Ten Non-English Language High-Yield Tearjerkers (with links to full reviews)
Mar 06 '05 (Updated Nov 10 '05)
The Bottom Line I see you've got more tears to shed, so come on, come on, come on, come on, and cry, cry baby!
These are the non-English language films that have made my tear ducts flow to the greatest extent. I say that with much certainty because I dutifully collected each tear and measured their volume in a graduated cylinder to the nearest milliliter. Crocodile tears were not included. Emotional responses to films are highly subjective, so if you disagree with my choices, there's not a lot I can say to defend them except that they made me cry. Most or all are likely to affect you similarly. Several of the films involve children, which I suppose means that my heart strings are especially responsive to suffering youngsters. All of the films included on this list are also films that I've rated at either four or five stars overall. For purposes of this list, I am rating the films specifically for their potential as tearjerkers, rather than overall worth as works of art. Four-star films are allowed to precede five-star films, for example, if the four-star film elicited a stronger emotional response. So, here's a Top-Ten list of non-English language tearjerkers and another bonus ten, in case you've still got tears to shed, cry baby! There's a total of ten different countries represented here, with France, Italy, and the U.S.S.R. (four films each) the international masters of tears and sobs.
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1. Chunhyang (2000) Country: South Korea Director Im Kwon-Taek Rating: * * * * *
This is the most emotionally intense film I've seen, perhaps ever, but at least in the last few years. This film uses a traditional musical form of storytelling called Pansori, which adds immeasurably to the potency of the film. When Mongryong Lee, the only son of a provincial governor, is separated from his beloved, Chunhyang, whom he has secretly married, the new governor tries to force Chunhyang to submit to being one of his courtesans. When she refuses, he has her strapped to a chair in the courtyard and beaten with a wooden club, but with each blow, she reasserts her devotion to her husband.
2. Freeze Die – Come to Life (1989) Country: U.S.S.R. Director Vitali Kanevsky Rating: * * * * *
Valerka lives with his prostitute mother in a bleak room in a remote village in the Asian part of the Soviet Union. When his antics force him to flee the village for the big city, he is soon involved with a gang of criminals. Galiya, a young girl from the village and his only real friend, comes looking for him, to coax his return. They will have to evade the criminals, however, in order to make their way home.
3. Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) Country: France Director Carl Theodor Dreyer Rating: * * * * *
This powerful film from near the end of the silent film era projects an extraordinary emotional intensity by concentrating on facial close-ups. Dreyer elicited from Renee Maria Falconetti one of the greatest and most intense performances ever committed to celluloid. It's not to be missed, regardless of how you might otherwise feel about watching silent films.
4. Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) Country: France Director Jean-Paul Rappeneau Rating: * * * * *
The climax of this great classic romance finds Cyrano mortally wounded but paying one last visit to his beloved Roxane, from whom he's hidden the depth of his love for decades. The virtuoso death scene has Roxane discovering that it was Cyrano’s soul that she had unknowingly fallen in love with years earlier, as Cyrano meets death’s specter on his feet, sword drawn, with all of his characteristic aplomb.
5. Burnt By the Sun (1994) Country: U.S.S.R. Director Nikita Mikhalkov Rating: * * * * *
When Sergei Kotov, an old hero of the Russian revolution, learns from his rival that he is soon to be just one more victim of the Stalinist purges, he keeps the news to himself and quietly spends his last remaining hours playing soccer with his family. His lovely little daughter, Nadia, oblivious to the crisis that lays ahead, innocently sidles up to the shiny black sedan occupied by the thugs who will be taking her father away, declaring her intention to drive the car to the end of the block. This film reveals the horror of family destruction in the name of political agendas.
6. Butterfly (1999) Country: Spain Director José Luis Cuerda Rating: * * * * *
The final intensely emotional scene of this film is rendered all the more potent because all that has passed before it has painted a portrait of a nearly idyllic life in rural Spain, where political strife exists, but only in the background of more urgent matters of daily living. The introverted and intelligent young Moncho, in his first year of school, develops a close relationship with his teacher and mentor, Don Gregorio, while Moncho's adolescent brother deals with coming-of-age issues and his love of music. It is 1936, however, and in the background of the story, Spain is locked in Civil War that will ultimately doom the brief flowering of the Republic.
