The Best Films of 2025 Still in Theaters and on Streaming Platforms – Award Winners, Biopics & Must-Sees
Why this article?
2025 has been an exceptional cinematic year — marked by the return of great auteurs, the rise of new voices, and major international triumphs. Here’s a critical selection of the best 2025 films still showing in theaters and available on streaming platforms, chosen for their narrative power, aesthetic boldness, and emotional impact.
🎥 Films Still in Theaters
It Was Just an Accident (Un simple accident)
It Was Just an Accident by Jafar Panahi represents a historic triumph for Iranian cinema.
The film won the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, making Panahi the only filmmaker to have earned top prizes at all four major international festivals (Camera d’Or at Cannes, Golden Leopard at Locarno, Golden Lion at Venice, Golden Bear at Berlin).
Shot clandestinely in Iran without official permission, the thriller follows a mechanic and former political prisoner who believes he recognizes his torturer by his limping gait — the result of a prosthetic leg. The story unfolds inside a van where several former victims confront a man they suspect to be their torturer, nicknamed “La guibole.” The film questions the line between justice and revenge, victim and perpetrator.
Panahi skillfully blends intense drama with dark humor to expose corruption and the moral decay of Iranian society.
Selected as France’s submission for the 2026 Oscars, it has received multiple Golden Globe nominations. Panahi dedicated the film to Iranian artists forced into exile.
We Believe You (On vous croit)
This Belgian drama, co-directed by Charlotte Devillers and Arnaud Dufeys, marks their feature debut.
Released in France on November 12, 2025, this 78-minute courtroom drama immerses viewers in a Belgian juvenile court hearing where Alice, a mother of two, must defend her custody rights against her ex-husband, whom she accuses of incest.
The film stands out for its quasi-documentary approach: the lawyers are real practicing attorneys, and the courtroom scenes are recreated with striking realism. At its heart lies a 55-minute sequence that follows the closed-door hearing where the children’s words face the weight of the judicial system. Devillers, a healthcare professional who works with survivors of sexual violence, sought to capture the most intimate dimensions of juvenile protection courts.
Presented in the Perspectives section of the 2025 Berlin Film Festival, it received a Special Jury Mention. Myriem Akheddiou delivers a powerful performance as Alice, earning several acting awards. The film avoids pathos, maintaining tension and dignity toward its subjects.
One Battle After Another
Paul Thomas Anderson returns with his most ambitious and controversial project yet.
Released on September 26, 2025, this political action thriller stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob Ferguson, a paranoid ex-revolutionary forced to return to the fight when his old enemy reemerges and his daughter disappears.
Inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, the film was shot in VistaVision with a $175 million budget — the most expensive of Anderson’s career. The cast includes Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, and Teyana Taylor. Despite rave reviews, the film was a commercial disappointment, grossing only $204 million worldwide.
The film tackles America’s runaway military complex, immigration resistance, and abuses of power. Its political stance provoked debate — some praised its courage, others called it partisan. The National Board of Review named it the Best Film of 2025, with Anderson winning Best Director and DiCaprio Best Actor.
Muganga – The One Who Treats
Muganga, directed by Marie-Hélène Roux, is a powerful biopic about Dr. Denis Mukwege, the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Released in France on September 24, 2025, the film retraces the life of the Congolese doctor who risked everything to treat thousands of women victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The story focuses on his collaboration with Belgian surgeon Guy Cadière (Vincent Macaigne). Together, they operate “four hands,” driven by the strength of the women of Panzi Hospital. The project took over a decade to complete and was filmed on location in Gabon.
Angelina Jolie joined the production team in September 2025, calling the film “urgent and powerful.” At the 2025 Angoulême Francophone Film Festival, Muganga won three Valois Awards: Best Actor for Isaach de Bankolé, Audience Award, and Student Jury Prize. The film directly addresses sexual violence as a weapon of war and its ties to mineral exploitation.
Eleanor The Great
Eleanor The Great marks Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut. Premiering in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes 2025, the film was released in the U.S. on September 26, 2025, to a six-minute standing ovation.
The story follows Eleanor Morgenstein (June Squibb), 94, who leaves Florida for New York after her best friend Bessie dies. Mistaken for a Holocaust survivor at a Jewish community event, Eleanor decides to tell Bessie’s story as if it were her own — attracting the attention of a young journalist, Nina (Erin Kellyman), with whom she forms an unlikely friendship.
