The 30 Best European Movies on Netflix Right Now

The 30 Best European Movies on Netflix Right Now

April 14, 2025

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Europe has a long history with film: the French New Wave, Italian Neorealism, and the great Swedish movies of Ingmar Bergman. And what’s happening today is equally as exciting: French thrillers, Scandinavian dramas, Irish comedies… there is just so much to discover. This list has past Oscar nominees like I Lost My Body, past winners of the Berlin Film Festival like On Body and Soul, and other award-sweepers. But you might be asking yourself why you haven’t heard of some or all of them. The answer depends on each movie, but it’s often either bad marketing or that fear of subtitles. Both have nothing to do with the quality of the movies themselves. So, friends, let’s try something new. Below are the best European movies on Netflix right now.

11. Frank (2014)

7.8

Genres

Comedy, Drama, Mystery

Director

Lenny Abrahamson

Actors

Abe Bueno-Jallad, Abe Martell, Alex Knight, Bruce McIntosh

Moods

Easy, Feel-Good, Funny

A really weird and also heartwarming movie about Frank, the leader and singer/songwriter of a crazy band. He really grows on you with his big head. If you like movies with that funky edge (like Scott Pilgrim) this is especially something for you! Either way and regardless of your preferences, you’ll find Frank to be a sweet, sincere, likable and clever comedy.

12. And Breathe Normally (2018)

7.8

Genres

Drama

Director

Female director, Isold Uggadottir

Actors

Ísold Uggadóttir, Babetida Sadjo, Bragi Arnason, Guðbjörg Thoroddsen

Moods

Slice-of-Life, Slow, Thought-provoking

Iceland is a country of vast lands but limited population – only about 300,000 people can call themselves Icelandic. On the other hand, 8 million people have connecting flights through Iceland every year. 

In this setting of mass movement, a single mother dealing with poverty is offered a chance to turn things around – a job as a border agent. One of her first days, she comes across an asylum seeker on a connecting flight from Guinea Bissau to Canada, trying to cross with a fake passport. 

Their stories don’t only intertwine as border agent and asylum seeker, but as two mothers. And Breathe Normally is about struggling with poverty both in Europe and coming from a place like Guinea Bissau. It’s a beautiful, plot-heavy statement on the importance of solidarity and of seeing the human behind the country of origin or race. 

13. On My Skin (2018)

7.7

Genres

Drama

Director

Alessio Cremonini

Actors

Aleksandros Memetaj, Alessandro Borghi, Alessio De Persio, Andrea Lattanzi

Moods

Depressing, Touching, True-story-based

This Netflix production is based on a case that rocked public opinion in Italy. Stefano Cucchi was arrested for a minor drug charge and died five days later from police brutality.

The movie takes its time to expose what Cucchi went through, which might lead some viewers to find On My Skin slow, and rightfully so. Thinking about the issues at hand here, it’s easy to understand why the director made that choice. In fact, Italians’ complex relationship with the Carabinieri, a division of the Italian army that carries out domestic policing, is delicate to explain and requires meticulous unveiling.

Nominated to nine David di Donatello Awards (the equivalent of the Academy Awards in Italy), of which it won three.

14. Forgotten Love (2023)

7.7

Genres

Drama, Romance

Director

Michał Gazda

Actors

Adam Nawojczyk, Agata Łabno, Alicja Jachiewicz, Anna Szymańczyk

Moods

Character-driven, Emotional, Heart-warming

After two adaptations, with the 1982 version considered a Christmastime classic for Polish families, Forgotten Love can seem like a redundant take on the iconic Polish novel. With twenty more minutes, it seems like the new Netflix adaptation could only improve its take through better production design, and sure, it certainly delivers that pre-war aesthetic through period-accurate costumes, props, and sets. However, Forgotten Love takes a more streamlined approach to the novel’s plot, through changing certain character choices. Without spoiling too much, some choices paint certain characters in a better light, while other changes prove to add an entertaining twist, such as the humorous way the villagers defend Kosiba. Znachor takes the 1937 story into the present, bringing a new generation through the emotional journey of the cherished Polish tale.

