Best movies like Die Mittagsfrau

This documentary recounts the life and work of one of most famous, and yet reviled, German film directors in history, Leni Riefenstahl. The film recounts the rise of her career from a dancer, to a movie actor to the most important film director in Nazi Germany who directed such famous propaganda films as Triumph of the Will and Olympiad. The film also explores her later activities after Nazi Germany's defeat in 1945 and her disgrace for being so associated with it which includes her amazingly active life over the age of 90.

A satirical look at the 'secret' TRUE life of Jeffrey Archer. The Truth, the whole truth and everything BUT the truth.

The coming-of-age tale of 16-year-old Lina Vilkas who is deported to Siberia amid Stalin's reign of terror in the Baltic region during WWII. An aspiring artist, she secretly documents her harrowing journey with her drawings.

The true WWII story of Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier in U.S. history. Based on the autobiography of Audie Murphy who stars as himself in the film.

Following her parents' wishes, spirited seventeen-year-old Effi Briest marries Baron von Innstetten – a former admirer of her mother – who is twenty years Effi's senior. This marriage of prudence heralds the beginning of a humdrum life, far from home, for Effi. Innstetten devotes himself entirely to his political career, and the sleepy small town of Kessin has very little to offer in terms of variety. But then, one day, Innstetten's old regimental comrade, Major Crampas – a charming womanizer – arrives on the scene.

Johanna (Katharina Thalbach) has fled Nazi Germany to visit a friend in Finland, and from there she continues on to her friend's family's estate. Once at the estate, Johanna passionately argues with her friend's pro-Nazi brother and at the same time, falls for the second, good-looking brother who shares her own anti-fascist feelings. The two are soon engaged in an active sexual relationship that continues as they travel north to an Arctic port.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1950. In the conservative home of the Gusmão family, Eurídice and Guida are two inseparable sisters who support each other. While Guida can share with her younger sister the details of her romantic adventures, Eurídice finds in her older sister the encouragement she needs to pursue her dream of becoming a professional pianist.

Traces over three generations an immigrant family's trials, tribulations, tragedies, and triumphs. Maria and Jose, the first generation, come to Los Angeles, meet, marry, face deportation all in the 1930s. They establish their family in East L.A., and their children Chucho, Paco, Memo, Irene, Toni, and Jimmy deal with youth culture and the L.A. police in the '50s. As the second generation become adults in the '60s, the focus shifts to Jimmy, his marriage to Isabel (a Salvadorian refugee), their son, and Jimmy's journey to becoming a responsible parent.

Epic story about two families and their friendship and common destiny in Sweden's Gothenburg in the 1940s and 1950s. Told from the perspective of young Simon Larsson, who learns that he's an adopted child who has a Jewish father from Germany. After WWII Simon travels to explore his roots - a journey that leads to the basic mysteries of the human life. After the bestselling novel by Marianne Fredriksson.

A man's story parallels Hitler's rise. Austrian Klaus Schneider, wounded in World War I, recovers in the care of Dr. Emil Bettleheim. Bettleheim discovers that Schneider possesses powers of empathy and of clairvoyance, such that could aid suicidal patients. After the war, with one friend as his manager and another as his lover, Schneider changes his name to Eric Jan Hanussen and goes to Berlin, as a hypnotist and clairvoyant performing in halls and theaters. He always speaks the truth, which brings him to the attention of powerful Nazis. He predicts their rise (good propaganda for them) and their violence (not so good). He's in pain and at risk. What is Hanussen's future?

A minister from the Deep South is assigned a new parish and moves with his wife to a town in Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains, where he tends to the spiritual and emotional needs of his small flock.

In a town where half the men die down the coalpit, Margaret MacNeil is quite happy being single in her small Cape Breton island town. Until she meets Neil Currie, a charming and sincere bagpipe-playing, Gaelic-speaking dishwasher. But no matter what you do, you can't avoid the spectre of the pit forever.

Sensing their relationship is crumbling, Christian avoids celebrating Christmas with his girlfriend Julia and heads for Paris.

Two oddball Berliners discover the abandoned appendages of a mannequin. Separately, and with grotesque consequence, they come to terms with their disjointed mate.

Wed just as war breaks out, Jeanne hardly gets to know her military husband, Louis, before the debacle of 1940. While waiting for his return from a POW camp, Jeanne journeys through countless affairs with Louis' comrades- in-arms. Hoping to forget these wartime betrayls, Louis takes his wife and the infant twins he didn't father to Berlin, where she falls for Matthais, a sensitive German industrialist. When the Indochinese war sends Louis to Vietnam, Matthais follows Jeanne back to France. A subsequent move to Damascus where Louis is posted as military attache, fails to break their bond.

A separated couple meet again after 10 years when the body of their missing son is found. Amid the guilt of losing a loved one, they hesitantly move toward affirmation of life, acceptance of death, and even the possibility of reconciliation.

A hedonistic soccer mom embarks on a strange journey of self-discovery, seeking to reconnect with her estranged son by returning his pet rock back to the island of Menorca, Spain.

