All Seventy-Seven Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Winners (with links to full reviews for sixty-three)
Nov 29 '04 (Updated Dec 19 '05)
The Bottom Line Use this guide to explore the Cannes Festival Palme d'Or winners and to access easily Epinions reviews for all those currently available in America.
I'm placing this review in the Top-Ten All-Time Films category for lack of a better location. I don't claim that the Cannes Festival Palme d'Or winners include the top-ten all-time films. They certainly do include films that were very highly regarded by a jury of experts. I intend this list mainly as a reference list for readers looking for ideas to enrich their film-viewing experience. I have reviewed half of the seventy-seven Palme d'Or winners myself. Another thirteen are out-of-print, at least in America, and twelve of those are also not included in the Epinions database. Some of those may be available in Europe. All those out-of-print won the award in 1975 or earlier. For the remaining twenty-five, I've included links to reviews by other Epinions reviewers. Twenty-nine of the award winners are in English, of which only one is no longer available. I've reviewed only three of the English language films myself, relying on other reviewers for the remaining twenty-four. I've reviewed all but one of the available films in languages other than English.
For more great award winning foreign films, see these lists:
All Seventy Venice Film Festival Best Film Winners
All Fifty-Six Best Foreign Film Oscar Winners
New York Film Critics' Circle Awards for Foreign Films (1935-2004)
Los Angeles Film Critics' Award Winners in the Best Foreign Film Category
National Society of Film Critics' Awards for Non-English Language Films
All One-hundred and Six BAFTA Award-Winning Films
London Critics' Circle Awards for Best Foreign Film
British Films Selected by the London Critics' Circle as Best Film or Best British Film
For more Academy Award Winnings Films and Actresses, see these lists:
Celebrating the Oscars: All Seventy-Seven Best Picture Oscar Winners (with links to full reviews)
Celebrating the Oscar Divas: All Seventy-Seven Best Actress Oscar Winners (with links to full reviews)
The Cannes Film Festival is arguably the world's most prestigious film festival, making its top award, the Palme d'Or a highly coveted prize. The festival is held in the small resort town of Cannes in southern France. It draws stars, directors, producers, critics, and plain old movie-lovers, ensuring that there's plenty of business that transpires along with the social activities and film screenings.
The idea for a festival in France originated just prior to World War II because the awards at the Venice Film Festival were "rigged" in 1939 for the glorification of Fascism and Nazism. Jean Renoir's masterful Grand Illusion was passed over for the Golden Bear in preference for two films, Olympia produced under the auspices of Goebbels's Ministry of Propaganda and the entirely forgettable Luciano Serra Pilota directed by Mussolini's son! All of the jury members from France, America, and Britain walked out and the idea of a new festival in France was soon being floated. An event was actually scheduled and opened September 1st, 1939, but only the opening night transpired before the rest of the event had to be canceled when France joined Britain in declaring war on Germany. Thus, the first full festival didn't come to fruition until 1946, when the festival was held from September 20th to October 5th. With a backlog of films to consider from throughout the war years, the first Cannes Festival in 1946 awarded eleven Palme d'Ors, while no more than two have been issued in any year since.
All Seventy-Seven Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Winners:
1939 Union Pacific Country: U.S. Director Cecil B. DeMille (See my Review.) My Rating: * *
Joel McCrea and Barbara Stanwyck starred in this film about the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad. McCrea's character, Jeff Butler, is the supervisor of construction while Stanwyck's character provides the love interest. Butler has to combat a rival's effort to distract his workers with gambling, fast women, and liquor as well as a robbery and an attack by Indians. Not all lists of Palme d'Or winner include a winner for 1939.
1946 Torment Country: Sweden Director Alf Sjöberg (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
The story concerns the students and staff of a repressive Swedish boys' high school and the sadistic Latin teacher, Caligula. This film also provided Ingmar Bergman with his first film credit – as scriptwriter.
1946 Lost Weekend Country: U.S. Director Billy Wilder (See lemon lime's Review.) lemon lime's Rating: * * * *
This film of great power concerns a writer suffering from writer's block and too much fondness for alcohol. Ray Millard has the lead role.
1946 The Red Earth Country: Hungary Director Bodil Ipsen & Lau Jr. Lauritzen (This film is out-of-print in America though it remains in the Epinions database at Red Earth.) Rating: Not available
This film relates to the Danish resistance during World War II. Some of the members of the resistance are caught and imprisoned and the informer inside the group has to be uncovered.
