# Must-see foreign language films **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2001, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518 "2001-09-03T14:58:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skijumper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3e96dc/32.png) [@Skijumper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skijumper)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/1 "2001-09-03T14:58:00Z")
Okay, here’s the thing - the library where I work has decided to start a foreign-language video collection and I’ve been given the task of ordering about 500-800 titles to start us off. Presently, I’m talking to my library patrons to see what they want, and browsing through my catalogues like crazy. I’m still open to suggestions - so if any of you have recommendations, I’d love to hear them. They don’t have to be popular titles; maybe something obscure you saw and loved. Just give me the title and if possible, the director. I’ll try to track it down from there. ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/2 "2001-09-03T15:11:07Z")
Great thread. Might I suggest… **My Life as a Dog** - Wonderful Swedish coming of age story. **Pelle the Conqueror** - another gem about a father and son who emigrate from Sweden to Denmark, with Max Von Sydow. **The Commissar** - a Russian movie made during the 60’s that was shelved for years. Not a joyride, but worth seeing. It concerns a female commissar during the Russian Civil War who winds up pregnant and staying with a Jewish family. She is torn between her duty as a revolutionary and as a mother. **Europa Europa** - Harrowing fact-based story of a Jewish boy who masquerades as a German to evade capture and then is drafted into Hitler’s army And of course you can’t go wrong with **Das Boot** , the original German version of course. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/3 "2001-09-03T15:24:50Z")
Some basic choices: Bergman: “Persona,” “The Seventh Seal,” “Smiles of a Summer Night,” or “Shame.” Fellini: “8 1/2” “La Strada” Bunuel: “El,” “Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie” Philippe de Broca : “King of Hearts” Edouard Molinaro: “La Cage au Folles” Yves Robert: “The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe” Jacques Tati: “M. Hulot’s Holiday,” “Mon Oncle” Daniel Vigne: “The Return of Martin Guerre” Akira Kurosawa: “Ran,” “Yojimbo,” “Roshomon,” “Seven Samauri” Ang Lee: “The Wedding Banquet” “Eat Drink Man Woman” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” Volker Schlöndorff: “The Tin Drum” Wolfgang Peterson: “Das Boot” Roman Polanski: “Repulsion” Jean-Jacques Annaud: “Noirs et blancs en couleur” (the title, translated as “Black and White in Color” misses the pun – “en couleur” means “angry”). ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/4 "2001-09-03T15:30:51Z")
Well I don’t know the fancy-shmancy director’s name :D, but the Italian film _Leolo_ was damn good, and funny too. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/5 "2001-09-03T15:34:13Z")
The director was Jean-Claude Lauzon, which is a funny name for an Italian. (oops, it’s French Canadian! I’m an idiot.) ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/6 "2001-09-03T15:37:12Z")
I liked My Life As a Dog, Tampopo, and Cinema Paradiso. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/7 "2001-09-03T15:56:01Z")
Hmmm…I’m trying to think of films not previously mentioned… **Tampopo** , the best of Juzo Itami’s films (although the first **A Taxing Woman** movie was amusing too). **Diva** , a French film about a bike courier obsessed with an opera singer. **Subway** , an early Christopher Lambert flick. **Tout les Matins du Monde** , featuring Gerard Depardieu and his son and a lot of really good _viola da gamba_ music. **Life is Beautiful** and **Johnny Stechino** , both starring Roberto Benigni. **Taxi** , a French comic-action film. The sequel hit the theatres not all that long ago. If you’re planning on including more violent films, look at John Woo films such as **The Killer** and **Hard Boiled** , both starring Chow Yun Fat. And, of course, old Jackie Chan films like **Legend of the Drunken Master**. When I was studying French in high school (way back when), we used to watch the [Arsene Lupin](http://www.coolfrenchcomics.com/arsenelupin2.htm) films (AL being the name of the main character) about a master criminal who always outwitted the police. Actually, looking more closely at the website, we were probably watching the '70’s TV show with Georges Descrieres in film form (with subtitles); but still worth watching – family viewing, amusing, and easy to follow. I assume they’re out on video. I’m sure I’ll think of more very soon. ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/8 "2001-09-03T16:10:43Z")
_ **Central do Brasil / Central Station** _ by Walter Salles, starring Fernanda Montenegro. It’s about an boy whose mother is run over by a tram and killed, and a lady who writes letters for illiterates, but never sends them. They travel across Brazil looking for the boy’s father. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/9 "2001-09-03T16:16:01Z")
Fritz Lang’s WOMAN IN THE MOON (1929) M (1931) THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE (1933) Josef van Sternberg’s THE BLUE ANGEL (1930) Werner Herzog’s AGUIRRE: THE WRATH OF GOD (1972) THE ENIGMA OF KASPAR HAUSER (1974) STROSZEK (1977) FITZCARRALDO (1982) Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT (1972) ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL (1974) THE MARRIEAGE OF MARIA BRAUN (1979) Wim Wenders’s THE AMERICAN FRIEND (1977) WINGS OF DESIRE (1987) …so I like German movies, okay? ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/10 "2001-09-03T16:18:35Z")
