Thought provoking movies and TV shows

The list contains the best, new and most relevant thought provoking movies ordered by relevance. The recommendation service has sorted out philosophical, thought provoking, serious, inspirational, psychological and intellectual films and TV shows about / with moving, life changing, plot twist, existentialism, death, twists and turns, mission, philosophy, waking up and love plots mostly in Drama, Thriller and Sci-Fi genres shot in USA, UK, Germany and other countries.
thought provoking
 6505
thought provoking movies
TOP 10 movies tagged as thought provoking: Shame (2011), Mr. Nobody (2009), Shutter Island (2010), I Origins (2014), Black Mirror (2011), Detachment (2011), The Truman Show (1998), American Beauty (1999), Transcendence (2014), The Experiment (2001).

List of thought provoking movies

Type:
Year:
Watch Trailers From This List to Choose a Movie
 7.2
 205K
Shame (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: UK, Canada, USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story: Brandon is a New Yorker who shuns intimacy with women but feeds his desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. When his wayward younger sister moves into his apartment stirring memories of their shared painful past, Brandon's insular life ...
Style: sexual, erotic, sexy, thought provoking, sensual ...
Audience: adult
Plot: addiction, sex, sex addict, sexuality, sexual dysfunction, nudity, sexual relations, masturbation, suicide attempt, sex scene, lifestyle, erotica ...
Time: year 2011, 2010s, 21st century
Place: manhattan new york city, usa, new york, madison square garden manhattan new york city
Is relevant ?
 7.7
 245K
Mr. Nobody (2009)
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: Belgium, Germany, Canada, France, UK, Luxembourg, USA
Duration: 141 min.
Story: Nemo Nobody leads an ordinary existence with his wife and 3 children; one day, he wakes up as a mortal centenarian in the year 2092.
Style: psychological, surreal, philosophical, mind bending, thought provoking ...
Audience: date night, teens, adult
Plot: time, philosophy, destiny, alternate reality, surrealism, butterfly effect, depression, choice, utopia, twists and turns, multiple outcomes, parallel world ...
Time: future, year 2009, year 2011, distant future, 2010s ...
Place: canada
Is relevant ?
 8.2
 1.4M
Shutter Island (2010)
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 138 min.
Story: World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by his troubling visions and also by a mysterious doctor.
Style: psychological, surprise ending, twist ending, suspense, confusing ...
Audience: date night, chick flick, adult
Plot: twists and turns, plot twist, investigation, mental illness, insanity, psychology, memory, paranoia, mental disorder, psychiatrist, schizophrenia, mental institution ...
Time: 1950s, year 2010, year 1954, 2010s, 2000s ...
Place: boston, persia, iran, america
Is relevant ?
 7.3
 133K
I Origins (2014)
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story: I Origins follows a molecular biologist studying the evolution of the human eye. He finds his work permeating his life after a brief encounter with an exotic young woman who slips away from him. As his research continues years later with his lab ...
Style: thought provoking, spiritual, mind bending, philosophical, enigmatic ...
Plot: reincarnation, eye, metaphysics, spirituality, religion, genetics, buddhism, atheism, evolution, society, love story, elevator ...
Time: year 2014, 2010s, 90s, year 1998, year 2012 ...
Place: india, usa, new york, asia, new haven connecticut ...
Is relevant ?
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 8.7
 634K
Black Mirror (2011)
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min.
TV show
Story: A contemporary British re-working of The Twilight Zone with stories that tap into the collective unease about our modern world.  Over the last ten years, technology has transformed almost every aspect of our lives before we've had time to ...
Style: serious, philosophical, thought provoking, anthology, clever ...
Audience: teens, family friendly
Plot: technology, dystopia, twists and turns, human nature, satire, dystopian future, social decay, society, computers and web, media satire, alternate reality, media ...
Time: future, 2010s, near future
Place: england, london
Is relevant ?
 7.7
 98K
Detachment (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story: A chronicle of three weeks in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students through the eyes of substitute teacher, Henry Barthes. Henry roams from school to school, imparting modes of knowledge, but never staying long ...
Style: depressing, psychological, bleak, thought provoking, touching ...
Audience: teens
Plot: teacher, depression, suicide, teachers and students, dedicated educator, school, unhappy, social problems, life is a bitch, human relationship, teen angst, society ...
Time: 2010s, 21st century
Place: usa
Is relevant ?
 8.2
 1.2M
The Truman Show (1998)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min.