1946 Lowly City Country: India Director Chetan Anand (This film is out-of-print in America and not included in the Epinions database.) Rating: Not available
One of the first important films from India. It deals with class distinctions and features Kamini Kaushal, who went on to become a star in Indian cinema.
1946 Brief Encounter Country: U.K. Director David Lean (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
Two rather dull and ordinary people fall passionately in love to the strains of Rachmaninoff. Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard star.
1946 Maria Candelaria Country: Mexico Director Emilio Fernandez (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
From the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, Maria Candelaria (Dolores Del Rio) is a beautiful young woman of Xochimilco, hated by the villagers for no better reason than the fact that her mother was a prostitute. Maria is loved by Lorenzo Rafael (Pedro Armendáriz), but the desire of the would-be lovers to marry is thwarted by their vindictive neighbors.
1946 The Turning Point Country: U.S.S.R. Director Fridrikh Markovitch Ermler (This film is out-of-print in America and not included in the Epinions database.) Rating: Not available
Mikhail Derzhavin stars as General Muravyov.
1946 La Symphonie Pastorale Country: France Director Jean Delannoy (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
In the Swiss Alps, a pious Protestant pastor assumes responsibility for a blind and virtually uncivilized child when her mother and only living relative dies. He devotes himself to teaching her how to survive but when she grows into a beautiful young woman, he inadvertently falls in love with her, neglecting his wife and family.
1946 The Last Chance Country: Switzerland Director Leopold Lintberg (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
Two allied prisoners escape from a German train in northern Italy en route to a POW camp. Their best chance at survival is to reach Switzerland, but they soon find themselves responsible for the lives of an assortment of refugees with a similar ambition.
1946 Men Without Wings Country: France Director M. Cap (This film is out-of-print in America and not included in the Epinions database.) Rating: Not available
No information available.
1946 Open City Country: Italy Director Roberto Rossellini (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
Rossellini set out to show the bravery of Italian resistance fighters operating in Rome during Nazi occupation. Using just two professional actors, Open City brought Italian neo-realism to international attention.
The festival was canceled in 1948 due to financial difficulties, but in 1949 the event moved into a new facility, the Palais Croisette, were it was held for thirty-four years.
1949 The Third Man Country: U.K. Director Carol Reed (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * * *
A gripping mystery involving a novelist who has been promised a job in Vienna by an old friend, only to discover that the man was killed in a suspicious accident shortly before the novelist's arrival. Orson Welles does a classic turn as the villain.
The Festival was canceled in 1950 due to lack of funding. Beginning in 1951, the event was held in April in order to compete more effectively with the festivals held in Berlin and Venice.
1951 Miss Julie Country: Sweden Director Alf Sjöberg (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
Based on a play by Strindberg, Miss Julie (Anita Björk) is the haughty twenty-five year old daughter of a Count, born into privilege in a highly stratified society. It is Midsummer Eve, and Julie takes a sordid interest in her father's valet.
1951 Miracle in Milan Country: Italy Director Vittorio De Sica (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
As an infant, Toto had been found abandoned in a cabbage patch by Old Lolatta, a cheerful and eccentric woman. When she passes away, Toto is sent to an orphanage. Released at eighteen, Toto is unable to find work and is soon living in a lot where the homeless sleep in cardboard shelters. Toto gradually becomes the community's unofficial leader as they resist the greedy landowner's attempt to evict them.
1952 Othello Country: U.S. Director Orson Welles (See BrianKoller's Review.) BrianKoller's Rating: * * * *
This version of the Shakespearean tragedy was directed by and stars Orson Welles. Welles spent four years scrapping together the funds to finish this film.
1952 Two Cents Worth of Hope Country: Italy Director Renato Castellani (This film is out-of-print in America and not included in the Epinions database.) Rating: Not available
A drama starring Maria Fiore as Carmella.
1953 The Wages of Fear Country: France Director Henri-Georges Clouzot (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * * *
Clouzot's 1952 suspense thriller Wages of Fear (La Salaire de la Peur to the French) is one of his most highly regarded masterpieces. In a run-down town in rural Brazil, with a population comprised of European outcasts and indigenous blacks, poverty is rampant. When an oilrig fire breaks out 300 miles away, the oil company requires four volunteers to truck nitroglycerin 300 miles over rough and rutted roads to combat the fires.
In 1953, Bridget Bardot wowed the assembled multitudes with her first appearance at Cannes.
