Best Foreign Films of All Time

Jean Renoir’s second sound film centers on an unhappy cashier (Michael Simon), who gets swindled by a prostitute and her pimp. The director’s seamless camera technique and pointed exploration of socio-economic themes would reappear in later work.

This French classic set an early benchmark for the body horror sub-genre and influenced a legion of subsequent directors. It follows a mad plastic surgeon (Pierre Brasseur) as he goes to murderous extremes while trying to repair his daughter’s disfigured face.

French filmmaker Robert Bresson brings his minimalist style and spiritual fixations to this acclaimed drama. It tells the story of an ascetic priest (Claude Laydu), whose earnest intentions are misconstrued by the local community.

The final installment in Andrzej Wajda’s informal war trilogy, this taut drama takes place on the last day of World War II. With orders to assassinate his former ally, a Polish man (Zbigniew Cybulski) experiences romance and doubt against a backdrop of political upheaval. Martin Scorsese has cited it as both a major influence and personal favorite.

Initially booed during its Cannes premiere, this Italian drama is now widely hailed as a masterpiece of European cinema. Eschewing traditional narrative technique, Antonioni makes groundbreaking use of visual composition. What appears to be the story of a woman’s disappearance becomes a purposefully ambiguous examination of modern life.

Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival, this French musical relays all its dialogue through song. Catherine Deneuve delivers a seminal performance as Geneviève Emery, who experiences love and loss over the course of several years. “If you don’t find this movie irresistible, you should get your eyesight checked,” wrote critic Adam Nayman for The Ringer.

Director F. W. Murnau adapted Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” without permission when bringing this groundbreaking silent film to life. Presented in the German expressionist style, it follows the vampire Count Orlok (Max Schreck) in his pursuit of another man’s wife.

Russian master Andrei Tarkovsky uses a classic sci-fi novel as means to explore psychological trauma in this haunting drama. The story takes place on a distant planet, where an alien life force gets into the heads of all those who encounter it.

One of the most famous films of the French New Wave, Godard’s masterpiece imparts effortless coolness as it upends sub-genre convention. It tells the story of a small-time crook (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and his love interest (Jean Seberg), who make casual plans in the wake of a deadly crime.

Set in Francoist Spain, this heralded drama follows a young girl into a fantasy world of her own creation. Her imaginative journey conjures the innocence of childhood, even as it comes up against a brutal reality.

Long before the blockbuster Disney adaptations there came Jean Cocteau’s dazzling take on the timeless fairy tale. Rife with dreamy visuals and mature themes, it tells the story of a young woman and her beastly captor.

Traumatized from the horrors of war, a soldier takes up the life of a Buddhist monk in this lyrical drama. It was nominated for Best Foreign Film in the category’s first year at the Academy Awards.

Claude Lanzmann’s stunning documentary, which clocks in at over nine hours, portrays the Holocaust from multiple perspectives. Approximately 11 years in the making, it relies exclusively on interviews and features without a single frame of archival footage.

This French romantic dramedy chronicles the fledgling marriage between a boat captain and a small-town girl. Balancing poetic visuals with realistic characters and situations, the film remains impressively modern even many decades after its release.

A benchmark of the silent era, this historical epic depicts the early years of French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte. The film’s innovative camerawork and editing techniques were revolutionary for their time, as was its prevailing sense of spectacle.

Director and star Jacques Tati reprises the role of Monsieur Hulot for this inventive comedy. Largely free of dialogue, it sends the clumsy and old-fashioned character on a series of misadventures through the modern world.

Featuring the world’s most frustrating dinner party, this surrealist satire follows a group of cultural elitists through various dream states. The Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw called it “an exotic and brilliant hothouse flower of a film.” It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Renoir’s foremost masterpiece uses interpersonal entanglements as a gateway to cunning satire. The story takes place during a weekend retreat and cleverly peels back the layers of upper class society. It was initially banned by the French government for “having an undesirable influence over the young.”

