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Sans Soleil

Original title: Sans soleil
  • 1983
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 40m
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
13K
YOUR RATING
Sans Soleil (1983)
A woman narrates the contemplative writings of a seasoned world traveler, focusing on contemporary Japan.
Play trailer1:46
1 Video
46 Photos
DocumentaryDrama

A woman narrates the contemplative writings of a seasoned world traveler, focusing on contemporary Japan.A woman narrates the contemplative writings of a seasoned world traveler, focusing on contemporary Japan.A woman narrates the contemplative writings of a seasoned world traveler, focusing on contemporary Japan.

  • Director
    • Chris Marker
  • Writer
    • Chris Marker
  • Stars
    • Amilcar Cabral
    • Florence Delay
    • Arielle Dombasle
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.7/10
    13K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Chris Marker
    • Writer
      • Chris Marker
    • Stars
      • Amilcar Cabral
      • Florence Delay
      • Arielle Dombasle
    • 44User reviews
    • 62Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 5 wins total

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:46
    Official Trailer

    Photos46

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    + 40
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    Top cast11

    Edit
    Amilcar Cabral
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Florence Delay
    • Narrator (French version)
    • (voice)
    Arielle Dombasle
    Arielle Dombasle
    • Self
    Riyoko Ikeda
    • Narrator (Japanese version)
    • (voice)
    Charlotte Kerr
    Charlotte Kerr
    • Narrator (German version)
    • (voice)
    Kim Novak
    Kim Novak
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    • …
    Alexandra Stewart
    Alexandra Stewart
    • Narrator (English version)
    • (voice)
    James Stewart
    James Stewart
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    • …
    Bin Akao
    • Self
    • (uncredited)
    David Coverdale
    David Coverdale
    • Self
    • (uncredited)
    • …
    Chris Marker
    Chris Marker
    • Self
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Chris Marker
    • Writer
      • Chris Marker
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews44

    7.712.8K
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    Featured reviews

    10carrienations

    This is not a documentary

    To call this film a documentary is to cheapen it. It's life on screen, not a mere document. It's poetry... and I'm not sure that word is adequate. How about your view of how you live and the world around you? Have you ever seen a film that gave you the questions to ask yourself? This film is startling... I can't praise it enough. My mind was exhausted by considering the layered imagery, both audio and visual, and the contextual shifts between them. How does anyone pick up a camera after seeing this? You might as well toss it in the trash because Marker has made Earth's last film.

    It's a crime that this film is not available on VHS or DVD in the U.S. Fans of this film should also seek out "The Koumiko Mystery", another transcendant film by Chris Marker.
    9alice liddell

    Documentaries record the real; this is beyond 'real'.

    When is a documentary not a documentary? SANS SOLEIL is a film comprising 'real' images, narrated with 'real' observations. The subject-matter is Japan, post-modernism, the erasion of memory, the flattening-out of history, decentring, surface, pastiche. It records life-styles, trends, habits, rites, artistic movements with the rigour of an anthropologist. It is a film about travel: throughout the world, throughout time. It is science fiction (Terry Gilliam's TWELVE MONKEYS fleshes out an anecdote here). It is a Borgesian fantasy, (the filmmaker is actually a fictional creation , Sandor Krasna). To call it a documentary, or even a film, would be like calling the Sistine Chapel a ceiling.
    10cromwell-3

    An amazement

    I've only seen this film twice, both on the same day, nearly fifteen years ago; and yet its poetic-philosophical themes, its melancholy, its images still remain with me. Viewing it was an intensely personal experience; I find myself a little startled to find that other people have seen it. I find myself plagiarising it constantly; I think of it at odd times (when I accidentally catch someone's eyes and immediately look away; whenever I visit San Francisco); it is a work of lingering and subtle beauty that percolates through my bloodstream, informing the hours and days, changing the things and ways I see...
    eyeseehot

    Nice images, but pretentious claptrap

    Some interesting shots strung together with a pretentious, artsy narration that mimics profundity in a familiar jejeune style. Assumptions include that the east is superior to the west, television is bad, capitalism evil, etc. Sample insight: "Pac-man puts into true perspective the balance of power between the individual and the environment." With a different narration it could be a much better film. One key to its superficiality: the people are only seen, never heard. The narrator's voice covers all, like ketchup. Marker has a good eye, a good feel for faces and gestures, but a mushy brain. If you're a young aspiring artist in an MFA program who's attracted to "theory" the humorless self-importance of this film may appeal to you.
    flippo

    save this film for a day when you have energy

    I must be brief. This documentary, which splices in cuts from Vertigo and from some guerrilla films, is definitely worth seeing. Though a student of French literature, and therefore habitually and terminally bored by pretentious studies of memory, this movie is remarkable in the way it makes connections across continents through the filmmaker's memory, extended as it is by the visual images he has stored on film. To put it disrespectfully, there is a lot of eye candy in this film, some of which is extremely beautiful ... the computer graphics towards the end might even remind Cocteau fans of some of scenes from Blood of a Poet (these, though, were what I found to be a bit over the top). So far I have only seen this film once, and so many of the memories that it prodded just three weeks ago have faded, like for example the name of the composer whose Bez Solntse inspired the title, and the documentary on volcanic activity I saw somewhere sometime which was echoed in the section filmed in Finland. In any case, this film will give you insight into the fascinating co-existence of traditional and modern culture in Japan. This struck home with me because I lived in Asia during the 80s when the technology of video-games, computers, and stereophonic luxe were exploding in the very same culture in which colorful Hindu and golden Buddhist temples w/ smoking incense, bird-singing contests and kite races were popular Sunday diversions from production. Bref, a fabulous film. As others have suggested, be prepared to suspend the Hollywood mindset for this treat.

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    Related interests

    Dziga Vertov in Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
    Documentary
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The scenes from Iceland were filmed by Haroun Tazieff in 1965, on the island Vestmannaeyjar. It shows 3 sisters, Kristbjörg Sigríður Kristmundsdóttir, born 1954, Halldóra Kristmundsdóttir, born 1957, and Áshildur Kristmundsdóttir, born 1959. They first found out about being in this film in June 2015.
    • Goofs
      The narration refers to the year 4001 and the 40th century. But the year 4001 will belong to the 41st century, not the 40th.
    • Quotes

      Narrator: I will have spent my life trying to understand the function of remembering, which is not the opposite of forgetting, but rather its lining. We do not remember. We rewrite memory much as history is rewritten. How can one remember thirst?

    • Connections
      Edited into The Green Fog (2017)
    • Soundtracks
      Sunless
      Composed by Modest Mussorgsky

      Arranged by Chris Marker (as Michel Krasna)

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    FAQ17

    • How long is Sans Soleil?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 2, 1983 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • France
    • Languages
      • French
      • Japanese
      • English
      • Cantonese
      • Japanese Sign Language
    • Also known as
      • Sun Less
    • Filming locations
      • 224 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, California, USA(Florist is Podesta Baldocchi Grant Street shop)
    • Production company
      • Argos Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $30,878
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $6,460
      • Oct 12, 2003
    • Gross worldwide
      • $31,111
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 40m(100 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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