THEME EXPLORATION

appearance and identity

34 films · 3 directors

Tracing the thread…

FILMS THAT EXPLORE THIS
In a Year with 13 Moons
In a Year with 13 Moons
1978 · Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Audition
Audition
2000 · Takashi Miike
Adam Resurrected
Adam Resurrected
2008 · Paul Schrader
Die My Love
Die My Love
2025 · Lynne Ramsay
Layla
Layla
2026 · Amrou Al-Kadhi
Nazarín
Nazarín
1958 · Luis Buñuel
Quick
Quick
1932 · Robert Siodmak
The Face of Another
The Face of Another
1966 · Hiroshi Teshigahara
Reindeer Games
Reindeer Games
2000 · John Frankenheimer
Aga's House
Aga's House
2019 · Lendita Zeqiraj
Cabo Negro
Cabo Negro
2024 · Abdellah Taïa
Di che segno sei?
Di che segno sei?
1975 · Sergio Corbucci
My Dearest Señorita
My Dearest Señorita
2026 · Fernando González Molina
Solaris
Solaris
1972 · Andrei Tarkovsky
Blue Is the Warmest Color
Blue Is the Warmest Color
2013 · Abdellatif Kechiche
Great Expectations
Great Expectations
1946 · David Lean
Masculin Feminin
Masculin Feminin
1966 · Jean-Luc Godard
Memento
Memento
2000 · Christopher Nolan
Scenes from a Marriage
Scenes from a Marriage
1973 · Ingmar Bergman
Close-Up
Close-Up
1990 · Abbas Kiarostami
Days of Being Wild
Days of Being Wild
1991 · Wong Kar-wai
Ida
Ida
2013 · Paweł Pawlikowski
Landscape in the Mist
Landscape in the Mist
1988 · Theo Angelopoulos & Theodoros Angelopoulos
Once Were Warriors
Once Were Warriors
1994 · Lee Tamahori
Paradise Now
Paradise Now
2005 · Hany Abu-Assad
The Conformist
The Conformist
1970 · Bernardo Bertolucci
The Silences of the Palace
The Silences of the Palace
1994 · Moufida Tlatli
A Fantastic Woman
A Fantastic Woman
2017 · Sebastián Lelio
American Psycho
American Psycho
2000 · Mary Harron
Four Daughters
Four Daughters
2023 · Kaouther Ben Hania
Ixcanul
Ixcanul
2015 · Jayro Bustamante
Strawberry and Chocolate
Strawberry and Chocolate
1993 · Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
The Assassin
The Assassin
2015 · Hou Hsiao-hsien
The Goat Horn
The Goat Horn
1972 · Metodi Andonov
DIRECTORS WHO EXPLORE THIS
Rainer Werner Fassbinder Germany

His films obsessively explore how appearance, performance, and social roles construct identity, particularly in relation to power, desire, and personal authenticity.

 David Lynch USA

He deconstructs the gap between surface appearance and hidden identity, using surrealism to reveal the psychological darkness beneath suburban normalcy.

 Pedro Almodóvar Spain

His vibrant films celebrate identity as fluid and performative, exploring how appearance, costume, and reinvention become acts of liberation and self-creation.