My International Cinema List

Cinema Paradiso

Writing my last post got me thinking about the foreign language films that I love the most. I'm going to have Sweetie make his own list, but here are my favorites. Try to always get the widescreen subtitled versions whenever possible.

1. Cinema Paradiso--I love this film. It's so sweet, funny, redemptive, and heartbreaking. I don't care for the Nuovo version, but the original is almost perfect.

2. Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring--two-part Marcel Pagnol story filmed in Provence, Emmanuelle Beart looks like Aphrodite, mistaken identities, tragedy, redemption, gorgeous.

3. Fanny Trilogy (Marius/Fanny/Cesar)--another Pagnol series, it's a sweet, sad story of true love interrupted. Filmed in the 1930s, it's beautiful.

4. Das Boot--Go for the subtitled on this one for sure. Amazing film, so passionate, one of the few to make you cry for the Germans during WW2. Fabulous music.

5. A Room With A View--technically not a foreign language film, but Merchant-Ivory makes it look like one. I adore this film and have seen it tons of times. Funny, romantic, makes me want to move to Italy. Not depressing like other E.M. Forster stories. Helena Bonham-Carter, Julian Sands, Daniel Day Lewis--can't go wrong.

6. Henry V--still a foreign film since much is in French. Shakespeare, takes place during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Tragic, gorgeous score, heartbreaking, funny, romantic in the midst of all the blood and destruction. Whenever one of my kids says they don't know something, I always say, "Well, do any of your neighbors know?" which comes directly from this play.

7. Not One Less--so sweet, a teenage teacher travels to a big city to rescue a student gone astray. Beautiful, funny, sweet.

8. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg--sad, sweet story of doomed romance. Beautiful colors and music. It was the first foreign film Elvira read all the subtitles for, and she was only seven. So proud!

9. Cyrano de Bergerac--Gerard Depardieu et la belle Anne Brochet (so lovely). You know the story, but this is the best version, in my opinion.

10. Le Comte de Monte Cristo--another Gerard Depardieu fav, this time a four-part French miniseries. Much more faithful version than the 2002 film with Jim Caviezel, though that's great, too. It's long, but worth it.

I could make a list of about 50, but I'll stop here. If you want more suggestions, visit the IC site and check out the archives.