There are indeed many layers that make up what it is to be British that have evolved greatly over the years. Britain is incredibly diverse with many different faces making up the people who call it home. It’s got lush rolling countryside, quaint little seaside towns, and bustling cities with wide-ranging personalities to fill it up with. Furthermore, it’s experienced intense change over history that has seen political shifts, evolving mindsets and modernisation of class systems as well as changing trends in all things from fashion, music, and popular past times.
There are many movies which perfectly capture the quintessential essence of what makes Britain, Britain, both now and in the past. Notable events in British history, the British way of thinking aligned with a unique sense of humour, and some truly memorable works from infamous British writers, all path the way from some highly engaging British storytelling.
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20 Great Expectations (1946)
Cineguild
The original Great Expectations was so well received it managed to achieve five Academy Award nominations. It’s a book-to-movie adaption of the novel by Charles Dickens.
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The story follows Pip from his childhood and the years that follow. He starts off as a humble blacksmith’s apprentice until he meets an escaped convict, Magwitch; the catalyst to his future prospects. After finding himself falling into quite a large fortune from a mysterious benefactor, Pip moves to London and learns how to be a gentleman, entering high society. After some time Pip has neglected his family but remains fond of his childhood first love, Estella. Unfortunately for Pip, Magwitch returns once more needing help from Pip to escape capture. With Magwitch’s return, certain truths are unveiled that turn Pip’s world upside down. He eventually loses his fortune, however now older and wiser, regains a connection with his family when he goes home and reunites with Estella.
19 The Third Man (1949)
Distributed by British Lion Film Corporation
The Third Man is considered one of the best British films of all time. It’s a visually stunning psychological thriller that grabs your attention from the get-go.
The movie brings you into the world of Holly Martins, an unemployed novelist arriving in a post-war Vienna. Holly is first invited to Vienna to take up a job offer, however, there’s no smooth sailing in this story. Upon arriving in Vienna, Holly finds that his friend Harry has recently died in a car accident of a most peculiar nature. Holly then becomes invested in the investigation of his friend’s death after arising suspicion that it was no accident. After talking to Harry’s friends and receiving mixed stories that don’t quite fit together, Holly is convinced that if followed correctly, the inconsistencies in people’s tales will lead to the true cause of death. It’s a dangerous web of lies and viewers can be fully invested in Holly’s investigation, rooting for his success.
18 My Fair Lady (1964)
Warner Bros.
My Fair Lady details the transformation of Eliza Doolittle from Cockney working-class lass to a high society lady of London. Somewhat snobby Professor Henry Higgins sets himself on the mission to turn Eliza into a stereotypically ‘proper’ English lady and is without any doubts that he will succeed in his goal. Eliza agrees to the lessons, with the hopes that improved pronunciation and language skills from the speech lessons will lead to more promising job prospects.
Of course the two clash at the start, however, they eventually form quite the bond. In the events that follow this bond finds itself threatened when the highly aristocratic suitor Freddy Eynsford-Hill comes into the scene. It makes for a brilliantly executed plot that is easy to get into and can still prove entertaining for a modern-day audience.
17 Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Rank Film Distributors
Four Weddings and a Funeral features none other than British rom-com regular, Hugh Grant. He plays Charles, the hero of the story and a complete commitment-phobe. He attends a wedding as the best man in beautiful Somerset and meets Carrie. For both, it’s love at first sight. However, theirs is a clumsy romance with potentially opportunistic meetings met with missed opportunities and the two seem to have some unforeseen force keeping them from being together.
As the name of the movie suggests, there are a few more weddings and a funeral in the sequence of events that follow their first meeting. Upon running into an old girlfriend with remaining prospects, Charles is met with the conundrum; settle for his old love out of desperation, or take a chance on Carrie and hope that fate will bring them together once more.
16 Hamlet (1996)
Sony Pictures Releasing
Hamlet is one of the well-known works of William Shakespeare. His most iconic tragedy sees the unfortunate series of events that Hamlet, son of the King of Denmark, must endure. After the death of his father, Hamlet returns home to attend his funeral, but also to attend his mother’s rather quick re-marriage to his uncle, Claudius, whom he absolutely loathes. Hamlet experiences a somewhat supernatural moment and discovers that his uncle murdered his father. Talk about family drama.
