Photo: ©Focus Films/Courtesy Everett Collection Save Story Save this story Save Story Save this story While some mark the fall season with apple-picking, hot cider, and the like, others prefer to spend it exactly the way we spent summer: watching our favorite cozy movies on repeat.
Whether you’re looking to have your faith in love restored by Harrison Ford, or you’re in need of some witticism from Robin Williams that will absolutely make you weep, here are some of the best fall movies—from stories actually set in the fall, to those that just feel spiritually seasonal. Get your kettle going, take in the cooling air, and dive in:
Céline Sciamma’s lovely Petite Maman centers on a precocious eight-year-old (Joséphine Sanz) who, not long after losing her grandmother, meets a girl her age in the woods (Joséphine’s twin sister, Gabrielle). I won’t ruin their story’s sweet twist, but suffice it to say that it makes autumn in the French countryside seem doubly magical. —Marley Marius
If adorable, slightly sad LGBTQ+ movies are your thing, I have great news for you: This is the Platonic ideal of the genre, and it just so happens to be set in a small fictional town in the Pacific Northwest, where fall is extra chilly and extra cozy. Best enjoyed while browsing Lex ! —Emma Specter
The mere sight of Chris Evans in a thick cable-knit sweater makes me want to light a bonfire and/or play a pickup game of touch football on a cool afternoon. (Okay, no, I don’t actually want to play touch football under any circumstances, but such is the power of the sweater movie! ) —ES
I have to admit, I do love a boarding-school romp (I reread The Secret History by Donna Tartt every September for a reason!), and this film by Tayarisha Poe more than delivers. Lovie Simone’s performance is a particular standout, but the whole movie is peak East Coast academia-gone-wrong energy. —ES
Here, Roald Dahl’s classic 1970 children’s book of the same name becomes a deeply charming (and incredibly star-studded) stop-motion adventure, bathed from top to toe in the reds, golds, and burnished oranges of fall. —MM
It could be the scenes of New York kids walking home from the subway against a typical Brooklyn backdrop that gives this early Noah Baumbach film its back-to-school vibe, but honestly, it’s shrewd, touching, and laugh-out-loud funny enough to watch at pretty much any time of year. (Has Laura Linney ever made a mistake in her life? I don’t think so.) —ES
I’m actually an ardent proponent of watching this Julia Roberts/Julia Stiles/Kirsten Dunst trifecta in any season, but watching it in fall will make you crave a well-knit sweater and thermos of tea to take along with you while you cheer for the fellas at the Harvard-Yale game. —ES
It’s hard to believe School of Rock came out a full 20 years ago! With the wild, feel-good vibes of Jack Black pretending to be a certified teacher and a classroom full of middle schoolers desperate for a little fun (private school uniforms will do that to a kid), the film is pure chaos, in the best way possible. Think of the excitement you once felt while shopping for glittery pencil grips and Foohy erasers; this movie embodies that tenfold. —GY
Strongly inspired, both in plot and color palette, by the films of Douglas Sirk, Todd Haynes’s Far from Heaven offers up pulpy melodrama with a heaping side of Connecticut fall. As a lonely housewife (Julianne Moore) strikes up a friendship with the son of her late gardener (Dennis Haysbert)—much t…