Subscription

Comedy

Celebrating a world of side-splitting cinema, from slapstick legends to today's anarchic voices.

Fooling about became a fine art through the early decades of cinema, but comedy is too often under-recognised.

It’s the gift of perfect timing, an expertly executed sight-gag, a zinging wise-crack, a giddy rush of manic energy. Whether perfectly choreographed, brutally raw, or conjured out of improvisation and collaboration, the best comedy is ultimately disruptive.

It punctures pomposity, and blows a raspberry at social convention: the proto-feminist whiplash of screwball wit, the rambunctious working-class revolt of Carry On, the purposeful anarchy of alternative comedy.

Our Subscription collection is a legacy from the BFI's Comedy Genius blockbuster season in 2018 and highlights funny films from around the world, including great comedies from esteemed directors (Ingmar Bergman, Roberto Rossellini, Tsia Ming-liang), and some of the cynical and subversive works produced amid challenging political climates (Daisies, The Cremator, Dogtooth). Altogether we hope it upends perceptions about the English-language dominance of film comedy.

With a collection that ranges from silent slapstick heroes to contemporary satire, BFI Player celebrates the changing face of what – and who – we find funny.

Read more Close

Special offer

A year of exceptional cinema for just £40, use code ANNUAL40 when signing up.

Subscribe to watch

RiminiRimini

Drama202290 minsDirector: Ulrich Seidl

Impeccably styled and unflinchingly grim, this darkly humorous tale of a pop star past his prime finds Ulrich Seidl at his audacious best.

Subscribe to watch

Eaten by LionsEaten by Lions

Comedy201895 minsDirector: Jason Wingard

In search of his estranged father, Omar sets off to Blackpool with half-brother Pete in this heartwarming multicultural road trip comedy starring BAFTA-nominated actor Asim Chaudhry (People Just Do Nothing).

Subscribe to watch

Flux GourmetFlux Gourmet

Comedy2022112 minsDirector: Peter Strickland

This darkly comic tale from Peter Strickland and recipient of seven BIFA nominations, is a fantastic feast for the senses, starring Asa Butterfield and Gwendoline Christie.

Subscribe to watch

Queen of GloryQueen of Glory

Comedy202179 minsDirector: Nana Mensah

In Nana Mensah’s self-assured and charming comedy, a Ghanaian-American woman’s life is thrown into disarray when she inherits her mother’s Christian bookshop.

Subscribe to watch

Black Mountain PoetsBlack Mountain Poets

Comedy201685 minsDirector: Jamie Adams

Alice Lowe and Dolly Wells play criminal sisters who steal the identity of two poets, only to be charmed by the world of competition poetry.

Subscribe to watch

SocietySociety

Horror198999 minsDirector: Brian Yuzna

A teenager uncovers an elite ritualistic society in Brian Yuzna's stomach-churning mix of body-horror and social commentary.

Subscribe to watch

All My Friends Hate MeAll My Friends Hate Me

Comedy202294 minsDirector: Andrew Gaynord

A deliciously dark comedy about social paranoia that will have you joyfully squirming in your seat.

Currently unavailable

PrevengePrevenge

Comedy201788 minsDirector: Alice Lowe

Alice Lowe directs and stars in this riotous tale of a pregnant serial killer, hellbent on revenge.

Subscribe to watch

Bad Luck Banging or Loony PornBad Luck Banging or Loony Porn

Comedy2021106 minsDirector: Radu Jude

Berlin Golden Bear winner, Radu Jude’s scathing satire finds schoolteacher Emi threatened with dismissal when a private sex tape goes viral.

Currently unavailable

The GeneralThe General

Comedy192679 minsSilentDirector: Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman

Buster Keaton's masterpiece is widely and rightly regarded as one of the greatest comedies ever made.

Subscribe to watch

Good MorningGood Morning

Comedy195994 minsDirector: Yasujirō Ozu

Yasujiro Ozu's cheerful comedy about the silliness of everyday chatter.

Subscribe to watch

DogtoothDogtooth

Drama200993 minsDirector: Yorgos Lanthimos

Yorgos Lanthimos' scary, witty tale of a dysfunctional Greek family is original, ingenious and sadly relevant as a study of parent-child relationships

Subscribe to watch

Spanking the MonkeySpanking the Monkey

Comedy199495 minsDirector: David O. Russell

David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) made his feature debut in 1994 with this biting black comedy, which caused a stir with its incestuous subplot and portrayal of adolescent restlessness.

