was "the Seventh Seal", I have to confess. Shown late one night on TV - I was sitting up doing homework and thought, "I've heard of that. Wonder what it's about?" and never regretted it. Looked a bit of a wanker talking about it at school though.

Favourites: a number of films by Kurosawa: Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Ran etc. Absolutely wonderful, even for those that don't like "art" films. Seven Samurai is probabaly the best action film ever made.

The Three Colours Trilogy (Blue, White and Red). Arty, but glorious.

That's probably not even close to the correct spelling but (combined with the sequel Manon Des Sources) is the best four hour film you'll ever see about a rabbit farmer. It stars Gerard Depardieu. It covers all the big themes, lust, envy, greed, probably the rest of the seven sins as well.

I once loaned "Das Boot" to a film fan who'd never seen a foreign film and he frigging loved it. Like the first it's a bit of an endurance test being four hours long and set on a German submarine but well worth it. Equally good and equally claustrophobic is the recent "Downfall" set in Hitler's bunker.

If you were trying to convert someone who thinks they don't like foreign films I'd recommend "Run Lola Run", its all action with very little dialogue.

I was lucky in my first experience of foreign films was being dragged along to the above mentioned Rashomon.

Was the first, late night, parents out, nothing on TV. It's actually very good. The last one I saw was when I took my (deaf) mum to the cinema to see something about a landowner in pre-revolution France who went to the court of Louis the somethingth and got caught up in court intrigues - Ridicule, it might have been, and it was deeply smashing, and there was one with a great example of the 'rule of third' joke which culminated in a rule of third third which I can't quite recall the title of now - I wish I could because paradoxically I remember the enjoyment of the film more than I do the actual movie. Seeing The Adventures of Baron Munchausen in Denmark with subtitles was an adventure in time-delayed laughter.

1) DIVA-a french film about an Opera Singer.Don't panic it's a thriller
2) À bout de souffle
Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (Still Hilarious)
Kolya (Best Czech Film).Not a foreign film for me but hey.
I agree with Cookieboy.The 3 German films he mentions are all brilliant.
The Killer- John Woo, a Hong Kong Classic
Nochnoy Dozor and Dnevnoi Dozor (Nightwatch ,Daywatch) i enjoyed.
Amores Perros (Mexico) is Fantastic
and from here in Spain I Recommend
El día de la Bestia
Tesis
El Lobo
and from Argentina
Bombón: El Perro
Nueve Reinas

Not much to say except this is one of the best films I have ever seen.

was also probably Diva.

A few I would recommend (all French) -

- A Bout de Souffle (Breathless)
- Camille Claudel
- Coup de Torchon (Clean Slate)
- Un Dimanche a la Campagne (A Sunday in the Country)

Au Revoir les Enfants was probably the only time I've cried in the cinema.

Like many, my ability to accept sub-titles was bolstered by Betty Blue, so it was an easy journey into this, to my mind, even better love story with a twist or two. Sure, it is a bit schmaltzy, as I replay the plot in my memorybanks, but still a moving experience.
Some of the early Pedro Almodovar films are interesting: the one with the ex-Mrs Cruise and the giant bull billboard comes to mind, unlike it's name.

The first is funny and stylish, post apocalyptic tale set in a dilapidated apartment building in rural post-apocalyptic 1950s France. Food is in short supply, meat virtually non existent, yet the butcher at the foot of the apartment building seems to be well stocked. His tenants don't seem to stay long though...

The second (Demon-woman)is a Japanese horror flick based on a Buddhist parable. The film is set in rural Japan in the fourteenth century and features a woman and her daughter-in-law who lure passing samurai to their death in a deep pit and rob them of their goods. I saw it on the BBC in my teens and it made a lasting impression. Bought the DVD recently and it's still fantastic.

Don't know what my first was, but "Un coeur en hiver" is certainly one of my favourites - torrid French plot, loads of Ravel trios and Emanuelle Beart playing the violin. What more do you want? Ref recent thread on rock stars acting, Johnny Hallyday does a good job in "L'homme du train". Otherwise, "Trop belle pour toi" is excellent, also try "Romauld et Juliette" or "Nelly et Mr. Arnauld".

