5 Best Oscar-Winning Period Drama Movies

Making a potential Oscar bait movie isn’t an easy job to do as a whole, but period dramas belong to an especially whimsical genre that requires a way higher level of meticulosity.

Apart from a necessity to stick to the accurate portrayal of real-life events from the past that we sometimes don’t know that much about, these flicks also have to give the same attention to costumes and filming places which later on wouldn’t perplex viewers with a probable controversial depiction.

This is why period dramas making it to the list of Oscar winners are, in most cases, one of the best movies of the genre that made all things right about taking the audiences to already bygone eras.

Sense and Sensibility (1995)

Based on Jane Austen’s 1811 novel of the same name, Sense and Sensibility stars Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet as Elinor and Marianne Dashwood who are about to face major financial struggles after their father’s sudden death and decide to seek financial security through marriage.

The movie was a critical darling and box office success back in 1995, also earning 7 Academy Award nominations and winning one for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Thanks to Sense and Sensibility, Emma Thompson is still the only person who has ever received Academy awards for both acting and screenwriting.

Barry Lindon (1975)

Despite sweeping the 1976 Oscars, Barry Lindon is still an unfairly forgotten epic historical drama directed by legendary Stanley Kubrick.

The movie is based on William Makepeace Thuckeray’s 1844 novel of the same name and follows an 18th-century peasant who decides to leave his miserable life behind by killing an aristocrat and later on marrying his widow, eventually facing an inevitable downfall.

Barry Lindon was met with mixed reviews and slammed by critics for its slow pace throughout its long run of a little more than 3 hours, though still took home several Oscar statuettes for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design and Best Original Score.

Moulin Rouge! (2001)

A true master of period dramas, Baz Luhrmann also knows how to turn them into an even more fascinating musical movie.

Starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, Moulin Rouge! is set in 1899 Paris where a young playwright falls in love with the leading star of his new cabaret show, but their sparkling love story soon goes down to a tragedy.

Just like many other successful flicks helmed by Luhrmann, Moulin Rouge! is a rare, but divine combination of long-gone era’s costumes and the newest era’s music pieces, with songs from Madonna, Elton John and even Nirvana making their way to the movie’s soundtrack.

Though it was left without awards in main categories at the 2002 Oscars ceremony, the film secured two wins for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design.

The Favorite (2018)

Yorgos Lanthimos’ feverish historical drama with Olivia Colman and Emma Stone as its leads was one of the frontrunners at the 2019 ceremony after having secured 9 nominations, including one for Best Picture.

The movie eventually wrapped the awards season up with only one Academy award received by Olivia Colman; however, it remains one of Yorgos’ finest works praised by critics for its accurate historical background that goes in contrast with the movie’s very modern themes and dialogues.

Little Women (2019)

Probably one of the worst Oscar snubs in recent years, Greta Gerwig’s absence in the Best Director’s category at the 2020 ceremony was an audacious thing to do to someone who made one of the best historical movies of the last decade.

With a star-studded cast that comprises Saoirse Ronan, Timothée Chalamet, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Laura Dern, Meryl Streep and Bob Odenkirk, Little Women did feel like a new refreshing version of an old story written by Louisa May Alcott back in 1868.

The movie received six Academy Award nominations, including for Best Picture, and took home only one statuette for Best Costume Design.