15. Dheepan (2015)

7.6

Genres

Crime, Drama

Director

Jacques Audiard

Actors

Antonythasan Jesuthasan, Aymen Saïdi, Bass Dhem, Claudine Vinasithamby

Moods

Dramatic, Thought-provoking, Thrilling

Dheepan is a French film from the director of A Prophet. It contrasts elements of Sri Lankan and French culture to provide interesting insights into both, while crafting a heart-wrenching and heartwarming tale of makeshift families in unimaginable circumstances. Like A Prophet, Dheepan makes occasional and shocking use of violence to underscore elements of culture and illuminate the inner workings of the characters. A fascinating and exhilarating movie, winner of the 2015 Palme d’Or at Cannes.

16. Girl (2019)

7.6

Genres

Drama

Director

Chad Faust, Lukas Dhont

Actors

Alexia Depicker, Alice de Broqueville, Angelo Tijssens, Arieh Worthalter

Moods

Thought-provoking

Girl won four awards at the Cannes Film Festival last year and was nominated to 9 Magritte Awards. It was also Belgium’s entry to the Oscar for best foreign-language film. When a dance school accepts her, Lara has the opportunity to realize her dream and become a professional ballerina. The dancing takes a toll on her body, but her biggest obstacle is that she was born into the body of a boy. Girl illustrates the trans teenage experience with sensitivity, slowly and humanly making Lara’s anguish become the viewer’s. Based on a true story.

17. The Peasants (2023)

7.6

Genres

Animation, Drama, History

Director

DK Welchman, Female director

Actors

Andrzej Konopka, Andrzej Mastalerz, Anna Grzeszczak, Cezary Łukaszewicz

Moods

Dark, Depressing, Discussion-sparking

After Loving Vincent, DK and Hugh Welchman’s iconic oil paint animation initially seems like old hat, but this time the style is actually more fitting for their second feature. As an adaptation of the iconic Polish novel, The Peasants had to live up to the book’s reputation as the Nobel-winning depiction of the Polish countryside, one of the first to take an intimate look into the lives of the commonfolk, their customs, beliefs, and traditions. The Welchmans’ naturalist, impressionist art style lines up with the way the original Chłopi was inspired by these movements, as does L.U.C’s selection of mesmerizing, haunting Polish folk songs. While the plot is a tad cliché, it only does so in the way folklore tends to weave the same threads. It just so happens that the threads in The Peasants lead to violent ends.

18. A Fortunate Man (2018)

7.5

Genres

Drama

Director

Bille August

Actors

Anders Hove, Benjamin Kitter, Bille August, Carsten Kressner

Moods

Slow

This is a gorgeous Danish period drama that’s based on a famous story and book in Denmark called Lykke-Per (or Lucky Per) by Nobel Prize-winning author Henrik Pontoppidan.

Per, the son of an overbearing catholic priest, leaves his family house in the country side to seek a new life in Copenhagen. His passion about engineering was at the time contrary with the Christian faith, but manages to introduce him to the capital’s elite, and a chance at social ascension.

Lykke-Per and A Fortunate Man are about nature versus nurture. Per’s passion about engineering and renewable energy (back in the 1920s) is set against his need to emancipate and the pride that was instilled in him by his upbringing.

19. Happy as Lazzaro (2018)

7.5

Genres

Drama, Fantasy

Director

Alice Rohrwacher, Female director

Actors

Adriano Tardiolo, Agnese Graziani, Alba Rohrwacher, Alessandro Genovesi

Moods

Lovely, Quirky, Warm

Set in 1970s Italian countryside, this is a quirky movie that’s full of plot twists.

Lazzaro is a dedicated worker at a tobacco estate. His village has been indebted to a marquise and like everyone else, he works without a wage and in arduous conditions.

Lazzaro strikes a friendship with the son of the marquise, who, in an act of rebellion against his mother, decides to fake his own kidnapping. The two form an unlikely friendship in a story that mixes magical realism with social commentary.

20. The Platform (2019)

7.5

Genres

Drama, Horror, Science Fiction

Director

Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia

Actors

Alexandra Masangkay, Algis Arlauskas, Antonia San Juan, Chema Trujillo

Moods

Challenging, Intense, Thrilling

The Platform is the closest thing to Parasite released so far. This interesting Spanish movie is about 90% a science-fiction drama and 10% a horror movie. It’s an allegory set in a future where prisoners live in vertical cells, and each cell has to wait for the cell above it to eat to get food. Depending on the floor where prisoners wake up, they might not get any food at all. This creates for disturbing situations that are hard to see as not representative of our modern societies.

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