Foreign Films

In the silent era film was universal. Then when the Talkies started the language barrier came into play. In the Fifties and Sixties Bergman, Godard and Antonioni offered an alternative to Hollywood and foreign language films became regarded as forbidding. These days there is an increasing amount of commercially oriented films crossing over. There are still highly intelligent ‘difficult’ directors out there though; from the playfully malevolent Lars Von Trier, to the accusatory Michael Haneke, not to mention the truly great Claire Denis (Beau Travail). There are so many interesting films around for a movie fan willing to make the effort. To steal a quote from Geoffrey Rush in Elizabeth, “Look out there. There is a whole world waiting for you.”