Incidentally I once saw Emanuelle Beart getting out of a cab in Avenue Hoche - I wasn't right for hours.

ROMA, CITTÀ APERTA (Rome, Open City) - Roberto Rosselini, 1946

ROCCO E I SUOI FRATELLI (Rocco And His Brothers) - Luchino Visconti, 1960

LA STRADA - Federico Fellini, 1954

LADRI DI BICICLETTE (Bicycle Thieves) - Vittorio De Sica, 1948

CRISTO SI È FERMATO A EBOLI (Christ Stopped At Eboli) - Francesco Rosi, 1979

MAMMA ROMA - Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1962

OSSESSIONE (Obsession) - Luchino Visconti, 1942

I VITELLONI (The Young Calves) - Federico Fellini, 1953

and some more recent Italian films....

JOHNNY STECCHINO (Johnny Toothpick) - Roberto BenigCni, 1992

CINEMA PARADISO - Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988

IL POSTINO (The Postman) - Michael Radford, 1994

Trainspotting, anyone?

Les Enfants du Paradis (the cinematic equivalent of a long, classic novel)
Les Yeux Sans Visage (pretty scary)
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg and Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (Jacques Demy's entirely-sung 60s masterpieces - especially the former)
The Vanishing (the creepiest film ever?)
Anything by Bunuel, but especially Exterminating Angel
A Very Long Engagement
In The Mood For Love
Talk To Her

I love Rohmer's films. Plotwise there is never too much to them. They are about human frailty. How intentions are confounded by reality.
His Tales of the Four Seasons are all lovely. Claire's Knee, Pauline At The Beach and The Green Ray are pretty good.

The first subtitled film I can remember watching in its entirety was The Seven Samurai late at night on BBC2. The first I saw in the cinema was probably Diva.

There was a discussion here about Hidden a while back. Still worth checking out.

I've Seen lot's of films with ROCCO in the title,Though probably he's not in this one.You'll show your true colours if you understand this comment.

Obviously they have their own TV stations but are there such things as Welsh language films?

Has anyone seen Incubus, the 1965 William Shatner film in which all the dialogue is in Esperanto? I haven't, but here's a clip:

pretty lightweight compared to other more highbrow foreign language classics - but I dearly love this movie.

Can't go wrong with any of the Beat Takeshi Kitano movies from Japan either, Hana-Bi and Sonatine being particular favourites.

...directed by Henri Georges Clouzot and starring Simone Signoret was the first foreign film I ever saw. It was on BBC2 one Sunday night when I was about 14 and gave me the creeps. I recently bought it on dvd and it's still a brilliant film, as is Les Quarte Cent Coup (400 Blows) directed by Francois Truffaut.

Have the crap scared out of you with two bits of Spanish gothic horror:

The Orphanage - grown woman reopens orphanage where she was raised as a child.
Pan's Labyrinth - set in the aftermath of the Spanish civil war young girls enters another world - and has one of the scariest sequences with "the paleman" that I have ever seen.

First foreign language film? Probably Jean de Florette. Highly recommended as others have said.

First was probably Diva, which I always thought was Luc Besson but turns out to be Jean-Jacques Beineix.

The best, and my favourite film of all time is Todo sobre mi Madre (All about my mother) by Pedro Almodóvar. I can understand why some people would hate it, and the plot is far to ridiculous to summarise, but somehow it becomes a wonderful film about love.

Fellini's Amarcord is a fantastic film, probably autobiographical, about a year in a small town - intimate, affectionate portraits of characters and politics set against the turning seasons.