Two life stories. That of Malou, a French woman, married to a German Jew, a refugee stranded in South America: a picture of the pre-war generation reflected in the unusual destiny of an individual woman. And that of Hannah, an alert, independent, modern woman, seeking after freedom and her own identity, and trying in present-day Berlin to save her shaky marriage.

The story of a son who is afraid of everything. Overwhelmed by his dull life, one day he decides to flee. He starts a journey to nowhere, living other lives. And he finds out that if one day you no longer want to grow, it's not all that bad. You just have to learn to fly, to fly far away. It's a story about taking important decisions; and about how each time we make a choice, somewhere within us we make exactly the opposite one.

East Germany, 1988: working as a state security service agent, Jürgen Kaiser is loyal to the party line, but worried about his son Marco, a punk. As he is arrested after a concert, Marco is forced to join the army, where he surprisingly identifies with socialism and believes he has to defend his country against the capitalist enemy. While Jürgen is astonished, his wife Hanna and Marco's girlfriend Anja, supporting the civil rights movement, don't like his new attitude...

A poignant biography of one of the most successful and wildly-read writers of the 20th century. Her stories enthralled children everywhere but her personal struggles often proved too much.

A biography of Hildegard Knef, one of Germany's biggest post-war stars.

Helmut and Sabine Halm have always managed vacations of lazy privacy at their favorite retreat on Germany′s Lake Constance. So when the energetic, handsome Klaus Buch turns up with his beautiful girlfriend Helene, Helmut is quite ready to dismiss this dimly familiar acquaintance. But Klaus is overjoyed to recognize his old schoolmate Helmut, eager to recall every incident of their shared time, and to display every detail of this successful lifestyle as a fit sportsman and author. The precious days of privacy give way to an unwanted and awkward intimacy, as the Buchs and the Halms hike, dine and sail together. Their joint activities aggravate myriad psychological tensions among the four characters, which are all the more intensely ironic for their peaceful veneer and which must eventually erupt.

Fourteen-year-old Jeanne has lived in a farm commune since she was two years old. Her mother and father live in city communes and rarely visit. This is one of the commandments given by Otto, who rules the commune: children are to grow up without parents. Knowing nothing else, Jeanne enjoys her outdoor life, surrounded by lots of other children, until she falls in love with 16-year-old Jean and her childhood paradise begins to fall apart.

What does life taste of? For joyful Nikki the answer is clear: of pleasure. Delightfully she enjoys this at every possible occasion, as she drives through the country looking for people and their stories for her video-blog.

Weimar, 1921. The life of 20-year-old Lotte Brendel seems to be predetermined. Her father sees her as a future wife and mother on the side of a man who is to take over the parental carpentry business. But the idiosyncratic Lotte joins a group of young artists against the will of her family, applies at the Bauhaus and is accepted. The Weimar Bauhaus, under the direction of the visionary Walter Gropius, aspires not only to combine arts and crafts, but also to find the place for the "New Man". In the student Paul Seligmann Lotte finds a supporter and her great love.

Ulrich Mühe plays a German businessman who was born completely without scruples. This makes him an eminently suitable candidate for success in the chaotic years after World War I. The shameless man's story is contrasted with that of his polar opposite, a Jewish anarchist.

An Englishman has been working in the US so long he now speaks with an American accent. He is drafted into the British Army during WWII but is injured and loses his memory. Because he talks like an American, the doctors repatriate him to the States where he is housed with a New York family. After the war they all travel throughout Europe, searching for the women he still remembers in the hope of restoring his lost memory

David, a recently fired scrapyard worker and Marie, a prostitute, both about 20 years old, meet on New Year's Eve in Berlin and decide to run away together. As David's arm is plastered from an accident Marie continues to prostitute herself to finance their restless journey through the Ruhr area. Their love and their will to survive guide them though all problems.

Tommy Silver stands trial in an epic musical fantasy where he must reckon with the guilt of his mother's death before it destroys him and the one he loves. Part nightmare, part daydream - as if Kafka and Gondry made a musical.

Drama of four friends who spend time together in the country when one of them meets a man who claims to be Jesus Christ who wants to share the love secret of the universe with her and so he impregnates her, dies in her bed, and then totally disappears, leaving the friends unsure if it all happened

A cinematic journey on the trail of a mysterious filmmaker. Prince Michal Waszynski, Poland's top pre-war, director who later became an influential figure in the broader European film scene. He produced big Hollywood cinema hits with Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale, but his most spectacular creation was his own life. Prince Michal was an extraordinary human chameleon who, with the help of the magical invention of cinema, continually changed his identity.

Berlin, 1942: it was the most beautiful summer for Hilde – madly in love with Hans and joyfully pregnant. But amid the passion there is grave danger. Hans becomes involved in the anti-Nazi resistance, with a group of young people who will later be called the “Red Orchestra”. Despite the huge risks, Hilde decides to get involved herself but is arrested by the Gestapo and gives birth to her son in prison. Now in a desperate situation, Hilde develops a quiet inspirational strength, but she only has a few months left with her son.

Documentary Feature winner "Design for Death" (1947) examines Japanese culture and how it led to Japan's role in WWII.

A unique documentary that looks at the political activities of the American Communist Party in the early to mid-twentieth century.