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Award winners

BAFTA Best Film winners

79 years · 71 films reviewed · average 83 · best GoodFellas 93

The British Academy's Best Film, from The Best Years of Our Lives in 1947 to now, with the shortlist each year and what we made of them.

Which order? By year of the films, newest first.

Every year, newest first

  1. 2025
    One Battle After Another 2025WinnerPaul Thomas Anderson turns Thomas Pynchon into a chase film, and it is the fastest, funniest thing he has made. It runs 162 minutes and earns most of them; the villains are cartoons.Fi1m 87
  2. 2024
    Conclave 2024WinnerEdward Berger’s papal election thriller is handsome, quick and well acted, with Ralph Fiennes doing careful work as the cardinal who has to run it. It is a potboiler that wants to be taken for a meditation, and the ending gives the game away.Fi1m 76
  3. 2023
    Oppenheimer 2023WinnerChristopher Nolan’s three-hour life of the man who built the bomb is his most disciplined film, and Cillian Murphy carries it without raising his voice. The hearings of the last hour grip less than the desert, and the sound swallows too many lines.Fi1m 84
    All Quiet on the Western Front 2022WinnerEdward Berger’s German-language return to Remarque is superbly made and hard to sit through in the way it means to be. But it has cut the novel’s people down to bodies in mud and added a cabinet drama it did not need.Fi1m 71
  4. 2022
    All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Westen nichts Neues)WinnerNot reviewed yet
  5. 2021
    The Power of the Dog 2021WinnerJane Campion’s first film since *Bright Star* is a slow, cruel western about a rancher who sets out to break his brother’s new wife, shot and cut with great care. Cumberbatch’s Phil is frightening, and once or twice you can see him deciding to be.Fi1m 84
  6. 2020
    Nomadland 2021WinnerChloé Zhao puts Frances McDormand among real van-dwellers in the American West and mostly lets them talk, and the result is patient, plain and often moving. It is gentler on the warehouse than the people in it deserve.Fi1m 83
  7. 2019
    1917 2019WinnerSam Mendes makes a gripping war thriller, though the camera movement sometimes holds our attention more firmly than the soldiers do. George MacKay gives us someone to worry about.Fi1m 78
  8. 2018
    Roma 2018WinnerAlfonso Cuarón’s patient domestic drama is worth the time it asks for, chiefly for Yalitza Aparicio. Its careful compositions sometimes keep us at a distance, but the housekeeper at its centre never disappears into the scenery.Fi1m 86
  9. 2017
    Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 2017WinnerFrances McDormand makes Martin McDonagh’s uneven black comedy worth seeing. The dialogue is sharp and the cast persuasive, but the script sometimes hurries us towards sympathy its characters have not earned.Fi1m 74
  10. 2016
    La La Land 2016WinnerDamien Chazelle’s musical is worth seeing for Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling and the pleasure of watching romance turn into dance. The characters are thinly written, but the songs linger and the affection between the leads is easy to believe.Fi1m 81
  11. 2015
    The Revenant 2015WinnerAlejandro G. Iñárritu makes a gripping survival Western, with Leonardo DiCaprio carrying its physical weight. Its 157 minutes include too much solemn reflection, but the bear attack earns every flinch.Fi1m 74
  12. 2014
    Boyhood 2014WinnerRichard Linklater’s twelve-year family drama is tender, funny and moving without pressing for tears. Its 165 minutes sometimes drift, but the changing faces of Recognising Coltrane, Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke give ordinary moments an unusual force.Fi1m 88
  13. 2013
    12 Years a Slave 2013WinnerSteve McQueen’s account of Solomon Northup’s enslavement is a film we would urge anyone prepared for its violence to see. Chiwetel Ejiofor makes the suffering personal, even when the music presses harder than it needs to.Fi1m 91
  14. 2012