Wong Kar Wai's Chungking Express is just beautiful and will leave you feeling inexplicably happy. (Oh, and if you like California Dreaming you'll love it even more)

1. Caramel (Lebanese) - my first Lebanese film and bloody good it was too
2. The Diving Bell & The Butterfly (French) - simply wonderful, I dare you not to get a lump in your throat after watching this movie
3. Volver (Spanish)- Penelope Cruz..need I say more?
4. Tsotsi (S. African) - great performance from the (young) lead actor
5. The Lives of Others (German) - a great story well told

Many more...nowt wrong with foreign films, I just think some people are too lazy to follow subtitles

Spoorlos (The Vanishing) if you want to scream at the end. It's the stuff of nightmares - it makes you want to run outside and take deep breaths.

Les Choristes if you want to sob (if you are of a sentimental nature like meself). Great choral music too.

As mentioned by several other posters, Manon des Sources and Jean de Florette are superb. But watch them in the right order (JdF then MdS)

A mon avis, one to avoid despite its 5 star reviews in the broadsheets, is Caché (Hidden). Only interesting from the point of view of 20th century French colonialism. Dull.

I have NEVER seen a film that switches gears so abruptly. The words "Kiri, kiri, kiri" ("Deeper, deeper, deeper") are burnt into my brain. Its on the boring side for the first ninety minutes or so and then it goes berserk.

Someone mentioned "The Vanishing" above. If you want a quick lesson in why Hollywood movies have a bad reputation watch the very creepy Dutch original then put on the English language version starring Jeff Bridges straight afterwards. You needn't watch the whole thing just fast forward to the "Drink this" scene and watch until the end. The Hollywood ending is so absurd you'll think you're watching an excerpt from a sketch comedy rather than a remake. It's as though the filmmaker did it as a protest.

I'm not religious at all but I loved "Jesus of Montreal."

...I saw a french film called The Lacemakers sometime in the late 70s, it has the luminous Isabelle Huppert in it. I remember it as being heartbreaking and I loved it.

No one has mentioned Wings of Desire yet either - lovely and slightly odd.

Other favourites:

Tampopo - funny, sexy, fascinating and beautiful.

Old Boy - utterly violent and brilliant.

Night Watch - Russian horror

Battle Royale - Japanese violence

Oh and Cyrano De Bergerac - "Mon panache, mon panache..."

with earlier post re. Les Diaboliques - have a watch and spot all the subsequent thrillers and horrors that reference it - creepiest swimming pool ever!

also special mention for Mediterraneo - wonderful sweet film about a band of italian soldiers stuck on a greek island during WWII

In a bid to drag you away from French cinema I'll recommend a Russian film. Can't say I've ever really appreciated war films, but this is something else - an astonishing depiction of events from the Russian attempt to tame Afghanistan.

Come and See - Elem Klimov, Russia. One of the most harrowing war films ever
Dark Eyes - Mikhalkov, Russia. With the great Marcello Mastroainni
Pan´s Labryinth - Del Toro, Spain. already mentioned
Fanny and Alexander- Bergman, Sweden. His finest, in my opinion.
Downfall- Germany. Magnificent Bruno Ganz
Colonel Redl, Mephisto, Hanussen - Hungarian/German trilogy of sorts directed by Istvan Szabo with Klaus Maria Brandauer
Men with Guns, -by John Sayles, although technically an American movie, a large part of it is in Spanish.
Pelle the Conqueror - Denmark, with Max Von Sydow
Lovers ( Amantes ) from Spain. Seriously sexy, makes Betty blue look tame

It's not strictly a film (13 parts., ) but gets shown in film festivals and was successful at the box-office in Italy shown in instalments. Follow-on from Heimat (internationally-successful 1980s German TV series: history of nation as seen through eyes of rural village).

A very different slant on the 1960s - lives of students and others in Munich from early 60s onwards. 13 different characters each have their own story, though a lot of interweaving takes place. It made me understand classical musicians a bit more than before (the actors are accomplished performers on their own instruments), and the attraction of abstract music (e.g. Stockhausen/Cage) at the time. Ever wanted to see what a treated piano is? Pretentious - moi? Probably. Some meaty and sensitive drama . Great music by Greek composer Mamangakis.

