The Merchant of Four Seasons (1971)

A domestic tragedy that feels like a pressure cooker with the lid on. The Merchant of Four Seasons shows how respectability can bruise in small, repetitive ways. Nothing explodes — it accumulates. We keep thinking about routine as a trap.

Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Adjacent films on this list worth circling next: Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979), Rocco and His Brothers (1960).