    Argo 2012WinnerBen Affleck’s *Argo* is a tense, funny espionage thriller with an underwritten hero. Alan Arkin and John Goodman supply the life, while the rescue plot supplies enough suspense to forgive some conspicuous contrivance.Fi1m 79
  15. 2011
    The Artist 2011WinnerMichel Hazanavicius makes silent-film storytelling feel easy to enjoy, with Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo giving the romance warmth and mischief. The middle dwells too long on wounded pride, but the pleasure is considerable.Fi1m 82
  16. 2010
    The King's Speech 2010WinnerColin Firth and Geoffrey Rush make *The King’s Speech* a warm, funny and affecting drama. Its view of royalty is too comfortable, but the difficult business of speaking gives it real emotional weight.Fi1m 82
  17. 2009
    The Hurt Locker 2008WinnerKathryn Bigelow makes bomb disposal frighteningly clear, with Jeremy Renner giving the danger a troubling appeal. We recommend this tense, forceful war thriller, though its supporting soldiers deserve more of the attention given to their work.Fi1m 86
  18. 2008
    Slumdog Millionaire 2008WinnerDanny Boyle’s Mumbai romance is quick, warm and hard to resist, even when its coincidences become conspicuous. Dev Patel gives it a human centre, though the rush from poverty to pleasure can leave us uneasy.Fi1m 78
  19. 2007
    Atonement 2007WinnerJoe Wright’s *Atonement* is a moving, sharply acted romance, strongest when a glance can do real harm. Its war scenes occasionally advertise the effort behind them, but the people remain worth caring about.Fi1m 83
  20. 2006
    The Queen 2006WinnerStephen Frears’s royal drama is funny, humane and worth seeing for Helen Mirren’s tightly controlled performance. Peter Morgan’s script sometimes makes the disagreement too tidy, but the struggle over duty and public feeling has real force.Fi1m 84
  21. 2005
    Brokeback Mountain 2005WinnerWe would recommend Ang Lee’s love story to almost anyone. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal make hidden desire painfully convincing, though a few passages outstay their welcome.Fi1m 92
  22. 2004
    The Aviator 2004WinnerScorsese’s Howard Hughes film is big, fast and beautifully dressed, with a Cate Blanchett who steals every scene she is in. It explains its subject in one childhood scene and then keeps pointing at it, and at 170 minutes the last hour drags.Fi1m 74
  23. 2003
    The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 2003WinnerPeter Jackson’s fantasy finale is thrilling and moving, with Elijah Wood and Sean Astin keeping the vast battles from taking over. It deserves the long evening, though several stretches could be shorter.Fi1m 88
  24. 2002
    The Pianist 2002WinnerRoman Polanski’s Holocaust drama is powerful and patient, with Adrien Brody making the effort of staying alive painfully visible. The early family dialogue is stiff, but the film’s restraint makes its violence harder to bear.Fi1m 87
  25. 2001
    The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 2001WinnerPeter Jackson’s fantasy adventure is absorbing, frightening and worth the time even for those unmoved by hobbits. The battles occasionally crowd out the people, but Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood give us ample reason to care.Fi1m 90
  26. 2000
    Gladiator 2000WinnerRidley Scott’s *Gladiator* is stirring, bloody entertainment, held together by Russell Crowe’s conviction. The politics can be blunt and the fighting occasionally hard to follow, but there is someone worth caring about beneath the armour.Fi1m 84
  27. 1999
    American Beauty 1999WinnerSam Mendes’s suburban satire is funny and well acted, especially by Annette Bening. We recommend it for the performances, with a reservation: Alan Ball’s screenplay treats familiar complaints about middle-class life as discoveries.Fi1m 76
  28. 1998
    Shakespeare in Love 1998WinnerJohn Madden’s *Shakespeare in Love* is a witty, affectionate period comedy, strongest when the theatre people take charge. The romance feels too neatly arranged, but the writing and the company make it worth an evening.Fi1m 79