Actor Klaus Kinski delivers an almost too-convincing performance as Don Lope de Aguirre in this historical adventure. Set in the 16th century, it depicts the mad Spanish explorer on his perilous search for El Dorado. Production was beset by various troubles, including repeated clashes between Kinski and the crew.

Federico Fellini’s love letter to the Italian sweet life doubles as a subtle critique of modern society. At the heart of the story is a hedonistic journalist (Marcello Mastroianni), who drifts through Rome while indulging his various whims. In addition to its enduring title, the film is also the source of the term “paparazzi.”

Upon his arrival in a small coastal town, a theater troupe leader reunites with his former lover and estranged son. “The sheer beauty of Ozu’s exquisite (and typically eccentric) compositions and the expressive use of sound tell all you need to know about the characters, their emotions and relationships,” wrote critic Geoff Andrew for Time Out.

This magical realist drama puts a homegrown twist on “Romeo and Juliet” and remains an absolute milestone in the history of Ukranian cinema. Awash with kinetic camerawork, it centers on the romance between two people on opposite sides of a blood feud.

A series of haunting visuals sets the stage for this nightmarish drama, in which two women (Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann) undergo a bizarre psychological convergence. One of Bergman’s most complicated works, it consistently blurs the line between fantasy and reality. Cinephiles are still trying to decipher its many hidden meanings to this day.

Acclaimed director Luchino Visconti tells the story of a mother and her five sons, who move from rural southern Italy to the big city of Milan. When two of the brothers fall for the same girl, it threatens to tear the entire family apart.

A newlywed man (Jean-Louis Trintignant) turned political assassin is tasked with killing his former professor in this complex historical drama. Lush visuals interweave with anti-fascist and nationalist themes to create a cinematic tapestry that’s quite unlike any other.

Loosely based on a novel, this controversial dramedy sends a young nun on a reluctant visit to her widowed uncle. From this encounter comes a tale of relentless seduction, as the nun’s purity and faith is put to the test. Once deemed “blasphemous” by the Vatican, the film has survived attempted bans and censorships alike.

This Oscar-nominated drama follows a pair of earrings as they go from one person to the next, telling a story of love and despair in the process. Masterfully executed, it features stellar performances from the three lead stars – Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux, and Italian director Vittorio De Sica.

Fellini’s masterpiece juxtaposes semi-autobiographical elements with the occasional surrealist excursion, trailing a troubled filmmaker (Marcello Mastroianni) on his latest project. It was inspired by the director’s own bout of writer’s block, which makes for a recurring motif.

An angel named Damiel (Bruno Ganz) hovers over the city of Berlin in this fantasy drama from Wim Wenders. Weary of his isolation, Damiel becomes mortal and forges a romantic human connection. The film was remade in America as “City of Angels,” starring Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage.

Directed by France’s answer to Hitchcock, this gripping thriller puts a sadistic headmaster in the vengeful crosshairs of his two lovers. A twisty murder plot builds toward one final shocking reveal. It was remade in 1996 as “Diabolique” with Sharon Stone and Kathy Bates.

Master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa reinterprets Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” by setting the action in feudal Japan and tweaking story elements. Prodded by his ambitious wife, a warrior schemes and murders his way to a position of ultimate power. This film was a direct source of inspiration for director Joel Coen, who recently helmed his own version of the classic play.

Zhang Yimou’s adaptation of a 1990 novel is a “beautifully crafted and richly detailed feat of consciousness-raising,” wrote Janet Maslin for the New York Times. Set in 1920s China, it tells the story of a young woman who’s forced into marrying a wealthy lord. She’s soon scorned by the lord’s other wives, all of whom vye for his attention.

This silent era classic makes expert use of close-ups and facial expressions as it recounts the famous trial of Jeanne d’Arc. Stage actress Maria Falconetti delivers a fully committed and iconic performance in her one and only major film role.

After her family is killed by a Nazi air raid, a young girl learns to cope with the loss in this WWII drama. Boldly unsentimental, the film presents a world in which the harsh realities of adulthood compromise the innocence of youth.