Also:

Spain: most Almodovar films (not just the well-known ones) available in well-priced box-sets
Mexico: - Mr "Pan's Labyrinth" del Torres' earlier films,
"Chronos" - a quirky variation on the Vampire theme
"The Devil's Backbone" - quite a few similarities to Pan's Labyrinth, but quite different too.
France: "Delicatessen", "Hidden" (Caché) & lots more I can't think of at the moment. Not French-language (as there's no dialogue) but "Belleville Rendezvous/Triplettes de Bellville" is a great bit of animation, and SO French.

"Welsh language films
Obviously they have their own TV stations but are there such things as Welsh language films?"

Oh yes, there are at least a couple each year..... I once found myself stuck waiting for a 2 a.m. train on Cardiff Station with folk who had just been attending the Welsh equivalent of the Oscars, including the child-actor who'd been the toast of the evening. They were bound for glamorous Port Talbot (part-inspiration for Terry Gilliam's "Brazil"), me for Swansea.

...to Werner 'I'm crazy me' Herzog and anything with Klauss ' thoroughly bonkers' Kinski in it - especially Fitzcarraldo. Favourite though is The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser with another barking bod Bruno S. What is it with those Germanic types and their fondness for cellars?

you could be right - the common denominator might be a fondness for Einsturzende Neubauten records - enough to send anyone scurrying underground.

...not completely sure, but think it was Que La Bete Meure (Chabrol) watched late-night BBC2 in the 70's as a teenager under the watchful eye of dear ol Mum. Only things I can remember about it are (i) the beautiful music playing in the car that runs down the protagonist's son in the opening sequence; (ii) the protagonist muttering an oath that was translated as 'Bother' in the subtitles, at which point Mum (BA in French) chuckled amusedly and said "That's not quite what he actually said."; (iii) it was almost painfully gripping. I've actually just added it to my Lovefilm list to see if it's as good as I (badly) remember it. On the subject of French films, I would also recommend Clouzot's 'The Wages of Fear' (1952), praised by screenwriting guru Robert McKee as one of the best feel-bad films ever made, and he's not wrong.

A very silly discussion topic, but it may be Tarkovsky's "Andrei Rublev". The sacking of the city of Vladimir and the giant bell manufacturing sequence are epic, nerve-wracking and couldn't, today, be duplicated with less than a "Titanic"-sized budget. BUT, it's over three hours long, it's a black and white 1966 Russian film and it really takes its time.

Other great foreign films to add to this excellent list include:

"Les Valseuses": Gerard Depardieu as one half of two amoral petty crooks.

"One Deadly Summer": small-town is shaken up by arrival of Isabelle Adjani, a vengeance-seeking vixen

"Fellini's Casanova" - which might have been my first - and which never seems to reappear.

Real first may have been "Les Femmes Savantes" a creaky b/w version of a Moliere farce. Seen as part of my French 'O'Level.

Had high hopes when I sat down to watch it and was left entirely satisfied by it. Would also recommend The Beat My Heart Skipped & Nine Queens. Nine Queens is an Argentinian movie set in Buenos Aires that I have believe was remade in English a few years ago.

Ah - the only film (British, foreign or otherwise) with Isabelle Adjani to feature a Red Austin Maestro as a co-star......

Not only a favorite foreign language film, but easily in the top 3 films I have seen. A brilliant South Korean revenge-thriller with a plot that is bound to blow your mind as it unravels. Had no idea what to expect when I went to see this and ended up seeing it 4 more times.
The premise is "our hero" is shown in the beginning to be drunk and jolly and taken into a police station escorted by a mate. He is then released and goes to the phone booth to call his wife and speak to his young daughter. His friend is distracted for a minute and when he returns to the phone booth he finds "our hero" has gone missing. We then find out the he has been kidnapped and locked in a small appartment for 15 years with no explanation and is then released one day to find out why this has happenned and who did this to him. What follows is a real trip...go get it on DVD!
Anyone else seen it?

and that was my first post on The Word!

