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Films from Germany

Best Movies from Germany

Germany's catalogue on Celluloid runs to 37 films spanning 1927–2026 across 7 languages — chiefly German and English —, led by Metropolis (91%) and Das Boot (89%). Every title is ranked by our four-input Celluloid Score with critic consensus and expert reviews on each film page.

Quick Answer

The highest-rated Germany film on Celluloid is Metropolis (1927) with a 91% Celluloid Score — Celluloid Pick.

37
Films indexed
60%
Avg. Celluloid Score
7
Languages
23
Critic reviews

Guide to Germany Movies on Celluloid

Each film from Germany in our catalogue includes a Celluloid Score from up to four verified inputs, original verdict text, and linked editorial reviews where available. Audience sentiment is separate.

Titles are indexed by original language and country of production for easier discovery.

Essential Germany Picks

Top 5 by Celluloid Score
Metropolis 1927 · Fritz Lang · German

Lang's expressionist landmark invented cinematic science fiction and still towers over the genre.

91%
Celluloid Score Celluloid Pick
Das Boot 1981 · Wolfgang Petersen · German

Petersen's submarine epic makes the enemy crew human without excusing the war they fight.

89%
Celluloid Score Recommended
The Lives of Others 2006 · Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck · German

A surveillance-state thriller that humanizes both watcher and watched with devastating restraint.

89%
Celluloid Score Recommended
The Seed of the Sacred Fig 2024 · Mohammad Rasoulof · Persian

Made in secret and smuggled out of Iran, Rasoulof's blistering allegory turns a family's unravelling into an indictment of a regime — urgent, suspenseful and morally fearless.

86%
Celluloid Score Recommended
Toni Erdmann 2016 · Maren Ade · German

Ade's three-hour comedy-drama finds devastating truth inside the most awkward silences in European cinema.

86%
Celluloid Score Recommended

Germany Movie Reviews

All reviews →

Full critic reviews with answer-engine summaries — each review answers whether the film is worth watching, what it is about, and where to stream it.

Metropolis (1927) ★★★★½

Metropolis (1927) Review: The City That Built Sci-Fi

Metropolis is Fritz Lang's 1927 silent epic of a future city split between rulers and workers, a visionary landmark whose images still shape science fiction.

Yes. It is one of the most influential films ever made and a staggering visual experience, essential for anyone interested in science fiction or film history.
Das Boot (1981) ★★★★½

Das Boot (1981) Review: The War Inside a Steel Tube

Das Boot is Wolfgang Petersen's German submarine epic, a claustrophobic war film that traps viewers inside a U-boat and shows the cost of the war it depicts.

Yes. It is one of the most gripping war films ever made, essential for anyone who values tension, craft and a war story without glory, and not for the claustrophobic.
The Lives of Others (2006) ★★★★½

The Lives of Others (2006) Review: A Spy Learns to Listen

The Lives of Others is a gripping East German surveillance drama about a Stasi officer bugging a playwright, anchored by Ulrich Mühe's masterly, restrained lead.

Yes. It is a tense, humane political thriller and an ideal entry point into modern German cinema for anyone drawn to Cold War stories and moral drama.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024) ★★★★★

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024) Review: The State Moves In

The Seed of the Sacred Fig is Mohammad Rasoulof's gripping Iranian family thriller, in which a judge's missing pistol exposes a household and a regime at war with itself.

Yes. It is a brave, suspenseful and deeply humane political thriller, essential for viewers ready for a long, intense film about power inside a family.
Toni Erdmann (2016) ★★★★☆

Toni Erdmann (2016) Review: A Father's Longest Joke

Toni Erdmann is Maren Ade's long, excruciatingly funny German comedy about a prankster father and his corporate daughter, and it hides real grief under the gags.

Yes, for patient viewers. It is one of the great cringe comedies, anchored by Sandra Hüller, though its 162 minutes demand commitment.
Downfall (2004) ★★★★½

Downfall (2004) Review: Last Days in the Bunker

Downfall is Oliver Hirschbiegel's German drama of Hitler's final days in the Berlin bunker, anchored by Bruno Ganz and chilling in its portrait of collapse and denial.

Yes. It is a gripping, disturbing historical drama with a towering central performance, essential for anyone interested in the Second World War and the psychology of power.
Fight Club (1999) ★★★★½

Fight Club (1999) Review: Satire With Bruised Knuckles

Fight Club is David Fincher's savage, darkly funny satire of consumer life and male rage, and more than two decades on it remains as sharp as it is misunderstood.

Yes. It is one of the defining American films of its era, best for adults who enjoy dark satire and can watch its violent swagger with a critical eye.
Good Bye, Lenin! (2003) ★★★★½

Good Bye, Lenin! (2003) Review: A Lie Told Out of Love

Good Bye, Lenin! is Wolfgang Becker's tragicomedy about a son who hides reunification from his mother, and a tender, funny portrait of a country that vanished.

Yes. It is a warm, clever tragicomedy that works as family drama and as history, ideal for viewers who like their laughs with an ache underneath.
John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) ★★★★☆

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) Review: Action as Grand Opera

John Wick: Chapter 4 is Chad Stahelski's nearly three-hour globe-trotting action epic, stuffed with astonishing set pieces and a scene-stealing Donnie Yen.

Yes. It is one of the most spectacular action films of its era, ideal for genre fans, though its length and paper-thin plot will test casual viewers.
Sound of Falling (2025) ★★★★½

Sound of Falling (2025) Review: One House, Four Girlhoods

Sound of Falling is Mascha Schilinski's Cannes Jury Prize winner, a haunting German drama that braids four girlhoods in one farmhouse across a century.

