100 Greatest Foreign Films

Source: DigitalDreamDoor.com

Films in bold are also on Ken Boa’s list of recommended films due to their combination of artistic merit and spiritual/moral themes. Go to his list. [vector_icon icon=”arrow-circle-o-right”]

Disclaimer: The following does not represent an endorsement of any of these films by Reflections Ministries or Ken Boa; we encourage you to do some background research on the movie before watching it (especially if you plan to watch with children).

1. La Dolce Vita: 1954, Italy, Frederico Fellini (Marcello Mastroianni)
2. The Seven Samurai: 1954, Japan, Akira Kurosawa (Toshiro Mifune)
3. 8 1/2: 1963, Italy, Frederico Fellini (Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale)
4. Wild Strawberries: 1957, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman (Victor Sjostrom, Ingrid Thulin)
5. Grand Illusion: 1937, France, Jean Renoir (Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay)
6. The Rules of the Game: 1939, France, Jean Renoir (Paulette Dubost, Nora Gregor)
7. La Strada: 1954, Italy, Frederico Fellini (Anthony Quinn)
8. Rashomon: 1950, Japan, Akira Kurosawa (Toshiro Mifune)
9. Diabolique: 1955, France, Henri-Georges Clouzot (Simone Signoret, Paul Meurisse)
10. The Seventh Seal: 1956, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman (Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson)
11. M: 1931, Germany, Fritz Lang (Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann)
12. The Wages of Fear: 1953, France, Henri-Georges Clouzot (Yves Montand, Véra Clouzot)
13. Solaris: 1972, Russia, Andrei Tarkovsky (Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis)
14. The Bicycle Thief: 1948, Italy, Vittorio De Sica (Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola)
15. Fellini Satyricon: 1969, Italy, Frederico Fellini (Martin Porter)
16. The Virgin Spring: 1959, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman (Max Von Sydow)
17. Jean De Florette: 1986, France, Claude Berri (Gerard Depardieu, Yves Montand); based on a book by Marcel Pagnol
18. Beauty And The Beast: 1946, France, Jean Cocteau (Jean Marais, Josette Day)
19. Battleship Potemkin: 1925, Russia, Sergei Eisenstein (Aleksandr Antonov)
20. The Passion of Joan of Arc: 1928, France, Carl Theodor Dreyer (Maria Falconetti)
21. The Last Metro: 1981, France, Francois Truffaut (Catherine Deneuve)
22. Day For Night: 1973, France, Francois Truffaut (Jacqueline Bisset)
23. City of God: 2002, Brazil, Fernando Meirelles (Alexandre Rodrigues)
24. The Conformist: 1970, Italy, Bernardo Bertolucci (Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli)
25. Persona: 1966, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman (Liv Ullmann, Bibi Andersson)
26. Belle De Jour: 1967, France, Luis Bunuel (Catherine Deneuve)
27. Cries and Whispers: 1972, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman (Liv Ullmann)
28. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: 2000, Taiwan, Ang Lee (Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang)
29. Manon Of The Spring: 1986, France, Marcel Pagnol (Emmanuelle Beart, Yves Montand)
30. Bread And Chocolate: 1974, Italy, Franco Brusati (Nino Manfredi)
31. The Secret in Their Eyes: 2009, Argentina, Juan José Campanella
32. Mon Oncle: 1958, France, Jacques Tati (Jacques Tati, Jean-Pierre Zola)
33. The Garden Of Finzi-Continis: 1971, Italy, Vittorio De Sica (Dominique Sanda)
34. Frantic: 1958, France, Louis Malle (Jeanne Moreau)
35. A Good Marriage: 1982, France, Eric Rohmer (Beatrice Romand, Andre Dussollier)
36. Swept Away: 1975, Italy, Lina Wertmüller (Giancarlo Giannini)
37. Scenes From A Marriage: 1974, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman (Liv Ullmann)
38. Sundays And Cybele: 1962, France (Hardy Kruger, Patricia Gozzi)
39. Yojimbo: 1961, Japan, Akira Kurosawa (Toshiro Mifune)
40. Fanny And Alexander: 1983, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman (Ewa Froling, Erland Josephson)
41. Z: 1969, Greece, Costa-Gavras (Yves Montand, Irene Papas)
42. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse: 1933, Germany, Fritz Lang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Oscar Beregi Sr.)
43. The City of Lost Children: 1995, France (Ron Perlman, Daniel Emilfork)
44. Amarcord: 1973, Italy, Frederico Fellini (Puppela Maggio)
