Sans soleil (1983)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Chris Marker

Writer:

Chris Marker (writer)

Release Date:

2 March 1983 (France)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

"He wrote me...." A woman narrates the thoughts of a world traveler, meditations on time and memory...

Plot Keywords:

Time | Memory | Japan | Sex | Museum

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Florence Delay	...	Narrator (French version) (voice)
Arielle Dombasle	...	Herself
Riyoko Ikeda	...	Narrator (Japanese version) (voice)
Charlotte Kerr	...	Narrator (German version) (voice)
Kim Novak	...	Herself / Madeleine Elster / Judy Burton (archive footage)
Alexandra Stewart	...	Narrator (English version) (voice)
James Stewart	...	Himself / John 'Scottie' Ferguson (archive footage)

Also Known As:

Bez solntsa Sunless Sans soleil (complete title)
Sunless

Runtime:

USA:100 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | Japanese | English

Color:

Black and White (archive footage) | Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Brazil:18 | Singapore:M18

Filming Locations:

Cape Verde

Company:

Argos Films

Quotes:

Narrator: Rumour has it that every third-world a leader coined the same phrase the morning after independence. "Now the real problems start." Cabral never got a chance to say it: he was assassinated first. But the problems started, and went on, and are still going on. Rather unexciting problems for revolutionary romanticism: to work, to produce, to distribute, to overcome postwar exhaustion, temptations of power and privilege. Ah well...

Movie Connections:

References Brigadoon (1954)

A film about memory that you won't forget

With "Sans Soleil," Chris Marker skillfully blends image, sound, and voice in a powerful way that I've never experienced before or since. No mere description can begin to convey this film's stunning effect on my intellect and my senses. Not quite a documentary, not quite fiction, Marker's film emerges as a mesmerizing meditation on the meaning of time, space, and memory. "How," he asks, "does one remember thirst?" A film you won't forget.