Yes. It is one of the most daring European films of recent years, essential for patient arthouse viewers who can handle bleak material and a fractured structure.
Run Lola Run (1998) ★★★★½

Run Lola Run (1998) Review: Twenty Minutes, Endless Chances

Run Lola Run is Tom Tykwer's 80-minute Berlin sprint, a German thriller in which Franka Potente races the clock again and again to save her boyfriend.

Yes. It is a dazzling, endlessly rewatchable burst of style and ideas, perfect for anyone who wants a short, kinetic film that plays games with chance and time.
The White Ribbon (2009) ★★★★½

The White Ribbon (2009) Review: Cruelty Taught in Silence

The White Ribbon is Michael Haneke's chilling black-and-white mystery about strange crimes in a German village before the First World War, and his Palme d'Or winner.

Yes. It is a haunting, masterfully made moral mystery for patient viewers who like cinema that unsettles rather than explains; not for a casual night in.
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) ★★★★½

All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) Review: No Glory Here

Edward Berger's All Quiet on the Western Front is a harrowing, Oscar-winning German take on Remarque's novel that strips the First World War of any glory.

Yes. It is one of the most powerful war films of recent years, though its brutality is relentless. Best for viewers ready for a gruelling, serious evening.
All That's Left of You (2025) ★★★½☆

All That's Left of You (2025) Review: Memory as Inheritance

All That's Left of You is Cherien Dabis's sweeping Palestinian family drama across seven decades: moving and urgent, if long and uneven in its structure.

Yes, with reservations. The family story is powerful and the cast excellent, but it asks for patience. Best for viewers ready for a long, heavy multigenerational drama.
Victoria (2015) ★★★★½

Victoria (2015) Review: One Take, One Night, No Escape

Victoria follows a young Spanish woman through one Berlin night in a single unbroken take, and Sebastian Schipper's gamble becomes a breathtaking crime thriller.

Yes. It is a technical marvel with a real pulse, gripping for thriller fans and anyone curious about cinema's limits, provided they can ride out a slow first hour.
Apprentice (2016) ★★★½☆

Apprentice (2016) Review: Learning the Hangman's Trade

Boo Junfeng's Apprentice follows a young prison officer drawn to Singapore's veteran hangman: a taut, unsettling death-row drama that is cool to a fault.

Yes, with reservations. It is a gripping, morally serious study of capital punishment with a superb Wan Hanafi Su, though its reserve keeps its hero hard to reach.
Every You Every Me (2024) ★★★½☆

Every You Every Me (2024) Review: Love in Lignite Country

Every You Every Me is Michael Fetter Nathansky's German romance about a factory worker re-examining her marriage. Inventive, tender and a little too schematic.

Yes, with reservations. Viewers who like romantic dramas with a formal twist will find it moving, though its central device can feel more clever than deep.
22 Bahnen (2025) ★★★☆☆

22 Bahnen (2025) Review: Sisterhood in Tidy Lanes

22 Bahnen adapts Caroline Wahl's bestselling novel about a student raising her little sister. Luna Wedler is excellent, but the film is tidier than its material.

It depends. Readers of the novel and fans of quiet, performance-led family drama will find plenty here; viewers wanting something rawer may find it too neat.
Allegro Pastell (2026)

Allegro Pastell (2026) Review: Irony at Arm's Length

Allegro Pastell adapts Leif Randt's cult novel about a long-distance millennial couple: stylish and faithful in tone, but so cool it keeps its heart at a distance.

It depends. Fans of Leif Randt's novel and of deadpan relationship drama will find plenty to admire; anyone hoping for a warm, swooning romance will find it airless.
Rose (2026)

Rose (2026) Review: Sandra Hüller's Dangerous Disguise

Rose is Markus Schleinzer's austere black-and-white drama set after the Thirty Years' War, with Sandra Hüller superb as a woman living as a man to claim an estate.

Yes. It is a rigorous, quietly devastating period drama with one of the year's finest performances, best for viewers who welcome restraint over incident.
Silent Friend (2026)

Silent Friend Review: A Ginkgo Tree Watches a Century

Silent Friend is Ildikó Enyedi's patient, luminous drama about three people across a century drawn to one tree, with Tony Leung, Léa Seydoux and Luna Wedler.

Yes, for patient viewers. It is a gentle, beautiful and unusual drama for lovers of contemplative art cinema, though its length and slow rhythm will test some.
Vier minus drei (2026)

Vier minus drei (2026) Review: Grief Without Sentiment

Vier minus drei adapts Barbara Pachl-Eberhart's memoir of losing her family, with Valerie Pachner superb as a hospital clown finding her way through grief.

Yes, if you can face the subject. It is an honest, sometimes darkly funny grief drama with a remarkable lead performance, even if its form is conventional.
Yellow Letters (2026)

Yellow Letters (2026) Review: When the State Comes Home

Yellow Letters is İlker Çatak's Golden Bear-winning drama about two Ankara theatre artists punished by the state, gripping at first and more schematic later.

Yes, with reservations. The lead performances and the tense opening are superb, though the second half grows schematic. Best for viewers drawn to serious political drama.

Popular Genres

Drama 30 Thriller 12 Action 6 War 5 Comedy 4 Crime 3

All Germany Movies

Ranked by Celluloid Score

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best movies from Germany?

Browse our Germany catalogue sorted by Celluloid Score — the highest-rated films appear first with critic and audience ratings on every card.

How does Celluloid rate films from Germany?

Celluloid Score combines Celluloid editorial, Metascore, Letterboxd and IMDb inputs into a single percentage; audience sentiment is displayed separately alongside the written verdict and review.