Subscribe to watch

I Was Born, But...I Was Born, But...

Comedy193287 minsSilentDirector: Yasujirō Ozu

Ozu's silent masterpiece follows two brothers as they try to outwit the local bully.

Subscribe to watch

Appropriate BehaviourAppropriate Behaviour

Comedy201586 minsDirector: Desiree Akhavan

Desiree Akhavan directs and stars in this witty, razor-sharp and fearless comedy following the sexual misadventures of a bisexual Brooklynite.

Subscribe to watch

DaisiesDaisies

Comedy196673 minsDirector: Věra Chytilová

Two self-confessed hedonists wreak wanton havoc in Věra Chytilová's visually spectacular neo-dadaist farce.

Subscribe to watch

Marriage Italian StyleMarriage Italian Style

Comedy196497 minsDirector: Vittorio De Sica

Sophia Loren and Marcelo Mastroianni are irrepressible as a long-married couple in this exquisite and timeless comedy of our all-too-human foibles.

Subscribe to watch

Gone Too Far!Gone Too Far!

Comedy201488 minsDirector: Destiny Ekaragha

Riotous urban comedy adapted from the hit Royal Court play, about a Peckham teen affronted by the arrival of his long-lost Nigerian sibling.

Subscribe to watch

The Wayward CloudThe Wayward Cloud

Comedy2004114 minsDirector: Tsai Ming-liang

Ming-Liang Tsai's outrageous blend of sex, comedy, musical and drama is a daring, controversial and hilarious smorgasbord from one of Taiwan's most acclaimed directors.

Subscribe to watch

Equinox FlowerEquinox Flower

Comedy1958118 minsDirector: Yasujirō Ozu

Ozu's deft comedy takes an ironic look at the decline of paternal authority.

Subscribe to watch

Yesterday, Today and TomorrowYesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Comedy1963118 minsDirector: Vittorio De Sica

Irrepressible Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves) directs this Oscar-winning film of three comic tales of love and sex in three cities.

Currently unavailable

Support the GirlsSupport the Girls

Drama201890 minsDirector: Andrew Bujalski

Andrew Bujalski serves up a big-hearted comedy with his day-in-the-life look at Double Whammies – a Hooters-style bar and its tight-knit, all-female staff.

Subscribe to watch

Smiles of a Summer NightSmiles of a Summer Night

Comedy1955109 minsDirector: Ingmar Bergman

Ingmar Bergman’s Cannes prize-winning comedy assembles various couples in a country house in 1900.

Currently unavailable

The Saragossa ManuscriptThe Saragossa Manuscript

Fantasy1965183 minsDirector: Wojciech Jerzy Has

During the Napoleonic wars, a soldier discovers a strange manuscript that reveals endless stories-within-stories. Wojciech Has' opus is a major cult film of the 60s, revered by Luis Buñuel, David Lynch and Jerry Garcia.

Subscribe to watch

Wild TalesWild Tales

Comedy2014122 minsDirector: Damian Szifron

This Oscar-nominated, Almodóvar-produced anthology of six tales of ordinary madness is the most riotously enjoyable portmanteau film since Pulp Fiction.

Subscribe to watch

TrapsTraps

Comedy1998116 minsDirector: Věra Chytilová

Věra Chytilová's dark, post-communist comedy. After a veterinary surgeon is sexually assaulted by two men, she uses her particular expertise in castraton to exact her revenge…

Subscribe to watch

Boccaccio '70Boccaccio '70

Anthology1962204 minsDirector: Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti and 2 more

Four of the greatest Italian directors – Fellini, Visconti, De Sica and Monicelli – join forces with show-stoppers Sophia Loren, Anita Ekberg and Romy Schneider in a carousel of sex and satire mocking the mores of Italian '60s society.

Subscribe to watch

ExhibitionExhibition

Drama2014105 minsDirector: Joanna Hogg

Joanna Hogg's sleek and minimalist comedy about a pair of artists and their emotional attachment to their ultra-modernist apartment.

Subscribe to watch

Ghost WorldGhost World

Comedy2001107 minsDirector: Terry Zwigoff

Scarlett Johansson and Thora Birch star as a pair of social outcasts struggling to make sense of the world around them, in this sublime love story based on the work of underground artist Daniel Clowes.

