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Kanopy Criterion Channel DocAlliance Films
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Sans soleil
Kanopy Criterion Channel DocAlliance Films
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Sans soleil

1983
Drama
Documentary
1h 40m
"He wrote me...." A woman narrates the thoughts of a world traveler, meditations on time and memory expressed in words and images from places as far-flung as Japan, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, and San Francisco (imdb)
Directed by:
Chris Marker Chris Marker
Written by:
Chris Marker Chris Marker
Starring:
Arielle Dombasle Alexandra Stewart Alexandra Stewart Florence Delay Riyoko Ikeda Charlotte Kerr
More
Genres:
Drama, Documentary, Crime
Country:
France
Languages:
English, French, Japanese, Cantonese, Japanese Sign Language
imdb More information at IMDb
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Sans soleil

1983
Drama
Documentary
1h 40m
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Ratings & Reviews Cast Collections Similar Stats Trailer
Avg Percentile 73.22% from 991 total ratings
Ratings & Reviews Cast Collections Similar Stats Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

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martintellerMartinTeller
Rated 21 Nov 2007
65
25th
What starts out as fascinating gradually becomes drop-dead boring. Some of the bits about Japan were very interesting, but everything collapses under the weight of the voice-over. I hate to use the word "pretentious", so I will try to put it a different way... Marker is trying too hard to be "poetic". Every line seems like its trying to convey incredibly deep ideas, but few of them were thought-provoking. By the last half hour, I was really struggling to stay focused on it.
Rated 21 Nov 2007
djrossdjross
Rated 21 Jan 2007
45
34th
I have never been able to locate the beauty and significance that others clearly find here. I find much of the use of video effects unappealing, and at times it comes across as almost touristic, by which I mean that it seems we are being invited to attend to surface features of "exotic" cultures, without, so far as I am capable of discerning, any genuine attempt to reflect on or draw anything from the things we are being shown.
Rated 21 Jan 2007
icarusIcarus
Rated 31 Jul 2009
60
26th
This was a real disappointment, though the near universal love for it from voices I respect gives me pause. That said, the reality is this film was a struggle to get through. It constantly seemed like the film was making attempts at profundity, but never really reaching it. At other times, it seemed like the film was delving into the extremes of certain cultures just for the sake of being extreme. I'm sure I'll give it another go in a few years, but the first experience just wasn't that great.
Rated 31 Jul 2009
peaceanarchyPeaceAnarchy
Rated 14 Feb 2008
72
32nd
It's certainly very interesting filmmaking, but I'm not sure it makes for a very good film. There are a lot of good individual parts but it gets tiresome to watch and I'm not sure I get what point the film is trying to make.. The narration is very fast and has a familiar tone that doesn't work too well. The end result is that while it's not hard to understand what's being said there's never enough time to connect the pieces or think about what's being presented.
Rated 14 Feb 2008
jakeaestheteJakeAesthete
Rated 13 Jun 2008
98
98th
One of the most heartbreaking and poignant films i have ever seen.
Rated 13 Jun 2008
anilscnanilscn
Rated 07 Jun 2019
50
48th
Repetetive, poetic, pretentious as hell but atmosphere and some ideas were beautiful.
Rated 07 Jun 2019
kubricksuckskubricksucks
Rated 05 May 2023
75
56th
imagine the smarmiest person on this website directed a movie
Rated 05 May 2023
neonmanNeonman
Rated 05 Jun 2014
72
43rd
The most interesting vacation video I've ever seen.
Rated 05 Jun 2014
yiannosYiannos
Rated 25 Jul 2014
50
26th
As far as non-narrative films that are on some level about the clash between modernity and the pre-industrial world, this was less satisfying than Koyaanisqatsi on the whole, and aesthetically it wasn't nearly as evocative or illustrative of the various environments it attempted to capture, natural or otherwise. The reflections on time and memory seemed superficial, and the narration was almost solipsistic in its self-regarding indulgence. The stubborn insularity was extremely off-putting.
Rated 25 Jul 2014
bownBown
Rated 28 Oct 2022
75
35th
A very tentative “good!” score because this demands a rewatch very badly. There are a LOT of ideas and images being thrown at you and plenty of them are very meaningful and thoughtful and others are like ok what if your friend who got really into Japan was also an amazing videographer?? so another watch will help sort it all out in me noggin
Rated 28 Oct 2022
somnivoresomnivore
Rated 09 Aug 2010
95
95th
"there's also the fascination associated with the sacred, even when it's someone else's." A very poetic, meditative travelogue that puts us not in the shoes of the participants, but in an interesting, detached observer's perspective, inviting exploration of the meaning of human ritual and the nature of memory and observation itself. It is a good example of how traveling should be conducted. Also, as this film makes heavy reference to the films Vertigo and Stalker, those should be seen first.
Rated 09 Aug 2010
oskarhuoskarhu
Rated 06 May 2020
84
91st
Very compelling on LSD but have to see this again to have a second, less inspired outlook.
Rated 06 May 2020
eveeluneveelun
Rated 11 Sep 2008
77
66th
At times fascinating, at times tedious, I found this hard to watch all the way through, but in small chunks I found it rewarding. The film aims at coherency by its many callbacks to earlier scenes and ideas, but ultimately its meandering style has more charm in smaller doses.
Rated 11 Sep 2008
jpfergusonJPFerguson
Rated 09 May 2020
55
41st
While the muffled and distorted auditory landscape infused with electronica is pleasantly unsettling, there is an element of voyeurism in this film that does not seem quite right. The impression it gives of Japan is powerful - one feels Japan - but the other portions of the film lack this impressionist quality. The repetition of "He wrote me..." is both tiresome and pretentious.
Rated 09 May 2020
lintonmyroxylintonmyroxy
Rated 31 Mar 2021
91
94th
If I could pick one film to be the creator of it would be this. For the rest of my life I could just sit in an empty room, elated, bathing in my self importance
Rated 31 Mar 2021
roujinroujin
Rated 28 Sep 2008
60
55th
Pretty complex and daunting. I have no idea how much of it was absorbed but it was still pretty rewarding.
Rated 28 Sep 2008
lisa_iilisa-
Rated 26 Oct 2013
4
52nd
it seems to be about the fragmented and fleeting nature of thoughts and memories, evidenced by how no particular moment in the film is a necessary component, and by how the thoughts expressed are at different times insightful, silly, cynical, humourous, optimistic, boring, etc. but the constant stream of consciousness becomes tiresome, one-note and even irritating over the course of 100 minutes. perhaps there's something meta in that ultimately the narrator's musings are largely forgettable.
Rated 26 Oct 2013
jebJeb
Rated 27 Nov 2008
91
82nd
Poignant, bizarrre and fascinating, San Soleil is a very rewarding film. Although be warned, it takes a lot of time for you to fully absorb and except it.
Rated 27 Nov 2008
moribunnyMoribunny
Rated 06 Feb 2024
35
19th
An unbelievably self-infatuated wank of benevolent racism, portraying a montage of concrete-jungle traffic and costumed traditional dances from different cultures as a voice-over lavishes said cultures with tacky metaphors and pop philosophy - all while referring to the Japanese as "these yellow men" and to Japan and Guinea-Bissau as "extreme poles of survival". More conspicuously extreme is the contrast between this film's ignorance and naivety and its pretense of genius.
Rated 06 Feb 2024
ieuandpIeuanDP
Rated 01 May 2018
70
58th
I thought I'd love this, but found it a bit dull and passive. It doesn't really do enough to explore the intrigues of memory or dreams visually, and the intonations feel more like an essay than fleeting thoughts. Some bits feel irritating and contrived too, especially the Hitchcock homage (not a Hitchcock fan). The most affecting moments revolve around other people's manipulation of film, but otherwise it's too distant for something so apparently personal.
Rated 01 May 2018
le_mamile mami
Rated 27 May 2020
60
52nd
çok zor izlemek
Rated 27 May 2020
thoughtgraffThoughtgraff
Rated 31 Mar 2009
100
97th
Not much to say about this film essay. This film is achingly beautiful. It's a film where, like was said by Herzog, "you can believe your eyes". Mesmerizing.
Rated 31 Mar 2009
andaghandagh
Rated 23 Sep 2009
100
97th
Oh my God, where has this been my whole life? Just gorgeous, it's almost unfair to rate it on the same site as other movies.
Rated 23 Sep 2009
lepraLepra
Rated 10 Sep 2013
60
10th
Nicely done but I didn't get the point of it.
Rated 10 Sep 2013
cinemahellcinema_hell
Rated 01 Feb 2009
100
99th
"He wrote me: this is a fucking masterpiece!"
