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Which films have had a profound effect on your life?

133 replies

SaraHoliday · 19/07/2026 18:11

What films have had a profound effect on your life? Share the reason why if you like!

OP posts:
Brokedownpalace · 13/09/2026 10:35

Agree with so many of these, so many great films

I, Daniel Blake - really made me think about how anyone can be doing okay and reach rock bottom, and to never take anything for granted.

Promising Young Women, I thought about this film for days and found it so powerful

Murdered by my Father, a BBC film and really sad, even sadder as it's the reality for a lot of women

Beetrootfrizz · 17/09/2026 22:35

For me it's survival stories such as Alive that are really thought provoking.
Also war films such as The Darkest hour, the Longest Day are inspiring.
Also love About Time and Somewhere in Time for the romance and as a reminder to enjoy the present.

SorryforyourlossMoveon · 18/09/2026 23:14

cuckoolodger · 11/09/2026 16:30

Promising Young Woman sat with me for days. I’ve rewatched it and had the same effect every time. I’ve been through trauma and had it minimised and I thought the movie perfectly encapsulated how damaged you can be but still have the boring fight for any form of justice you can get. Also Law Abiding Citizen. For very similar reasons. I suppose you could add in The hands maids tale too.

when I was a teen I watched terminator and my bedroom had a window above the door. Had to block that with cardboard so I didn’t see any red dots coming to kill me. Haunted me for months and even now at 46 I have to sleep in total darkness and extension leads with red lights are my nemesis.

Promising Young Woman, very good film.
The Road, one of my favourite books. Took me a few restarts to watch the whole film. Has definitely stayed with me.

colouringindoors · 18/09/2026 23:41

Arrival.

Choosing the future you know will be full of love but also heartbreaking 💔

colouringindoors · 18/09/2026 23:50

Testament of Youth

WW1 drama from a woman's perspective that makes those years very real, shows women's roles and the horrendous death toll of young men. A really powerful film.

Testament of Youth (2014) - IMDb share.google/58VRtHL0XddVqV70k

JustSetFireToIt · 18/09/2026 23:59

The English Patient. I’m not romantic by nature but it really got to me - the overwhelming beauty and the many tragedies. It haunted me for years.

EleanorMc67 · 19/09/2026 03:47

AbsintheMakesTheHeartGrowFonder · 11/09/2026 16:59

In terms of films that helped to shape my values, and had a profound effect in that sense - The Accused, with Jodie Foster.

I saw it around 1990ish when I was a young teen and it made a massive impression on me with regards to slut-shaming and how that impacts negatively on how women are treated in the justice system etc. It's one of the reasons I get furious on bloody Mumsnet when people - including people who purport to be feminists - make negative judgements about other women for sleeping with lots of men.

There are also films that had a profound effect me in the sense that they triggered lifelong interests that went on to influence my degree and my own creativity. One of them is the 1958 Hammer version of Dracula. Another is Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie (which actually has a really unpleasant undertone to it that hasn't aged well, but it fascinated me as a kid). Another is Company Of Wolves, which had a massive influence on me - again as a young teen.

Reading this back I'm amused that these are all films that I was much too young to watch legally at the time.

Marnie is my favourite Hitchcock film - although it's not technically the best &, as you say, it has troubling parts, but I still love it. To the point where my last cat was called Marnie & her successor is called Tippi!

I loved Company of Wolves (& Angela Carter's writing). I remember having such a crush on the guy in it - with the infamous eyebrows. I wonder if it led to my love of hairy men ...?!!

EleanorMc67 · 19/09/2026 03:57

I think, for me, it has to be Days of Heaven. I first saw it at the age of 18 at the QFT in Belfast, as my flatmate Helen's boyfriend, Ian, was a bit of a film buff.

It was the first time that I realised how utterly, stunningly, ravishingly beautiful a film could be, how you could feel enveloped by & immersed in it - & how you could feel ecstasy & euphoria as a result of that beauty.

I've experienced that with a number of films since - but 37 years later had never rewatched Days of Heaven, as I was worried it couldn't live up to my memories of it, & I wouldn't feel that ecstasy again. Well, it was shown as part of a Terrence Malick season at The Cameo here in Edinburgh, so I went along very nervously ... & oh, it did not disappoint! Sometimes beauty is enough ...

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