European Films to See
I am considering these films for HUM211AA: Foreign Films: Classics.
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- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsCarmen MauraAntonio BanderasJulieta SerranoA television actress encounters a variety of eccentric characters after embarking on a journey to discover why her lover abruptly left her.A woman's lover leaves her, and she tries to contact him to find out why he's left. She confronts his wife and son, who are as clueless as she. Meanwhile her girlfriend is afraid the police are looking for her because of her boyfriend's criminal activities. They talk to a female lawyer, who turns out to be the lover's new lover, and everyone's path keeps crossing each other's in a very complicated and confusing manner.
- DirectorJirí MenzelStarsVáclav NeckárJosef SomrVlastimil BrodskýAn apprentice train dispatcher at a village station seeks his first sexual encounter and becomes despondent when he is unable to perform.An apprentice train dispatcher at a village station seeks his first sexual encounter and becomes despondent when he is unable to perform.
- DirectorJirí MenzelStarsJános BánMarián LabudaRudolf HrusínskýThe life of a small village runs on its own.Comedy about the people who inhabit a small town. For years the overbearing Pavek has endured Otik, the "town idiot," sharing his meals and the front seat of their dump truck. But Otik is such a sweet-natured fool that Pavek, exasperated as he becomes, always relents on his threats to find another partner. This Laurel and Hardy-like pair are at the heart of a comedy which finds humor in an abundance of everyday situations. The town doctor regularly wrecks his car because he's admiring the scenery, a romantic teenager develops a hopeless crush on his sister's schoolteacher, and an adulterous housewife and her boyfriend are just one step ahead of her suspicious, hot-headed husband.
- DirectorIvan PasserStarsKarel BlazekZdenek BezusekVera KresadlováOne of the most important films of the Czech New Wave 60s, it was ranked among the top ten domestic films of all time. In this original sad comedy set in a small town, two classmates meet each other for the first time in ten years. They are both musicians: one is a member of the regional symphony orchestra, while the other is a local music teacher who performs at funerals.One of the most important images of the Czech New Wave 60s, which was ranked among the top ten domestic films of all time. Feature debut screenwriter and director Ivan Passer is currently his only feature-length film, which was shot in Czechoslovakia. In this original sad comedy in a small town after ten years encounter two classmates - musicians: one is a member of the regional symphony orchestra, the other made it to the director of local music school puts family villa, playing at funerals ...
- DirectorPhilip KaufmanStarsDaniel Day-LewisJuliette BinocheLena OlinCentral Europe, 1968: A Czech doctor with an active sex life meets a woman who wants monogamy, and then the Soviet invasion further disrupts their lives.In 1968, a Czech doctor with an active sex life meets a woman who wants monogamy, and then the Soviet invasion further disrupts their lives.
- DirectorSusanne BierStarsMads MikkelsenSidse Babett KnudsenRolf LassgårdA manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-altering family secret.A manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-altering family secret.
- DirectorNiels Arden OplevStarsMichael NyqvistNoomi RapaceEwa FrölingA journalist is aided by a young female hacker in his search for the killer of a woman who has been dead for forty years.A journalist is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing -- or dead -- for forty years by a young female hacker.
- DirectorLasse HallströmStarsAnton GlanzeliusTomas von BrömssenAnki LidénIn the late '50s, young Ingemar learns a lot about life and himself when he is sent away from his sick mother to live with his aunt and uncle in a town full of eccentrics.A boy and his brother don't get along well. In order to let their ill mother rest, they're separated and sent each one with their relatives.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsLiv UllmannErland JosephsonAino TaubeTwo psychiatrists have their marriage tested when one suffers a mental breakdown.A sensitive exploration of the tragic irony of the psychiatrist suffering with mental illness. Dr. Jenny Isaksson is a psychiatrist married to another psychiatrist; both are successful in their jobs but slowly, agonizingly, she succumbs to a breakdown. Jenny is haunted by images and emotions from her past and eventually cannot function, either as a wife, a doctor or as an individual.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsHarriet AnderssonLiv UllmannKari SylwanWhen a woman dying of cancer in early twentieth-century Sweden is visited by her two sisters, long-repressed feelings between the siblings rise to the surface.When a woman dying of cancer in early twentieth-century Sweden is visited by her two sisters, long-repressed feelings between the siblings rise to the surface.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsHarriet AnderssonGunnar BjörnstrandMax von SydowRecently released from a mental hospital, Karin rejoins her emotionally disconnected family in their island home, only to slip from reality as she begins to believe she is being visited by God.Martin, a college professor, his wife Karin, Karin's seventeen year old brother Minus, and Karin and Minus' widowed father David have convened at the family's summer home on an island off the coast of Sweden to celebrate David's return from the Swiss Alps, where he was substantially completing his latest novel. The family has long lived a fantasy of they being a loving one, David's extended absences which are the cause of many of the family's problems. Without that parental guidance, Minus is at a confused and vulnerable stage of his life where he is a bundle of repressed emotions, most specifically concerning not feeling loved by his father and concerning the opposite sex. He is attracted to females as a collective but does not know how to handle blatant female sexuality, especially if it is directed his way. A month earlier Karin was released from a mental institution. Her doctor has told Martin that the likelihood that she will fully recover from her illness is low, her ultimate fate being that her mental state will disintegrate totally, although she has functioned well since her release. In his love for her, Martin has vowed to himself to see her through whatever she faces. As Karin begins to lose grip on reality, Minus is the one most directly affected, although it does bring out the issues all the men are facing with regard to their interrelationships.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsVictor SjöströmBibi AnderssonIngrid ThulinAfter living a life marked by coldness, an aging professor is forced to confront the emptiness of his existence.After living a life marked by coldness, an aging professor is forced to confront the emptiness of his existence.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsAnita BjörkEva DahlbeckMaj-Britt NilssonThe four wives of four brothers share stories of their marriages as they each wait for their husbands in a small, secluded cottage.Rakel, Marta, Karin and Annette are married to four brothers. While waiting in a summer cottage for their husbands to come home, they tell each other stories about their marriages. Rakel tells about the time she had an affair and confronted her husband with it. Marta's story is about how she at first refused to marry and had her child by herself. Karin tells about what happened when one time she and her husband got stuck in an elevator together. While the women tell their stories, Marta's younger sister Maj is planning to elope.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsBertil GuvePernilla AllwinKristina AdolphsonTwo young Swedish children in the 1900s experience the many comedies and tragedies of their lively and affectionate theatrical family, the Ekdahls.Two young Swedish children experience the many comedies and tragedies of their family, the Ekdahls.
