Director Lars von Trier’s magnum opus, The Kingdom is a TV phenomenon three decades in the making. A compulsively entertaining supernatural mystery, this incomparable blend of workplace comedy, potent melodrama, and nail-biting ghost story pitches science against superstition in unholy conflict.

Rejecting sanctimonious satire, Ulrike Ottinger’s bold critique of the tabloid press allows for the surface pleasures of notoriety and celebrity. Starring an immaculate, never-more-devious Delphine Seyrig, this prescient film is magnetized with push-pull fascination for sparkly yet throwaway fun.