Help needed from foreign film experts (1 Viewer)

[Scott Page]

I'm interested in the following foreign films, however, I know very little about them expect they are highly recommended. My problem is that my wife is highly sensitive to female nudity. She gets very upset if I'm watching and breasts show up. A butt shot or two is ok, but any female frontal nudity will get me in hot water. Since these are either unrated or "R" rated they could be problems. So can you help me out by letting me know which of these films should be avoided by me? Yes, I know us Americans are prudes. Yes, I know Utah Americans are the worst prudes. So there is no need to go into the merits of nudity vs violence, etc.

Thanks very much for your help.

Seven Samurai1954

Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie, The1972

Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The1964

Blue Angel1930

Bicycle Thief, The1948

Strike1925

Cinema Paradiso1988

400 Blows, The1959

8 1/21963

Children of Paradise1945

Playtime1967

Gertrud1964

Rashomon1950

Aguirre, The Wrath Of God1972

Earth1930

Vampyr1932

Battleship Potemkin, The1925

Red Desert1964

Gospel According to Saint Matthew, The1964

Rocco & His Brothers1960

Decalogue, The1988

Andrei Rublev1969

Lola Montes1955

Last Year at Marienbad1960

Solaris (Solyaris)1972

Grand Illusion1938

Seventh Seal, The1957

M1931

Passion of Joan of Arc, The1928

Ivan the Terrible, Parts I and II1945

Wild Strawberries1957

Red and the White, The [Csillagosok, katonák]1968

Kingdom, The (Riget)1999

Ikiru1952

Throne of Blood (The)1957

Vanishing, The1988

Breathless (À bout de souffle)1960

Diabolique1955

Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, The1994

Farewell My Concubine: Director's Cut1993

Amarcord1974

Swept Away1975

Ran1985

Two English Girls (Les Deux anglaises et le continent)1971

All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre)1999

Belle de jour1967

Metropolis1926

Smiles Of A Summer Night1955

Pierrot le Fou1965

Tin Drum, The1979

Run Lola Run1998

 

[Ike]

Amarcord 1974

If she's sensitive, avoid.

From your list, this is the only one that I'm sure has nudity, though there are a lot I haven't seen, and some I may not remember (I don't really remember nudity unless it plays a part in the plot, as in Amarcord.)

Might I suggest, though this may not be appropriate, that you watch what you want to. You should be allowed to enjoy any art you want to. Again, this might be out of line.

 

[Rain]

I'm not sure about all of them. Let's see...

These have no nudity for sure:

Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The 1964

Bicycle Thief, The 1948

Grand Illusion 1938

Seventh Seal, The 1957

M 1931

Metropolis

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Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, The 1994:

Well, there is a part where you see the outline of a transexual's breast through a wet blouse. There is also a scene where a woman projects ping pong balls out of her pussy, though you don't actually see her naked.

---------------------------------------

Belle du Jour & The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeiosie:

I don't think they have total nudity, but there are some very sexual situations and innuendos. Better safe than sorry.

-----------------------------------------------

I don't recall any nudity in either Seven Samurai or The Gospel According to St. Matthew, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[Ike]

Discreet is PG, Rain, and it could be showed, as far as I remember, completely unedited on TV.

Let me go through the one's I know that I've seen that I'm sure don't:

Seven Samurai 1954

Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie, The 1972

400 Blows, The 1959

8 1/2 1963

Decalogue, The 1988

Andrei Rublev 1969 (though I can't remember if it shows anything, there is a section with nudists. As far as I remember, it was not graphic at all, and never showed anything.)

Seventh Seal, The 1957

All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre) 1999

Run Lola Run 1998

These, I'm almost positive (except with Andrei) have 0 nudity.

 

[Rain]

Discreet is PG, Rain, and it could be showed, as far as I remember, completely unedited on TV.

so I was erring on the side of caution.

 

[Greg_R]

Seven Samurai doesn't have nudity. However, there are numerous battles (but little blood). If you've seen The Magnificent Seven it's the same (in terms of amount & type of violence). You probably already know that TM7's plot is a copy of Seven Samurai...

 

[Rain]

Sorry, I missed one.

Children of Paradise has no nudity.

 

[JohnJB]

I'm the opposite to your wife I get upset if... you get the picture.

Any way these are good by my reasoning:

Cinema Paradiso 1988 (I'm pretty sure there is a montage of clips censored from films which may include boobies)

Rocco & His Brothers 1960 (oh 1960 I'm thinking of a completely different film)

Kingdom, The (Riget) 1999 (Lars can be pretty racy, I'd be very careful)

Tin Drum, The 1979 (oh yeah)

 

[Hendrik]

Scott Page:
...here's one movie (by the director of Cinema Paradiso) that you and your wife definitely should not watch:
http://www.dvd.it/index.cgi?sid=1689...ett&arti=18791
...I noticed your list of titles includes:
* Fritz Lang's M (a film about a sicko pervert who goes around murdering little girls - "Ich kann doch nichts dafür!")
* Luis Buñuel's Belle de jour (a film about a lovely young woman who is - to put it as delicately as possible - "...a wife by night and a prostitute by day...")
...just thought I'd warn you...
I'll now go sit in a corner and repent for being a callous slob.
. . .

