Sans soleil (1983)

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:

Iceland | Memory | Time | Japan | Alfred Hitchcock

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)

Directed by
Chris Marker		(as Chris. Marker)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Chris Marker		writer (as Chris. Marker)

Original Music by
Michel Krasna

Cinematography by
Chris Marker

Film Editing by
Chris Marker		(as Chris. Marker)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Pierre Camus	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Paul Bertault	....	sound mixer
Antoine Bonfanti	....	sound mixer

Special Effects by
Hayao Yamaneko	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Arthur Cloquet	....	assistant camera
Ghislain Cloquet	....	assistant camera
Eric Dumage	....	assistant camera
Dominique Gentil	....	assistant camera
Jimmy Glasberg	....	assistant camera
Kazuko Kawakita	....	assistant camera
Pierre Lhomme	....	assistant camera
Tom Luddy	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Catherine Adda	....	assistant editor
Anne-Marie Lhote	....	assistant editor

Thanks
Eugenio Bentivoglio	....	acknowledgment: archive footage (segment: Guerrilla in Bissau)
Jean-Michel Humeau	....	acknowledgment: archive footage (segment: Graduation Ceremony)
Mario Marret	....	acknowledgment: archive footage (segment: Guerrilla in Bissau)
Sana Na N'Hada	....	acknowledgment: archive footage (segment: Bissau Carnival)
Haroun Tazieff	....	acknowledgment: archive footage (segment: Iceland 1970)
Danièle Tessier	....	acknowledgment: archive footage (segment: Death of a Giraffe)

Production Companies

• Argos Films

Distributors

• Aurora (2006) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• New Yorker Films (1983) (USA) (dubbed)
• Ripley's Home Video (2007) (Italy) (DVD) (boxed set)

Also Known As:

Bez solntsa Sunless Sans soleil (complete title)
Sunless
Without Sun (International: English title)

Runtime:

USA:100 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | Japanese | English

Color:

Black and White (archive footage) | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

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 La jetée (1962)

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.