The Best Genius Movies and TV Shows on The Criterion Channel
Finding a good Genius movie and TV show to watch can be hard, so we've ranked the best ones and included where to watch them. Check out our list of the best Genius movies and TV shows of all time streaming on The Criterion Channel.
1. Vivre Sa Vie
What it's about: Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy).
2. Metropolitan
What it's about: A radical student is adopted by a group of young New Yorkers, serves as a catalyst to alter his and their lives. Gathering in a Manhattan apartment, the group of friends meet to discuss social mobility, Fourier's socialism and play bridge in their cocoon of upper-class society - until they are joined by a man with a critical view of their way of life.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, fuboTV, Showtime & 1 other) & stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Showtime).
3. Things to Come
What it's about: Nathalie teaches philosophy at a high school in Paris. She is passionate about her job and particularly enjoys passing on the pleasure of thinking. Married with two children, she divides her time between her family, former students and her very possessive mother. One day, Nathalie’s husband announces he is leaving her for another woman. With freedom thrust upon her, Nathalie must reinvent her life.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).
4. Hannah Arendt
What it's about: HANNAH ARENDT is a portrait of the genius that shook the world with her discovery of “the banality of evil.” After she attends the Nazi Adolf Eichmann’s trial in Jerusalem, Arendt dares to write about the Holocaust in terms no one has ever heard before. Her work instantly provokes a furious scandal, and Arendt stands strong as she is attacked by friends and foes alike. But as the German-Jewish émigré also struggles to suppress her own painful associations with the past, the film exposes her beguiling blend of arrogance and vulnerability — revealing a soul defined and derailed by exile.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel, Fandor & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).
5. Insignificance
What it's about: Four 1950s cultural icons who conceivably could have met but probably didn't, fictionally do so in this modern fable of post-WWII America. Visually intriguing, the film has a fluid progression of flashbacks and flashforwards centering on the fictional Einstein's current observations, childhood memories, and apprehensions for the future.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
6. Socrates
What it's about: A false accusation leads the philosopher Socrates to trial and condemnation in 4th century BC Athens.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy).