10 Best Period Drama Movies Of The 2010s, According To Letterboxd
The period drama is one of the most enduringly popular movie and television genres. It’s not hard to see why, since it has the unique power to transport audiences back into a different time period. What’s more, these sorts of movies often focus on the most compelling parts of the human experience, immersing the viewer in a world of frothy costumes, potent human desire, and unusual human relationships.
The 2010s created many movies in this regard, and the users of Letterboxd have helpfully rated them, providing a useful guide to the best the genre has to offer.
10 Belle (2013) - 3.5 - Not Streaming
One of the shortcomings of the period drama has been an unwillingness to address the issue of race head-on. A notable exception to that rule was the 2013 movie Belle, which focused on a noblewoman named Dido Elizabeth Belle, the daughter of an English nobleman and an enslaved woman. Due to her heritage, she occupies a liminal place in British society, and the movie excels at exploring this aspect of her life. What’s more, it also features the usual sumptuous trappings associated with the period drama.
9 Jane Eyre (2011) - 3.6 - Not Streaming
There have been many great literary adaptations in the movies, and the 2011 iteration of Jane Eyre is rightly regarded as one of these. Based on the famous novel by Emily Bronte, it focuses on the title character after she becomes a governess for the brooding Mr. Rochester.
The movie excels in creating an adaptation of the classic novel by remaining true to the source material while also rendering it explicable to modern audiences. The powerful performances from both Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender are especially notable.
8 The King’s Speech (2010) - 3.7 - Streaming On Starz
The King’s Speech is widely regarded as not just one of the best period dramas of the 2010s, but also in terms of the best British period dramas overall. Much of this stems from the ability of its cast to capture the complexity of its characters, especially Colin Firth as King George VI, a man who struggled with a speech impediment but managed to overcome it due to the influence and patience of a speech therapist. What’s more, it also features powerful performances from its supporting cast.
7 The Artist (2011) - 3.7 - Streaming On Netflix And The Roku Channel
Hollywood very much loves making movies about what it’s like to work in Hollywood. One of the best examples of that particular genre includes The Artist. Set during the declining years of silent cinema, it manages to capture the feel of that particular period of moviemaking and also allow the viewer to become emotionally involved with its two characters, a young actress and an aging star. It is a visually stunning movie that manages to capture the particular style associated with the movies of the Silent Era.
6 The Witch (2015) - 3.9 - Streaming on Showtime
Many strong horror movies emerged from the 2010s, and one of the best was The Witch. It quickly manages to immerse the viewer in the dark, sinister world of colonial America, in which the forest is inhabited by dark forces beyond civilization. With its story about a young girl whose family is banished to the forest and encounters a witch, it excavates the sinister side of America’s origins. With its understated approach to its material, its fearsome darkness only slowly becomes apparent.
5 The Favourite (2018) - 4.0 - Not Streaming
Part of the pleasure of the period drama is that it can immerse the viewer into the strange world of the past. Some examples of the genre excel more than others, and that includes The Favourite. Set in the deeply dysfunctional court of the aging Queen Anne, it focuses on the equally fraught relationship between two sparring cousins who desperately try to gain the monarch’s fickle approval. Neither of them, however, quite gets what they wants, and the movie shows the dangers of the pursuit of power.
4 12 Years A Slave (2013) - 4.1 - Streaming On HBO Max
12 Years a Slave is rightly and widely regarded as one of the best movies of 2010s. Focusing as it does on a free African American man who is kidnapped and sold into slavery. It often makes for difficult viewing, since it doesn’t shy away from showing the brutality of slavery and the way that it systematically sought to dehumanize human beings. What makes it an especially haunting movie is the fact that it was based on a true story, the memoirs of Solomon Northup.
3 Embrace Of The Serpent (2015) - 4.1 - Streaming On Kanopy
While many period dramas can be dismissed for their focus on such seemingly trivial issues as desire and costuming, the same cannot be said for Embrace of the Serpent. This movie manages to be both visually and thematically complex, focusing as it does on a shaman named Karamakate who goes on two separate journeys.
It is a remarkably complex movie, featuring many different languages, and allows the viewer to see the extent to which modernity has inflicted terrible damage on the Amazon and on its people.
2 Little Women (2019) - 4.2 - Streaming On FuboTV
In the history of American literature, there have been few novels that have remained as enduringly popular and beloved as Little Women. It has also seen a number of screen adaptations, most of which manage to keep the appeal of the original book. That is very true of the 2019 version, written and directed by Greta Gerwig. Part of what makes the movie so charming are the performances, particularly those from Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, and Laura Dern. It manages to be both timeless and timely at the same time.
1 The Handmaiden (2016) - 4.4 - Not Streaming
Even though some period dramas can be a bit stifled in their approach to the past, that is not the case with The Handmaiden. Though based on a novel set in Victorian London, the adaptation moves the setting to Korea, which struggles under the dominion of the Japanese colonials. In particular, it focuses on the dangerously forbidden, and deadly, desire that emerges between a lady and her handmaiden, who chafe against the restrictions placed on their freedom by the world in which they live.