The 40 most popular italian drama movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


You, Me, Us
2026 · 1h 47m · IT
A couple faces the difficult path to adoption, determined to become parents despite their complex vulnerabilities.


Life Is Beautiful
1997 · 1h 56m · IT
A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp during World War II. While locked up he tries to convince his son that the whole thing is just a game.


Malena
2000 · 1h 48m · IT
12-year-old Renato experiences three significant events on the same day: the beginning of the Second World War, getting a bike, and witnessing the arrival of the gorgeous Malèna. Through his eyes, we see the curse of beauty and loneliness of Malena, whose husband is presumed dead, and, through his soul, we see his love for her.


The Dreamers
2003 · 1h 55m · FR
When Isabelle and Theo invite Matthew to stay with them, what begins as a casual friendship ripens into a sensual voyage of discovery and desire in which nothing is off limits and everything is possible.


Senza vergogna
1986 · 1h 34m · IT
A partially paralyzed teenager is failing to have sex for the first time. He's eager but clumsy and sickly, so the local country girls reject him. He starts to realize that the only affectionate person in his life is his beautiful mother.


Love Me Love Me
2026 · 1h 39m · IT
After her brother's death, June moves to Milan for a fresh start, finding comfort in Will, the perfect honor student at her new international school. But when his troubled best friend James—hiding a dangerous life in clandestine MMA fights—sparks a rivalry that quickly turns into irresistible attraction, June must choose between safety and a love that upends everything she thought she wanted.


Cinema Paradiso
1988 · 2h 4m · IT
A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.


Once Upon a Time in the West
1968 · 2h 46m · IT
As the railroad builders advance unstoppably through the Arizona desert on their way to the sea, Jill arrives in the small town of Flagstone with the intention of starting a new life.


Caligula
1979 · 2h 36m · IT
After the death of the paranoid emperor Tiberius, Caligula, his heir, seizes power and plunges the empire into a bloody spiral of madness and depravity.


The Name of the Rose
1986 · 2h 10m · FR
14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence; which is considerable.


Playing with Love
1977 · 1h 34m · IT
Laura and Fabrizio have been meeting every summer in the forest by her parent's summer home. Fabrizio is a solitary boy with only his dog for company; Laura a sweet but unconfident child. This summer new aspects enter into their story as both are growing up. Laura is falling in love with Fabrizio, while he displays a new sexual awareness of her masked by his malice. Things develop further when they meet Sylvia who, unlike the innocent Laura, is confident and assertive. Fabrizio develops a fascination with her, eventually bribing Laura to fetch her to the forest to join them in play.


The Last Emperor
1987 · 2h 43m · CN
A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.


Last Tango in Paris
1972 · 2h 9m · FR
A recently widowed American begins an anonymous sexual relationship with a young Parisian woman.


The Key
1983 · 1h 50m · IT
In 1940s Venice, after twenty years' marriage, retired art critic Nino Rolfe and his younger wife Teresa feel their passion waning. To help her shed her inhibitions and rekindle their relationship, the professor records his sexual fantasies in a diary.


Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom
1976 · 1h 57m · IT
Four corrupted fascist libertines round up 9 teenage boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of sadistic physical, mental and sexual torture.


The Legend of 1900
1998 · 2h 50m · IT
Musician Max Tooney goes to sell his prized Conn trumpet to a music shop, where he plays the instrument one last time. The shopkeeper recognises the song as one on a record matrix he found and asks who the piece is by. Tooney tells the story of an infant found abandoned in the first class dining room of the four-stacker ocean-liner SS Virginian on 1 January 1900. Danny Boodman, a coal-man from the boiler room, names the boy Danny Boodman T. D. Lemon 1900, after himself, the fruit crate the boy was found in, and the year, and raises him as his own.


Youth
2015 · 2h 5m · IT
Two lifelong friends bond whilst vacationing in a luxury Swiss Alps lodge as they ponder retirement. While Fred has no plans to resume his musical career despite the urging of his loving daughter Lena, Mick is intent on finishing the screenplay for what may be his last important film for his muse Brenda. And where will inspiration lead their younger friend Jimmy, an actor grasping to make sense of his next performance?


Blue
2026 · 1h 23m · IT
Luce, a bright young student from a good family, falls for Loris, a reckless boy whose debts put them both in danger. She turns to Vittoria, a once-familiar friend now living in luxury, who convinces her to use erotic sites to pay off the debt. But, like dominos, every part of her life starts collapsing. The two girls won't leave until dawn, once Luce's debt is paid, but at what cost?


8½
1963 · 2h 19m · IT
Guido Anselmi, a film director, finds himself creatively barren at the peak of his career. Urged by his doctors to rest, Anselmi heads for a luxurious resort, but a sorry group gathers—his producer, staff, actors, wife, mistress, and relatives—each one begging him to get on with the show. In retreat from their dependency, he fantasizes about past women and dreams of his childhood.