This Spanish drama takes place in 1975 but encompasses multiple points of the Francoist era. Upon moving in with their aunt, three orphaned sisters must come of age in the wake of harrowing tragedy. It co-won the Grand Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival.

Truffaut’s directorial debut draws from personal experience and follows a young Parisian boy (Jean-Pierre Léaud) into a life of petty crime. It helped usher in the French New Wave, influencing contemporary filmmakers and future ones alike. On Sight and Sound’s list of the “100 Greatest Films of All Time,” it holds the #39 position.

Part sci-fi spectacle and part socio-economic parable, Lang’s expressionist epic takes place in the futuristic city of Metropolis. Just below the surface of a seeming utopia lies a much darker reality, where the lower class toils away for the benefits of those above ground. When adjusting for inflation, the film’s budget was approximately $200 million in today’s dollars.

A horrible crime is recounted from multiple perspectives in this iconic drama from Akira Kurosawa. It’s novel depiction of unreliable narration has been used across visual mediums ever since.

No stranger to Shakespeare, Kurosawa retells the story of “King Lear” within a medieval Japanese setting. After a warlord announces his retirement, his three sons do battle over their respective rights to his empire.

Bergman’s semi-autobiographical drama was initially conceived as a TV mini-series and then edited down for theatrical release. It’s now available in its original 312-minute runtime, making it one of the longest films in cinematic history. Winner of multiple Academy Awards, it portrays two siblings and their idiosyncratic family in early 20th-century Sweden.

Often cited as one of the greatest films ever made, Ozu’s complex drama follows an elderly couple from their small coastal village to big city Tokyo. Entailed in their journey is a stark examination of modern family life and the growing divide between generations. Critic Kevin Maher called it “a snapshot of postwar Japan in the midst of profound cultural change.”

History and fantasy collide in this sweeping drama, which drew inspiration from two stories by the poet Ueda Akinari. Against the war torn backdrop of 16th century Japan, two peasants embark on a perilous quest for great fortune. Quite popular in the Western world, the film helped introduce Japanese cinema to an international audience.

A pinnacle of the Italian neorealist movement, Vittorio De Sica’s understated drama was shot on location with untrained actors. Witness the harrowing story of a working class man and his son, whose entire livelihoods depend on the recovery of a stolen bicycle.

Long before the modern era there came this groundbreaking thriller from Fritz Lang, which sets a serial killer (Peter Lorre) loose in the city of Berlin. When the police fail to find a suspect, local criminals take matters into their own hands. On IMDb’s list of the Top 250 movies, this one lands at #94.

The final installment of a beloved trilogy continues the story of Apu (Soumitra Chatterjee), whose upbringing was chronicled in two previous works. Now a struggling writer, the 23-year-old experiences the thrill of romance and the pain of a shocking tragedy.

Kurosawa’s pensive drama follows an aging civil servant (Takashi Shimura) as he grapples with a terminal diagnosis. The story unfolds in two parts and doubles as a meditation on the meaning of life itself. Many consider it the director’s most empathic effort.

This historical drama has roots in ancient folklore and spins a tale of relentless perseverance. Set in feudal Japan, it finds a family being torn apart by elements beyond their control. Thus begins a long journey toward reacquaintance, which unfurls through a series of sweeping long takes.

A beautiful Parisian actress (Arletty) is courted by four different suitors in this sprawling French classic. Filmed in Nazi-occupied France, it was marketed as the country’s answer to “Gone With the Wind.” Marlon Brando once called it “maybe the best film ever made.”

Under siege by criminals, a small village hires a team of samurai for protection in this expansive epic. Replete with iconic characters and thrilling action sequences, it’s one of the most influential films ever made – serving as the basis for, among other things, the 1960 and 2016 films called “The Magnificent Seven.” It holds a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a similarly impressive score of 98 on Metacritic.

This whimsical comedy exhibits the lighter side of director Ingmar Bergman. Set in early 20th-century Sweden, it chronicles the romantic exploits of upper class couples during a weekend retreat. The story draws inspiration from a variety of sources, including Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Renoir’s “The Rules of the Game.”