 | 97 min | Drama
Photographer O's lover takes her to a Château, where she is, like other women there, naked, humiliated by whipping, sexual abuse by men etc. When O leaves, her lover gives her to his much older step-brother.
Director: Just Jaeckin | Stars: Corinne Cléry, Udo Kier, Anthony Steel, Jean Gaven
Votes: 6,894
39. Madam Kitty (1976)
X | 129 min | Drama, War
Kitty runs a brothel in Nazi Germany where the soldiers come to "relax". Recording devices have been installed in each room by a power-hungry army official, who plans to use the information to blackmail Hitler and gain power himself.
Director: Tinto Brass | Stars: Helmut Berger, Ingrid Thulin, Teresa Ann Savoy, John Steiner
Votes: 5,023
40. Dorothea's Rache (1974)
92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Dorothea, a 16-year-old bourgeois girl from Hamburg, plays with her friends of both sexes, imitating the production of adult movies. In the end, pretending to make sex-scenes is not ... See full summary »
Director: Peter Fleischmann | Stars: Anna Henkel-Grönemeyer, Alexander von Paczensky, Gerhard Gommel, Henry Beuck
Votes: 284
41. Schoolgirl Report Part 2: What Keeps Parents Awake at Night (1971)
91 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
10 vignettes about scandalous behavior of horny German schoolgirls. First, a strict, conservative teacher is lured by three of his beautiful, nubile young female students into a compromising situation with tragic results.
Director: Ernst Hofbauer | Stars: Friedrich von Thun, Rena Bergen, Kurt Bülau, Rolf Castell
Votes: 507
42. The Sex Adventures of the Three Musketeers (1971)
R | 79 min | Comedy
An "adults only" retelling of the legend of the Three Musketeers.
Director: Erwin C. Dietrich | Stars: Peter Graf, Ingrid Steeger, Nadia Pilar, Li Huber
Votes: 346
43. Eugenie... the Story of Her Journey Into Perversion (1970)
X | 87 min | Drama, Horror
An innocent girl goes to spend the weekend on an island with a woman and her brother, but soon finds herself entangled in a web of sexual experiments.
Director: Jesús Franco | Stars: Maria Rohm, Marie Liljedahl, Jack Taylor, Christopher Lee
Votes: 1,999 | Gross: $0.08M
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