Top 5 Non-English Language Movies to Watch if You Loved Marriage Story
With Marriage Story just released on Netflix, the Internet Film Community has been buzzing non-stop about its accolades. I watched it and have decided I want to review it (that post should be out tomorrow night) but it also reminded me of how much love and heartbreak has been projected on to screens. All the way back to the silent era, marriage, even those that are crumbling, has been a subject tackled by artists. While the film itself has been trending, so have the lists that give you more ideas of movies to watch if you loved it. The one thing that I have noticed, understandably, is how under referenced foreign-language (or non-English for those of you reading this from most other places on the globe) are. This is understandable. Most of these lists are made for and by people who tend to stick to entertainment made through Hollywood; it is often easier to access and understand. I was thinking, though, how Marriage Story, which has so much to say about a specific kind of relationship, is distinctly American. This is not a negative thing, rather just a part of the film's bones. This, along with the amount of time I have been spending on mainstream Hollywood releases (here on the blog and on the podcast), I wanted to make a Top 5 list for my readers that centered around the less-mentioned creations from other places in the world. Love and heartbreak may be universal occurrences, but they are not communicated the same in every country or culture. So here are the Top 5 Foreign Language Films to see if you loved Marriage Story.
Scenes From a Marriage
This is Ingmar Bergman's look at what seems like the perfect marriage actually looks like from the inside. It is the movie above all others that Marriage Story draws inspiration from so it is a great place to start. It covers a range of topics such as cheating a forgiveness, areas where Marriage Story borrows heavily.
Biutiful
This film may be a little bit of an unconventional choice for this list as the couple in question are already divorced (or at least separated). However, I included it because it shows the effects that the strained relationship between the two leads, played by Javiar Bardem and Maricel Alvarez, has on their children as well as on themselves. There are moments of reconciliation and togetherness and pain and anger. Although the movie has other things on its mind, such as Bardem's impending illness, hallucinations, and his illegal activities, the true core of the movie is the emotional familial relationship pinned down by the economics of Barcelona's ghetto.
The Broken Circle Breakdown
This is film is about two people who fall in love, have a child and lose her. Both of the people in this movie are musicians who discovered love through the music they played. But when their child dies the couple is devasted and their relationship follows and they are forced to piece it back together or risk losing each other completely.
A Separation:
This film is an Iranian film that has two separate plot points running at the same time. The story involving the divorcing couple centers on the husband, who refuses to leave Tehran, and the wife who wants to move her daughter to another place for a better life. They begin divorce procedures and in order to help him care for his ailing father the husband hires a woman to look after the elderly man (this is the second plot point, and there are major spoilers). It’s an emotional journey and really shines a light on another part of the world’s views on divorce and the procedures that they follow.
The Big City:
The Big City focuses on an Indian couple in the 1960s whose patriarch is struggling to make money to support his family. Eventually, his wife, who has always defined herself as a wife and a mother, discovers that she can work outside the home and help her husband. And she’s good at her new job! This bothers her husband, however, and the two must work out how to reconcile their relationship and overcome their insecurities. Much like Marriage Story, The Big City focuses on how in every relationship there is some loss of power from one partner in order to see the other one rise. So often women are the ones who give up parts of themselves and both these films shine a light on female characters who decide to step in and take some of that power back, and the effect it has on their respective significant others.
These are five non-English speaking films that Marriage Story reminds me of, at least in some ways, and that I personally think share enough similarities in themes, styles, and writing that you may find them moving to watch if you connected with Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story. Hopefully, I will have the review for Marriage Story written up and posted by tomorrow or Thursday, but until then, happy viewing!