What can only be described as an immensely chaotic sequence of events follows. Madness, murder, twisted love, shameful conspiring, and a play within a play make for an impressively interesting and deeply engaging story. Hamlet succeeds in his mission to take out revenge on his uncle, but he loses his life in the process. In addition to this, he manages to set in motion the deaths of nearly every other character, including his mother.
15 The Full Monty (1997)
Redwave Films
The Full Monty introduces you to best friends Gaz and Dave in Sheffield. They’re unemployed, on the dole, and looking to make some money. They steal scrap metal from nearby closed steel mills to supplement their income, bringing along Gaz’s son for the ride, but it’s not enough. Gaz’s ex-wife becomes impatient with his inability to keep up with child support and threatens to claim full custody of their son, threatening his relationship with his son. Gaz reacts and comes up with the idea of setting up his own exotic male dance group as a way to make some extra money. The unlikely lot he recruits to join his team isn’t quite what you would expect from exotic dancers. His fellow ex-mill workers lack the skills, looks, and self-confidence expected from such a role. It’s a hilarious movie as the mismatched group works together in overcoming personal issues while forming a show that can bring in the ladies and their wallets!
14 Notting Hill (1999)
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
Notting Hill features Hugh Grant playing bookstore owner, Will Thacker. His unassuming life is changed forever when the famous actress, Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) walks into his store one day. Nothing really happens during their first meeting, however, as fate would have it they cross paths once more. After an incident involving a clumsy incident involving orange juice, an invitation to clean up at Will’s home, and a fateful first kiss, the movie really gets going.
The idyllic neighbourhood of Notting Hill shines in this movie as the romance between Will and Anna blossoms from their chance encounter. Several well-known spots in London feature throughout the movie which will undeniably inspire your next visit. Their budding relationship is not however all that easy, and from a mixture of nosy friends and even nosier press, the two really have to work to make it last.
13 Billy Elliot (2000)
StudioCanal
Billy Elliot follows a boy growing up in the North of England, Billy, who turns his nose at the toxic masculinity imposed on him by his father. Much to his father’s dismay, rather than focusing on boxing training, Billy forms a love for ballet. However, regardless of the opposition met by both his father and older brother, Billy perseveres to follow his dream.
Ballet teacher Mrs Wilkinson sees great promise in Billy’s talents and offers him private lessons in an attempt to qualify him for an audition with the Royal Ballet. Billy, for the most part, manages to keep his dancing exploits from both his father and brother. It’s not easy though and his dream finds itself on unstable ground. However, through much trial and tribulation, they do indeed soften to the idea once they finally manage to understand Billy’s talent and prospects in ballet. The ending sees a grown-up Billy, entering the stage for a ballet performance, his dad sitting proudly in the audience.
12 Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
Miramax Films/Universal Pictures
Bridget Jones’s Diary was the start of a total of three movies, each one as good as the last, detailing the turbulent life of Bridget. It’s a British rom-com classic and Renee Zellweger proved to be the perfect casting for the role. What’s more, British icons of the romantic movie world, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, also grace the story with their presence.
Bridget is nothing special, not in particular anyway. She’s an average woman with average struggles and imperfections. She’s had enough of it though and makes a New Year’s resolution to change her life. She starts a diary to detail her everyday life in as frank a way as possible, leaving no detail out. The movie is an easy and funny watch as Bridget plods through her somewhat chaotic life juggling imperfections and a drive to fix her love life with eccentric friends and multiple love interests complicating things.
11 Gosford Park (2001)
Capitol Films
Gosford Park presents the grandeur side of Britain and takes you back to 1932 to follow a recent murder occurring at the elaborate country estate, Gosford Park. It’s a brilliantly portrayed tale told from both sides of society; the high-class guests and the working-class servants.
