The Seven Best Yorgos Lanthimos Movies, Ranked, and Where to Watch Them

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Rachel Ulatowski

Rachel Ulatowski

JustWatch Editor

Yorgos Lanthimos’ Emma Stone her second Academy Award win for Best Actress, with critics hailing it as one of the best films of that year. While viewers have been intrigued by the film’s dark humor, satire, and absurdity, it’s not Lanthimos’ only film with these qualities. Read on to discover a ranking of Yorgos Lanthimos' best movies and information provided on where to stream them all in the United States!

Poor Things fits into the Greek Weird Wave, a new style of filmmaking that has been primarily led by Lanthimos. The Greek Weird Wave is the term used to describe a branch of filmmaking that arose in Greece after the country experienced a financial crisis beginning in 2008. As a result, these films’ aesthetics and themes tend to reflect the crisis of the time. They are often satirical, morbid, and absurd, reflecting the disillusionment, discontentment, and alienation that arises when a country unexpectedly deviates into unknown territory.

Lanthimos was one of the earliest filmmakers to encom this style with his 2009 film Dogtooth. This film also brought the style to the international stage as it nabbed a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. Its absurdist premise follows one family’s extreme take on homeschooling, which captures two children’s alienation from society and probes what happens when one unquestioningly accepts authority.

Following the success of Dogtooth, Lanthimos would continue fascinating viewers with more absurd and thought-provoking Greek Weird Wave films. Kinds of Kindness starring Emma Stone in her third theatrical collaboration with the director, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe and Joe Alwyn.

Where can I watch the best Yorgos Lanthimos movies online?

Yorgos Lanthimos’ films break the mold of typical filmmaking and introduce a wholly new aesthetic to Hollywood. Here are his seven best films ranked by their critical reception and how well they capture his signature filmmaking style. This guide also includes information on where you can watch every title using popular streaming services like Disney+ and more!

  1. Dogtooth

    Dogtooth

    2009

    # 1

    Three teenagers are confined to an isolated country estate that could very well be on another planet. The trio spend their days listening to endless homemade tapes that teach them a whole new vocabulary. Any word that comes from beyond their family abode is instantly assigned a new meaning. Hence 'the sea' refers to a large armchair and 'zombies' are little yellow flowers. Having invented a brother whom they claim to have ostracized for his disobedience, the uber-controlling parents terrorize their offspring into submission.

  2. Poor Things

    Poor Things

    2023

    # 2

    Brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, a young woman runs off with a lawyer on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, she grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

  3. The Favourite

    The Favourite

    2018

    # 3

    England, early 18th century. The close relationship between Queen Anne and Sarah Churchill is threatened by the arrival of Sarah's cousin, Abigail Hill, resulting in a bitter rivalry between the two cousins to be the Queen's favourite.

  4. The Lobster

    The Lobster

    2015

    # 4

    In a dystopian near future, single people, according to the laws of The City, are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in forty-five days or are transformed into animals and sent off into The Woods.

  5. Kinds of Kindness

    Kinds of Kindness

    2024

    # 5

    A triptych fable following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader.

  6. Alps

    Alps

    2011

    # 6

    A nurse, a paramedic, a gymnast and her coach offer a service for hire wherein they stand in for dead people by appointment, hired by relatives, friends or colleagues of the deceased, to assist with the grieving process.

  7. The Killing of a Sacred Deer

    # 7

    Dr. Steven Murphy is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon who presides over a spotless household with his wife and two children. Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin, a fatherless teen who insinuates himself into the doctor's life in gradually unsettling ways.