1954 Gate of Hell Country: Japan Director Teinosuke Kinugasa (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
Moritoh, a samurai warrior, bravely escorts Lady Kesa, a lady-in-waiting to the empress, as they create a decoy to allow the escape of the royal family. After the rebellion is suppressed, Moritoh will be granted a request as reward. He asks for the hand of Lady Kesa in marriage, only to discover she is already married to another samurai and trusted member of the Imperial Guard. Moritoh refuses to withdraw his request and thus sets himself as rival to Lady Kesa's husband.
The palm leaf motif was adopted for the festivals top award in 1954, since palm trees were already a prominent feature of the city. The former top award, the "Grand Prix International," was renamed the "Palme d'Or." That same year added another kind of luster to Cannes as well, when a French starlet, Simone Sylva, bared her breasts on the beach at Cannes, starting a trend that continued with the likes of Bridget Bardot.
1955 Marty Country: U.S. Director Delbert Mann (See tbrown's Review.) tbrown's Rating: * * * * *
This film also won the Academy Award for Best Film and an Oscar for lead actor Ernest Borgnine. Borgnine plays an unattractive butcher from the Bronx who still lives with his fussy mother and hangs out with an equally pathetic friend. Borgnine looks for love at a dance, but strikes out until he spots an equally homely schoolteacher. Can the relationship withstand his mother's disapprobation?
1956 The Silent World Country: Italy/France Director Jacques-Yves Cousteau & Louis Malle (This film is out-of-print in America and not included in the Epinions database.) Rating: Not available
This is a color documentary film, written by Cousteau and co-directed by Cousteau and Malle. Cousteau was a pioneer in underwater filming.
1957 Friendly Persuasion Country: U.S. Director William Wyler (See WilliamJones's Review.) WilliamJones's Rating: * * * *
This film starring Gary Cooper received multiple Academy Award nominations but no trophies. It is the story of a Quaker family living in Indiana in 1862 who would just as soon sit out the Civil War.
1958 The Cranes are Flying Country: U.S.S.R. Director Mikheil Kalatozishvili (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * * *
This lovely Soviet film tells the story of two lovers, Boris and Veronica, torn apart by World War II. When Veronica loses hope that Boris will return, she marries his less-worthy cousin Mark, bringing pain and disappointment to Boris's family and, ultimately, herself.
1959 Black Orpheus Country: Brazil Director Marcel Camus (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * * *
Black Orpheus is the familiar legend of Orpheus transposed into Rio during Carnival time. Few films are as colorful and energetic. This one bursts with vitality with the lively Carnival atmosphere and the pulsating bongo rhythms of Latin American music.
1960 La Dolce Vita Country: Italy Director Federico Fellini (See thevoid99's Review.) Thevoid99's Rating: * * * * *
Although I'm not personally a fan of this film, my view is the minority one. Marcello Mastroianni gives a superlative performance in this classic about decadence and ennui among the Italian jet-set of the fifties.
1961 The Long Absence Country: France/Italy Director Henri Colpi (This film is out-of-print in America and not included in the Epinions database.) Rating: Not available
This drama stars Alida Valli as Thérèse Langlois.
1961 Viridiana Country: Spain Director Luis Buñuel (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * * *
Viridiana is a virtuous young woman living in a convent in Spain and about to take her vows as a nun, when she is urged by her superior to visit her closest living relative, the widowed Don Jaime (Fernando Rey), at his estate. The lonely Don Jaime asks Viridiana to oblige him by trying on his deceased wife's wedding gown, and the young niece does so. Later, the aroused Don Jaime drugs Viridiana, planning to ravish her while she is unconscious. Though he falters, he later commits suicide out of guilt and shame and Viridiana inherits the estate along with Don Jaime's prodigal and pragmatic son, Jorge.
1962 Keeper of Promises Country: Brazil/Portugal Director Anselmo Duarte (This film is out-of-print in America and not included in the Epinions database.) Rating: Not available
A poor man named Ze living in rural Brazilian values his donkey above all else. When it takes ill, Ze prays for its recovery and promises God that he will carry a cross all the way to the state capital if his donkey recovers. The donkey does recover and Ze dutifully begins his journey.
1963 The Leopard Country: Italy Director Luchino Visconti (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
In this period epic, contemporaneous with the American Civil War, Prince Fabrizio Salina (Burt Lancaster) of Sicily is a proud man of class and distinction who lives in an era in which his way of life is slowly fading. The Prince swallows his pride and agrees to a marriage of opportunity between his favorite nephew, Tancredi, and the daughter of a small-time mayor who is in a position to exploit the land reforms in the new order.