  29. 1997
    The Full Monty 1997WinnerPeter Cattaneo’s comedy is warm, funny and unusually considerate of its unemployed would-be strippers, with Robert Carlyle leading a deft ensemble. It is too quick to cheer us up about hardship, but the affection feels earned.Fi1m 81
  30. 1996
    The English Patient 1996WinnerAnthony Minghella’s wartime romance is moving, carefully made and sometimes too slow. Kristin Scott Thomas gives it the urgency it needs, though the desert occasionally holds our attention more firmly than the lovers.Fi1m 78
  31. 1995
    Sense and Sensibility 1995WinnerAng Lee’s Austen adaptation is funny, moving and worth an evening for Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet alone. The setting sometimes looks too comfortable for the characters’ difficulties, but the performances keep their feelings awkward and recognisable.Fi1m 85
  32. 1994
    Four Weddings and a Funeral 1994WinnerMike Newell and Richard Curtis make a warm, sharply timed comedy out of ceremonial embarrassment. Hugh Grant and the supporting cast are a pleasure, though the central romance never quite earns the attention it receives.Fi1m 80
  33. 1993
    Schindler's List 1993WinnerSteven Spielberg’s Holocaust drama is harrowing, humane and worth the ordeal. Its acting and restless images carry an enormous force, despite occasional stretches that press too hard for our tears.Fi1m 91
  34. 1992
    Howards End 1992WinnerEmma Thompson gives James Ivory’s adaptation of E.M. Forster’s warmth, wit and a reason to care about every social slight. We recommend it warmly, despite some hurried relationships and pauses that make the storytelling feel more episodic than it should.Fi1m 84
  35. 1991
    The Commitments 1991WinnerAlan Parker’s Dublin soul-band comedy is funny, warm and carried by performances that make the music matter. A little too much polish creeps in, but we recommend it for the songs and the unruly company.Fi1m 82
  36. 1990
    GoodFellas 1990WinnerMartin Scorsese’s *GoodFellas* is a crime film we would recommend to almost anyone. Its gangsters are appalling company, but the performances make it hard to leave, despite some repetition and too little room for Karen’s perspective.Fi1m 93
  37. 1989
    Dead Poets Society 1989WinnerPeter Weir’s school drama is moving enough to earn its sentiment, with Robin Williams and the young cast doing the difficult work. The moral lessons are too tidy, but we recommend it for the performances.Fi1m 80
  38. 1988
    The Last Emperor 1987WinnerBernardo Bertolucci’s *The Last Emperor* makes imperial ceremony both fascinating and painfully lonely. It is a richly made, absorbing historical drama, though its adult protagonist can remain frustratingly remote.Fi1m 80
  39. 1987
    Jean de FloretteWinnerNot reviewed yet
  40. 1986
    A Room with a View 1986WinnerJames Ivory’s Edwardian romance is warm, funny and more alert to desire than its well-mannered surface suggests. Helena Bonham Carter and Maggie Smith make it worth the occasional slow stretch; we recommend it with pleasure.Fi1m 84
  41. 1985
    The Purple Rose of Cairo 1985WinnerWoody Allen’s fantasy comedy is funny, tender and worth taking seriously, with Mia Farrow making its impossible romance matter. The people around her can feel thinly written, but her need to escape is painfully convincing.Fi1m 84
  42. 1984
    The Killing Fields 1984WinnerRoland Joffé’s Cambodian war drama is harrowing and worth the ordeal, chiefly for Haing S. Ngor’s performance. Bruce Robinson’s script occasionally labours the friendship, while Mike Oldfield’s music presses feelings that the images have already earned.Fi1m 82
  43. 1983
    Educating Rita 1983WinnerJulie Walters and Michael Caine make *Educating Rita* worth an evening. Lewis Gilbert’s direction can be plodding and the lessons are thin, but the actors make Rita’s wish to learn matter.Fi1m 71
  44. 1982
    Gandhi 1982WinnerRichard Attenborough’s *Gandhi* is respectful to a fault, but Ben Kingsley gives it enough life to justify the long evening. We recommend it for the performance, with patience required for the thin supporting roles and stately pace.Fi1m 73
