Scandinavian Cinema
'Scandinavian' is an Alice grouping which includes Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland. To find films from one of these countries specifically use the 'By Country' link on the left hand menu.
From the sublime to the ridiculous; from Bergman to Lars von Trier, there is something in this section for everyone.
Films from this region are often deeply personal and have a brutal honesty about them. Characters are often deeply flawed or troubled but not judged. The Dogme 95 collective (founded by Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg) exemplifies this attitude in their manifesto. Not just the stories but the film-making process itself is absolutely 'no frills'. (Visit www.dogme95.dk for more details.)
Other notables in this section include the quirky Finlander, Aki Kaurismaki, Fridrik Thor Fridrikkson from Iceland and Norwegian, Erik Skjoldjaerg.
Pictured: "It's one of the most delicious parts I've ever played. I've never been such a bastard before." Stellan Skaarsgard on his role in the rivetting 'Zero Kelvin'
Babette's Feast (1987)
7.8/10
Director: Gabriel Axel
Starring: Stephane Audran, Jean-Philippe Lafont, Jarl Kulle
Awarded the Best Foreign Language film of 1987 by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Stephane Audran is Babette, an exiled French cook-... Read more
Cries and Whispers (1972)
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Starring: Harriet Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Kari Sylwan
One of writer/director Ingmar Bergman's most acclaimed films, 'Cries and Whispers' is a dramatically intense story set in a vast manor house in rural... Read more
As It Is In Heaven (2004)
7.6/10
Director: Kay Pollak
Starring: Michael Nyqvist, Frida Hallgren, Lennart Jahkel, Ingela Olsson, Niklas Falk
Daniel (Michael Nyquist) is an internationally acclaimed, though temperamental and lonely, conductor when a physical break-down prompts him to return... Read more
Italian for Beginners (2001)
7.1/10
Director: Lone Scherfig
Starring: Anders W Berthelsen, Anette Stovelbaek, Ann Eleonora Jorgensen, Peter Gantzler,...
"Italian For Beginners" is a warm and playful story about seven perfect strangers in a small Danish town whose lives become entwined and turned upside... Read more
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014)
7/10
Director: Roy Andersson
Starring: Holger Andersson, Nils Westblom, Charlotta Larsson, Viktor Gyllenberg
The deeply eccentric Roy Anderssons meticulously mounted comic sketches move from historic fantasy to hilariously deadpan humour as he muses on human... Read more
The Guilty (Den skyldige) (2018)
7.6/10
Director: Gustav Moller
Starring: Jakob Cedergren
Alarm dispatcher and former police officer Asger Holm answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman. When the call is suddenly disconnected, the se... Read more
Montenegro (1981)
6.8/10
Director: Dusan Makavejev
Starring: Susan Anspach, Erland Josephson, Per Oscarsson
Funny, bizarre, surreal, sensual, unpredictable. Dusan Makavejev's 'Montenegro' follows Susan Anspach, a middle-class Swedish housewife who gets embro... Read more
The Other Side Of Sunday (1997)
7.1/10
Director: Berit Nesheim
Starring: Marie Theisen, Hildegun Riise, Bjorn Sundquist
Aka 'Sondagsengler'. This Academy Award nominee for best foreign film, set in 1950s Norway, is a lyrical, biting look at a small church community and... Read more
Borgen: Season 3 (2012)
8.5/10
Starring: Soren Malling, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Birgitte Hjort Sorensen, Emil Poulsen, Frej...
Over two years have passed and Birgitte Nyborg is no longer the Prime Minister of Denmark. Disillusioned with the way her old party is heading, she de... Read more
The Sacrifice (1986)
8.1/10
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Starring: Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Valerie Mairesse
Andrei Tarkovsky's epitaph, a dark and complex film about redemption and nuclear holocaust, filmed inexile from his native Russia in Sweden, and starr... Read more