So many movies are preoccupied with loneliness. It’s something we’ve all experienced, whether we’re constantly surrounded by others or spend our time alone. The universality of this feeling means it crops up time and time again — across genres, languages, and locations. Loneliness and isolation can stem from such a variety of places, such as sexuality, ethnicity, mental health, and more, that it can really be a tool to unite us. For example, an adult who recently moved to a new city away from their family and friends could deeply connect with a movie about an isolated teenager experiencing bullying. It’s this thread of loneliness that can help us understand each other in new ways.
This also makes it a great lead to follow if you’re looking to expand and diversify your watchlist. If you’re already into movies like Her or Frances Ha, then it’s more than likely that there will be more of these lonely movies that will speak to you. In the words of Roger Ebert, “the movies are like a machine that generates empathy.” It’s an incredibly powerful tool for connecting us with one another. So, here are the top 15 movies that explore different forms of loneliness, and may help you feel less lonely yourself.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
15 Columbus (2017)
Oscilloscope
The understated drama Columbus stars John Cho — recognizable for his roles in Star Trek and Harold and Kumar — and Haley Lu Richardson, whom you might have seen in The White Lotus or Five Feet Apart. Their characters meet in Columbus, Indiana, where Richardson’s character lives with her mother and Cho’s character is visiting his father in a coma. Both are feeling stuck and isolated in their differing situations, meaning that the friendship formed between them is not so unlikely after all. The city’s famous architecture forms a gorgeous backdrop to the events of the movie, becoming a character of its own with the way it affects the plot. Director Kogonda has since been praised for his work on After Yang and Pachinko, but Columbus is just as excellent.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
14 Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Neon
Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a poetic and compelling movie about a woman hired to paint a portrait of another woman to be sent to her suitor. It takes place on a French island that is seemingly only occupied by the few characters present. Vast depictions of the sea and landscape emphasize this sense of isolation. Slowly, over the course of the movie, the two women open up to each other and their connection is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Although the relationship they develop is beautiful and deep, it also highlights the lack of connections on that level in their lives outside of one another as it cannot last forever.
13 Eighth Grade (2018)
A24
Eighth Grade stars Elsie Fisher in her last week of eighth grade. She is introverted and shy, struggling to connect with her peers. The movie can be uncomfortable to watch, but also feels incredibly tender and loving toward its main character. It’s very grounded and real, and will be relatable to anyone who has struggled to fit in, even if they’ve never been a 13-year-old girl. Fisher’s character has a YouTube channel that provides an insight into who she hopes to be, the contrast between her online persona and real character creates an interesting dichotomy. Using social media in film in a way that feels authentic is not so easy, but writer and director Bo Burnham has created a truly genuine story.
12 Shoplifters (2018)
Magnolia Pictures
In an original story by writer and director Hirokazu Kore-eda, Shoplifters is about a family who makes their money through small-scale crimes. When they come across a child on her own in the cold, they take her in and end up not attempting to return her to her family. The movie presents interesting questions about ownership, family, belonging, and loneliness, all while remaining an entertaining and poignant watch. Some of the cast includes Lily Franky, Sakura Andô, and Kirin Kiki, with some excellent child actors making up the rest of the family. The plot is highly original and comes together really nicely as it unfolds. It’s not hard to see why it was nominated for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars, narrowly being beaten by Roma.
11 Pariah (2011)
Focus Features
Adepero Oduye stars as Alike in Pariah. The plot follows Alike, a young lesbian who is struggling to come to terms with, and understand, her identity under the scrutiny and criticism of her mother. Pariah’s title speaks volumes about the presence of loneliness and isolation in this movie, especially with the definition of the word being used in its poster. Alike’s journey is tumultuous and emotional, as are the journeys made by those in similar positions in real life. Viewers who identify with this “pariah,” are reminded by writer and director Dee Rees that they’re not the only ones who feel like an outcast. This movie is undersung and deserves to reach as many audiences as possible.
10 Short Term 12 (2013)
Cinedigm Entertainment Group
Short Term 12 tells the story of the staff and residents at a residential treatment center for children and teenagers. The movie provided many of its actors with a break-out role, such as LaKeith Stanfield, Kaitlyn Dever, Brie Larson, Rami Malek, and Stephanie Beatriz. Stanfield’s first acting role was in the short film version of the movie. As a result of the set-up of the narrative, each young person is obviously experiencing mental health struggles, or else they wouldn’t be at the center. With such a strong cast, the performances are all nuanced and believable. Watching the characters grow and experience connections with each other is heartwarming, but the movie maintains a realistic portrayal of these events; there are no miracle changes overnight.
9 Roma (2018)
Netflix
Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma depicts the life of a maid in Mexico City. Yalitza Aparicio excellently plays the lead role with subtlety and clarity. When the husband of the family Aparicio’s character, Cleo, works for runs off with a mistress, Cleo is invited by the wife on holiday with her children. The movie does not feel didactic in the way it presents class divisions and conflicts; the issues are presented simply to the audience. Cleo’s conflicting status as both within and outside the family unit drives a lot of the tension in the film. This kind of loneliness, the result of a class division, is not so commonly explored in movies despite being common in real life.