Rated 01 Feb 2009
joojooJooJoo
Rated 14 Dec 2009
6
95th
A sense of timelessness and universality.
Rated 14 Dec 2009
ronthedogronthedog
Rated 01 Aug 2009
76
18th
A tough 90 minutes of associative rambling. Insightful no doubt, but whose insights and to what end? I personally find more in Sebald's novels.
Rated 01 Aug 2009
glumpy99glumpy_99
Rated 27 Dec 2023
66
29th
Largely an interesting and absorbing experience, (all the better if you respond to Godard-style collages) and despite being self-tagged as mundane, there are some arresting and interesting images and juxtapositions, especially a haunting digression to Hitchcock’s VERTIGO. The lack of overall clarity and drive that allows the pacing to lag between the more interesting segments, not helped by a too often portentous and pretentious narration. Would certainly benefit from a rewatch.
Rated 27 Dec 2023
manwhonosemanwhonose
Rated 28 Jun 2018
98
95th
Such a clever movie, which asks the audience to look at things from more than one perspective. It's both an astute examination of perception and a celebration of cinema, and it's rather beautiful
Rated 28 Jun 2018
salomaordsalomaord
Rated 02 Jan 2015
50
0th
Chris Marker #1
Rated 02 Jan 2015
theyshoot07theyshoot07
Rated 01 Mar 2008
89
82nd
# 213
Rated 01 Mar 2008
ahmed413ahmed413
Rated 05 Aug 2009
95
98th
Hypnotic representation of a place & time. And Time.
Rated 05 Aug 2009
velvet_croweVelvet Crowe
Rated 02 Mar 2018
25
19th
Man, this comes off to me as some weed smoker's acid trip or something. The narration is some of the most pretentious shit imaginable, trying to place nuance into some of the most mundane crap imaginable. Visually the film is a nauseating mess of imagery and photo filters, which I guess they pass off as "art." A lot of this film feels really low effort, trying to give someone's lame travel footage more meaning than it deserves.
Rated 02 Mar 2018
fantacbobFantacBob
Rated 12 Jun 2009
50
21st
Not my sort of thing.
Rated 12 Jun 2009
theyshoot08theyshoot08
Rated 19 Dec 2008
88
76th
233
Rated 19 Dec 2008
bfnbfn
Rated 01 Jan 2020
76
71st
I could listen to that voice for ever.
Rated 01 Jan 2020
cruelclowncruelclown
Rated 21 Oct 2007
95
97th
beautiful, very meditative.
Rated 21 Oct 2007
darrenDarren
Rated 06 Mar 2022
89
90th
Godard mixed with Pravda. Beautiful and heartbreaking He didn’t give a damn if the Dodgers won the pennant
Rated 06 Mar 2022
stainStain
Rated 29 May 2008
80
68th
Another of Chris Marker's bizarre little films. What the heck was the term? "Le camera stylo" or whatever -- meaning, to use the camera as an artist would use his brush? Whatever this movie is, I like it
Rated 29 May 2008
jrovermierjrovermier
Rated 21 Aug 2012
70
0th
dreamy probe of the nature of human memory
Rated 21 Aug 2012
mrcarmadyMrCarmady
Rated 25 Jun 2011
90
79th
I need to re-watch it, but it's amazing anyway.
Rated 25 Jun 2011
zenartistZenArtist
Rated 02 Dec 2023
99
67th
A dream lived in reality. I wouldn't know how to describe this film and I'm not sure whether re-watches would be of any help as well. This film is to be experienced.
Rated 02 Dec 2023
nathanbatesNathanBates
Rated 10 Nov 2019
60
35th
This is a tough film. It's not quite a documentary; it's more of a philosophical discussion that sometimes feels pretentious as it mixes strange concepts with strange images. There are parts that are funny, sometimes perhaps unintentionally so. If this is about memory, I wonder how much I'll remember about it in years to come. (Actually, throughout the movie, I was wondering if he really had gotten waivers from every person that appears in this film.)
Rated 10 Nov 2019
hulothulot
Rated 20 Mar 2012
100
96th
watched: 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019
Rated 20 Mar 2012
kasperlKasperL
Rated 04 Oct 2019
30
10th
*big yawn*
Rated 04 Oct 2019
parcalihamparcaliham
Rated 06 Feb 2012
100
99th
06 Subat 2012 & Sans soleil, metni cikarilasi hatta kitap olarak basilip okunmasi gerekilen bir narrator monologuna (mektuplarina) sahip. Filmin yapisinin kemigini bir cok soruyu cevapsiz barindiran ya da bir cok cevabi soruyu unutturarak ileten bir metin olusturuyor. Chris marker'in bu filmi,'kisisel sinema'nin sayili onemli yapitlarindan. Buna da bir isim bulmali.Kisisel sinema? Subjektif sinema?
