7 Films That Beautifully Explore the Art of Philosophy

Team FC

In Bruges (2008)

Two assassins arrive at the ‘fairy-tale town’ of Burges waiting for further instruction from their boss, as in the Beckett play ‘Waiting for Godot’. Ray and Ken discuss guilt and negotiate with themselves and the morality of their actions.

The Pervert's Guide to Cinema (2006)

Slavoj Žižek, the infamous Marxist theorist, uses the lens of psychoanalytical Marxism to deconstruct cinematic texts to explain the nature and functions of ideology. He acts as a narrator while analysing films like ‘The Invasion of the Body Snatchers’, ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘Seconds’, etc.

Ship of Theseus (2012)

The film explores multiple themes like justice, death, beauty, etc. through three central characters; a blind photographer gets an eye surgery, a monk who refuses to use animal-tested medicine despite his cirrhosis diagnosis and, a stockbroker who tries to help a man whose kidney was stolen.

Samskara (1970)

Directed by Pattabhirama Reddy, and based on the novel of the same name by U R Annanthmurthy, the film debates and critiques the ideas of caste, pollution, sexuality and body. A heavily allegorical film that asks questions about the Hindu scriptures and philosophies.

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)

Directed by the left bank filmmaker Alain Resnais and written by the famous Marguerite Duras, the film weaves the narrative of personal drama, an affair between a French actress and a Japanese man, and the historical event of the atomic bomb.

Daisies (1966)

Věra Chytilová uses feminist philosophies, experimental visual language and the absurdist aesthetic to criticize the role of ideology in oppression of people. The film is filled with excess and existential angst.  

Salò, or The 120 Days of Sodom (1975)

Pasolini uses the work of Sade to criticize the fascist rulers of Italy and addresses the perversion of power. His perpetrators often discuss philosophers while indulging in acts of absolute cruelty highlighting the subjectivity of interpretation of thought.   

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Films That Explore Philosophy