45. Pan’s Labyrinth: 2006, Mexico, Guillermo del Toro (Ivana Baquero, Sergi López)
46. Nosferatu: 1922, Germany, F.W. Murnau (Max Schreck)
47. Cousin, Cousine: 1976, France, Jean Charles Tacchella
48. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie: 1971, France, Luis Buñuel
49. The 400 Blows: 1959, France, Francois Truffaut (Jean-Pierre Leaud)
50. Il Postino (The Postman): 1995, Italy (Philippe Noiret)
51. Delicatessen: 1991, France (Marie-Laure Daugnac)
52. Andrei Rublev: 1966, U.S.S.R. Andrei Tarkovsky (Anatoli Solonitsyn)
53. YI YI: 2000, Taiwan, Edward Yang (Nien-Jen Wu, Elaine Jin)
54. The Silence: 1963, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman (Ingrid Thulin)
55. Ran: 1985, Japan, Akira Kurosawa (Tatsuya Nakadai)
56. The Passenger: 1963, Poland, Andrzej Munk (Aleksandra Slaska, Anne Ciepielewska)
57. Kapo: 1960, Italy, Gillo Pontecorvo (Susan Strasberg)
58. Through a Glass Darkly: 1960, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman
59. War and Peace: 1968, USSR, Sergei Bondarchuk
60. Aguirre, Wrath of God: 1972, Germany, Werner Herzog
61. The Decameron: 1971, Italy, Pier Paolo Pasolini (Franco Citti)
62. That Obscure Object of Desire: 1977, Spain, Luis Buñuel
63. Cinema Paradiso: 1989, Italy, Giuseppe Tornatore
64. L’ Avventura: 1960, Italy, Michelangelo Antonioni (Monica Vitti, Gabriele Ferzetti)
65. Fellini’s Roma: 1972, Italy, Frederico Fellini (Peter Gonzales)
66. The Double Life of Veronique: 1991, France, Krzysztof Kieslowski (Irene Jacob)
67. Rififi: 1956, France, Jules Dassin (Jean Sevais, Carl Mohner)
68. Nights of Cabiria: 1957, Italy, Federico Fellini (Giulietta Masina)
69. Pandora’s Box: 1929, Germany, Georg Wilhelm Pabst (Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner)
70. Cyrano De Bergerac: 1990, France, Jean-Paul Rappeneau (Gerard Depardieu)
71. A Separation: 2011, Iran, Asghar Farhadi (Peyman Moaadi, Leila Hatami)
72. Babette’s Feast: 1987, Denmark, Gabriel Axel (Stéphane Audran, Birgitte Federspiel)
73. Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears: 1980, USSR, Vladimir Menshov
74. Roma, Città Aperta: 1945, Italy, Roberto Rossellini (Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi)
75. Das Boot: 1982, Germany, Wolfgang Peterson (Jurgen Procnow)
76. Life Is Beautiful: 1998, Italy, Roberto Benigni (Roberto Benigni)
77. Tokyo Story: 1953, Japan, Yasujiro Ozu (Chishu Ryu, Chieko Higashiyama)
78. Mediterraneo: 1991, Italy, Gabriele Salvatores (Claudio Bigagli)
79. Seven Beauties: 1976, Italy, Lina Wertmüller
80. Amores Perros: 2000, Mexico, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Gael Garcia Bernal)
81. Playtime: 1967, France, Jacques Tati (Jacques Tati, Barbara Dennek)
82. Black Orpheus: 1959, Brazil/France/Italy—Portuguese
83. The Tin Drum: 1979, Germany, Volker Schlöndorff
84. Au Revoir les Enfants: 1987, France, Louis Malle (Gaspard Manesse)
85. Color of Pomegranates: 1968, Soviet Union/Armenia, Sergei Parajanov (Sofiko Chiaureli)
86. À bout de souffle (Breathless): 1959, France, Jean-Luc Godard (Jean Seberg)
87. Pelle the Conqueror: 1988, Denmark, Bille August (Pelle Hvenegaard, Max von Sydow)
88. The Gospel According To St. Matthew: 1964, Italy, Pier Paolo Pasolini)
89. Oldboy: 2003, S. Korea, Chan-wook Park (Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu)
90. The Firemen’s Ball: 1968, Czechoslovakia, Milos Forman
91. All About My Mother: 1999, Spain, Pedro Almodóvar
92. The Flowers of St. Francis: 1950, Italy, Roberto Rossellini (Aldo Fabrizi, Peparuolo)
93. The Salesman: 2016, Iran, Asghar Farhadi (Taraneh Alidoosti, Shahab Hosseini)
94. The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band): 2009, Germany, Michael Haneke
95. Fälscher, Die (The Counterfeiters): 2007, Germany, Stefan Ruzowitzky (Karl Markovics)
96. The Scent of Green Papaya: 1993, Vietnam, France, Hung Tran
97. Amour: 2012, Austria, Michael Haneke (Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva)
98. The Exterminating Angel: 1962, Mexico, Luis Bunuel (Silvia Pinal)
99. The Juniper Tree: 1993, Iceland, Nietzchka Keene (Björk, Bryndis Petra Bragadóttir)
100. Spirited Away: 2001, Japan, Hayao Miyazaki)

See additional movies mentioned by DigitalDreamDoor.

Movieline Magazine and The Times have each compiled a similar list to the one above, along with brief summaries. View the Movieline Magazine list here and The Times list here.