20 Movies to Learn British English - Beginner to Advanced

- Hello everyone and welcome back to English With Lucy.

Recently I made a video about the best

British TV series for learning English.

And today I'm going to do something similar,

but with British films.

However, I'm not going to talk about

all of the mainstream films

that you might have already experienced in your own country.

I'm going to try and show you some lesser known films

that I think could really help you improve your English.

Most of these are my personal favourites.

Not all of them were necessarily massive when they came out,

although many of them were.

But they're films I really, really enjoyed.

Films that show British culture,

many aspects of British culture.

So we'll start off with films or genres

that are suitable for a beginner level,

move on to pre-intermediate,

and then intermediate to advanced.

I do think that a lot of British films

show a very perfect view of Britain,

a view that isn't necessarily realistic.

So I've included some films that show

a more realistic view of Britain

and films that show a variety of accents as well.

It's one of my top tips for improving listening.

I've said it before many times.

If you want to be able to understand everyone,

then it's important that you listen to a variety of accents.

So when it comes to watching films

in order to improve your English,

it can be really hard to find the right one for you.

You've got to find something that you are interested in.

You've got to find something that's at your level.

And you've also got to find something

that will provide educational value.

A lot of you aren't based in the UK.

So how can you gain access to these British films,

especially some of the lesser known films

that I'm going to recommend?

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Okay, let's start with films

that are more suitable for beginners.

But these films are enjoyable for everyone.

The first one, oh this film is so good.

It is "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit"

I wonder if you've heard of Wallace and Gromit before.

They were absolute favourites of mine.

But this film was particularly fantastic.

It's a stop motion film.

So I think the characters are made of Plasticine

and they take years and years to make each film.

The film itself is a work of art.

Wallace and Gromit are a man and his dog

and they live in a village where there is

an annual giant vegetable competition.

It's so British, I can't even tell you.

This does genuinely happen in our villages.

However, there is a giant rabbit eating the giant vegetables

and the villagers are not happy.

And Wallace and Gromit help them out.

Now, this film is fantastic because yes,

it is aimed at children.

So the English is quite simple.

Not overly simple, but it's quite simple.

However, there are lots of hidden jokes in there.

So a lot of really good children's films

have secret hidden jokes,

naughty jokes for the parents.

And this one is full of that.

I remember watching this with my grandparents

and they were roaring with laughter.

It is one of my happiest memories with my grandad.

- Oh, Wallace.

- Mr. Wallace.

Wait, is this all of them?

- Just one left.

- Okay, let's move on to the next one.

I did say that I was going to recommend

slightly more obscure films.

And this one is great for anyone

who really enjoyed Mary Poppins.

I imagine you already know about Mary Poppins.

And that is a great one to watch in English

if you are at a beginner level.

However, there is another film

that is very, very similar to Mary Poppins

which is absolutely fantastic.

And it is called "Bedknobs and Broomsticks".

And this was another childhood favourite.

Now this is set during World War II

and some children, three children,

are evacuated to a lady's house.

And it turns out that she is training to become a witch.

Now interestingly,

the lady who plays Mary Poppins

was originally asked to play the role

of this wannabe witch.

But she actually turned it down

because she didn't want to be typecast.

If an actor is typecast,

it means they are repeatedly assigned the same role.

They're always playing the same character.

Julie Andrews later changed her mind.

But the leading lady, Angela Lansbury had already been cast

so it was too late.

Now this is an older film.

It was released in 1971.

So some of the accents are a bit dated.

But you've got received pronunciation,

and Cockney amongst many others.

- Ah, people.

- Nonetheless, we must see the king

on an urgent personal matter.

Please lead the way.

- Hello, future Lucy here.

(Lucy laughing)

So since filming this video,

I've actually been doing a little bit of thinking

about "Bedknobs and Broomsticks"

and I don't think that this is a beginner film.

Some of the language is quite complex actually,

some of the dialects they use.

So by all means, watch this film and enjoy it

'cause it's a fabulous film.

But don't feel disappointed

if you don't understand absolutely everything

or if you end up with quite a few questions

about the language used.

The last of the children's films I'm going to recommend,

you might know this one

'cause this was a big box office hit.

It is "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".

And again, this is set in World War II.

And again, it's children who've been evacuated.

They're evacuated to the countryside into a big house

and they find a wardrobe which leads

to the mystical land of Narnia.

I find the speech in this film to be very, very clear.

The children speak with received pronunciation.

But there is a wide variety of accents throughout the film.

- Look at my fur.

You couldn't give me 10 minutes warning?

- I would have given you a week

if I thought it would have helped.

(children laughing)

- Now let's move on to pre-intermediate.

With these films,

if you are struggling to understand a film,

if you're finding it very exhausting,

I would highly recommend the method

of watching something twice.

This is what I used to do when I was learning Spanish.

I used to watch a film the first time with subtitles,

and then the second time without subtitles.

It's tedious but I was really bored

of not understanding the whole story.

Pick up as much as you can the first time

with those subtitles.

