I'm not a movie critic, so it's hard not to be vague, I was just reporting on my own take and experience.

For a better arthouse movie, someone in this thread mentioned https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Bye,_Lenin! which was indeed excellent.

For better directing and acting, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Stalin used real characters in a real situation, though with a dark-comedic take. Absolutely awesome.

No worries. I'm actually not a huge fan of art films, which might explain my confusion. I tend to like traditional dramas about believable characters and situations, and I just thought of The Lives of Others as that sort of thing, aside from it being German language. But every year, fewer dramas like that come out, so I am probably showing my age.