Overview
Fritz Lang’s expressionist, dystopian vision is one of the first science fiction feature films, and is arguably the most influential. In a stunningly designed high-rise future, society is segregated into a subterranean worker class and their above-ground oppressors, but a mad scientist has designed a robot that threatens to inspire a revolution.
Countless filmmakers have been inspired by Lang’s audacious futuristic vision and the film’s incredible production design, while the film’s iconic fembot has inspired numerous musicians and fashion designers, from Beyoncé to Jeff Mills and Karl Lagerfeld. Metropolis is presented here in its most complete 147-minute version, featuring the inserted previously missing reels that were discovered in Argentina in 2008. Ranked joint 67th in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll.
Related
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/CrimesOfTheFuture_4-1920.jpg?itok=sfepb9wi)
Crimes of the Future Crimes of the Future
Science Fiction 2022 108 mins Director: David Cronenberg
Referencing his 1970 feature of the same name, Crimes of the Future marks Cronenberg’s fully-fledged return to body horror and the cinema of transgression.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/plan75-2.jpg?itok=HNEmztFx)
Plan 75 Plan 75
Drama 2022 113 mins Director: Chie Hayakawa
Faced with a rapidly ageing population, a government in near-future Japan rolls out an unsettling agenda.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/lola2.jpg?itok=rtkptI1i)
LOLA LOLA
Science Fiction 2022 79 mins Director: Andrew Legge
Two sisters in WWII Britain invent a machine that can decode TV broadcasts from the future, in this irresistible found-footage sci-fi that buzzes with timeless ingenuity.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/memoria.jpg?itok=F3tPr6rT)
Memoria Memoria
Fantasy 2021 136 mins Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Tilda Swinton stars in the first English-language feature from master filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul; a mesmerising and beautifully immersive work.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/the-untamed-1920.jpg?itok=vtnvDrCK)
The Untamed The Untamed
Fantasy 2016 98 mins Director: Amat Escalante
Amat Escalante follows Heli with a boundary-pushing, mind-blowing mix of sex, sci-fi and social drama.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/day_adjust2.jpg?itok=_GJACIOR)
The Day the Earth Caught Fire The Day the Earth Caught Fire
Science Fiction 1961 100 mins Director: Val Guest
The BFI’s HD remaster of the British sci-fi classic. A journalist discovers that the Earth has been knocked off its axis and is moving ever closer to the sun. Is the Earth doomed?
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/9c1519367e67219308ba8109e8caf141.jpg?itok=F1PFiHnR)
Fitzcarraldo Fitzcarraldo
Drama 1981 157 mins Director: Werner Herzog
One of Werner Herzog's most acclaimed and audacious films, Fitzcarraldo tells the incredible story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an opera-loving fortune hunter who dreams of bringing opera to the heart of the Peruvian jungle.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Seven_Samurai_1920x1080.jpg?itok=3LVkfiKj)
Seven Samurai Seven Samurai
Drama 1954 207 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Farmers hire a band of samurai to defend them against marauding bandits in Kurosawa’s influential epic, a touchstone for action movies ever since.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/promo228502232_2.jpg?itok=lHdwu5-k)
The Epic of Everest The Epic of Everest
Non-Fiction 1924 87 mins Director: J.B.L. Noel
Premiere. A breathtaking and poignant account of the valiant 1924 British assault on the awe-inspiring peak, beautifully restored by the BFI.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/wages-1920.jpg?itok=1-LW7Dg2)
The Wages of Fear The Wages of Fear
Crime 1953 153 mins Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Henri-Georges Clouzot's classic, nail-biting suspense thriller won both The Golden Bear and the Palme d'Or in 1953.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/seventh1-amend.jpg?itok=8BV_Jy3D)
The Seventh Seal The Seventh Seal
Fantasy 1957 96 mins Director: Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman’s best-known film is a brilliant allegorical drama starring Max von Sydow as a knight trying to elude his own death.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/eight-mountains_1920.jpg?itok=2kso0b2F)
The Eight Mountains The Eight Mountains
Drama 2022 147 mins Director: Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch
An epic journey of friendship and self-discovery set against a magnificent and breath-taking Italian landscape, winner of the 2022 Cannes Jury Prize.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/aef680920dcb89d27ccc517dc5876264.jpg?itok=-OcjQuXx)
M M
Crime 1931 111 mins Director: Fritz Lang
Peter Lorre is unforgettable as the compulsive child murderer on the run from both police and criminals alike, in Fritz Lang’s seminal crime film.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/After-Love-headroom.jpg?itok=mdXkugIU)
After Love After Love
Drama 2021 90 mins Director: Aleem Khan
In this knockout feature debut from Aleem Khan, Bafta-winner Joanna Scanlan is the woman who discovers her late husband’s secrets.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Damsels-in-Distress_04.jpg?itok=itoCZrvO)
Damsels in Distress Damsels in Distress
Comedy 2011 99 mins Director: Whit Stillman
Greta Gerwig shines as a college student challenging the male dominated culture on campus, in Whit Stillman’s sweet, eccentric and frequently hilarious comedy.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Sex-lies-and-videotape_05.jpg?itok=7oRHapOi)
sex, lies, and videotape sex, lies, and videotape
Drama 1989 100 mins Director: Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderberg’s audacious debut, starring James Spader and Andie Macdowell, is an intimate exploration of sexual desire, and a landmark of 90’s American independent filmmaking.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Bottle-Rocket-01.jpg?itok=3v6BuE4i)
Bottle Rocket Bottle Rocket
Comedy 1995 91 mins Director: Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson's rarely screened debut ditches the kitsch in favour of surprisingly subtle comedy, in this tale of a criminally inept gang led by Owen Wilson.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/ama-gloria-01.jpg?itok=SeT-WRGY)
Àma Gloria Àma Gloria
Drama 2023 84 mins Director: Marie Amachoukeli
Six-year-old Cléo spends a final summer with her beloved nanny Gloria, in this profoundly moving story of chosen family, duty and innocence lost.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Morgiana-01.jpg?itok=NwFN0AiD)
Morgiana Morgiana
Crime 1972 97 mins Director: Juraj Herz
Delirious gothic tale of terror from Czech New Wave master Juraj Herz, about a jealous sister with dark desires and splintered minds.