And then the second time around,

it's almost a big confidence boost

because you remember so much.

And it shows you that you've really learned a lot

by watching it once.

And you're learning even more by watching it again.

Now the first film I recommend

for pre-intermediate is romantic comedies.

So one kind of lesser known,

well I guess it's a bit older now,

but one rom-com that I fell deeply in love with

when I was younger was "Bend It Like Beckham".

So this film is about football.

But I was never interested in football,

or ball games, or sports,

or anything like that when I was younger.

I think one of my mum's friends said,

you have to watch this film.

So I watched it and it's so good.

It's about an 18 year old girl.

She's the daughter of British-Indian Sikhs.

And she makes friends with Keira Knightley.

It turns out that they're both really good at football.

But Jess, the main character,

finds it hard to prove to her very conservative parents

that actually this western sort of career path

is a good idea for her.

There are a lot of gender stereotypes in this film,

cultural stereotypes.

But it's a really good watch and I would say very wholesome.

It also features a very prominent British accent,

which is the Indian British accent

as well as Cockney slash Estuary,

which is what Keira Knightley speaks with in the film.

- Gone and said she's wearin' baby pink now.

Stupid cow.

I had matching accessories and everything.

- Oh Mom, do I have to go shopping again?

- My mother chose all my...

- Now I said I was going to talk about lesser known films.

But I just can't resist

just grouping a load of fantastic rom-coms

into one section,

Richard Curtis films.

Richard Curtis just makes

the most incredible British rom-coms.

So I'm quickly going to recommend them to you

because I think you'll love them.

I absolutely love them.

They are feel-good films.

Most of them are based in London.

You've got "Notting Hill", "Love Actually",

the three Bridget Jones films.

A really good one which I can't watch again,

I've just watched it once,

it is "About Time".

It's about a man with the ability to time travel.

But what he does in different times of his life

impacts the future.

And I find it too emotional.

I watched it in the cinema

and I had to go to the toilet to cry.

But if you need a good sob, a good cry,

then I highly recommend it.

I mentioned the Bridget Jones films.

The woman who plays Bridget, Renee Zellweger,

she is actually American.

But she does a pretty damn good RP accent.

And I would say my ultimate favourite Richard Curtis film

is "Four Weddings and a Funeral".

We watched that the other day.

It is glorious.

You'll love it.

We also have another one

which is called "Shakespeare in Love".

And it stars Gwyneth Paltrow and it's kind of

an imagined version of events

where Shakespeare falls in love

whilst writing Romeo and Juliet.

Another recommendation for sort of pre-intermediate level

isn't actually a rom-com.

It is just a com.

A comedy, we don't call it com.

It is "Hot Fuzz".

And we watched this the other day.

It's by Simon Pegg.

I'm going to recommend him again

later on in this list.

It is hilarious.

It's set in the west country

so we've got a real southern,

British-English accent,

the west country accent,

as well as Simon with a London accent.

And it shows two policemen,

two very different policemen,

dealing with a series of murders.

It's very, very good.

I love that it's set...

Well it's a town, not a village.

I love that it's set

kind of in the countryside not in London.

So many films are based in London

and it's really refreshing to have something based

outside of London.

- Planning and development.

- Where George Merchant secured permission

to build his dubious mansion on Norris Avenue.

- So, maybe they were all accidents.

- Oh. (thumping)

- People have accidents every day.

- Now let's move on to historical or period dramas.

Now these are still in pre-intermediate,

although sometimes the vocabulary is quite niche.

But the actors tend to speak more slowly

and clearly in these dramas.

One really great one is "Belle".

It's quite interesting.

It's a very different take on your standard period drama.

The majority of the film is spoken with an RP accent.

In this film,

a British naval officer has an illegitimate child

with an enslaved African woman.

He brings her back to England.

And it's actually inspired by the 1779

portrait of Dido Elizabeth Belle.

It's a really good film and it's heartbreaking

to see how Belle is treated.

But I thought it was a really different take

on just your standard period drama.

- I remember my father's eyes.

They were kind, gentle,

a little like yours. - Mine.

- Another one which is also quite different

and is also very relevant,

anyone who is lacking confidence while speaking,

it's "The King's Speech".

It stars Colin Firth, ah,

as a future king who's struggling to cope with a stammer.

And he works with an Australian

speech and language therapist.

It really is a great film

and it's perhaps something that you might be able

to relate with on some levels.

- You tricked me.

- Physical exercises and tricks are important.

But you're asking will only deal

with the surface of the problem.

- The last genre in pre-intermediate is horror.

And I would say that horror is normally pre-intermediate

because usually there is slightly less dialogue.

A fantastic one is "28 Days Later".

It's a Danny Boyle film.

I love Danny Boyle.

He also did "Slumdog Millionaire".

And this film shows the breakdown of society after a virus.

Very relevant.

A highly contagious virus is accidentally released.

It's a horror film,

so it is hard to watch at times.

But I love an apocalyptic or dystopian film.

