The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker (2010) is a British-Hungarian family fantasy you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Andrei Konchalovsky. Elle Fanning plays nine-year-old Mary, with Nathan Lane, John Turturro, Frances de la Tour, and Shirley Henderson filling out an unusually strong ensemble for a holiday film.

The setting is 1920s Vienna. Mary lives in a house full of beautiful objects and very little company — her parents love her but are always somewhere else, and her brother Max spends his energy on pranks. On Christmas Eve, Uncle Albert delivers a wooden nutcracker doll. That night, Mary's imagination unlocks a world where snowflake ballerinas actually spin, Christmas ornaments have opinions, and the Snow Fairy who rules this place looks unsettlingly like her mother.

Konchalovsky wasn't interested in filming a straightforward ballet adaptation — the result is something more idiosyncratic: a European-inflected holiday picture with theatrical production design and a slightly melancholy undertone beneath the sparkle. For viewers looking for a Christmas film that doesn't come from the usual Hollywood mold, stream The Nutcracker (2010) online on iFILM.