7. Maria Candelaria (1944) Country: Mexico Director Emilio Fernandez Rating: * * * *
This film from the Golden Age of Mexican cinema finds the beautiful native girl, Maria Candelaria, rejected by her neighbors, despite her virtue, because her mother had been a prostitute. She has only Lorenzo Rafael as a loyal friend and suitor and the painter, El Pinfor, who wants her to pose for a portrait. Lorenzo and Maria want nothing more in life but to marry and raise a family, but the bigotry and envy of their community stands in the way.
8. Sundays and Cybèle (1962) Country: France Director Serge Bourguignon Rating: * * * * *
Pierre, a war veteran who developed amnesia in a plane crash, lives with a nurse who cares for him, but feels lost in life, until he meets a young orphaned girl who has taken the name Cybèle for herself. These two lonely and kindred spirits develop an unusual relationship which, though physically chaste, entails romantic overtones, despite the precocious Cybèle's youthful eleven years of age. Inevitably, the suspicious and cynical townspeople misinterpret their innocent relationship, leading to a tragic denouement.
9. Umberto D. (1952) Country: Italy Director Vittorio De Sica Rating: * * * * *
This is a sad story throughout, from the point of view of a country discarding its elderly and failing to provide subsistence level existence for its pensioners, but the really tearful element revolves around the relationship between Umberto and his devoted dog. The only thing standing between Umberto and suicide is his reluctance to abandon his dog to an animal shelter or the street. The trained dog who played the part of Flike gives a performance with more genuine humanity to it than some hominids deliver in their parts. The touching finale is sure to make you weep.
10. Come and See (1985) Country: U.S.S.R. Director Elem Klimov Rating: * * * * *
As World War II unfolds in Russia, Florya, who is still just a boy, wants to join the men in combat against the German invaders. He won't see combat per se, but he'll get a lot more than he bargained for and more than any person should have to endure, as he discovers that his family has been slaughtered and is forced to witness the genocidal massacre of an entire village of people, herded into a church that is then burned to the ground. The horror of the events is rendered all the more overwhelming by stunning contrast with some exceptionally gorgeous cinematography.
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Some Other Worthy Non-English Language Tearjerkers: (Alphabetically):
Ballad of a Soldier (1960) Country: U.S.S.R. Director Grigori Chukhrai Rating: * * * * *
Camila (1984) Country: Argentina Director María Luisa Bemberg Rating: * * * *
Landscape in the Mist (1988) Country: Greece Director Theo Angelopoulos Rating: * * * *
Nights of Cabiria (1957) Country: Italy Director Federico Fellini Rating: * * * *
El Norte (1984) Country: U.S. (Spanish language) Director Gregory Nava Rating: * * * *
Sanshô, the Baliff (1954) Country: Japan Director Kenji Mizoguchi Rating: * * * *
Shoeshine (1947) Country: Italy Director Vittorio De Sica Rating: * * * *
Spirit of the Beehive (1973) Country: Spain Director Víctor Erice Rating: * * * * *
Star Maker (1995) Country: Italy Director Giuseppe Tornatore Rating: * * * *
Symphonie Pastorale (1946) Country: France Director Jean Delannoy Rating: * * * *
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You might enjoy my other genre lists of non-English language films as well.
Ten Excellent Spanish-Language Films
Ten More Excellent Spanish-Language Films
Coming-of-age – Outside the USA!
Top Ten Foreign Language Psychodramas
Top Ten Non-English Language Political Movies
My Top Ten Non-English Language Tragedies
Top Non-English Language Comedies
Top-Ten Non-English Language Film Biographies
Top-Ten Non-English Language Action/Adventure Films
Ten Best Non-English Language War Movies!!
Top-Ten Non-English Language Mystery Films
Top-Ten Non-English Language ~Horror~ Films
Top-Ten English-Language ~Horror~ Films from Outside the USA
Ten Excellent Films Featuring Royalty
Ten Excellent Non-English Language Thrillers
Ten Excellent Non-English Language Senior Films
Top-Ten Non-English Language Films Featuring Classical Music
The Top Non-English Language Epics
The 10 Best Foreign Language Romance Movies!!
The Ten Best Non-English Language Love Story Movies!!
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