- Omelettes.

You've prepared a feast, Jones.

- Honour of our guests, sir. - Absolutely.

- Now we have a comedy horror next,

which is actually sort of taking the Mickey,

making a joke of the "28 Days Later" film,

but in a nice way.

It's another one by Simon Pegg who did Hot Fuzz.

It's called "Shaun of the Dead",

'cause it's actually mimicking "Dawn of the Dead",

which was very similar in some ways

in concept to "28 Days Later".

Again we have flesh-eating zombies.

But it's a funny horror film.

- Told you that over the years,

Philip's been quite unkind to me.

- Well you weren't always the easiest person to live with.

- Mom, he chased me around the garden

with a bit of wood.

- Well you did call him a you-know-what.

- And the last one,

and I would actually say that this one

is intermediate or higher.

It's called "Attack the Block".

The reason I would consider this one

to be slightly more difficult or challenging

is because there's such a variety of accents.

The film shows a teenage street gang in South London

who have to defend themselves against alien invaders.

But the street gang,

most of them speak Multicultural London English.

This dialect is very common.

It's quite unique and it's quite new as well.

If you look into it,

it's really interesting to see how it's developed.

- I've got no credit, nine.

- John Paul, everybody's fa-piece-of-a-coos-back.

- This is too much madness to explain in one day.

- Let's move on to intermediate and above.

And for this I have just dedicated drama.

And for this I have picked three

of my favourite British drama films.

They are all very different.

One is strictly RP.

One is Multicultural London English.

And the last one is actually Liverpudlian.

So Scouse, the Scouse accent.

Let's start with the RP one.

I would say this is one of my favourite films,

favourite British films.

It's called "An Education" and it stars Carey Mulligan.

And it's about a very beautiful young girl

who is swept off her feet.

So she is seduced by an older gentleman.

She's lived a very privileged, very sheltered life.

Her parents are very overbearing, very strict.

And he shows her a good time.

But there is another side to it.

It's a brilliant film.

It never got as much critical acclaim

as I thought it deserved.

I also think it contains a really important lesson.

Let me know what you think about that if you watch it.

It's set in the '60s as well so it's really lovely to see

kind of 1960s Britain.

- Who knows with Jenny.

- Paris, you can't buy them here.

- You never bought 'em yourself.

- No, I never.

- Oh shut up, you stuck-up cow.

- Now let's talk about

my Multicultural London English recommendation.

Now this film astounded me when I was a teenager.

I absolutely loved it.

I watched it over and over again.

I'm sure you can imagine I lived

quite a sheltered, privileged life.

So this kind of opened my eyes.

It's called "Kidulthood".

It's a drama that follows the lives of several teenagers

who live in West London.

And it was written by Noel Clarke

who is a big favourite of mine.

And he stars in it as well.

I think he's fantastic.

You follow the teenagers as they engage in crime

and just have a really difficult and challenging time.

It's really eye-opening and it shows

a realistic other side to London.

Britain and London isn't all beautiful countryside

and glitz and glamour.

There is a very real other side to it.

- I told 'em too.

I had-dat when I come in.

Hey, check your cameras, man.

- Nisha, would you call the police please?

This young man has taken this hat

and is now causing a commotion.

- Is that all he's taken? - Yeah.

- The last one is a slightly older film.

It's one that my mom recommended to me.

And it is, I think it was released in 1983.

And it's called "Educating Rita".

And it stars one of my favourite actresses, Julie Walters.

She plays a working class hairdresser from Liverpool

who is bored of her everyday life.

She feels pressured to have a baby.

She doesn't see her career going anywhere.

So she decides to enrol in university,

into an open university.

The open university in the UK

is a distance learning university.

And her tutor is Michael Caine, none other.

And he's a big of a drinker.

He's just a bit bored with his own life as well.

They form a great friendship.

So she studies English literature

and at first her technical ability for the subject

is limited by her lack of education.

But her enthusiasm helps her overcome this.

I'm not gonna tell you any more

'cause there's more to the story.

But I think it's a really, really good one.

- Come in.

(door opening)

- I'm comin' in aren't I?

It's that stupid bleedin' handle on the door.

You want to get it fixed?

- Yes, yes, I meant to.

- So that's it for my recommendations today.

I really, really hope you enjoy some of these films.

As I said before,

I didn't just want to recommend

all the films you already know about

like "Harry Potter" or whatever.

I wanted to give you a selection of different films

that will help you in different ways,

show you lots of different dialects and accents,

lots of different vocabulary as well.

Let me know what you think.

I would love to hear other recommendations as well

and your reviews of any of these movies

and films that you've seen.

Don't forget the NordVPN offer

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You can get 70% off NordVPN

and an additional month free

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Don't forget to connect with me

on all of my social media.

I've got my Facebook,

my Instagram, and my Twitter.

And you can follow me on my personal channel

where I do vlogs of my life on an English farm.

It's interesting for some people.

I will see you soon for another lesson.

(upbeat music)