10 Best Swedish Movies to Watch First

10 Essential Swedish Films

Ranked native cinema in Sweden’s own creative voice.

1. 

   1. The Seventh Seal

   Det sjunde inseglet · 1957

   Returning disillusioned from the Crusades to a Sweden ravaged by plague, a knight plays a game of chess with Death itself, buying time to search for meaning and proof of God in a silent, dying world. Ingmar Bergman's iconic, profound masterpiece.

   Why & details

   Curator’s note: Ingmar Bergman's Swedish medieval allegory and one of Sweden's world-cinema landmarks.

2. 

   2. Persona

   1966

   A nurse cares for a famous actress who has inexplicably fallen silent, and as the two women share an isolated seaside cottage, their identities begin to bleed and merge in disturbing ways. Ingmar Bergman's enigmatic, mesmerizing psychological drama.

   Why & details

   Curator’s note: Ingmar Bergman's Swedish psychological drama and a major Swedish art-cinema landmark.

3. 

   3. Let the Right One In

   Låt den rätte komma in · 2008

   A lonely, bullied twelve-year-old boy in a bleak Stockholm suburb strikes up a tender friendship with the strange girl who has just moved in next door — a child who only comes out at night and turns out to be a vampire. A haunting, delicate horror romance.

   Why & details

   Curator’s note: A Swedish-language vampire drama rooted in Blackeberg and Swedish genre cinema.

4. 

   4. The Square

   2017

   A smug Stockholm art curator preparing a provocative new installation about trust and altruism sees his own composure and principles unravel through a cascade of personal humiliations. Ruben Östlund's biting, Palme d'Or-winning satire of the art world.

5. 

   5. The Phantom Carriage

   Körkarlen · 1921

   On New Year's Eve, a dying drunkard is confronted by the legend that the last soul to die each year must drive Death's cart and collect the dead, forcing him to reckon with the ruin he has made of his life. Victor Sjöström's pioneering, ghostly silent classic.

   Why & details

   Curator’s note: Victor Sjöström's Swedish silent classic and a foundational work of Swedish cinema.

6. 

   6. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest

   Luftslottet som sprängdes · 2009

   Recovering from a gunshot wound and facing trial for attempted murder, hacker Lisbeth Salander fights to expose the corrupt establishment that has persecuted her all her life, with journalist Mikael Blomkvist working to clear her name. The gripping finale of the Millennium trilogy.

7. 

   7. Evil

   Ondskan · 2003

   Expelled from school and abused at home, a tough boy in 1950s Sweden is sent to an elite boarding academy ruled by sadistic senior students, where he must decide whether to fight back or hold to his own code. A powerful drama about violence and defiance.

   Why & details

   Curator’s note: A major Swedish coming-of-age drama about violence and hierarchy in a 1950s Swedish boarding school.

8. 

   8. The Emigrants

   Utvandrarna · 1971

   In the mid-19th century, a poor Swedish farm family, ground down by hardship and religious persecution, sells everything and undertakes the grueling ocean voyage to start over in America. Jan Troell's sweeping, intimate epic of emigration.

9. 

   9. A Man Called Ove

   En man som heter Ove · 2015

   A rigid, grieving widower whose plans to end his life keep getting interrupted is slowly drawn back toward the living by a boisterous young immigrant family that moves in next door. A bittersweet, warm-hearted Swedish comedy-drama.

   Why & details

   Curator’s note: Despite being deposed as president of his condominium association, grumpy 59-year-old Ove continues to watch over his neighbourhood with an iron fist. When pregnant Parvaneh and her family move into the terraced house opposite Ove and she accidentally backs into Ove’s mailbox, it sets off a series of unexpected changes in his life.

10. 

    10. Songs from the Second Floor

    Sånger från andra våningen · 2000

    In a series of deadpan, meticulously staged tableaux, this bleakly comic film surveys a modern city gripped by inexplicable gridlock, economic collapse, and spiritual malaise. Roy Andersson's singular, mordant vision of humanity.

    Why & details

    Curator’s note: Roy Andersson’s rigorously staged social panorama is a defining modern Swedish film, built around Swedish language, institutions, and national malaise.