Rated 06 Feb 2012
cagedwisdomcagedwisdom
Rated 09 Dec 2008
25
17th
Well, it's certainly no La Jetee. The narration is merely a string of unrelated tangents, as if it's trying to make a stream of consciousness. If anything, the narration distracts from the experience, despite the interesting thoughts presented. I got something out of it, but I had the feeling that it wasn't what I was supposed to get. More than anything, this succeeded in lulling me to sleep. That said; let yourself be put to sleep by this and you're sure to have some memorable dreams.
Rated 09 Dec 2008
holydiverHolyDiver
Rated 20 Apr 2018
0
4th
The most pretentious new-age acidhead rubbish I've ever seen. I expected nothing and was still disappointed. If you turn the sound off there's some nice scenery.
Rated 20 Apr 2018
guvolefouguvolefou
Rated 06 Mar 2012
95
99th
İlk izleme puanı: 82.
Rated 06 Mar 2012
vandelay1Vandelay1
Rated 18 Dec 2009
93
98th
Great Movie
Rated 18 Dec 2009
theyshoot10theyshoot10
Rated 13 Jan 2010
90
80th
201
Rated 13 Jan 2010
bakcheiabakcheia
Rated 01 Aug 2014
97
95th
This kind of reminded me of a documentarian approach to an exploration of time, memory, and meditations on the past. Auteurs like Malick and Tarkovsky have traversed this same ground often with more lyricism and visual grandeur, but Marker's unique approach to this stream-of-consciousness filmmaking is enchanting and beautiful in its own way. The film is expertly edited against a steady track of spoken word and sparse music, making the film a rather poetic and hypnotic experience.
Rated 01 Aug 2014
karatoprakkaratoprak
Rated 16 Apr 2018
93
99th
80 (Rated on April 16th, 2018) to 93.
Rated 16 Apr 2018
snallygastersnallygaster
Rated 01 Jan 2011
20
8th
Now that I've seen a few more Chris Marker films and have gotten a bit used to his somewhat overwritten narration, I might give this one another try. At the time, I found the narration insufferable, ruining a good movie.
Rated 01 Jan 2011
hehejajahehejaja
Rated 21 Jan 2009
90
91st
What is there to say? (Documentary) Film at its most hankering, probing, meditative... Cheerful yet critical of itself and the world. Absolutely fucking brilliant.
Rated 21 Jan 2009
shockularSHOCKULAR
Rated 28 Sep 2022
90
93rd
Beautiful and hypnotic. Turn off your phone and make sure you've gone to the bathroom so you don't have to take breaks during it. Many have compared it to Marker's La Jetee, which makes sense, but the film it FELT the most like for me was the extremely different but equally hypnotic Last Year at Marienbad. Like that film, it is pretentious at times, but it just doesn't matter because you can't take your eyes off of it. The sound really adds to it.
Rated 28 Sep 2022
feublofeublo
Rated 17 Jan 2021
85
74th
Memories' imperfections. Wandering and making peace with what we perceive from our history to let us accept our own happiness. Mesmerizing narrative, poetic and stunning images used to tell this story.
Rated 17 Jan 2021
theyshoot11theyshoot11
Rated 30 Nov 2011
89
78th
#216
Rated 30 Nov 2011
dorkovskyDorkovsky
Rated 19 Jul 2008
9
97th
Just images and sound. Amazingly they seem to go together pretty well. It's almost like Brakhage, where you have to just shut your brain off. It took me about 30 minutes but once I put myself in the right mindset, it was a very rewarding experience and I'm looking forward to the next time I feel like watching it.
Rated 19 Jul 2008
atgizaAtGiza
Rated 20 Jun 2010
92
90th
second time viewing, and this just totally clicks with me now. Endlessly mysterious and fascinating.
Rated 20 Jun 2010
epoe_p_o
Rated 21 Sep 2010
75
39th
Not sure what to make of it. Pretentious, but with a lot of striking images strung together quite gracefully. "The more you watch Japanese television, the more you feel it's watching you."
Rated 21 Sep 2010

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