The guests at Gosford Park have gathered to attend a weekend shooting party; how very British. The McCordle family are the owners of the estate, and Sir William McCordle, is the main man of the house. However, William finds himself first poisoned and then stabbed to death from behind. It seems many of his guests were after William’s fortune, and suspicions explode as to who the guilty suspect may be. He was a benefactor to many of his family and friends, but the movie keeps you on the edge of your seat as you try to figure out who would have gone so far as to benefit from his money.
10 Love Actually (2003)
Universal Pictures
Love Actually is a British Christmas must-watch. You’ve got a star-studded cast of some British greats like Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Liam Neesan, Colin Firth, and so many more that make this movie one of the greats. The movie involves multiple love stories going on at once around the City of London, yet manages to create an easy-to-follow and engaging overall plot. The diversity of stories embedded in this movie makes it succeed in resonating with a wide-ranging audience that all the family can enjoy.
Love Actually is set around the five weeks leading up to Christmas and uses the festive season to highlight the obstacles each character faces on their road to happiness and love. It’s centred around rock star, Billy Mack (Bill Nighy), as he creates his Christmas album. This serves as a perfect base for the other interrelated stories to orbit around and keep the structure of the movie clean.
9 Pride and Prejudice (2005)
There have been some truly memorable adaptions of several works by Jane Austin, but the 2005 book-to-movie adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is one of the best. The movie brings to life the realities of romance in the Regency era of British life.
Elizabeth Bennet is a feisty one and both she and her family, including her four sisters, find that life will never be the same when Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley arrive in town. This film features some of the most beautiful countryside England has to offer and includes some remarkable English estates, such as the infamous Chatsworth House. Furthermore, with the solid writing of Jane Austin behind the storyline of this movie, viewers are treated to a flawless telling of Elizabeth’s somewhat turbulent journey to finding love.
8 This is England (2006)
Optimum Releasing
This is England revolves around the sub-cultures prevalent in England around the 80s. New Romantics, Skinheads, and Mods are abundant in the England where 12-year-old Shaun lives. The beginning of his summer holidays looks bleak and uneventful, that is until he befriends a friendly group of Skinheads. His summer is quickly filled with a new lease of life when he integrates himself into the group and becomes one with the Skinhead sub-culture. Things seem to be going great until Shaun stumbles across a crossroads which creates major difficulties.
The life of the British working class of the 80s is thoroughly explored in This is England to substantial depth. Told through the eyes of 12-year Shaun, problems of the era are highlighted such as the influences of racism, mass unemployment, and the realities of living in Britain under Thatcher.
7 The Queen (2006)
Granada Film Productions
The Queen features one of the most quintessentially British features of Britain, the Queen and to Royal Family. The movie bases itself around one of the top tragic events the Royal Family has ever experienced; the sudden death of Princess Diana in 1997. The Queen follows the aftermath that followed this tragic event.
Diana was a well-loved British Royal and died in a car accident in Paris. Following the accident, the Royal Family keep to themselves at Balmoral Castle. Pressures are strong from the heartbroken public demanding some comfort from their loss. This pressure trickles to the Prime Minister at the time, Tony Blair, to convince the Monarchy to come out from hiding and address the public on the issue. The movie is a respectfully executed story of the experience of the Queen and the Royal family, as they both grieved for their departed Diana, and tried to juggle the pressures bestowed upon them by their positions.
6 Atonement (2007)
Relativity Media
Atonement tells the tale of an ill-fated love ending in disaster.
The tragic fate that befalls the characters in Atonement roots from the misunderstandings of naïve 13-year-old, Cecilia. Her inaccurate accusation of Robbie leads to heart-breaking lasting repercussions for Cecilia, Robbie, and Cecilia’s older sister, Briony. Robbie initially plans to attend medical school, however, after Cecilia’s meddling, he joins the army and is taken away from his beloved Briony. Cecilia, now grown up deeply regrets her mistake and toys with a fairy-tale ending where Briony and Robbie reunite. However, the reality couldn’t be more distant. Robbie dies of septicemia just before the evacuation at Dunkirk, and Briony dies only a few months later during a London bomb raid she is drowned when her underground refuge gets flooded. Neither get the chance to reunite and Cecilia’s dream happy ending never happens.
