Best Swedish drama movies
A curated collection of popular drama movies from Sweden.
The New Land (1972)
The New Land (1972)
A Swedish immigrant family struggles to adapt to their new life on the American frontier during the second half of the 19th century amidst civil war, native uprising and the lure of gold in California.
Shame (1968)
Shame (1968)
In the midst of a civil war, former violinists Jan and Eva Rosenberg, who have a tempestuous marriage, run a farm on a rural island. In spite of their best efforts to escape their homeland, the war impinges on every aspect of their lives.
All Things Fair (1995)
All Things Fair (1995)
Stig is a 15-year-old pupil of 37-year-old teacher Viola. He is attracted by her beauty and maturity while she is drawn to him by his youth and innocence, a relief from her drunk and miserable husband.
Call Girl (2012)
Call Girl (2012)
Stockholm, late 1970s. Within a stone’s throw of government buildings and juvenile homes lies the seductive world of sex clubs, discotheques and private residences. Call Girl tells the story of how young Iris is recruited from the bottom of society into a ruthless world where power can get you anything.
The Circle (2015)
The Circle (2015)
An otherworldly evil is slipping into a small town in Sweden. Six unrelated girls have been chosen to fight this evil. Together they must overcome their differences in order to save themselves and the world.
Knocking (2021)
Knocking (2021)
After suffering a traumatic incident, Molly moves into a new apartment to begin her path to recovery, but it’s not long after her arrival that a series of persistent knocks and screams begin to wake her up at night.
438 Days (2019)
438 Days (2019)
On the eve of June 28th, 2011 Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson put everything at stake by illegally crossing the border from Somalia into Ethiopia. After months of research, planning and failed attempts, they were finally on their way to report on how the ruthless hunt for oil effected the population of the isolated and conflict-ridden Ogaden region. Five days later they lay wounded in the desert sand, shot and captured by the Ethiopian army. But when their initial reportage died, another story began. A story about lawlessness, propaganda and global politics. After a Kafkaesque trial they were sentenced to eleven years in prison for terrorism. And they were far from alone. Their cellmates were journalists, writers and politicians persecuted for not bowing down to dictatorship. Their reportage about oil was transformed into a story about ink, and their daily lives turned into a fight for survival inside the notorious Kality prison in Addis Ababa.
Hammarskjöld: Fight for Peace (2023)
Hammarskjöld: Fight for Peace (2023)
A speculative biopic about Swedish UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, the anti-colonialist, allegedly queer diplomat who died under mysterious circumstances during the Cold War while trying to bring peace to the Congo.
Exit (2006)
Exit (2006)
There is a thin line between money and loyalty. Thomas Skepphult runs an investment company, and is arrested for the murder of his business partner when his fingerprint is found on the murder weapon. When he tries to call his lawyer, the phone is answered by someone who he thought had committed suicide years ago.
Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
Johan and Marianne are married and seem to have it all. Their happiness, however, is a façade for a troubled relationship, which becomes even rockier when Johan admits that he's having an affair. Before long, the spouses separate and move towards finalizing their divorce, but they make attempts at reconciling. Even as they pursue other relationships, Johan and Marianne realize that they have a significant bond, but also many issues that hinder that connection.
Summer with Monika (1953)
Summer with Monika (1953)
Monika from Stockholm falls in love with Harry, a young man on holiday. When she becomes pregnant they are forced into a marriage, which begins to fall apart soon after they take up residence in a cramped little flat.
The Silence (1963)
The Silence (1963)
Traveling through an unnamed European country on the brink of war, sickly, intellectual Ester, her sister Anna and Anna's young son, Johan, check into a near-empty hotel. A basic inability to communicate among the three seems only to worsen during their stay. Anna provokes her sister by enjoying a dalliance with a local man, while the boy, left to himself, has a series of enigmatic encounters that heighten the growing air of isolation.