1964 The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Country: France Director Jacques Demy (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * * *
For this unique film, Demy invented a bold approach in which every word of dialog is sung in the manner of the recitative of opera. There are no big production numbers or dance routines. The musical score written by Michel Legrand to the lyrics of Demy are beautifully integrated and carry the emotional weight of the film.
1965 The Knack Country: U.K. Director Richard Lester (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
This is a bedroom farce set in the mod era of "Swinging London" from the director of the Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night. It features witty one liners and clever physical humor.
1966 A Man and a Woman Country: France Director Claude Lelouch (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
This sentimental romance was such a commercial success that it launched a genre that continues down to present times in, for example, many of the Meg Ryan films. In addition to the Palme d'Or at Cannes, Lelouch's fine love story took both the Oscar and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film. Both the man and the woman are recovering from painful relationships, complicating their new one.
1966 The Birds, the Bees, and the Italians Country: Italy/France Director Pietro Germi (This film is out-of-print in America and not included in the Epinions database.) Rating: Not available
Set in an imaginary small town in Italy, this film is based on the idea that everyone fools around but nobody talks about it openly because relationships in small Italian towns are governed by the appearance of decency.
1967 Blow-Up Country: U.K./Italy Director Michelangelo Antonioni (See my Review) My Rating: * * * * *
A fashionable young photographer, casually shooting pictures in a public park, accidentally photographs a murder in progress, not realizing as much until the photos are later developed and enlarged. This film has become something of a cult classic.
In 1968, the Festival had to be closed down because several leading filmmakers staged a protest over the firing of Henri Langlois from Cinématèque Française by the French government. Jean-Luc Godard, Roman Polanski, and other supporters of Langlois literally hung on the curtains to prevent the screening of films. After the event was canceled, many of the participants were stranded in France because the transportation facilities had been shut down due to general strikes.
1969 If . . . . Country: U.K. Director Lindsay Anderson (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
After a summer of tasting London's counterculture, Mick has to return to the oppressive atmosphere of a British boarding school where brutality predominates. Mike's petty rebellions escalate into outright warfare between the students and the administration after Mike is administered a beating in the name of school spirit.
1970 M*A*S*H Country: U.S. Director Robert Altman (See AliventiAsylum's Review.) AliventiAsylum's Rating: * * * * *
This film was set during the Korean War but released during the Vietnam War, ensuring that its anti-war message was timely and relevant. By outrageous antics and sight gags, this film effectively reveals the general madness of war. M*A*S*H received five Academy Award nominations and one trophy, for Best Adapted Screenplay.
1971 The Go-Between Country: U.K. Director Joseph Losey (See My Review.) My Rating: * * * *
Harold Pinter provided the screenplay adaptation of a novel by L.P. Hartley. The elderly Leo Colston recalls his role as go-between in a love triangle involving a beautiful young woman engaged to an aristocrat but in love with a lowly farmer.
In 1971, the Festival celebrated its 25th anniversary by awarding a special "Légion d'Honneur" prize to Charlie Chaplin.
1972 The Working Class Goes to Heaven Country: Italy Director Elio Petri (This film is out-of-print in America and not included in the Epinions database.) Rating: Not available
This film stars Petri regular Gian Maria Volontié as a lathe operator named Lulù Massa, whose fast work pace is threatening to the other workers in a factory, since they are paid by the piece. Lulù feels exploited by management but ignores the workers movement until he loses a finger in an accident.
1972 The Mattei Affair Country: Italy Director Francesco Rosi (This film is out-of-print in America and not included in the Epinions database.) Rating: Not available
Enrico Mattei fought against the Nazis as a freedom-fighter and rose in post-war Italy as an investor in a public gas company and, later, as head of a state agency charged with developing oil resources. He died when his private plane crashed under suspicious circumstances.
1973 The Mistake Country: U.K. Director Alan Bridges (This film is out-of-print in America and not included in the Epinions database.) Rating: Not available
This British drama stars Sarah Miles, Robert Shaw, Peter Egan, and Elizabeth Sellars. As best as I can tell, this is the same film known as The Hireling (same director, same year, same characters, same stars, same plot). Robert Shaw plays a very correct chauffeur who helps Lady Franklin, played by Miles, overcome her depression after her husband's death, but the class distinctions remain inviolable.
