The 10 best films of the 21st century, according to Pedro Almodóvar

To mark the end of 2025, Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar (Volver) released his personal list of the 10 best films of the 21st century, in an initiative by the newspaper The Diary. The choice is part of a larger survey that brought together 56 Spanish directors, invited to point out the works that have most influenced them over the last 25 years.

The collective result gave rise to a list of 25 titles, led by City of Dreams (2001), from David Lynchand closed by A Fita Branca (2009), from Michael Haneke. Among the most cited films are Amor à Flor da Pele (2000), by Wong Kar Wai, Portrait of a Young Girl on Fire (2019) e Little Mommy (2021), from Celine Sciamma, Zone of Interest (2023) e Sob the first (2013), from Jonathan Glazerin addition to The Prophet (2009), from Jacques Audiard.

Almodovar — which also appears on the general list with Talk to Her (2002) e Return (2006) — had his individual top 10 published as supplementary material. According to the The Diarythe selection of the Spanish director contrasts with the list released months earlier by New York Timesmarked by the predominance of Anglo-Saxon cinema. Here, the look is more international and authorial, with a strong presence of European and Asian filmmakers. Check out the list:

Pedro Almodóvar’s 10 favorite films of the 21st century (in random order):

• Dez (Abbas Kiarostami, 2002)

• The Swamp (Lucrecia Martel, 2001)

• Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, 2016)

• Amor (Michael Haneke, 2012)

• Call Me By Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

• Phantom Plot (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017)

• Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi, 2021)

• Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet, 2023)

• Valor Sentimental (Joachim Trier, 2025)

• Cry (Oliver Laxe, 2025)

Source: IndieWire