Talk to Joe Average about a foreign film you enjoy and, by law, one of their first comments must be (cliche alert): "Subtitles? I want to watch a film, not read one. Ha ha ha".

After fighting off the urge to kill them with your bare hands for being so narrow-minded, you could point out that films made in English with stars who appear on GMTV and in Heat are not the be-all and end-all, and that other countries have been making award-winning popular films for years, thank you very much.

Watch a foreign film and you learn a little about that culture, its ideas, its history, and a whole lot more. If you find yourself stuck in a lift with Mr Average, you might try recommending the following (I know some of these have been mentioned before, but they're worth highlighting again):

Come And See - simply mind-blowing. Perhaps the most realistic depiction of what war is like for civilians. Watching the actor playing the little boy age before my eyes left me shattered for days. Once you've seen it, you can't forget it.

Amelie - the garden gnome, the photo booth man, the summary of people's likes/dislikes, the orgasm montage. Genius. See also Delicatessen and the City of Lost Children - though maybe not one after another; it might be a bit too much whimsy and oddness to cope with.

Intacto - the sort of mad/brilliant idea (people steal other people's luck so they can gamble with it) that only European cinema seems to produce.

Goodbye Lenin - a great summary of what life must have been like for East Germans come the end of Communism.

Das Experiment - shocking, frightening, and very German.

Brotherhood - Makes Saving Private Ryan look like Bambi.

Jean De Florette/Manon Des Sources - the first foreign films I remember seeing, watched with my dad in a BBC2 double-bill one December Sunday. We were riveted throughout, and the imagery is to die for.

La Femme Nikita - the difference between this and the American remake with Bridget Fonda tells you everything you need to know about the difference between foreign films and mainstream Hollywood.

So many more... Y Tu Mama Tambien, most films by Pedro Almodovar, Night Watch/Day Watch, Nosferatu, Il Postino...

And I did nothing!!!!! Schoolboy error!
Anyway here are my favourites;

Cyrano de Bergerac - I cry every time!
Trois Couleurs Bleu/Blanc/Rouge - all 3 - went to see Bleu about 7 times at cinema!
L'été meurtrier - with the aforementioned IA
Amelie - Superb!
Merci la Vie - the most surreal film I have seen but also one of the best
High Heels - Almodovar film with the gorgeous Victoria Abril
The Hairdresser's Husband - fabulous!

I'm not really sure what my first foreign language film was, though I suspect it was probably 'Le Grand Chemin', which was very nicely made, but boring as hell.

I'd heartily recommend 'Le Diner De Cons', which is one of the funniest films I've ever seen. Without wishing to give too much away for anyone who hasn't seen it, it's about a man who attends special dinner parties with friends, where they have to bring an idiot along - someone useless, or perhaps an eccentric. It's classic farce, really, as events spiral wildly out of control.

And in a completely different vein, 'Kung Fu Hustle' - I stumbled across this on a film channel late one night, and absolutely loved it. It's almost a live action cartoon, Hanna Barbera crossed with Jackie Chan. So much of its appeal is visual that it's not hard to see why it's been so successful internationally.

an iranian film about the joy of football and how we all shouldn't be oppressed by restrictive rules and regulations.

brilliant.

As far as I can see nobody's mentioned it. If they have apologies but its beyond fantastic. The best italian film and the best of Italy. It's like Leonard Cohen's muses' soul on celluloid.
Second place: Le Grand Bouffe.
Both are must-sees.
As are most Depardieu films imho.

I must confess to a certain Woking mod showing me where the door was regarding European cinema in the early 80s, but once he had I was sold.

All the usuals have been mentioned, apart from the classic 1967 Alain Delon movie "Le Samouraï", which is still one of favourite films, along with "Diva", plus "Death In A French Garden" from 1986 - just about as stylish as you can get.

French appears to come up most often here. Is it quality, quantity....or it just the acent and and language?

Lasse Hallstrom's My Life As A Dog. He also directed Abba The Movie and went on to make The Cider House Rules.