  45. 1981
    Chariots of Fire 1981WinnerHugh Hudson’s *Chariots of Fire* gives its runners convictions worth caring about and races worth watching. The stately passages can drag, but Ben Cross, Ian Charleson and Vangelis keep this sports drama from becoming merely dutiful.Fi1m 78
  46. 1980
    The Elephant Man 1980WinnerDavid Lynch’s historical drama is compassionate, unsettling and well worth the tears, with John Hurt giving Merrick a life beyond other people’s pity. Its faith in good manners can be too simple; the performances make the sympathy convincing.Fi1m 84
  47. 1979
    Manhattan 1979WinnerWoody Allen’s New York comedy earns its warmth through Diane Keaton and Mariel Hemingway, with Gordon Willis’s black-and-white photography doing plenty of persuading. The jokes hold up better than the increasingly solemn romance.Fi1m 78
  48. 1978
    Julia 1977WinnerFred Zinnemann’s film of Lillian Hellman’s memoir is beautifully lit, carefully dressed and full of good actors, and it keeps its central friendship at arm’s length. One train journey and one scene across a table are worth the wait; the rest is respectful.Fi1m 60
  49. 1977
    Annie Hall 1977WinnerWoody Allen’s *Annie Hall* is a funny, tender romance, with Diane Keaton giving its constant self-examination a welcome warmth. The jokes are plentiful and often excellent, though they sometimes interrupt feelings the film ought to stay with.Fi1m 86
  50. 1976
    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1975WinnerJack Nicholson and Give Fletcher make Miloš Forman’s drama funny, frightening and worth an evening. Its account of mental illness is too simple, but the performances keep the men on the ward from becoming merely a cause.Fi1m 86
  51. 1975
    Alice Doesn't Live Here AnymoreWinnerNot reviewed yet
  52. 1974
    Lacombe, LucienWinnerNot reviewed yet
  53. 1973
    Day for NightWinnerNot reviewed yet
  54. 1972
    Cabaret 1972WinnerBob Fosse’s film of the stage musical keeps the songs on a tiny club stage and lets Berlin turn brown outside the door. Minnelli and Grey are extraordinary; the scenes between the numbers are not, and we do not much mind.Fi1m 88
  55. 1971
    Sunday Bloody SundayWinnerNot reviewed yet
    • The Go-BetweenNot reviewed yet
    • Death in VeniceNot reviewed yet
    • Taking OffNot reviewed yet
  56. 1970
    Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969WinnerGeorge Roy Hill’s outlaw comedy is as easy to like as its reputation says, and Newman and Redford make it look like no work at all. It is padded in places and knows exactly how charming it is, but the chase and the ending land regardless.Fi1m 84
  57. 1969
    Midnight Cowboy 1969WinnerSchlesinger’s New York is as sour as it was in 1969, and Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman make a friendship out of two men the city has no use for. The flashbacks that looked modern then have aged worst.Fi1m 85
  58. 1968
    The Graduate 1967WinnerMike Nichols’s comedy about a graduate who drifts into an affair with a family friend is still funny and still sharp, and Anne Bancroft is the best thing in it. It goes softer once it stops being about her, though not by enough to spoil it.Fi1m 86
  59. 1967
    A Man for All Seasons 1966WinnerFred Zinnemann’s film of Robert Bolt’s play about Thomas More and the oath he would not swear is handsome, stately and a little too sure that its hero is right. Paul Scofield keeps it honest with a performance so quiet you lean forward.Fi1m 81
  60. 1966
    Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1966WinnerMike Nichols’s first film keeps Edward Albee’s play almost whole and points Haskell Wexler’s camera at four faces for 131 minutes. It is exhausting on purpose, Elizabeth Taylor is remarkable, and it is still worth your evening, provided you have nowhere else to be.Fi1m 86
    • Doctor Zhivago 1965Fi1m 70
    • Morgan – A Suitable Case for TreatmentNot reviewed yet
    • The Spy Who Came in From The ColdNot reviewed yet
