Lena Dunham’s 15 favourite movies
American writer, actor and director Lena Dunham has been a consistent force in the industry since the mid-2000s, best known for her starring role in the HBO series Girls, which she created. Dunham has also directed several films, beginning with Tiny Furniture in 2010, which was received well.
In 2022, she helmed Sharp Stick, a sex comedy that was received less positively. Still, Dunham has carved out a successful acting career with parts in This Is 40, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and American Horror Story: Cult.
When Dunham is not writing, acting or directing, she is likely consuming films, discussing her all-time favourites with Criterion. Her first pick was Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank, the Bafta Award-winning British drama that Dunham called “my favourite film of the past decade”.
Detailing further, she added: “A funny-sad tapestry of slummy British life and a portrait of a striver poking her way up through the concrete.”
Dunham is also a tremendous fan of Agnes Varda, the French New Wave master and feminist filmmaking icon, calling her “a ride-or-die bitch”. She added: “I was so impressed by how Varda manages to be both deeply emotional and utterly in control of the technical elements of filmmaking. That had seemed to me to be an impossible line to straddle, and she does it so beautifully.” Dunham’s favourites include Cleo From 5 to 7, Vagabond, La Pointe Courte and Le Bonheur.
Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven struck a particular cord with Dunham, who claims that “Little Linda Manz’s voice-over is enough of a reason to watch this film”. James L. Brooks’ Broadcast News is another favourite of Dunham’s, who stated: “No one writes a complex woman like James L. Brooks, and no one embodies her like Holly Hunter”.
Dunham also highlighted her love for Ingmar Bergman, widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Selecting Through A Glass Darkly, the actor said: “Bergman is the king of mood, and his actors give it all to him, free of vanity and therefore crazy beautiful.”
Elsewhere, Dunham expressed an interest in Rainer Werner Fassbinder, particularly The Marriage of Maria Braun and Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. “I discovered Fassbinder senior year of college, and I couldn’t believe it,” she explained, “Both of these films are perfect to me.”
Discover Dunham’s full list of favourite movies below.
Lena Dunham’s favourite movies:
- Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009)
- Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick, 1978)
- Weekend (Andrew Haigh, 2011)
- Broadcast News (James L. Brooks, 1987)
- Cleo From 5 to 7 (Agnes Varda, 1962)
- Vagabond (Varda, 1985)
- La Pointe Courte (Varda, 1955)
- La Bonheur (Varda, 1965)
- The Marriage of Maria Braun (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1979)
- Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974)
- Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975)
- Straw Dogs (Sam Peckinpah, 1971)
- Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988)
- Through a Glass Darkly (Ingmar Bergman, 1961)
- The War Room (Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker, 1993)
