20 Foreign Language Movies You Must See Before You Die

18. Sans Soleil

City Of God
Argos Films

Country: France.

Plot: An experimental documentary about memory and perception, which consists of a female narrator reading letters from a (fictional) cameraman.

It's arguable that Britain is the best country for documentaries, but there are still many wonderful foreign documentaries, including this unforgettable French work which meditates on human memory.

Wickedly smart, incredibly original and full of stunning cinematography, this is one of the most innovative and interesting documentary films you'll ever watch and it will continue provoking a hell of a lot of thought many days after you see it. It might blur the line between documentary and fiction a bit since the narration consists of letters from a fictional character, but there's still a very, very strong argument to be made that this is one of the best feature-length documentaries ever made.

Sadly, this is also an obscure film which not enough people have seen, so they're really missing out on something special.

In this post: 
City-of-God
 
Posted On: 
Contributor

Film Studies graduate, aspiring screenwriter and all-around nerd who, despite being a pretentious cinephile who loves art-house movies, also loves modern blockbusters and would rather watch superhero movies than classic Hollywood films. Once met Tommy Wiseau.