Marjorie Baumgarten

Back in 1981, when he was still working in his native Germany, director Petersen established himself as an action/suspense director par excellence. Set in a German U-boat during World War II, this claustrophobic suspense drama hasn’t a weak bolt anywhere.

Freely adapted by writer-director Sally Potter from Virginia Woolf’s 1928 novel, the movie attempts nothing less than the deconstruction of Western civilization’s patriarchal underpinnings, with Tilda Swinton as the title character who appears in nearly every shot.

Linklater’s 1976-set movie is one of the smartest and funniest coming-of-age films ever.