# What's your favorite foreign language film? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 21, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266 "2018-02-21T13:41:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/21 "2018-02-21T16:07:35Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > _Breathless_ (1959) Another favourite I forgot! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/22 "2018-02-21T16:16:40Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Hm, so many choices. Up high would be _Amelie_, the most feel-good movie ever, and _Princess Mononoke_, about a genuine and apparently-irreconcilable conflict between two good factions. > > Or, wait, does _Fantasia_ count? The only vocals are in Latin. Amelie was the first movie that came to mind. It’s generally not considered with the arty films of this genre, but I liked Trollhunter a lot. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/23 "2018-02-21T16:17:24Z")
The first one that came to mind was _Seven Samurai_, closely followed by _Rashomon_. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/24 "2018-02-21T16:27:57Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The first one that came to mind was _Seven Samurai_, closely followed by _Rashomon_. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/25 "2018-02-21T16:29:12Z")
[Il Sorpasso](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056512/) ---
**Author:** ![chaika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chaika/32/405_2.png) [@chaika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaika)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/26 "2018-02-21T16:43:19Z")
Far too many to choose just one! I love _Au revoir les enfants_, _The Lives of Others_, _Open City_, _Cache_, _Son of Saul_. And many others. As for Russian films, which is the category of “foreign” films that I have seen most of, some of my top choices are _Wings_, _We’ll Live until Monday_, _The Cranes Are Flying_, _The Ascent_, _Ivan’s Childhood_, _The Italian_, _How I Ended this Summer_. My favorite contemporary Russian director is Andrei Zvyagintsev. His films _The Return_ and _Elena_ are magnificent. His most recent film, _Loveless_, is also outstanding. I saw it last summer in Russia but I think it is playing in the US now (at least in some locations). ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/27 "2018-02-21T16:48:48Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I agree. Here are ones I especially like (in no particular order): > > _Betty Blue_ > _Das Boot_ > _Ran_ > _Rashomon_ > _Seven Samurai_ > > EDIT: OK, it looks like they happen to be in alphabetical order. Not intentional. > > . _Das Boot_ _Ran_ _Rashomon_ _Seven Samurai_ are my four faves. Good list. I have never seen- or even heard of “Betty Blue” sadly. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/28 "2018-02-21T17:10:26Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I have never seen- or even heard of “Betty Blue” sadly. [_Betty Blue_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090563/). Find the theatrical release. While the Director’s Cut gives it more depth, it kind of drags. The theatrical release is better, in my opinion. Funny thing about this film. I met this girl, and we decided to see it on our first date. It starts out with a very explicit sex scene. I was thinking she might be thinking that I took her to this film to get her ‘in the mood’. :eek: :smack: But she liked the film. I have the soundtrack. I think you should see it (the theatrical release) before reading the spoiler, even though it doesn’t give away the ending. The spoiler relates my emotional reaction upon seeing the film, and I think the film should be seen before reading how I felt. _Betty Blue_ started out funny. Then it was cute and funny. And then it was tragic. I was like, 'What? OMG! ☹ ’ ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/29 "2018-02-21T17:44:46Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [_Betty Blue_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090563/). Find the theatrical release. While the Director’s Cut gives it more depth, it kind of drags. The theatrical release is better, in my opinion. > > Funny thing about this film. I met this girl, and we decided to see it on our first date. It starts out with a very explicit sex scene. I was thinking she might be thinking that I took her to this film to get her ‘in the mood’. :eek: :smack: But she liked the film. I have the soundtrack. > > I think you should see it (the theatrical release) before reading the spoiler, even though it doesn’t give away the ending. The spoiler relates my emotional reaction upon seeing the film, and I think the film should be seen before reading how I felt. > > _Betty Blue_ started out funny. Then it was cute and funny. And then it was tragic. I was like, 'What? OMG! ☹ ’ In that last , Kinda sounds like Shultze Gets the Blues, which I liked and could be considered a Foriegn language film (tiny bit of English, mostly in German) ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/30 "2018-02-21T18:03:48Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > For me, it’s **Tampopo** , a Japanese comedy about a noodle shop. I’ve always been curious about playing with egg yolk, but I’m too easily squicked out to try it. My favorite is still _My Life as a Dog_. It just gets better for me every time I see it. I know, I’m pretty vanilla. Wait…do Lord of the Rings movies count? ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/31 "2018-02-21T18:22:12Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > So many, many choices. > > The first one that pops to mind today is Truffaut’s _[Day for Night](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070460/)_. (Which isn’t really the English translation of it’s original title: _La Nuit américaine_ or _The American Night_.) Actually, I believe it is - those are the English and French terms for the technique for filming in daylight to make the audience think it’s night. I would go for a Jacques Tati, but it’s mostly either non-verbal humour or partly English dialogue. As for which, I’d go for Jour de Fête, Les Vacances de M. Hulot, and Mon Oncle over the others. And Les Triplettes de Belleville (Belleville Rendezvous) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/32 "2018-02-21T18:26:34Z")
Rashomon and Akira in Japanese. Anything by Trueba in Spanish (hey, it’s foreign for you guys). Back when the world and I were young, A Philadelphia Story and Sergeant York got a lot of mileage on Saturday afternoons when there was nothing on TV (hey, they’re foreign for me!). ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/33 "2018-02-21T18:34:08Z")
I want to watch a Tati film right now. _Playtime_ for first choice. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2018, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/34 "2018-02-21T18:39:40Z")
**Les Triplettes de Belleville** was enormous fun. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/35 "2018-02-21T18:44:38Z")
In chronological order: **The Blue Angel** (Sternberg) **M** (Lang) **The Crime of M. Lange** (Renoir) **Children of Paradise** (Carne) **La Belle et la Bete** (Cocteau) **Germany Year Zero** (Rossellini) **The Earrings of Madame de…** (Ophuls) **The Seven Samurai** (Kurosawa) **La Dolce Vita** (Fellini) **Cleo from 5 to 7** (Varda) **Last Year at Marienbad** (Resnais) **The Leopard** (Visconti) **The Battle of Algiers** (Pontecorvo) **Persona** (Bergman) **Days and Nights in the Forest** (Ray) **The Bitter Tears of Petra van Kant** (Fassbinder) **The Spirit of the Beehive** (Erice) **The Marquise of O** (Rohmer) **Come and See** (Klimov) **The Sacrifice** (Tarkovsky) **Wings of Desire** (Wenders) **The Double Life of Veronique** (Kieslowski) **Underground** (Kusturica) **A Taste of Cherry** (Kiarostami) **In the Mood for Love** (Wong) **L’Enfant** (Dardenne/Dardenne) **The White Ribbon** (Haneke) **Timbuktu** (Sissako) **Mustang** (Erguven) There are a zillion more worth mentioning, but these are amazing for starters ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/36 "2018-02-21T19:03:22Z")
> [@MovieMogul](#): > > **M** (Lang) And another one! Peter Lorre whistling [_In The Hall Of The Mountain King_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCjc_OllHdE). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/37 "2018-02-21T19:18:08Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > **Les Triplettes de Belleville** was enormous fun. Does it really count as a foreign-language film if there’s only a single throwaway line of diegetic dialogue? ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/38 "2018-02-21T19:56:31Z")
_Amelie_ and _The Lives of Others_ ---
**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:** [February 21, 2018, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/39 "2018-02-21T19:58:58Z")
_Playtime_ is one of the greatest comedies every made – if you see in 70mm on a full movie screen. Otherwise many of the dozens of jokes per minute are lost. After that, I’d go with _The Tall Black Man With One Black Shoe_. For drama _Children of Heaven_ is pretty powerful _Osama_ has one of the most horrifying endings in the history of film. Luis Bunuel’s _El_ is a fascinating portrait of sexual obsession. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/40 "2018-02-21T20:42:32Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Does it really count as a foreign-language film if there’s only a single throwaway line of diegetic dialogue? Isn’t the theme song in French? A lot of my favorites listed here, I’m surprised no one’s listed _Spirited Away_ yet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266.md?page=3)