Story: Truman Burbank is the star of "The Truman Show", a 24-hour-a-day "reality" TV show that broadcasts every aspect of his life -- live and in color -- without his knowledge. His entire life has been an unending soap opera for ...
Style: philosophical, thought provoking, psychological, surreal, touching ...
Audience: teens, family outing, teen drama
Plot: self discovery, simulated reality, alternate reality, freedom, video surveillance, small town, fictional reality show, hidden camera, utopia, dystopia, paranoia, god complex ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, year 1998, future
Place: florida, persia, america, usa
Is relevant ?
 8.3
 1.2M
American Beauty (1999)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min.
Story: Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
Style: melancholic, thought provoking, dark comedy, sexual, dramatic ...
Audience: teens, chick flick, girls' night, kids, teen drama ...
Plot: midlife crisis, dysfunctional family, existentialism, age difference, obsession, loneliness, coming of age, older man younger woman relationship, nymphet, dysfunctional marriage, adultery, older man young girl relationship ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, year 1999, year 2013
Place: usa, america, los angeles, iran
Is relevant ?
 6.2
 238K
Transcendence (2014)
Genre: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK, China, USA
Duration: 119 min.
Story: Two leading computer scientists work toward their goal of Technological Singularity, as a radical anti-technology organization fights to prevent them from creating a world where computers can transcend the abilities of the human brain.
Style: futuristic, thought provoking, cerebral, exciting, philosophical ...
Plot: artificial intelligence, technology, scientist, consciousness, technology gone awry, resurrection, computers and web, chaos, hi-tech, utopia, robot, science ...
Time: future, year 2014, 2010s, near future, 21st century
Place: peru, usa, california, new mexico
Is relevant ?
 7.7
 96K
The Experiment (2001)
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: Germany
Duration: 120 min.
Story: Das Experiment is a shocking psycho thriller about the potential for brutality that humans hide. Even more shocking is the fact that it’s based on an actual occurrence—a 1971 psychological experiment at Stanford University that was aborted ...
Style: psychological, thought provoking, disturbing, rough, suspense ...
Plot: experiment, prison, torture, aggression, psychology, social experiment, isolation, degradation, abuse, sociology, violence, survival ...
Time: year 2001, 70s, year 2002, 21st century
Place: germany, canada
Is relevant ?
 7.6
 291K
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min.
Story: When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that ...
Style: twist ending, suspense, detective, thought provoking, surprise ending ...
Audience: kids, adult
Plot: kidnapping, investigation, private detective, twists and turns, moral dilemma, police investigation, missing child, moral ambiguity, tragic event, murder mystery, immorality, mother daughter relationship ...
Time: year 2007, 20th century, 2000s, 21st century
Place: boston, massachusetts, usa
Is relevant ?
 8.3
 361K
The Hunt (2012)
Genre: Drama
Country: Denmark, Sweden
Duration: 115 min.
Story: A teacher lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son’s custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent little lie.
Style: bleak, thought provoking, psychological, depressing, sad ...
Audience: adult
Plot: injustice, life turned upside down, child abuse, false accusation, divorce, social injustice, social relations, pedophile, parents and children, teacher, church, punched in the face ...
Time: 2010s, year 2012, year 2013, 21st century
Place: denmark
Is relevant ?
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 8.4
 1.5M
Joker (2019)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada, Australia
Duration: 122 min.
Story: During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.
Style: thought provoking, suspense, atmospheric, bleak, psychological thriller ...
Audience: teens, adult
Plot: mental illness, mental disorder, villain, psycho, psychopath, loneliness, psychological trauma, character change, insanity, social problems, comedian, social decay ...
Time: 2010s, 80s, year 2019, year 1981, 20th century
Place: new york, new jersey, los angeles, persia
Is relevant ?
 7.4
 373K
Cloud Atlas (2012)
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, UK, Spain
Duration: 172 min.
Story: A set of six nested stories spanning time between the 19th century and a distant post-apocalyptic future. Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future. ...
Style: thought provoking, psychological, futuristic, mind bending, surreal ...
Audience: chick flick, teens, adult
Plot: reincarnation, destiny, distopia, life & death, dystopia, life philosophy, multiple storylines, parallel universe, clone, existentialism, karma, post apocalypse ...
Time: future, year 2012, 2010s, year 1936, distant future ...
Place: san francisco, belgium, persia, seoul, south korea ...
Is relevant ?
The Life of David Gale (2003)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, Germany, Spain, USA
Duration: 130 min.
Story: A man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row.