Subscribe to watch

Love and Death on Long IslandLove and Death on Long Island

Comedy199889 minsDirector: Richard Kwietniowski

John Hurt stars in Richard Kwietniowski’s comedy of fame and obsession about an older man (Hurt) who becomes infatuated with a young Hollywood actor (Jason Priestley), and proceeds to track him down.

Subscribe to watch

Sherlock Jr.Sherlock Jr.

Comedy192445 minsDirector: Buster Keaton

Buster Keaton's superb, sophisticated silent comedy in which he dreams himself into the movie he's watching, in order to win back his girl.

Subscribe to watch

The CrematorThe Cremator

Comedy196896 minsDirector: Juraj Herz

This story of a professional cremator whose increasingly deranged impulses are given free reign during Prague's Nazi occupation, is a brilliantly chilling mix of Dr Strangelove and Repulsion.

Currently unavailable

Steamboat Bill, Jr.Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Comedy192871 minsDirector: Charles F. Riesner

Waterway hi jinks abound in this Buster Keaton classic, in which he plays the reluctant heir to his father's paddle steamer business.

Subscribe to watch

Black JoyBlack Joy

Comedy197799 minsDirector: Anthony Simmons

Ben, an innocent immigrant from a remote village in Guyana, arrives in Brixton and falls prey to an assortment of streetwise characters in Anthony Simmons' Palme d’Or nominated comic drama.

Subscribe to watch

Finally, Sunday!Finally, Sunday!

Comedy1983111 minsDirector: François Truffaut

A man suspected of a crime enlists a woman to prove his innocence in Truffaut’s Hitchcockian inspired serio-comic romantic thriller.

Currently unavailable

Old BoysOld Boys

Comedy201995 minsDirector: Toby MacDonald

Charmingly idiosyncratic comedy reworking of Cyrano de Bergerac, with Alex Lawther as a boarder who helps the school hero woo a French teacher's daughter despite being besotted with her himself.

Subscribe to watch

Pauline at the BeachPauline at the Beach

Comedy198295 minsDirector: Eric Rohmer

Eric Rohmer's final collaboration with the great cinematographer Néstor Almendros follows a holidaying teenager as she begins to navigate the adult world.

Subscribe to watch

Four Adventures of Reinette and MirabelleFour Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle

Comedy198699 minsDirector: Eric Rohmer

Eric Rohmer's delightful, episodic account of the blossoming friendship between a gauche, highly opinionated country girl and a more laid-back Parisian student.

Subscribe to watch

A Good MarriageA Good Marriage

Comedy1981100 minsDirector: Eric Rohmer

Eric Rohmer's pleasingly precise portrait of obstinately perverse longing, with Béatrice Romand as the student determined to marry an uninterested lawyer.

Currently unavailable

PiratesPirates

Comedy202180 minsDirector: Reggie Yates

Set in London at the turn of the millennium, Reggie Yates’ hilarious debut feature takes us on a journey back to New Year's Eve 1999, reviving memories from the 90's garage scene and Moschino fashion for pure nostalgic cinematic joy.

Subscribe to watch

DiamantinoDiamantino

Comedy201897 minsDirector: Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt

Diamantino, Portugal’s (the world’s!) top football player, becomes embroiled in a genetic experiment and a conspiracy to leave the EU, in this joyful, postmodern political fantasy.

Subscribe to watch

The SquareThe Square

Comedy2017151 minsDirector: Ruben Östlund

From director Ruben Östlund (Force Majeure) comes a satire on the hypocrisy of the art world, starring Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West. Winner of the Palme d'Or.

Currently unavailable

PatrickPatrick

Drama201996 minsDirector: Tim Mielants

Life on the nudist colony is fairly routine for handyman Patrick (Kevin Janssens), that is until the mystery of his missing hammer sets in motion a quest of self-discovery.

Subscribe to watch

It Must Be HeavenIt Must Be Heaven

Comedy2019102 minsDirector: Elia Suleiman

Acclaimed Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman returns with another deadpan take on life in exile that is typically assured and moving.

Subscribe to watch

Stolen KissesStolen Kisses

Comedy196891 minsDirector: François Truffaut

Naively idealistic and largely inept both in his dealings with women and in any job, Antoine clumsily courts Christine while working for a private detective agency.

Subscribe to watch

Dark HorseDark Horse

Drama201186 minsDirector: Todd Solondz

Todd Solondz directs Selma Blair and Jordan Gelber in this delightfully dark satire as romance blooms between a toy collector and a depressed woman.

More from Comedy Genius in our Rentals collection.

More from Comedy Genius in our Free collection.