# 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:** 3
**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, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/41 "2018-02-21T20:54:30Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > A lot of my favorites listed here, I’m surprised no one’s listed _Spirited Away_ yet. Probably because most versions that went into theatrical circulation dubbed the film. Screening a subtitled Ghibli film is not completely unknown but still relatively uncommon. ---
**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, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/42 "2018-02-21T20:56:18Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > _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. In all fairness, this is pretty much a dialogue-free film (I don’t remember a single subtitle in it). There are vocalizations to be sure, but nothing that’s supposed to be recognizable and what few lines I do remember are by the English-speaker in the nightclub party. ---
**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, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/43 "2018-02-21T20:58:24Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Hmmmmm…I was WONDERING if silent movies counted, since you just change the title cards to distribute in other languages. > > I would also go for **Metropolis** , plus Paul Wegener’s starkly Expressionist **Der Golem** (1920), because when the cast and crew broke for lunch, everyone talked German. Yeah, I intentionally excluded them because the language issue really isn’t a barrier. Otherwise I would’ve included **I Was Born, But…** (Ozu)–made in the sound era but still a holdout to the technology. ---
**Author:** ![Pazu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pazu/32/15522_2.png) [@Pazu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pazu)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/44 "2018-02-21T21:02:53Z")
There are a lot of candidates for me, but one just jumped to the top of the list recently: [_Your Name_ (君の名は, _Kimi no Na wa_.)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Your_Name) ---
**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, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/45 "2018-02-21T21:23:59Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > _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. > [@MovieMogul](#): > > In all fairness, this is pretty much a dialogue-free film (I don’t remember a single subtitle in it). There are vocalizations to be sure, but nothing that’s supposed to be recognizable and what few lines I do remember are by the English-speaker in the nightclub party. OK, fine, I’ll take _Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday_. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/46 "2018-02-21T21:25:54Z")
My very best I’ve seen is probably _M_ (German language, 1931) There are a number that are more or less tied for second place: Das Boot (German, 1981) The 400 Blows (French, 1959) Come and See (Russian/Byelorussian, 1985) Downfall (German, 2004) Pan’s Labyrinth (Spanish, 2006) Amélie (French, 2001) A Separation (Farsi, 2011) ---
**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, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/47 "2018-02-21T22:27:05Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Isn’t the theme song in French? Yes, but the theme song is not dialogue, and knowing the lyrics (which are pretty nonsensical even in French) aren’t required to understand anything in the film. Ditto for the brief snatches of radio/TV broadcasts in the film, which are about establishing atmosphere rather than advancing the plot through narrative. AFAIK the only time in the film that one character actually speaks to another is in the very last scene, just before the credits roll. All he says is (paraphrasing from memory), “Is it over yet?” ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/48 "2018-02-21T22:43:43Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > After that, I’d go with _The Tall Black Man With One Black Shoe_. But have you tried _The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe_? 😉 Tons of great films being listed! ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/49 "2018-02-21T23:30:24Z")
The first movie I thought of was “Delicatessen”, but I probably like “Kung Fu Hustle” more (depending on what I’m in the mood for). ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/50 "2018-02-21T23:36:10Z")
Police Story Or any one of a dozen or so 80’s/90’s Jackie Chan action flicks. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/51 "2018-02-21T23:51:24Z")