1973 Scarecrow Country: U.S. Director Jerry Schatzberg (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
Max (Gene Hackman) and Francis (Al Pacino) are a couple of drifters who meet by chance while hitchhiking at the same spot on a country highway. Each is traveling with a dream. Max plans to open a carwash in Pittsburgh while Francis hopes to meet the child he abandoned when his girlfriend became pregnant five years earlier. Nearly penniless, they make there way across country from California to Denver and Detroit.
1974 The Conversation Country: U.S. Director Francis Ford Coppola (See macresarf1's Review.) macresarf1's Rating: * * * * *
Harry (Gene Hackman), a surveillance expert, takes any job that comes along, if the price is right, until he discovers that his current anonymous client may be planning to murder the couple (the man's wife and her lover) who are the targets of Harry's eavesdropping. This Coppola film received three Academy Award nominations as well as the Palme d'Or.
1975 Chronicle of the Years of Fire Country: Algeria Director Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina (This film is out-of-print in America and not included in the Epinions database.) Rating: Not available
This film provides a moving portrayal of Algeria's struggle for independence from French colonial rule. An Algerian peasant migrates from his drought-stricken village and becomes involved in the resistance movement leading up to the Algerian War of Independence.
1976 Taxi Driver Country: U.S. Director Martin Scorsese (See thevoid99's Review.) thevoid99's Rating: * * * * *
Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) is a Vietnam veteran, an insomniac, and a taxi driver in New York City who despises the squalor he sees around him but spends his off-hours in a porno theater. He becomes obsessed with "rescuing" a twelve-year-old prostitute from her situation, becoming a vicious killer in the process. Besides its three Academy Award nominations, Taxi brought Scorsese into the public's awareness.
1977 Padre Padrone Country: Italy Director Paolo & Vittorio Taviani (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
Based on an autobiographical memoire by Gavino Kedda, this film has young Gavino, son of a shepherd, being yanked from school by his father, despite the fact that elementary education is supposed to be compulsory. Gavino has to assume the duties of a shepherd in a remote highland pasture, spending most of his time in solitude. Despite this unpromising start in life, Gavino ultimately attends the University in Sardinia and earns a doctorate in glottology, demonstrating the emancipating power of education.
1978 Tree of the Wooden Clogs Country: Italy/France Director Ermanno Olmi (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
This intriguing mix of rosy nostalgia and harsh realism provides a glorious portrait of peasant life in northern Italy of the late 19th century. The story follows events in the lives of five families of sharecroppers in a rural commune in which all property and livestock are owned by the wealthy landowner, with whom the peasants must share two-thirds of what they produce. It is a life made endurable only through the support the community members derive from one another and their religion.
In 1978, a Golden Camera award was added to the Festival for best first film.
1979 Apocalypse Now Country: U.S. Director Francis Ford Coppola (See George Chabot's Review.) George Chabot's Rating: * * *
This striking and controversial depiction of the horrors of the Vietnam War follows an Army Captain (Martin Sheen) assigned to find and kill a renegade Green Beret Colonel who has installed himself as a kind of god among a remote group of native warriors. Nominated for a slew of Academy Awards, it took the trophies for Best Sound and Best Cinematography.
1979 The Tin Drum Country: Germany Director Volker Schlöndorff (See my Review.) My Rating: * * *
Based on Nobel Laureate Gunter Grass's celebrated 1959 novel by the same name, this film is a fanciful but chilling portrayal of the time period encompassing the rise and fall of the Third Reich. In Danzig, as World War II approaches, the three-year-old Oskar decides he will grow no more and throws himself down the basement stairs to provide the pretext for dwarfism. Oskar's tin drum becomes his one inseparable companion as he and his relatives plunge into the rising tide of Nazi domination and Oskar later confronts coming-of-age issues from a unique vantage point.
1980 All That Jazz Country: U.S. Director Bob Fosse (See skbreese's Review.) skbreese's Rating: * * * *
Joe Gideon is a New York choreographer who works hard and plays even harder. Attempting to juggle preparation of a new musical, editing a new movie, and the needs of an ex-wife, daughter and lover along with smoking, drinking, and popping pills, Joe inevitably succumbs to exhaustion and heart attack. During the cardiac surgery, Joe hallucinates wild musical numbers that metaphorically sum up his life. This film also received eight Academy Award nominations and took home four trophies.
