The Top 20 Most Beautiful Films of All Time: Lucy Ingram

As beauty is subjective, it can be hard to decide exactly what makes a film beautiful. Though popular Twitter account @OnePerfectShot seems to have some idea.  For this list, a film’s ‘beauty’ is judged on its visuals as opposed to its dialogue or soundtrack. I have chosen films where the cinematography made an impression or where the visual techniques used were particularly striking or ahead of their time in some way. I have tried to include visually diverse films from both contemporary and classic cinema, blockbuster and indie. As well as a range of genres and stories from around the world.

Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)

The 1977 Italian horror-classic is known for its vivid colour palette, created using the ‘three-strip Technicolour process’. As the film revolves around creepy and mysterious supernatural occurrences in a prestigious dance academy, the in-your-face cinematography helps to elevate the tension of the narrative. Each frame is overly-saturated with bold reds and blues, intensifying the surreal and nightmarish atmosphere. The incredible production design produces a twisted fairy-tale aesthetic, at once horrifying and immensely stylish.

Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984)

Winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or at Cannes, Paris, Texas perfectly captures a sense of loneliness and longing amongst the vast landscapes of rural America. The film follows Travis (played by the incredible Harry Dean Stanton), a man lost both physically and emotionally as the film opens with him wondering alone the desert. The lighting throughout the film makes mundane small-town America something magical, through beautifully illuminated car parks, empty bars and cheap motels. The story can be both melancholic and heart-warming as Travis and his son attempt to reunite with his wife, played by Nastassja Kinski.

The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook, 2016)

An underrated film of betrayal, manipulation and passion, The Handmaiden captures some of the most beautiful cinematography of recent years, set against the backdrop of 1930s Korea. The erotic psychological thriller is rich with lavish visuals including stunning architecture, costumes, and natural imagery, all perfectly reflecting the film’s strange and seductive atmosphere.

Monos (Alejandro Landes, 2019)

Monos’ otherworldly atmosphere is rooted in its breath-taking Columbian landscapes. The first half was filmed in Chingaza National Park, with the central group of young soldiers guarding their captive on a mountain top, creating mesmerising images such as characters silhouetted against a sea of clouds. Another formidable environment is captured in the second half, where the soldiers relocate to the jungle surrounding the Samaná Norte River. The film is loosely based on the classic story Lord of the Flies, and the tensions between the soldiers’ violence and their youth echo perfectly the duality of their brutal yet beautiful surroundings.  

Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski, 2018)

This Oscar-nominated drama presents a tumultuous, passionate love affair set against the backdrop of post-WWII Poland, and is one of the most stunning films I have ever seen. The intense black and white is gorgeous to look at and was not chosen arbitrarily. The film was shot with an Arri Alexa XT camera to achieve a highly contrasted black and white, mirroring the conflict between the central characters. Both director and cinematographer wanted to reflect the colourless feel of the landscape of 1950s Poland due to the effects of communism. The resulting cinematography is at once bleak and completely breath-taking.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma, 2019)

The world looks extremely beautiful when seen through Céline Sciamma’s masterful gaze. Her modern masterpiece explores female desire, longing and the relationship between artist and subject, with the film itself looking like a series of evocative paintings. The island the central characters inhabit is awash with lush, bright colours, reflecting the passion at the heart of the story. The wildness of the characters’ environment beautifully echoes their uncontrollable love for one another, with crashing waves, strong winds and symbolic, blazing fires throughout. If this film had been submitted to the Oscars, it would have taken the awards by storm.

Your Name (Makoto Shinkai, 2016)

While pretty much every anime film ever could have featured on this list, Your Name stands out due to its beautifully detailed animation of Tokyo, rural Japan, cosmic showers and magical, otherworldly spaces. The story is compelling and heartbreaking and had me pausing the film throughout the stare at the sheer brilliance of Makoto Shinkai’s elegant, dream-like world.

In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)

In the Mood for Love’s emotional power is rooted heavily in the visuals, with the exquisite production design and slow camera movements carefully guiding the viewer through a story of repressed love. On a symbolic level, the central characters are shown to be confined by societal expectations as we frequently view them through various frames such as mirrors, windows and doorframes. Aesthetically speaking, framing the two central characters produces tidy, beautifully crafted shots, which would look fantastic framed on a wall. Each detail of the film is lovely to behold, with Mrs Chan’s pristine wardrobe still inspiring fashion designers today.

The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)

This meditative, gorgeous film is like a moving collage of some the most impressive shots of the natural and man-made world seen in film. A stand out sequence shows what appears to be the birth of the universe, which was achieved using unconventional techniques. The sequence was produced using materials such as fluorescent ink, glass paperweights, liquid tanks, dry ice and many more, creating a majestic and incredibly moving scene in an overall staggering film.