8 The Double (2013)
The Double is a movie directed by Richard Ayoade and based on a novella by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Jesse Eisenberg plays the main character whose life is taken over by an exact physical double of himself, but who is much more confident and charming. The cast also includes Mia Wasikowska and Wallace Shawn. As the story plays out, the events become more absurd and extreme, reinforcing the age-old notion that if we were to see a clone of ourselves it would lose our minds. Although it’s absurdist and stylized, there is a lot to unpack about corporate isolation, feeling out of control of your own life, and depression. For fans of Ayoade or Dostoyevsky, this is the perfect black comedy.
7 High Life (2018)
Space is arguably the perfect setting to explore loneliness; there aren’t many places more isolated. High Life takes place on a spaceship whose crew is made up of criminals who volunteered to take part in a reproduction experiment. The characters become more desperate for the experiment to succeed as time goes on, and this mirrors a need for connection and companionship. With the experiment focusing on creating new life, they are quite literally attempting to create companions for themselves. Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, André 3000, and Mia Goth make up the main cast and all are on top form. The fact that the participants are disenfranchised criminals adds another layer to the abjection present in this movie.
6 Spirited Away (2001)
Buena Vista Pictures
In Spirited Away, a young girl, Chihiro, and her family are moving to the countryside, and she’s unhappy about the decision. The family comes across an abandoned theme park where Chihiro’s parents stop for food while she explores the park. She then discovers that the park is home to several sinister creatures, including demons and spirits, and realizes she is in danger. Chihiro’s journey away from her home to a completely isolated and abandoned theme park makes her loneliness evident. However, it is there that she meets Haku and the pair forms a close friendship that also helps her reconnect with her parents. Her loneliest moment is what helps her find company and connection.
5 The Lobster (2015)
Set not far in the future in a city under dystopian rule, The Lobster portrays a world in which single people must go to “The Hotel,” where they have to find a partner within a certain time frame or else they will be turned into an animal. Colin Farrell plays the main character, with Rachel Weisz alongside him. The movie is rich with social commentary but is largely preoccupied with partnership and loneliness. As it was written by Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou, and also directed by Lanthimos, there is the expected absurdist comedy and darkness present. The Lobster effectively captures and questions the obsession our society has with romantic relationships and how that isolates single people.
4 A Ghost Story (2017)
A Ghost Story is a unique depiction of grief and heartbreak and what comes after. When the husband in a young couple dies, he returns to his wife as a ghost covered in a white sheet, though he is invisible to the wife. He witnesses her grieving his loss, unable to comfort her or communicate with her, but present nonetheless. Eventually, she moves out of the house, but the ghost-husband doesn’t leave, he continues to live there as years, and even centuries, pass. The movie is not dialogue-heavy, relying instead on its visuals and evocative score by Daniel Hart to move the story along. By using the ghost as a narrative device, director David Lowery provides an individual take on loneliness and feeling other; you can’t get much more removed from society than by being dead.
3 Ratcatcher (1999)
First Look International
Set in Glasgow, Ratcatcher begins with a young boy witnessing another child accidentally drown while play fighting. He returns home to his mother, alcoholic father, and sisters with a clear sense of disturbance. His alienation continues as he attempts to befriend some older boys and spends time with an older girl who deals with sexual harassment from many of the local boys. Despite the dark subject of the movie, there are many moments of happiness and silliness as well. Speaking to IndieWire, director Lynne Ramsay said, “You go from this kind of harsh reality into something that’s much more hard to pin down. It’s more unreal, I guess.” Although realism may not have been Ramsay’s intention, the combination of two seemingly opposing feelings, loneliness and joy, do often occur together or one after the other.
2 Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962)
Zenith International Films
Possibly Agnès Varda’s most iconic movie, Cléo from 5 to 7 follows the titular character, a singer, from the hours of five o’clock to seven o’clock. At 6:30, she is expecting results from her doctor that will determine whether she has cancer, and as time goes by, she becomes increasingly anxious. Unable to concentrate on anything other than this looming information, Cléo retreats into herself and everything she sees and does is filtered through this lens of anxiety. When she meets a French soldier on leave from the Algerian War, he is the only person who manages to provide her with a new outlook on her day.
1 God’s Own Country (2017)
Samuel Goldwyn Films
On a farm in the north of England, God’s Own Country follows a young farmer Johnny Saxby as he meets a Romanian migrant worker who comes to help on the farm. Johnny is in a pattern of binge-drinking and having casual sex in order to cope with his isolation. The rural setting of the movie is both part of the reason for, and reflective of, Johnny’s loneliness. Josh O’Connor, who plays Johnny, tells Hero magazine, “His lifestyle is very remote, he has a local pub and he works crazy hours so he doesn’t get to see a lot.” He goes on to say that meeting and beginning his romance with the new farmworker Gheorghe “opens a new world” for Johnny.