  61. 1965
    My Fair Lady 1964WinnerCukor films the Lerner and Loewe musical much as it stood on stage, dressed by Cecil Beaton, with Rex Harrison exact as Higgins. It is handsome and civilised, half an hour too long, and Audrey Hepburn’s Cockney is a problem it never solves.Fi1m 76
  62. 1964
    Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 1964WinnerStanley Kubrick’s nuclear satire is ruthlessly funny and properly frightening, with Peter Sellers finding three distinct ways to be absurd. The broadest clowning sometimes crowds the sharper jokes, but the people in charge remain horribly recognisable.Fi1m 93
  63. 1963
    Tom Jones 1963WinnerTony Richardson takes Fielding’s 1749 novel and films it as though the eighteenth century were a party he had just crashed. It is lively, often funny and beautifully lit by Walter Lassally, and it runs out of puff in London.Fi1m 74
  64. 1962
    Lawrence of Arabia 1962WinnerDavid Lean’s desert adventure earns its length through Peter O’Toole’s unsettling performance and an extraordinary command of scale. A few speeches explain too much, but we recommend surrendering an evening to its patience and nerve.Fi1m 90
    The Hustler 1961WinnerRobert Rossen’s pool-hall drama is nearly as good as its reputation: Paul Newman has rarely been this alive, George C. Scott is quietly poisonous, and Eugen Schüfftan’s black-and-white halls look like real rooms. It says the word loser out loud a little too often.Fi1m 88
  65. 1961
    Ballad of a Soldier (Баллада о солдате, Ballada o soldate)WinnerNot reviewed yet
  66. 1960
    The Apartment 1960WinnerBilly Wilder’s office romance is funny, sad and unusually patient with people who ought to know better. Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine make its unhappiness matter, even when the second half takes longer than it needs.Fi1m 91
  67. 1959
    Ben-Hur 1959WinnerWilliam Wyler’s *Ben-Hur* earns its long evening through the chariot race and the tension between Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd. The solemn instruction needs more patience than the action ever does.Fi1m 76
  68. 1958
    Room at the Top 1958WinnerJack Clayton’s first feature is a hard, unhurried film about a clerk who wants the boss’s daughter and falls for a married woman instead. Simone Signoret is the reason to watch it, and Laurence Harvey is the reason it is not better than very good.Fi1m 82
    Pather Panchali 1955WinnerSatyajit Ray’s rural family drama is patient, funny and deeply moving, with performances that make every generation matter. Its loose pace occasionally drifts, but the attention given to this poor household makes the time feel well spent.Fi1m 93
  69. 1957
    The Bridge on the River Kwai 1957WinnerDavid Lean’s war drama earns its long running time through Alec Guinness’s quietly alarming Colonel Nicholson and patient, well-built suspense. The detours are less compelling, but the central performance is reason enough to give it an evening.Fi1m 88
    • 12 Angry Men 1957Fi1m 91
    • 3:10 to YumaNot reviewed yet
    • The Bachelor PartyNot reviewed yet
    • He Who Must DieNot reviewed yet
    • Edge of the CityNot reviewed yet
    • Heaven Knows, Mr. AllisonNot reviewed yet
    • Pather PanchaliNot reviewed yet
    • Paths of Glory 1957Fi1m 93
    • Gates of ParisNot reviewed yet
    • The Prince and the ShowgirlNot reviewed yet
    • The ShiraleeNot reviewed yet
    • That Night!Not reviewed yet
    • The Tin StarNot reviewed yet
    • A Man Escaped 1956Fi1m 90
    • Windom's WayNot reviewed yet
  70. 1956
    GervaiseWinnerNot reviewed yet
  71. 1955
    Richard IIIWinnerNot reviewed yet
  72. 1954
    The Wages of Fear 1953WinnerHenri-Georges Clouzot makes a truckload of nitroglycerine frightening enough to justify every cautious mile. We recommend this hard, patient thriller, though its long wait in town tests the nerves rather differently from the journey.Fi1m 90
    • The Caine Mutiny 1954Fi1m 76
    • Carrington V.C.Not reviewed yet
    • The Divided HeartNot reviewed yet
    • Doctor in the HouseNot reviewed yet
