What are some great European Christmas movies?

19 comments

1. [Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070832/reference) of course!

2. “Tomten är far till alla barnen” (Santa is the father of all the kids). A comedy about the modern family with “my kids, your kids and our kids” celebrating Christmas with the exes and the exes new partners and their kids.
   https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0201265/

3. Blackadder’s Christmas Carol. A bit old maybe but still a gem 🙂

4. [The snowman](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snowman) is British animated Christmas film that is absolute classic in Finland. I watch it with my sister every year. According to wikipedia in 2012 over 400 000 Finns watched the film (our population is 5 million for context)

   Edit: Also you might want to check out [Rare Exports](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1401143/). It’s Finnish horror adventure christmas film. I would have recommended Joulutarina but you already saw it.

5. I thought that picture was Love Actually for a moment. Nearly gave me a heart attack.

6. Most Italian’Christmas’ movies are pretty bad comedies.

   One that is not as bad as the standard ones is a comedy from the 80s…called ‘Vacanze di Natale’. It’s an interesting look at differences of class and culture between families from Milan and Rome.

7. The worst part of Listy do M is that they kept making sequels. We’re at 4th right now lol.

8. I have two favorites.

   The czech “Pelíšky” (Cosy Dens) is an absolute classic, with first half of it happening during Christmas. It’s one of the best czech comedies, but it requieres some knowledge of historical trivia to understand all the jokes. Available on Netflix.

   My personal christmas classic is not exactly a christmas movie. “The Imaginaerum” from Nightwish is simply beautiful, emotional movie which fits Christmas perfectly.

   Honorable mention to the last year Christmas Eve fairly tale “O vánoční hvězdě”(About Christmas Star), which obviously cannot be a classic yet, but it definitely is one of the best christmas fairy tales. Sadly not available on international platforms yet.

9. [“Mer om oss barn i Bullerbyn”](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093524/) (1987) from Sweden. Unfortunately I don’t know if a version with English subtitles exists. A German dub has been released as “Neues von uns Kindern aus Bullerbü”.

10. [Arthur Christmas ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Christmas) is a genially charming Christmas film. That I think catches the festive sprite really well. It’s also watchable for both children and adults, which is a plus.

    [The Snowman](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snowman) is a British classic. It’s very cute short animated film that is worth a go.

    [About a Boy](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/About_a_Boy_(film)) is not strictly a Christmas film. But it still is one I watch every year.

    I guess all the A Christmas Carols might count, as they are based on a British story. [Scrooged](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrooged) is my favourite.

11. “Flåklypa” is a classic norwegian christmas movie. Absolutely love the hand crafted animations in them.

12. [Rare exports](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1401143/). A lot of peculiar humour in this one. Found it due to someone’s suggestion in Reddit last year and had a blast!
    Also check out [Klaus](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4729430/). Not sure it is a 100% european production though.

13. [Le père Noël est une ordure](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus_Is_a_Stinker)

14. For Dutch, I would say [kroamschuddn in de mariaparochie](https://youtu.be/X_WZtvdfyzY)

15. I love watching Harry Potter movies between christmas and new year. Not sure if they count as european, but the whole movie setting is european. 🙂

16. “Le père Noël est une ordure” (Santa Claus is a stinker)
    Two volunteers at a suicide prevention hotline are stuck on Christmas eve for a shift and they keep getting visits from their strange and poor neighbours. Not a Christmas movie as an American would call it but it’s great fun as long as you’re ignoring some racism towards eastern Europe.

17. None if you ain’t watching home alone during advent idk what you doing. Home alone always will Be a classic

18. Others have mentioned adaptations of Dickens’ Christmas Carol, so I’d continue this trend by suggesting the series of TV movies, ‘A Ghost Story for Christmas’ broadcast by the BBC. They’ve adapted many of the festive horror stories of Edwardian British author M.R James, as well as others by Dickens, and a few originals. They’re usually short movies as they’re adapted from short stories, but each adaptation has the wintry, dark vibe down perfectly. You can find a few of the adaptations on YouTube. I’d personally recommend The Stalls of Barchester, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas, A View from a Hill, and The Signalman.

19. The Irony of Fate (1975) is a Soviet Russian classic that I really liked. It’s more of a New Year’s movie but as I understood, New Year is way bigger deal than Christmas is.

    It’s on Mosfilms official channel on youtube with subs. That’s how I found it.