Ten Spanish Films Worth Watching Twice

The problem with learning Spanish from films is that a good film is doing its job properly: it pulls you into the story, and the moment you are following the story, you have stopped listening to the language. You finish it moved, entertained, and not noticeably better at Spanish.

The fix is simple, and it is the spine of this list. Watch the film twice.

The method: once for the story, once for the Spanish

First viewing, with subtitles. English ones if you need them, Spanish ones if you can manage. The job is to know what happens — the plot, who everyone is, how it ends. Enjoy it. Do not pause.

Second viewing, without. A few days later, subtitles off. Because you already know the story, your attention is free for the language itself. You will catch phrases you read the first time, hear how people actually pronounce them, and notice the gap between what the subtitle said and what the actor said — which is where most of the real, informal Spanish lives.

The second viewing is the one that teaches. The first just makes it possible. Here are ten films worth the double investment.

1. La lengua de las mariposas (1999)

José Luis Cuerda’s film about a small boy and his gentle schoolteacher in a Galician village in 1936, as the Civil War approaches. Clear, unhurried dialogue, much of it in a classroom, and an ending you will not forget. Good from B1.

2. El laberinto del fauno (2006)

Guillermo del Toro’s dark fairy tale set in the aftermath of the Civil War. The dialogue is sparse and deliberate, which makes it one of the easier films on this list to follow without subtitles once you know the plot. B1.

3. Campeones (2018)

Javier Fesser’s comedy about a basketball coach sentenced to community service training a team of players with intellectual disabilities. Warm, very funny, and full of everyday colloquial Spanish from Madrid. B1–B2.

4. Volver (2006)

Almodóvar’s story of three generations of women, moving between Madrid and a village in La Mancha. The speech is fast, overlapping and full of neighbourly gossip — difficult the first time, and exactly why it rewards the second. B2.

5. Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (1988)

Almodóvar in full screwball mode: a woman trying to reach her ex-lover over one very chaotic couple of days in Madrid. Rapid-fire, comic, and a good test of whether you can keep up with Spanish at its most theatrical. B2.

6. Mar adentro (2004)

Alejandro Amenábar’s film about Ramón Sampedro, a Galician man who fought for the right to end his life, with Javier Bardem in the lead. Serious, articulate conversation — much of it argument — which makes it excellent for hearing how Spanish speakers reason and disagree. B2.