2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

Ahead of its time in many regards, Kubrick’s science-fiction masterpiece more than holds up today, even with the many technological advancements made since its release. It’s hard to believe it is more than 50 years old, with its stunning, cutting-edge visuals of space stations, zero-gravity and hallucinogenic, ambiguous images. While the film’s plot is completely engaging, especially the unnerving omnipresence of the sentient computer antagonist ‘HAL’, it is the visuals that steal the show, which are a complete marvel to behold.

Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve, 2017)

The iconic dystopian landscape of Ridley Scott’s original Blade Runner was always going to be a tough act to follow, but Roger Deakins’ cinematography takes the futuristic Los Angeles to new heights. Deakins won a well-deserved (and long overdue) Oscar for this film, which required the difficult task of creating an entire world for the audience. The scale of the film is mind-bending, ranging from seedy city streets with holographic advertisements as big as skyscrapers, to a deserted, post-apocalyptic Las Vegas. The film’s beauty may be bleak, but the amount of jaw-dropping shots is truly amazing.

Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002)

Cinematographer Christopher Doyle (who also worked on In the Mood for Love) and director Zhang Yimou created something truly epic with Hero. The film’s scale is almost overwhelming, with extravagant set designs, beautiful costumes, insane fight scenes and astonishing locations. It also boasts one of the best uses of colour of all time, with each section of the film having a different colour scheme to match the tone, ranging from greys to deep reds to lavish greens and more.

Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975)

The hazy, dreamy landscape of this classic Australian film is scattered with hypnotic images, creating a spellbinding effect much like that of the titular hanging rock. The film follows a group of schoolgirls in the early 1900s who venture into the wilderness for a picnic on Valentine’s Day, only for some of them never to return. The film has a dream-like quality to it, with images of the girls in their frilly white dresses evoking that of a French Impressionist painting come to life. The cinematography helps to capture the rift between the girls’ ordered, oppressive boarding house and the wild, dangerous environment of the Australian bush and the mysterious hanging rock.

Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979)

Like Picnic at Hanging Rock, Stalker creates a mysterious landscape, but one more closely resembling a disorienting nightmare than a beautiful dream. With scenes in sepia tones and subdued colours, as well as an interesting blend of desolate, apocalyptic spaces with the natural world, this science-fiction vision of Russia is at once wondrous and bleak. The story follows three men who cross dangerous and unknown terrain in order to reach ‘the Zone’, in which there is said to exist a room which can grant a person’s deepest desires.  

The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939)

The Wizard of Oz is an inherently colourful film, with the iconic red shoes, yellow brick road and Emerald City bringing the strange land of Oz bursting to life. The contrast between the colourless, sepia shots of Kansas in the film’s opening to the vivid depiction of the otherworldly Oz makes the latter all the more impactful, particularly as it is one of the earliest examples of the Technicolour process, ensuring bright, unforgettable visuals.

Life of Pi (Ang Lee, 2012)

While a heavy reliance on CGI can often take a viewer out of the film, Ang Lee’s visually inspired Life of Pi uses it to create mesmerising imagery. The hyper-realism of the wide range of CGI animals is highly impressive, with some of the most innovative depictions of wildlife in cinema history.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

Wes Anderson’s most ‘Wes Anderson’ film to-date, the brilliant comedy-drama has the appearance of a beautiful pop-up book, complete with his signature symmetrical and pastel-infused frames. This film also ventures into deeper, bolder colours, such as reds and purples, mirroring the punchy dialogue and charismatic characters. Anderson is known for creating quirky films with charming characters and detailed, flawless production design, with this film being his best to date, as well as a feast for the eyes.

Roma (Alfonso Cuarón, 2018)

With its deserved Academy Awards wins such as Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography, Roma is a must-see for any cinema fan. Alfonso Cuarón opted for a subtle black and white aesthetic, with soft greys rather than the highly contrasted black and white seen in Cold War. This softness works harmoniously with the film’s slow, personal tone and the beautiful shots of Mexico City.

La La Land (Damien Chazelle, 2016)  

This modern musical was not only adored for its amazing acting and songs but also for its romantic, old-Hollywood visuals, at times resembling Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic Vertigo. La La Land’s ending is a spectacle of Hollywood at its finest: lavish sets; costumes; lighting and choreography, adding up to an emotional and exquisite conclusion to an overall gorgeous film.

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson, 2001)

It is almost needless explaining this film’s presence on a list of beautiful films. The world Peter Jackson brought to life, particularly in this astonishing first instalment, is completely spectacular, from the cosy, picturesque landscape of the Shire to the divine elven valley of Rivendell. The beauty of the Lord of the Rings trilogy speaks for itself and contributes greatly to its status as an awe-inspiring, iconic franchise.

Words by Lucy Ingram