Style: surprise ending, thought provoking, suspense, twist ending, serious ...
Plot: death penalty, investigation, suicide, death row, fighting the system, professor, reporter, activist, murder, journalism, death, death sentence ...
Time: year 2003, 21st century
Place: texas, austin texas, houston texas, usa, new york ...
Is relevant ?
 6.5
 180K
Idiocracy (2006)
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min.
Story: To test its top-secret Human Hibernation Project, the Pentagon picks the most average Americans it can find - an Army private and a prostitute - and sends them to the year 2505 after a series of freak events. But when they arrive, they find a ...
Style: futuristic, thought provoking, absurd, dark comedy, offbeat ...
Audience: teens
Plot: distopia, stupidity, time travel, satire, dystopian future, dystopia, evolution, social satire, absurdism, dimwit, society, hibernation ...
Time: future, year 2006, y2k, distant future, year 2005 ...
Place: texas, usa, washington d.c.
Is relevant ?
 7.5
 78K
Disconnect (2012)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min.
Story: Disconnect interweaves multiple storylines about people searching for human connection in today’s wired world. Through poignant turns that are both harrowing and touching, the stories intersect with surprising twists that expose a shocking reality ...
Style: thought provoking, depressing, suspenseful, independent film, intense ...
Audience: teens
Plot: multiple storylines, loneliness, couples, internet, social media, cyberspace, journalist, bullying, lawyer, career, character study, lifestyle ...
Time: year 2013, 21st century
Place: usa
Is relevant ?
 8.1
 144K
Stalker (1979)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 162 min.
Story: Near a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, a place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers, and where the normal laws of physics are victim to frequent anomalies. A Stalker guides two men into the Zone, specifically to an area in which deep seeded ...
Style: philosophical, atmospheric, bleak, art house, cerebral ...
Audience: family friendly, adult
Plot: stalker, distopia, human nature, post apocalypse, trippy, dystopian future, surrealism, wish come true, dog, society, post apocalyptic, dystopia ...
Time: future, year 1979, distant future, near future
Place: soviet union, ussr, russia
Is relevant ?
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 8.7
 2.1M
Interstellar (2014)
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, UK, Canada
Duration: 169 min.
Story: Interstellar chronicles the adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.
Style: futuristic, mind bending, cerebral, philosophical, thought provoking ...
Audience: teens, date night, kids, chick flick, girls' night ...
Plot: space travel, time travel, outer space, father daughter relationship, nasa, astronaut, space, survival, end of the world, distopia, natural disaster, apocalypse ...
Time: future, year 2014, 2010s, near future, 21st century
Place: los angeles, colorado
Is relevant ?
Perfect Strangers (2016)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 96 min.
Story: During a dinner, a group of friends decide to share whatever text message or phone call they will receive during the evening - and all hell breaks loose.
Style: psychological, surprise ending, thought provoking, clever, captivating ...
Plot: psychology, game, secrets, dinner party, friendship, infidelity, existentialism, family problems, dialogue, gay, relationships, betrayal ...
Time: 2010s, year 2016, 21st century
Place: rome italy, italy
Is relevant ?
 7.0
 13K
The Place (2017)
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Italy
Duration: 105 min.
Story: The fates of an apparently random group of strangers who each come into contact with a mysterious figure who they believe possesses the power to grant any wish, in return for which they must carry out a task he assigns them.
Style: intellectual, philosophical, thought provoking, suspenseful, bleak ...
Plot: human nature, multiple storylines, kidnapping, coffee, remorse, moral ambiguity, thoughtful, mafia, social criticism, occult, selfishness, moral dilemma ...
Is relevant ?
Brave New World (2020)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 415 min.
TV show
Story: In a utopia whose perfection hinges upon control of monogamy and privacy, members of the collective begin to question the rules, putting their regimented society on a collision course with forbidden love and revolution.
Style: thought provoking, futuristic, surprise ending, apocalyptic, disturbing ...
Plot: life is a bitch, distopia, utopia, conspiracy, totalitarianism, dystopic future, genetic engineering, satire, brainwashing, social differences, dystopia, dystopian future ...
Time: future, near future
Is relevant ?
 8.8
 2.3M
Fight Club (1999)
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 139 min.
Story: A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the ...
Style: surprise ending, psychological, twist ending, cerebral, philosophical ...
Audience: manly, boys' night, chick flick, girls' night, adult
Plot: twists and turns, psychology, fight, plot twist, schizophrenia, self destructing, insanity, fighting the system, split personality, losing-it hero, against the rules, nihilism ...