_Amarcord_ (1974, Italy, dir. Federico Fellini) _Army of Shadows_ (1969, France/Italy, dir. Jean-Pierre Melville) _Chungking Express_ (1994, Hong Kong, dir. Kar Wai Wong) _Fantastic Planet_ (1973, France, dir. Rene Laloux) _La Jetée_ (1962, France, dir. Chris Marker) _La Strada_ (1954, Italy, dir. Federico Fellini) _M_ (1931, Germany, dir. Fritz Lang) _Seven Beauties_ (1976, Italy, dir. Lina Wertmuller) _Seven Samurai_ (1954, Japan, dir. Akira Kurosawa) _The Tree of Wooden Clogs_ (1978, Italy, dir. Ermanno Olmi) ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/52 "2018-02-22T02:06:17Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > …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_.) As mentioned, it’s a much more faithful translation than is usually the case. One of my not yet mentioned favorites [Bicycle Thieves (1948)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040522) was known for the longest time in the U.S. as The Bicycle Thief. As you can well imagine, if the title of one of the greatest films of all time is mistranslated, the problem is of translation to English rampant. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [_Betty Blue_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090563/). … I met this girl, and we decided to see it on our first date. It starts out with a very explicit sex scene. This cracked me up because I love this movie and think the opening scene means to make even European audiences uncomfortable. It’s a slow zoom on the final full two minutes of an intense lovemaking session, but is also the set up to one of the best opening lines in cinema: They…ummm…finish, and the male voiceover deadpans: I met Betty a week ago. ---
**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 22, 2018, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/53 "2018-02-22T02:11:04Z")
**Wendell Wagner @51:**. I’m not a huge Fellini fan, but **Amarcord** rates damn high for me, too. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/54 "2018-02-22T03:05:24Z")
The answer can only be resolved in a stand-up fight between Tampopo’s truck driving cowboy and the wily, generous and skilful Dersa Uzala. And big, big ups for Rolf de Heer’s Ten Canoes, and Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto. ---
**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 22, 2018, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/55 "2018-02-22T03:07:40Z")
> [@eunoia](#): > > is also the set up to one of the best opening lines in cinema: > > They…ummm…finish, and the male voiceover deadpans: > > I met Betty a week ago. I had known Betty for a week. We screwed every night. The forecast was for storms. Indeed. Hilarious! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/56 "2018-02-22T03:42:41Z")
Not just my favorite foreign language films, but my favorite films, period: 1. Tornatore’s _Cinema Paradiso_. 2. Truffaut’s \*L’Argent de poche \* (Small Change). I adore the Deluca brothers, but am very glad they’re somebody else’s children. Love the food lift to crafty brat Sylvie, with her screaming “j’ai faim, j’ai faim”. 3. Fellini’s _Amarcord_. Ah, Gradisca. Apparently I like films about children, just not films about American children. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/57 "2018-02-22T03:55:46Z")
> [@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. No, there’s English narration. But there is the “Italian Fantasia”, _Allegro Non Troppo_, a guilty pleasure and my favorite foreign film. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/58 "2018-02-22T04:41:52Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Hmmmmm…I was WONDERING if silent movies counted, since you just change the title cards to distribute in other languages… If _Playtime_ counts, then I’d think _Metropolis_ should too, as you’re not really watching either for spoken dialogue. Though _Metropolis_ with a full orchestra is just gorgeous. I’ll check out _Der Golem_, it sounds amazing. Kicking myself for forgetting _Downfall_. And I guess _Apocalypto_ does count, though I don’t know why I didn’t think of it as a foreign language film. I mean, the whole thing is in Yucatec; you’ve got serious bragging rights if you didn’t need the subtitles to understand the dialogue. Though it’s not really a dialogue driven story, is it? I mainly popped in because I forgot _[Ridicule](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117477/)_. It’s a very cute, playful French film about the Louis XVI court, and an outsider’s attempt to ingratiate himself within it so that he can get the court to fix some things in his home province. Not a “great” film, but quite good. I wanted to like _Come and See_ a lot more than I did. It’s ‘dreamier’ than a war picture IMHO should be, (probably why I couldn’t get into _Waltz with Bashir_) albeit the artillery barrage about 1/3 through the film is amazing, and compares well with [footage of the real thing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUvcdKGD-FM). ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/59 "2018-02-22T18:05:19Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > I’ve gotta go with [_Cinema Paradiso._](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095765/) > > Sweet movie, and it reminds me of a great time in my life. Same reason. It was one of the first films I took my wife to see when we met. …and I was a projectionist at the time so the film resonated with me. ---
**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 22, 2018, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266/60 "2018-02-22T18:12:51Z")
[_Johnny Stecchino_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102164/) is a good film. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-foreign-language-film/809266.md?page=4)