With Every Heartbeat (2011)
With Every Heartbeat (2011)
After they meet at their parent's engagement party, Mia and Frida are intrigued by and attracted to one another, despite Mia's own upcoming engagement to Tim. Mia must decide whether to continue her life with Tim or to follow her heart with Frida.
A Swedish Love Story (1970)
A Swedish Love Story (1970)
The puppy love of two teenagers is set against a backdrop of adults struggling with their own lives. As a couple in love, they don't care about anything but themselves and seem totally unaware about everything that surrounds them.
JJ+E (2021)
JJ+E (2021)
Elisabeth and John John are raised in the same city, yet they live light years apart, separated economically, socially and culturally. That is until the day they start in the same high school class.
Mammoth (2009)
Mammoth (2009)
While on a trip to Thailand, a successful American businessman tries to radically change his life. Back in New York, his wife and daughter find their relationship with their live-in Filipino maid changing around them. At the same time, in the Philippines, the maid's family struggles to deal with her absence.
Shed No Tears (2013)
Shed No Tears (2013)
Pål dreams about becoming successful with his music, but he has one major obstacle: himself. He's a diamond in the rough, and the only things greater than his musical talent are his obsessions, which constantly get him into trouble. We follow Pål on an emotional journey one summer in Gothenburg where he is thrown between passion and deceit; love, reconciliation and deliverance.
Crisis (1946)
Crisis (1946)
A poor Swedish piano teacher and her foster daughter’s lives are upended when the child’s biological mother arrives in their small town to reclaim her.
Dreams (1955)
Dreams (1955)
Susanne is a woman in her mid-30s and the owner of a modeling agency in Stockholm. She accompanies her prize model, Doris, on a trip to Gothenburg so that Doris can be photographed. While traveling, both women seek out romance, Susanne with a married lover and Doris with an older gentleman who sees his deceased wife in the young model. The two women struggle to understand their romantic motivations and in the process form an unlikely friendship.
Children's Island (1980)
Children's Island (1980)
Reine is supposed to go to a summer camp called Children's Island but decides to remain in Stockholm over the summer while his mother is working at a hospital. She thinks he is at the camp, and he tells her he is. We then follow him around Stockholm that summer and see what he encounters on the path of life.
Port of Call (1948)
Port of Call (1948)
Berit is a young woman with problems. She is suicidal and depressed. Since it has been impossible for her to live with her mother, she has spent many years in institutions. She has now gotten a job in an industry on the condition that she can live together with her mother again. Their relationship is very tense however. One night at a dance she meets stevedore Gösta. Will he be able to give her the support she needs?
Under the Sun (1998)
Under the Sun (1998)
Olof lives alone on his family's farm after the death of his mother. Unable to read and write, he is dependent on his younger friend, Erik, who helps him in the afternoons. Once a sailor, Erik brags of having known hundreds of women. Out of the blue, Olof advertises in the local paper for a young lady housekeeper, and Ellen, a middle-class city woman, arrives to take over the house and, as the summer goes on, Olof's heart and Erik's desire as well.
Lucky Blue (2007)
Lucky Blue (2007)
Olle, an introverted, well-mannered boy with an air of innocence and sincerity about him has been camping with his father at the same camping ground with several other people for years now. A sort of tradition that ends in a karaoke party. Then one summer, a family friend brings her reticent 'city boy' nephew, Kevin, and his pet budgerigar. Olle accidentally releases the bird and what follows is a discovery of friendship and love between the guy who has grown up in a loving environment and simply accepts love for what it is and the guy who's apparently been burned too many times in his own circle to feel comfortable with it.
The Crown Jewels (2011)
The Crown Jewels (2011)
Fragancia is arrested for the attempted murder of Richard Persson, the son of a powerful factory owner. During the interrogation her amazing and remarkable life story is revealed. We follow her through her impoverished childhood, her adolescence where she meets the great love of her life, ice hockey star Petterson-Jonsson and the lead up to the fatal night where the story begins.