Lukas Moodysson directed Together, Show Me Love (Swedish title Fucking Amal) and the very bleak and powerful Lilya 4 Ever about a Russian girl who gets abducted and is taken to Sweden and ends up forced to work as a prostitute. 3 fine films you should not miss.

...but here's a few more, apologies if I missed an earlier mention

- Gregoire Moulin Contre L'Humanite - Hilarious Fench comedy of romantic misadventure. Saw it in a tiny arthouse cinema, and it subsequently proved to be a total bugger to get hold of on DVD - finally tracked down an English subtitled version from soem bloke in Canada

- Happiness Of The Katakuris - from the same director as Audition, about a Japanese family who open a guesthouse where the guests keep dying. With hilarious consequences. One of the most bonkers films I have ever seen.

- Goodbye Lenin - a German comedy (yeah, me too) about a boy trying to recreate communist-era East Germany in his mother's bedroom - she's been in a coma throughout the fall of the Wall, and the doctors have warned that a shock might kill her.

- He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not - Audrey Tatou again, this time in what starts as a light romantic comedy, and then goes through a nasty nasty 180 degree turn

- Infernal Affairs - HK cop movie appallingly remade by Scorsese as The Departed. Totally outperforms the remake in every single way, including not having a rubbish ending (cf The Vanishing)

- Shaolin Soccer - from the same stable as Kung Fu Hustle (already mentioned) and basically the same thing but with football

And very little substance, but I love 'Subway' with a pre Highlander Lambert, and the absolutely luminous Isabelle Adjani.

Les Ripoux - or Le Cop - with Philippe Noiret. And as countless others have mentioned, Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources.

Cinema Paradiso is on my list for Saturday funnily enough, having just bought it last weekend.

I bought Cinema Paradiso. It had the cinema release version and the directors cut version with nearly an hour of extra footage. It filled in a lot of gaps and made the whole film make more sense. You get to see him visit his girlfriend of his youth when he returns for the funeral. Very moving.

The problem i have with foreign language films is the intellectual snobbery i have experienced from people who profess a liking for them. I wonder if anyone else has noticed it.
I must confess that in my teens when i started going to the local art cinema to watch foreign language films i was a bit of a git. I thought that a film in a foreign language was, just by the fact of it's country of origin, was going to be more intellectual, more rewarding, more intelligent than a similar film of English language origins.

Recent cases of snobbery i have experienced were because i didn't enjoy Pan's Labyrinthe. Two people who didn't know me assumed i was a "jo average" ( bit of a snobbish term used by another poster). They made accusations concerning my intellect and my inability to read. All from not liking ONE film. Crazy.

Cheers for the comment, it smoothed my wrinkled brow.

Commoners mac.
(Arf arf)

'La Belle Noiseuse' (1991) - great film by Jaques Rivette, based on a Zola story, I think, but in a contemporary setting, about men, women, art, marriage, ego. Available in two versions, one 125 minutes, the other 228 minutes, each but with different nuances (well, it is a French film). Recommend the longer version.

'Un Coeur En Hiver'('A Heart In Winter') (1992), co-starring Daniel Auteil, and 'Nelly and Mr Arnaud' (1985) - both directed by Claude Sautet, both subtle urbane films the likes of which only French cinema seems to make (or maybe 'made', not seen anything as good as these in years.)

But, sometimes, there's nothing like shape shifting Japanese racoons, is there?

God bless, Studio Ghilbi

Easy peasy: Z and Illustrious Corpses. Go and get em now
Dougie
Sydney

...with pretty much everything up there, apart from certain people annoyingly dissing other's choices.

Infernal Affairs, Jean De Florette, Amelie - all great. But for me the best is Amorres Perros. Just beautifully real and brain-bashingly affecting. Gael Garcia Bernal is surely going to go stratospheric one of these days.

Honourable mention also to The Motorcycle Diaries.

In response to many people's apparent contempt of Joe Public's failure to catch foreign film: subtitles are not everyone's cup of cha. I confess myself to sometimes just not being in the mood for a subtitled movie.

Each to their own.