1980 Kagemusha Country: Japan Director Akira Kurosawa (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * * *
One of the powerful warlords of Japan, Shingen Takeda leaves instructions, as he lies dying, that his death is to be concealed for three years. Kagemusha, a common thief but a dead ringer for the former warlord, is enlisted to play the part and play it he does, inspiring his clan's warriors as though he were the same "immovable mountain" that the warlord had been. Fooling the soldiers and the general populace is relatively simple, but averting the suspicions of Takeda's grandson and concubines is another problem altogether.
1981 The Man of Iron Country: Poland Director Andrzej Wajda (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
This powerful film recounts a tumultuous period in the history of Poland, marked by the rise of the Polish Solidarity movement that played the major role in ending the dominance of the Communist Party in the Warsaw pact countries and, ultimately bringing about the end of the Cold War. The film follows the intersection of two main characters: a young labor leader and a television producer assigned to produce a documentary to discredit the young activist.
1982 Missing Country: U.S. Director Costa-Gavras (See st_patrick's Review.) st_patrick's Rating: * * * *
Costa-Gavras is known for his political films (for example, Z) and here turns his attention to alleged U.S. involvement in the coup in 1973 that led to the death of Chilean socialist president Salvador Allende. Staring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek, this film received four Academy Award nominations, winning the trophy for Best Adapted Screenplay.
1982 Yol Country: Turkey Director Yilmaz Güney (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * * *
Set in Turkey, the story follows five prisoners furloughed for a week from a medium security prison. The parallels between life in prison and the prison-like atmosphere of life throughout Turkey are unmistakable. There are repeated searches by the police and military, the imposition of curfews, and, in the Kurdish provinces, brutal military suppression. While making its political and sociological points, Yol also shows viewers a marvelous cross-section of the cultural mix in Turkey.
The swanky new "Palais du Festivals" was completed in 1983 and hosted the festival for the first time.
1983 The Ballad of Nurayama Country: Japan Director Imamura Shohei (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * * *
In a remote village in northern Japan, near the end of the nineteenth century, a small community barely ekes out existence in a valley beneath a great mountain with little leeway for sentiment. One of the sacred traditions of the village is that old people, when they turn seventy, are taken to the top of a nearby mountain, Narayama, and left to die €– whatever their state of health might be at the time.
1984 Paris, Texas Country: France/W. Germany Director Wim Wenders (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * * *
This is America from a European perspective. A man emerges from the desert in southwestern Texas, after being missing for four years, and collapses. His brother flies in from Los Angeles, takes him home, and helps him regain his senses and reconnect with his eight-year-old son, who barely remembers him at all. Father and son then set out to find the boy's mother and the man's wife, in an effort to undo the terrible cataclysm that tore this family apart.
1985 When Father Was Away on Business Country: Yugoslavia Director Emir Kusturica (See my Review.) My Rating: * * *
In Tito's Yugoslavia, Mesha, a minor party official and womanizer, makes the mistake of seducing and then rejecting a mistress. The mistress takes her revenge by informing the local Police Commissioner about an injudicious remark made by Mesha in response to a political cartoon. Mesha is sent off to work in a mine followed by a period of "political resocialization" at a hydroelectric plant. Mesha's young son Malik has his heart broken when he falls in love with a little girl with a terminal disorder.
1986 The Mission Country: U.K. Director Roland Joffé (See skbreese's Review.) skbreese's Rating: * * *
Conflicts abound when a Jesuit priest (Jeremy Irons) encounters a ruthless slave trader (Robert De Niro) in South America circa 1750. This film received seven Academy Award nominations and won the trophy for Best Cinematography.
1987 Under the Sun of Satan Country: France Director Maurice Pialat (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
This religious film poses the question: "Who's in charge, God or Satan?" Father Donissan, a newly-ordained parish priest filled with self-doubts and existential angst, encounters Satan himself while talking a long walk through the countryside at dusk. Satan leaves him with the strange power of seeing directly into people's souls, but can he reconcile that power with his duties as a priest?
1988 Pelle the Conqueror Country: Denmark/Sweden Director Bille August (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
Adapted from a portion of a novel by Martin Andersen Nexo, this film is a sprawling epic set in the first decade of the twentieth century. Lasse Karlsson (Max von Sydow), a recent widower from Sweden has brought his 10 year-old son, Pelle, to Denmark where he hopes to find work. Forced to indenture himself to survive, Lasse's dream of a better life fades away, but young Pelle has enough life ahead of him to develop dreams of his own.
