Foreign Film Picks 2025

Lists of top films will often appear in newspapers and online at this time of the year. Rarely do these lists include foreign films. I'm sure that most foreign films can be as bad as most American films but the cream of the crop are well worth watching even with subtitles. These films open a window into other cultures while at the same time proving that we are all basically the same. Here are eleven films that my wife and I enjoyed this year. 

Fanny Ardant in Callas Forever

    Callas, Forever. Director Franco Zeffirelli recreates the magic, passion, and artistry of the opera diva who was also his longtime friend. Callas died tragically at the age of 53, and Zeffirelli presents an imaginative retelling of her last years. French actress Fanny Ardant perfectly fits the role of Callas, capturing all her fiery intensity on and off the stage. Jeremy Irons co-stars. This 2002 film is a rare gem featuring actual sound recordings of Callas arias. 115 minutes. 

      Dersu Uzala. Famed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa made this 1975 Russian  film, the product of an arduous two year film making expedition into the far reaches of Siberia. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film in 1975. Dersu Uzala is a primitive Mongolian frontiersman who is taken on as a guide by an early twentieth century Russian surveying crew. While the soldiers at first perceive Dersu as a naïve and comical relic of an uncivilized age, he quickly proves himself otherwise with displays of ingenuity and bravery. 141 minutes.

       Breaker Morant. This acclaimed 1980 film from Australia is based on a true story. Edward Woodward stars as the controversial folk hero Lt. Harry “Breaker” Morant. As South Africa’s Boer War draws to a close, Morant and two fellow Australian soldiers are court-martialed for murder. Their only hope lies in a small town lawyer who fights passionately for their lives. Winner of 10 Australian Film Institute awards, this powerful film directed by Bruce Beresford (Tender Mercies, Driving Miss Daisy) continues to stir audiences. CC, 107 minutes.

        Enchanted April. In post WWI England two wives fed up with the dreary London winter, and their seemingly loveless marriages decide to rent an Italian villa for a husbandless vacation. To share costs they enlist an acerbic widow, and a beautifuk young aristocrat. Miranda Richardson, Josie Lawrence, Joan Plowright, and Polly Walker star. This 1991 film also features Michael Kitchen, Alfred Molina, and Jim Broadbent at the outset of their notable film careers. Based on a novel by Elizabeth von Arnim. 95 minutes. CC.

        Incantato. Director Pupi Avati won the Italian best director award for this 2003 comedy set in Rome and Bologna in the 1920s. Neri Marcore plays a shy and clumsy man devoted to the academic world. His lack of interest in women has become an increasing source of anxiety to his womanizing father (Giancarlo Giannini), a tailor for the Pope. He sends his son to teach in a high school in Bologna with the hopes that he will find a wife and produce an heir for the family. 107 minutes. Subtitles.

        A Foreign Field. This British film has an acclaimed international cast that includes Alec Guinness, Leo McKern, Jeanne Moreau, Loren Bacall, John Randolph, and Geraldine Chaplin. Two British war vets meet an American vet when all three return to Normandy on the 50th anniversary of D-Day. Old rivalries resurface, particularly when two of the men discover they are searching for the same lost love. This disparate band of survivors eventually finds common ground in the memory of what they lost on that fateful day in 1944. 95 minutes. CC. 

           Persuasion. Amanda Root and Cieran Hinds star as separated lovers in this 1995 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s final novel. She is the proverbial ugly duckling in a pretentious upper class family, and he is a young somewhat lower class young naval officer who has risen during the Napoleonic wars. It is as close to the spirit of the great author as it is possible to get. 104minutes. CC.

           Pagliacci. Franco Zeffirelli directed this 1982 film adaptation of Leoncavallo’s famous opera. Placido Domingo and Teresa Stratas star as the principals in a travelling performance of the Commedia dell’ Arte but the comedy turns to real life tragedy. 72 minutes. Subtitles.

           “12”. Famed post-Soviet Russian film maker Nikita Mikhalkov directed this powerful story of a room full of jurors from all different levels of Russian society who are thrown together to determine the fate of a young man accused of murdering his stepfather. Each juror reveals his own story as they seek to discover the truth about the murder and themselves. Based on the famous American drama, Twelve Angry Men. 160 minutes. Subtitles.

          The Twilight Samurai. This 2002 Japanese film made by renowned director, Yoji Yamada, is set in a changing Japan of the late nineteenth century. Hiroyuki Sanada, one of Japan’s leading film stars, plays a low ranking, poverty stricken samurai trying to support his family. However, he is caught in the turmoil of the times and ordered to confront and kill a renegade warrior. The film won an unprecedented twelve Japanese Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress. 129 minutes. Subtitles.

         Italian for Beginners. This warm and playful story from Denmark is about six perfect strangers and the shared journey of discovery that changes each of their lives. In a small Danish city, a mismatched collection of opposites have signed up for an Italian language class in hope of spicing up their lives. The film was shot in “cinema verite” style without any special effects or overbearing sound track.  118 minutes. Subtitles.

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