In addition to the preceding, I would add the following titles : Jean Cocteau’s _La Belle et la Bête_, _Orphée_ Eisenstein’s _Battleship Potemkin_, _October_, _The Strike_, _Alexander Nevsky_ F.W. Murnau’s _Nosferatu_ Claude Jutras’_Mon Oncle Antoine_ Michel Brault’s _Les Ordres_ Jean-Claude Lauzon’s _Un Zoo La Nuit_ ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/11 "2001-09-03T16:20:19Z")
Oh hey I don’t think anyone’s said _Metropolis_. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/12 "2001-09-03T16:39:10Z")
Besides the Akira Kurasawa’s previously mentioned movies, **Dersu Uzala**. Lina Wertmuller: **The Seduction of Mimi Love and Anarchy Swept Away (by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August) Seven Beauties** ---
**Author:** ![frock75](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ad7895/32.png) [@frock75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frock75)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/13 "2001-09-03T16:40:10Z")
OK I’m probably going to mess up on the titles, but a couple of french movies come to mind. One was “My New Partner” It think that was the translation. It was so long ago. Anyway, it was about a crooked cop with a heart, who gets a young sidekick and shows him his way of being a cop. I know I’m oversimplifying. Another was part of a series.“Red”, “White” and “Blue”. This one had Julie Delpi in it. I think it was “White” Can’t forget “la Femme Nikita” “Il Postino”, Italian flick. I loved that movie. “Queen Margot” French?. Couldn’t tell you the director. Only saw it once but I loved it. ---
**Author:** ![katiekilldare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/838e76/32.png) [@katiekilldare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/katiekilldare)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/14 "2001-09-03T16:44:51Z")
_Run Lola Run_ is a breathtaking example of style over substance. It’s German. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/15 "2001-09-03T16:52:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by frock75 \* > **OK I’m probably going to mess up on the titles, but a couple of french movies come to mind. One was “My New Partner” It think that was the translation. It was so long ago. Anyway, it was about a crooked cop with a heart, who gets a young sidekick and shows him his way of being a cop. I know I’m oversimplifying.** Original title, _Les Ripoux_ > [@](#): > > **Another was part of a series.“Red”, “White” and “Blue”. This one had Julie Delpi in it. I think it was "White"** Sorry, can’t help you on that one > [@](#): > > **Can’t forget "la Femme Nikita"** The original French title is simply _Nikita_. > [@](#): > > \*\*“Queen Margot” French?. Couldn’t tell you the director. Only saw it once but I loved it. \*\* Don’t remember the director either, but the original title is _La Reine Margot_. You can also add the French biopic _Molière_. ---
**Author:** ![frock75](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ad7895/32.png) [@frock75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frock75)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/16 "2001-09-03T17:00:33Z")
Thanks detop. Now that I know “Les Ripoux” I just might go out and find it. If I recall correctly Billy Joel borrowed the haunting whistle throughout the score, for one of his songs. Could be wrong on that one. ---
**Author:** ![Saitou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Saitou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saitou)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/17 "2001-09-03T17:17:20Z")
Hirokazu Koreeda’s “After life” (Wandafuru raifu) Takeshi Kitano’s “Kikujiro no natsu” & “Hana-bi” Paul verhoeven’s “Soldier of Orange” George Sluizer’s “Spoorloos” (the Vanishing) [sub] all the Gendarme movies with Louis De Funès [/sub] ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/18 "2001-09-03T17:22:45Z")
Here are some _watchable_ foreign language films that haven’t been mentioned yet: **Z** by Costa-Gavras (great movie) **The Fourth Man** by Paul Verhoeven **Vampyr** , **Joan of Arc** and **Day of Wrath** by Carl Dreyer Clouzot’s **The Wages of Fear** **Betty Blue** (French film) **Festen** aka **The Celebration** (recent Danish film) **Show me Love** aka **F—ing Ammal** (recent Swedish) Bergman’s **The Virgin Spring** Polanski’s **Knife in the Water** A lot of people like Lars von Trier’s stuff (The Kingdom, Zentropa) but I’m not one of them. People might also expect to see films by John Woo and Wong KarWai; basically anything they made is OK. Of course, there are also a TON of famous exploitation/ horror films from Europe and Asia, but I’m assuming a library isn’t interested in that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/19 "2001-09-03T17:38:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Legomancer \* > \*\*Oh hey I don’t think anyone’s said _Metropolis_. \*\* I skipped over the silent era, as I figured someone sponsoring a foreign-language program would be more interested in films with spoken dialogue. Trust me, MOST of my favorite German flicks are silents. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518/20 "2001-09-03T17:50:57Z")
[Jean De Florette](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0091288) by **Claude Berri** [Manon of the Spring](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0091480) also by **Claude Berri** [Wings of Desire](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0093191) by **Wim Wender** [Murmur of the Heart](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0067778) by **Loius Malle** And almost anything by **Lina Wertmuller** [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-see-foreign-language-films/79518.md?page=2)