1989 Sex, Lies and Videotape Country: U.S. Director Steven Soderbergh (See Ed.Williamson's Review.) Ed.Williamson's Rating: * * * * *
Graham, who is impotent, jobless, and alienated, finds some satisfaction in making videotapes of women speaking intimately. His old friend John is a successful attorney having an affair with his wife's sister. All hell breaks loose when the sister sits down for a taping session with Graham, leading to a series of dramatic revelations.
1990 Wild at Heart Country: U.S. Director David Lynch (See Pffrdfdus7's Review.) Pffrdfdus7's Rating: * * * *
Based on a novel by Barry Gifford, this wild road movie stars Nicolas Cage as a rebellious young man fresh out of prison and Laura Dern as his saucy, sex-loving girl friend. Diane Ladd earned a nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
1991 Barton Fink Country: U.S. Director Ethan & Joel Cohen (See thevoid99's Review.) thevoid99's Rating: * * * * *
Barton Fink, a New York playwright, naively succumbs to a lucrative offer from Hollywood after scoring a success with a drama in New York. Despite assurances that he will be given free reign, he is assigned to write a wrestling script for which he has no taste. Suffering from a severe case of writer's block and alone in a hotel room, Barton begins to experience hallucinations.
1992 The Best Intentions Country: Sweden Director Bille August (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
This film was a kind of collaboration between Danish director Bille August and the great Ingmar Bergman, who had retired from directing but continued to work as a scriptwriter. The film relates to the courtship and early marriage of Bergman's parents. Bergman's maternal grandmother, Karin, does her level best to prevent his mother Anna's interest in and marriage to his father, Henrik, but love has its way. Later, however, the vicissitudes of marriage prove an even more difficult obstacle to happiness.
1993 Farewell My Concubine Country: China Director Kaige Chen (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
This ambitious film depicts the lives of two men and one woman against the backdrop of fifty plus years of modern Chinese history, covering the period from 1924-1977, providing a most effective history lesson by illustrating how the various political upheavals in China were reflected in the private lives of the main characters. It won international accolades despite being twice banned in China.
1993 The Piano Country: New Zealand Director Jane Campion (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
Jane Campion was the first woman to win the Palme d'Or with this sensual period love story. Ada is a woman of passionate intelligence who hasn't spoken since childhood – except through her enthralling performances on the piano. With her lovely daughter, Flora, born out of wedlock, she travels to the wild of New Zealand to marry Stewart, a hardened farmer. Stewart refuses to have Ada's piano transported to his isolated farm, but the intervention of another man reunites Ada with her piano with transforming consequences for all.
1994 Pulp Fiction Country: U.S. Director Quentin Tarantino (See telynor's Review.) telynor's Rating: * * * *
John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson teamed up as hit men in this bizarre and stylish romantic comedy involving the betrayal of a criminal kingpin by drug-dealing college kids. Seven Academy Award nominations resulted in one trophy for this film in the Best Original Screenplay category.
1995 Underground Country: Yugoslavia Director Emir Kusturica (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
In the Belgrade of 1941, Marko and his friend Blackie team up in the resistance effort after the German invasion, while also competing with one another and German Commander Franz for the attentions of the lovely actress Natalija. Marko relegates Blackie to the cellar of his grandfather's house with other resistance fighters, putting them to work manufacturing weapons. When the War ends, Marko neglects to tell the cellar workers and instead plays recordings of air raids on his phonograph to convince them that the fight goes on, all the while profiting from their labor, with Natalija, at his side, decked out in fine furs.
1996 Secrets and Lies Country: U.K. Director Mike Leigh (See my Review) My Rating: * * * * *
Hortense, a young black woman in London, seeks out her birth mother after the death of her adoptive mother, only to discover that her birth mother, Cynthia, is white. Cynthia is equally surprised, barely recalling the one-night stand she had once had with a black man. Hortense is introduced to Cynthia's family at the twenty-first birthday party of Cynthia's other daughter. This film also garnered five Academy Award nominations.
1997 Taste of Cherry Country: Japan Director Abbas Kiarostami (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * * *
Iranian director Kiarostami's film subject, suicide, is forbidden by the Koran and something of a taboo subject in Iran, but then-President Khatami was intent on demonstrating a relaxation of censorship. The Iranian protagonist, Mr. Badii, drives about Tehran looking for a man who will help in a minor way with his intended suicide, for the generous sum of 200,000 cash rials. Baldi's plan is to overdose on sleeping pills and lie down in the grave he has already dug. All the accomplice has to do is cover Baldi with twenty shovels of sand in the morning if he is dead.