Time: 20th century, 90s, year 1999, year 2013
Place: delaware, america, los angeles, iran, seattle ...
Is relevant ?
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 6.3
 15K
Womb (2010)
Genre: Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: Germany, Hungary, France
Duration: 111 min.
Story: A woman's consuming love forces her to bear the clone of her dead beloved. From his infancy to manhood, she faces the unavoidable complexities of her controversial decision.
Style: psychological, thought provoking, serious, touching, atmospheric ...
Audience: adult
Plot: nudity, mother son incest, tragic love, parents and children, moral dilemma, couple relations, dealing with death, incest, older woman younger man relationship, cloning, boy, sexual perversion ...
Time: year 2010, future, distant future, 21st century
Is relevant ?
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min.
Story: While serving time for insanity at a state mental hospital, implacable rabble-rouser, Randle Patrick McMurphy inspires his fellow patients to rebel against the authoritarian rule of head nurse, Mildred Ratched.
Style: psychological, thought provoking, dramatic, serious, surprise ending ...
Audience: date night, family friendly, teen drama, adult
Plot: mental illness, mental institution, fighting the system, human spirit, insanity, freedom, psychiatrist, unlikely friendships, psychopath, society, nurse, escaped mental patient ...
Time: 60s, 20th century, year 1975
Place: oregon, eastern europe, america, persia
Is relevant ?
 7.5
 205K
Upgrade (2018)
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 100 min.
Story: A brutal mugging leaves Grey Trace paralyzed in the hospital and his beloved wife dead. A billionaire inventor soon offers Trace a cure — an artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will enhance his body. Now able to walk, Grey finds that ...
Style: futuristic, surprise ending, thought provoking, tech noir, neo noir ...
Audience: date night
Plot: cyberpunk, artificial intelligence, murder, surgery, microchip, revenge, nanotechnology, cyborgs, technology, super computer, dystopia, distopia ...
Time: future, near future, 2010s
Is relevant ?
 7.7
 321K
Gattaca (1997)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story: Science fiction drama about a future society in the era of indefinite eugenics where humans are set on a life course depending on their DNA. The young Vincent Freeman is born with a condition that would prevent him from space travel, yet he is ...
Style: futuristic, thought provoking, intellectual, neo noir, psychological ...
Audience: teens
Plot: distopia, genetics, fighting the system, discrimination, philosophy, society, eugenics, paraplegic, twists and turns, science, utopia, dystopia ...
Time: future, 20th century, year 1997, 1900s, distant future ...
Place: riviera, detroit, french riviera
Is relevant ?
 7.7
 582K
Ex Machina (2014)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story: Caleb, a 26 year old coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan, the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrives at the remote location he finds ...
Style: psychological, futuristic, philosophical, twist ending, mind bending ...
Audience: girls' night, adult
Plot: artificial intelligence, robot, androids, existentialism, technology, cyberpunk, isolation, cyborgs, manipulation, androids and robots, female robot, psychology ...
Time: future, 2010s, year 2015, year 2014, year 2016 ...
Place: england
Is relevant ?
 8.7
 2.0M
The Matrix (1999)
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 136 min.
Story: Set in the 22nd century, The Matrix tells the story of a computer hacker who joins a group of underground insurgents fighting the vast and powerful computers who now rule the earth.
Style: philosophical, thought provoking, cerebral, mind bending, surreal ...
Audience: kids, date night, family friendly, manly, chick flick ...
Plot: artificial intelligence, philosophy, virtual reality, dystopia, distopia, martial arts, existentialism, cyberpunk, alternate reality, gunfight, fight, visceral ...
Time: future, 20th century, near future, year 1999, 90s ...
Place: persia, los angeles
Is relevant ?
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Genre: Biography, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min.
Story: At Princeton University, John Nash struggles to make a worthwhile contribution to serve as his legacy to the world of mathematics. He finally makes a revolutionary breakthrough that will eventually earn him the Nobel Prize. After graduate school he ...
Style: psychological, touching, cerebral, dramatic, intellectual ...
Audience: teens, date night, family friendly, chick flick
Plot: mathematics, mental illness, schizophrenia, genius, paranoia, insanity, scientist, mathematician, imaginary friend, nobel prize, obsession, prodigy ...
Time: year 2001, 60s, 20th century, 1940s, 2000s ...
Place: boston, harvard university, new jersey, persia, detroit ...
Is relevant ?
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