Bicycle Thieves
1948 · 1h 29m · IT
Unemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle—essential to his work—gets stolen. His job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his son, Antonio combs the city, becoming desperate for justice.


Nanà
1917 · 1h 12m · IT
When the vivacious and beautiful Nana bombs at the Théâtre des Variétés, she embarks on the life of a courtesan, using her allure and charisma to entice and pleasure men.


Little Lips
1978 · 1h 26m · ES
A writer returns home to his estate after service in World War I. He has developed a very bad case of depression due to a war wound concerning his genitalia. He contemplates suicide, but recovers after becoming interested in his caretaker's 12 year-old war orphan niece, who now lives in the manor.


The Red Hangar
2026 · 1h 21m · CL
Chile, 1973. The military coup will force Jorge Silva, an Air Force captain, to face the unfolding horror. Inside a military base, he must choose between becoming part of the repression or helping those fighting to stay alive.


The Return
2024 · 1h 56m · GR
After twenty years away, Odysseus washes up on the shores of Ithaca, haggard and unrecognizable. The king has finally returned home, but much has changed in his kingdom since he left to fight in the Trojan war.


Parthenope
2024 · 2h 17m · FR
Parthenope, born in the sea near Naples in 1950, is beautiful, enigmatic, and intelligent. She is shamelessly courted by many. However, beauty comes at a cost.


Ferrari
2023 · 2h 11m · US
Set during the summer of 1957. Ex-racecar driver, Enzo Ferrari, is in crisis. Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for one son and the acknowledgement of another.


Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
1970 · 1h 51m · IT
Rome, Italy. After committing a heinous crime, a senior police officer exposes evidence incriminating him because his moral commitment prevents him from circumventing the law and the social order it protects.


Ghost Captain
1953 · 1h 30m · IT
A disgraced member of the Spanish Navy must redeem his family's honor after his father betrays his country to the French.


The Great Beauty
2013 · 2h 22m · FR
Jep Gambardella has seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but after his 65th birthday and a shock from the past, Jep looks past the nightclubs and parties to find a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.


The Gypsy
1975 · 1h 43m · FR
Two thieves, Hugo Sennart and Yan Kuq, wanted by the same police inspector, cross paths by chance.


The Postman
1994 · 1h 54m · IT
Simple Italian postman learns to love poetry while delivering mail to a famous poet; he uses this to woo local beauty Beatrice.


L'Eclisse
1962 · 2h 6m · FR
Vittoria is a beautiful literary translator living in Rome. After splitting from her writer boyfriend, Riccardo, Vittoria meets Piero, a lively stockbroker, on the hectic floor of the Roman stock exchange. Though Vittoria and Piero begin a relationship, it is not one without difficulties, and their commitment to one another is tested during an eclipse.


Like Crazy
2016 · 1h 56m · FR
Two mental patients with opposite personalities ditch their Tuscan hospital and embark on an unpredictable exploration of the real world.


La Dolce Vita
1960 · 2h 54m · IT
Episodic journey of journalist Marcello who struggles to find his place in the world, torn between the allure of Rome's elite social scene and the stifling domesticity offered by his girlfriend, all the while searching for a way to become a serious writer.


We All Loved Each Other So Much
1974 · 2h 5m · IT
Three partisans bound by a strong friendship return home after the war, but the clash with everyday reality puts a strain on their bond.


A Chiara
2021 · 2h 1m · IT
The Guerrasio family and friends gather to celebrate Claudio and Carmela’s oldest daughter’s 18th birthday. There is a healthy rivalry between the birthday girl and her 15-year-old sister Chiara as they compete on the dancefloor. It is a happy occasion, and the close-knit family are on top form. However, everything changes the next day when the father disappears. Chiara, unconvinced by the cover story, starts to investigate. As she gets closer to the truth, she is forced to decide what kind of future she wants for herself.


Piranhas
2019 · 1h 51m · IT
A gang of teenage boys stalk the streets of Naples armed with hand guns and AK-47s to do their mob bosses' bidding – until they decide to be the bosses themselves.


Don't Look Now
1973 · 1h 50m · IT
While grieving a terrible loss, a married couple meet two mysterious sisters, one of whom gives them a message sent from the afterlife.


Dogman
2018 · 1h 43m · IT
Marcello, a small and gentle dog groomer, finds himself involved in a dangerous relationship of subjugation with Simone, a former violent boxer who terrorizes the entire neighborhood. In an effort to reaffirm his dignity, Marcello will submit to an unexpected act of vengeance.


The Tearsmith
2024 · 1h 46m · IT
Adopted together after a tough childhood in an orphanage, Nica and Rigel realize that unexpected but irresistible feelings pull them together.
Italian cinema runs from the neorealists working in bombed-out postwar streets to Fellini's spectacle, the Spaghetti Western, and the lurid giallo thrillers that shaped modern horror. Few national cinemas have exported this many distinct genres.
Drama is cinema's widest category and its default setting — character, conflict, and consequence without genre machinery. It's where most awards conversation lives, and where directors go when the story is the effect.