    • Executive SuiteNot reviewed yet
    • For Better, for WorseNot reviewed yet
    • Hobson's ChoiceNot reviewed yet
    • How to Marry a MillionaireNot reviewed yet
    • Gate of HellNot reviewed yet
    • The MaggieNot reviewed yet
    • The Moon Is BlueNot reviewed yet
    • On the Waterfront 1954Fi1m 89
    • Bread, Love and Dreams (Pane, amore e fantasia)Not reviewed yet
    • The Purple PlainNot reviewed yet
    • Rear Window 1954Fi1m 94
    • Riot in Cell Block 11Not reviewed yet
    • Robinson CrusoeNot reviewed yet
    • Romeo and JulietNot reviewed yet
    • Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 1954Fi1m 76
  73. 1953
    Forbidden Games 1952WinnerRené Clément’s war drama is deeply moving when it stays with its children and their animal burials. The adult feuding is drawn more crudely, but Brigitte Fossey and Georges Poujouly give the film a tenderness that survives the rough edges.Fi1m 86
  74. 1952
    The Sound BarrierWinnerNot reviewed yet
    • The African Queen 1952Fi1m 84
    • Angels One FiveNot reviewed yet
    • The Boy KumasenuNot reviewed yet
    • CarrieNot reviewed yet
    • Casque d'OrNot reviewed yet
    • Cry, the Beloved CountryNot reviewed yet
    • Death of a SalesmanNot reviewed yet
    • LimelightNot reviewed yet
    • MandyNot reviewed yet
    • Miracle in MilanNot reviewed yet
    • The Young and the DamnedNot reviewed yet
    • Outcast of the IslandsNot reviewed yet
    • RashomonNot reviewed yet
    • The RiverNot reviewed yet
    • Singin' in the Rain 1952Fi1m 93
    • A Streetcar Named Desire 1951Fi1m 88
    • Viva Zapata!Not reviewed yet
  75. 1951
    La RondeWinnerNot reviewed yet
    • An American in Paris 1951Fi1m 76
    • The Browning VersionNot reviewed yet
    • Detective StoryNot reviewed yet
    • Sunday in AugustNot reviewed yet
    • Fourteen HoursNot reviewed yet
    • Miss JulieNot reviewed yet
    • The Lavender Hill Mob 1951Fi1m 82
    • The Magic Box (1951)Not reviewed yet
    • The Magic GardenNot reviewed yet
    • The Man in the White SuitNot reviewed yet
    • No Resting PlaceNot reviewed yet
    • The Red Badge of CourageNot reviewed yet
    • The Small MiracleNot reviewed yet
    • The Sound of FuryNot reviewed yet
    • A Walk in the SunNot reviewed yet
    • White CorridorsNot reviewed yet
    • Edward and CarolineNot reviewed yet
  76. 1950
    All About Eve 1950WinnerJoseph L. Mankiewicz’s theatre satire is cruelly funny, with Bette Davis making Margo Channing’s vanity unexpectedly moving. The flashback structure can feel stiff, but the writing and performances make this company worth keeping for 139 minutes.Fi1m 90
  77. 1949
    Bicycle Thieves 1948WinnerVittorio De Sica’s drama about a stolen bicycle is moving enough to justify its reputation. We warmly recommend it for the father-son performances, with one reservation about music that tells us what we already feel.Fi1m 93
    The Best Years of Our Lives 1946WinnerWilliam Wyler’s drama about three servicemen coming home to one small town is long, patient and as good as anything Hollywood made about the war it had just fought. The wife written as a villain is its one cheap note.Fi1m 90
  78. 1948
    Hamlet 1948WinnerOlivier’s black-and-white Hamlet strips the play to a family in a castle and sends Desmond Dickinson’s camera prowling through it. It is handsome, chilling and superbly spoken; it is a prince of forty in a film that insists he cannot make up his mind.Fi1m 84
    • Crossfire 1947Fi1m 77
    • The Fallen IdolNot reviewed yet
    • Monsieur VincentNot reviewed yet
    • The Naked CityNot reviewed yet
    • PaisanNot reviewed yet
    • Four Steps in the CloudsNot reviewed yet
  79. 1947
    The Best Years of Our Lives 1946WinnerWilliam Wyler’s drama about three servicemen coming home to one small town is long, patient and as good as anything Hollywood made about the war it had just fought. The wife written as a villain is its one cheap note.Fi1m 90

Titles in grey are winners and nominees we have not reviewed yet. Search for one and press Request a review, or ask Discover.