- DirectorNuri Bilge CeylanStarsHaluk BilginerMelisa SözenDemet AkbagA hotel owner and landlord in a remote Turkish village deals with conflicts within his family and a tenant behind on his rent.Aydin, a former actor, runs a small hotel in central Anatolia with his young wife Nihal with whom he has a stormy relationship and his sister Necla who is suffering from her recent divorce. In winter as the snow begins to fall, the hotel turns into a shelter but also an inescapable place that fuels their animosities...
- DirectorFlorian Henckel von DonnersmarckStarsUlrich MüheMartina GedeckSebastian KochIn 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
- DirectorRitesh BatraStarsIrrfan KhanNimrat KaurNawazuddin SiddiquiA mistaken delivery in Mumbai's famously efficient lunchbox delivery system connects a young housewife to an older man in the dusk of his life as they build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox.A mistaken delivery in Mumbai's famously efficient lunchbox delivery system connects a young housewife to an older man in the dusk of his life as they build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox.
- DirectorJan SvankmajerStarsKristýna KohoutováCamilla PowerA surrealistic revision of Alice in Wonderland.A surrealistic revision of Alice in Wonderland.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsMargit CarstensenHanna SchygullaKatrin SchaakeA troubled fashion designer strikes up a romance with a much younger woman.Petra von Kant is a successful fashion designer -- arrogant, caustic, and self-satisfied. She mistreats Marlene (her secretary, maid, and co-designer). Enter Karin, a 23-year-old beauty who wants to be a model. Petra falls in love with Karin and invites her to move in. The rest of the film deals with the emotions of this affair and its aftermath. Fassbinder tells his story in a series of 5 or 6 long scenes with extended uses of a single camera shot and deep focus.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsHans HirschmüllerIrm HermannHanna SchygullaHans Epp is a self-destructive man who lives a dissatisfied life. He tries to find meaning as a fruit vendor, but a heart attack impedes his ability to work, which turns his dissatisfaction into despair.Hans is a street fruit peddler and born-loser. His choice of career upsets his bourgeois family, causing him to turn to drinking and violence. After recovering from a debilitating heart attack, his business finally begins to take off. However the more he becomes a credit to his family, the more depressed he becomes. One sociable day, while toasting his friends and family, he decides to drink himself to death.
- DirectorIstván SzabóStarsKlaus Maria BrandauerIldikó BánságiKrystyna JandaIn early-1930s Germany, a passionate stage actor faces a dilemma: renounce his apolitical stance and comply with the Reich's doctrine, or face oblivion. But, Faustian bargains never end well. What is the price of success?A German stage actor finds unexpected success and mixed blessings in the popularity of his performance in a Faustian play as the Nazis take power in pre-WWII Germany. As his associates and friends flee or are ground under by the Nazi terror, the popularity of his character supercedes his own existence until he finds that his best performance is keeping up appearances for his Nazi patrons.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsEddie ConstantineHanna SchygullaVolker SpenglerA wildly anarchic satire of urban guerrilla warfare in which a band of leftist radicals inadvertently become puppets of the West German government, which uses them to justify its authoritarian policies.A mogul merrily funds terrorists to boost his computer sales, by panicking West German government and industry c. 1980, as the third generation of Western European left-wing activists forms, after crippling of the violent Red Army Faction. Released in 1979, largely unavailable until 2004. International kapitalist PJ Lurz's secretary is a gang member, while her Polizeikommissar father-in-law/lover hired Lurz' corporate security force.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsBrigitte MiraEl Hedi ben SalemBarbara ValentinA lonely widow meets a much younger Moroccan worker in a bar during a rainstorm. They fall in love, to their own surprise and to the outright shock of their families, colleagues, and drinking buddies.An almost accidental romance is kindled between a German woman in her mid-sixties and a Moroccan migrant worker around twenty-five years younger. They abruptly decide to marry, appalling everyone around them.