5 The Duchess (2008)
Paramount Vantage
Keira Knightley appears in the extravagant portrayal of the 18th Century Duchess of Devonshire in The Duchess.
The Duchess plonks itself into the height of the Georgian period of Britain. A lavish time full of decadence and fashion with an underlying turbulent political change. The Duchess, Georgina Spencer, quickly finds herself dissatisfied with married life. Her husband shows a disappointing indifference to her while practicing philandering pursuits, and she’s unimpressed with the pressure of providing a male heir. Every effort Georgina makes in trying to better her living situation and improve her happiness seems thwarted by her husband and when she eventually finds herself falling in love with another man, he already dismal life full of strict social pressures, public judgments, and an unfaithful and un-loving husband goes too far. If she continues with her current affair, she risks losing her children and finds herself in a completely undesirable situation.
4 The Young Victoria (2009)
Momentum Pictures
Queen Victoria is one of the most famous monarchs to have ever ruled, and The Young Victoria takes a journey through her younger years and the beginning of her reign. Multiple stunning and historic locations scattered across England were used in filming the movie such as Blenheim Palace in Oxford and Lincoln Cathedral in Lincoln.
Following her accession to the crown at the tender age of 18, Victoria’s German cousin, Albert, finds himself falling in love with her after being sent across to form a bond for purely political intentions. The two form an incredibly strong bond, as Victoria also falls deeply for her cousin. It’s a wonderful story of Victoria’s younger years and helps you better understand her infamous prolonged mourning at the death of her beloved husband Albert.
3 The King’s Speech (2010)
Paramount Pictures
The King’s Speech brings to light the lesser-known fact of the stutter that inflicted King George VI. The Oscar-winning drama involves the unique relationship the King had with his speech therapist, Lionel.
King George VI was a well-loved monarch, ascending to the throne when public adoration of the Royal family was at a low point. Struggling with the hardships of war, England was suffering. However, through the support he gave to his country, he managed to restore the Monarchy’s popularity. However, his stutter would prove an obstacle in addressing his people. Because of this, Queen Elizabeth hires speech therapist Lionel Logue to help address her husband’s speech impediment as he ascends to the throne. The two men form a wholesome friendship as Lionel helps the King improve his stutter with the intention of better addressing his people, especially via radio broadcasting. Lionel utilises somewhat unconventional methods in helping the Royal, and it makes for a highly enjoyable watch.
2 Skyfall (2012)
Eon Productions
A list of quintessentially British movies would be incomplete without a mention of the man himself, James Bond. There have been many Bond movies over the years with a range of actors taking on the role, however, Skyfall in 2012 proved to be the highest-grossing of them all. Bond is the ultimate British hero full of suave and killer skills.
In Skyfall, MI6 is under threat, and it’s Bond’s mission to get to the bottom of it. The movie is mainly set in Britain and includes the usual high-stakes chase sequences and action-packed life of 007. Near the conclusion of the movie, you see Bond returning to his family estate up in the stunning Scottish Highlands with M as they have a brutally gripping confrontation with the villain of the movie. Nerves are on edge as Skyfall successfully achieves the execution of another classic cracker of the adventures of Bond.
1 Pride (2014)
Pathe20th Century Fox
Pride takes you to the charming Welsh Valleys for a comedic tale set in the 80s. It’s based on a true story stemming from the gay community joining forces with the mining community in order to fight adversity. At a time when the gay community were intensely discriminated against and found themselves facing a plethora of difficulties, the miners also had it incredibly tough during the mining strikes. The gay community raise funds to help alleviate the financial hardships the minors face. However, as with many good deeds, there’s almost always someone who wants to ruin the fun and comradery. Efforts are made to sabotage the wholesome partnership, however, its not enough to defeat the strong bond that has formed and fails miserably. It’s a charming tale of members of different communities finding a common cause and joining together.
As you would already know, the miner’s strikes were unsuccessful, and they return to work. However, the movie ends perfectly with many of the mining community showing up at the Pride march the following year to show their unwavering support and gratitude to their friends.