Written by Tory Kamen, the film explores profound ethical questions: does loneliness justify deception? Who has the right to tell another person’s story? The cast includes Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jessica Hecht. The film won the Audience Award at the 2025 Deauville Film Festival. Critics praised June Squibb’s tender, luminous performance.
💻 The Best 2025 Films on Streaming Platforms
Colours of Time (La Venue de l’avenir) – Canal+
Cédric Klapisch delivers an ambitious historical fresco presented out of competition at Cannes 2025. The film follows four cousins who inherit an abandoned house in Normandy and discover traces of a mysterious ancestor, Adèle, who left for Paris in 1895.
The story moves between two eras — 2025 and 1895, a period of industrial and artistic revolution marked by photography and Impressionism. The cast includes Suzanne Lindon, Vincent Macaigne, Paul Kircher, and Cécile de France. Co-written with Santiago Amigorena, the film dazzles with its re-creation of 19th-century Paris while reflecting on family legacy and artistic creation.
September 5 (5 septembre) – Canal+
Directed by Tim Fehlbaum, this German-American historical thriller revisits the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis from a fresh perspective — that of the ABC Sports crew who broadcast the event live.
Set almost entirely inside the newsroom and control booth, the film features Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, and Ben Chaplin. It reconstructs the world’s first live-broadcast terror attack and examines the moral dilemmas of real-time journalism. Premiered at Venice 2024, the film holds a 90% Rotten Tomatoes rating and multiple award nominations.
I’m Still Here (Je suis toujours là) – Canal+
I’m Still Here, directed by Walter Salles, marks the Brazilian filmmaker’s return after 13 years. Premiered at Venice 2024, where it won Best Screenplay, the film tells the true story of the Paiva family under Brazil’s 1970s military dictatorship.
Fernanda Torres plays Eunice Paiva, whose husband, a left-wing deputy, is kidnapped and never seen again. The film spans decades, ending in 2014 with Fernanda Montenegro portraying Eunice in her old age. Deeply humanist, the film earned the 2025 Oscar for Best International Feature.
Better Man – Canal+
Better Man by Michael Gracey is a bold musical biopic about Robbie Williams — with a unique twist: the singer is portrayed as a CGI chimpanzee. Williams narrates and performs his own songs. The metaphor, drawn from his own words, reflects the feeling of being a “performing monkey.”
The film received Oscar nominations for Best Visual Effects and won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song (“Forbidden Road”). Despite critical praise, it flopped commercially. Cast includes Steve Pemberton and Damon Herriman.
A Complete Unknown – Canal+
Directed by James Mangold, this musical biopic follows Bob Dylan’s early years (1961–1965), with Timothée Chalamet performing all songs himself. Co-starring Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, and Boyd Holbrook, the film earned eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Actor. Chalamet’s transformation divided critics but confirmed his daring range.
A Real Pain – Canal+
Jesse Eisenberg writes, directs, and stars alongside Kieran Culkin in this moving dramedy about two New York cousins traveling to Poland in search of their grandmother’s past. Culkin’s performance won him the 2025 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Produced by Emma Stone, the film explores grief, memory, and family ties with bittersweet humor and deep emotion.
Manas – Canal+
The feature debut of Marianna Brennand Fortes, Manas (meaning “sister” in Portuguese) depicts incest within isolated communities on Marajó Island in the Brazilian Amazon. A delicate, haunting work produced by the Dardenne brothers and Walter Salles, it won the Venice Authors’ Days Grand Prize and was shortlisted for Brazil’s 2026 Oscar submission.
Sorry Baby – Canal+
Eva Victor’s feature debut, premiered at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight 2025, is a darkly funny, deeply emotional exploration of trauma and resilience. Starring Naomi Ackie and Lucas Hedges, Sorry Baby stands out for its mix of humor and heart, never exploiting its subject but humanizing recovery.
Sentimental Value (Valeurs sentimentales) – Canal+
Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value won the Grand Prix at Cannes 2025. The Norwegian filmmaker reunites with Renate Reinsve and Eskil Vogt for this multi-generational exploration of art, memory, and family. Featuring Stellan Skarsgård and Elle Fanning, the film earned 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and became Norway’s submission for the 2026 Oscars.