Nineteen-ninety-seven was the fiftieth anniversary year for the Cannes Festival and many of the previous Palme d'Or winners were gathered for a special celebration. A special Palme des Palmes was awarded to Ingmar Bergman for a lifetime of achievement.
1997 The Eel Country: Iran Director Shohei Imamura (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
Takuro is "joe average" of Japan until an anonymous letter informs him that his wife is cheating on him. When the accusation proves to be true, Takuro kills his wife and her lover and turns himself in to the police. After an eight-year prison sentence, Takuro is released for a two-year parole period under the oversight of a Buddhist priest. Takuro opens a barbershop in a small community but resists making friends until the Priest asks him to take a troubled young woman as an assistant, hoping that two lost souls will find peace and redemption together.
1998 Eternity and a Day Country: Greece Director Theo Angelopoulos (See my Review.) My Rating: * * *
Alexander (Bruno Ganz) awakens on what is likely to be his last day before entering a hospital from which he will never emerge because of a terminal disease. Awash in memories and regrets, he will spend that last day struggling to find meaning in his life and acceptance of his impending death. Alexander's search is surprisingly advanced when he rescues a homeless Albanian boy from a police raid.
1999 Rosetta Country: Belgium/France Director Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
Seventeen-year-old Rosetta lives in a trailer park with her alcoholic mother and wants nothing more out of life than the simple dignity of a job. She becomes so desperate for work that she betrays the young man, Riquet, who befriended her, so that she can assume his job at a waffle stand. The film's look is distinctive, featuring close-in shots with a hand-held camera that visual reflect Rosetta's emotional instability.
2000 Dancer in the Dark Country: Denmark Director Lars von Trier (See my Review.) My Rating: *
Selma, a diminutive, adorable Czech immigrant working in Washington State in 1964, is rapidly going blind. Her young son, Gene, has inherited the same disorder. Bill, who manages the trailer park where Selma lives, also has financial problems and steals the money that Selma has been saving for an operation for her son that will save his vision. In a struggle, Selma accidentally shoots Bill with his own gun. In a grotesquely one-sided trial, she is convicted and sentenced to death.
2001 The Son's Room Country: Italy Director Nanni Moretti (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * *
This film explores the question of whether even the most well-adjusted and happy family can deal effectively with the sudden death of one of the children of the family. Giovanni, a psychiatrist, and his beaming and intelligent wife are devastated when they lose one of their two children in a bizarre accident. When they discover that their lost son had a secret love, the mother becomes obsessed with meeting the girl and the meeting, when it occurs, advances the grieving process in an unexpected away.
2002 The Pianist Country: France/Germany/U.K. Director Roman Polanski (See my Review.) My Rating: * * * * *
Based on an autobiography by Polish and Jewish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman, we first encounter him playing Chopin at a Warsaw radio station as German bombs signal the beginning of World War II. Szpilman is forced to witness the increasingly inhumane restrictions on the Jews, their forced relocation into the Warsaw ghetto, and, ultimately, the deportation of his entire family to one of the death camps. After escaping from the ghetto, Szpilman is aided by a cellist and members of the Polish resistance, hiding out in secret rooms until, in a dramatic conclusion, his hiding place is discovered by a German officer.
2003 Elephant Country: U.S. Director Gus Van Sant (See lemon lime's Review.) lemon lime's Rating: * * * * *
John, though just a high school kid, has to take the keys from his alcoholic father as they drive to school. Studious Michelle blows off gym class but rushes to the library. Nathan, a cute jock, makes plans with his pretty girlfriend Carrie, but he could just as well have his pick of Brittany, Jordan, or Nicole. It's just an average kind of high school except that Alex and Eric are decked out in Special Forces regalia, armed to the teeth with guns and bombs, and about to leave a lasting imprint. Through flashbacks, Van Sant explores the antecedents of Alex and Eric's violent outburst.
2004 Fahrenheit 9/11 Country: U.S. Director Michael Moore (See beckytcy's Review.) beckytcy's Rating: * * * *
This is Michael Moore's controversial documentary, widely admired by liberals and equally despised by conservatives, lambasting G.W. Bush and his administration.
For more great award winning foreign films, see my list All Fifty-Six Best Foreign Film Oscar Winners.
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