 

[Bill McA]

Seven Samurai 1954 none

Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie, The 1972 none

Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The 1964 none

Blue Angel 1930 don't think so

Bicycle Thief, The 1948 none

Strike 1925 never seen it but I doubt it contains any nudity

Cinema Paradiso 1988 don't remember any

400 Blows, The 1959 none

8 1/2 1963 none

Children of Paradise 1945 none

Playtime 1967 none

Gertrud 1964 never seen it

Rashomon 1950 it's about a rape, but I don't recall any nudity

Aguirre, The Wrath Of God 1972 I think there was, not sure

Earth 1930 never seen it - I doubt it

Vampyr 1932 none

Battleship Potemkin, The 1925 none

Red Desert 1964 never seen it

Gospel According to Saint Matthew, The 1964 I don't recall any

Rocco & His Brothers 1960 never seen it

Decalogue, The 1988 I think there was, not sure

Andrei Rublev 1969 never seen it, but I believe there is some

Lola Montes 1955 never seen it

Last Year at Marienbad 1960 none

Solaris (Solyaris) 1972 never seen it

Grand Illusion 1938 I doubt it

Seventh Seal, The 1957 don't recall any

M 1931 none

Passion of Joan of Arc, The 1928 none

Ivan the Terrible, Parts I and II 1945 never seen them

Wild Strawberries 1957 don't recall any

Red and the White, The [Csillagosok, katonák] 1968 never seen it

Kingdom, The (Riget) 1999 none

Ikiru 1952 none

Throne of Blood (The) 1957 none

Vanishing, The 1988 none

Breathless (À bout de souffle) 1960 don't recall any

Diabolique 1955 none

Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, The 1994 none

Farewell My Concubine: Director's Cut 1993 don't recall any

Amarcord 1974 extra-large sized

Swept Away 1975 pretty sure that there was some

Ran 1985 none

Two English Girls (Les Deux anglaises et le continent) 1971 don't recall any

All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre) 1999 don't remember any

Belle de jour 1967 yes, if I remember correctly

Metropolis 1926 do pasties count?

Smiles Of A Summer Night 1955 don't recall any

Pierrot le Fou 1965 never seen it

Tin Drum, The 1979 lots & lots

Run Lola Run 1998 no

 

[george kaplan]

I'm not sure if I agree with Rain about Metropolis. It's been a while since I've seen it (I can't stomach my madacy dvd :frowning, but the female robot might offend your wife.
All I can say is that this really makes me appreciate my wife even more. She enjoys films with female nudity almost as much as I do.

 

[Darren H]

Just to fill in some holes Bill left . . .

Tin Drum, The 1979 lots & lots
Run Lola Run 1998 no

 

[Pascal A]

Filling in the remaining blanks between Bill and Darren's posts:
Strike 1925 - none
Gertrud 1964 - topic of adultery, no nudity
Rocco & His Brothers - long rape scene with witnesses, off camera (no actual nudity presented, camera pans to the reactions of witnesses intead)
Lola Montes - many affairs, no nudity
Oh, missed The Red and the White - none, just long, almost hallucinatory battle sequences

 

[Scott Page]

You guys are great! Thanks so much for your effort.
George: female robots should be just fine.
Rain: bras should be ok unless its like a Victoria Secret commercial. I quickly find something else in the room to study when those come on the tube and the wife is near .
Ike: hahahaha, your comments don't offend, but I have to laugh. Your attitude would get me divorced or castrated, possibly both. My wife is quite beautiful and has a great body; if I want to ever see or touch it again, I'll respect her sensitvity on this. So Ike, if you were wearing my shoes which would you choose: the REAL thing or the REEL thing? .
I have some conflicting info on All About My Mother 1999. The above posts say no nudity, but somewhere I read it had heavy sex and nudity. Can anyone comment more fully on this one?
So, based on input the movies to avoid are:
Amarcord1974
Andrei Rublev1969
Belle de jour1967
Swept Away1975
Tin Drum, The1979
Aguirre, The Wrath Of God1972
Cinema Paradiso1988 Might be Ok, but may have a film clip montage showing some boobs. Can anyone tell me if these flash by very quickly and are relatively few in number? She likely would mind if its a very fast flash and not to graphic. I've heard this movie is so great I'd like to get it if the montage is brief and non-graphic.
The following movies likely don't have any but forum members were not quite sure; anybody know for sure?
Blue Angel1930
Earth1930
Farewell My Concubine: Director's Cut1993
Smiles Of A Summer Night1955
Strike1925
Two English Girls (Les Deux anglaises et le continent)1971
These movies have not be seen by those responding so far:
Ivan the Terrible, Parts I and II1945
Red Desert1964
Thanks again. If any of you have some suggestions for 3 1/2 to 4 star foreign films that are nudity free that I have not mentioned, please let me know. My list of movies was gathered mainly from Movie Line's list of the top 100 foreign films. Suggestions for more contemporary films would be appreciated.

 

[Darren H]

So, based on input the movies to avoid are:

...

Andrei Rublev 1969

I know I shouldn't do this, but I just can't let that slip by without comment. Scott, Andrei Tarkovsky, director of both Rublev and Solaris, was a devout Russian Orthodox who, in Rublev, captured man's struggle with faith and transformed it into a beautiful, profound film. I'd hate for you and your wife to miss it because of five seconds of nudity. And if you're going to watch any Tarkovsky, Rublev would be the most accessible starting point.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I doubt your wife would have any problem at all with "Diabolique", but when the light hits Véra Clouzot's nightgown in just the right way, .... uh

I'm sorry, what was I talking about again. :b

Regards,

 

[Scott Page]

Darren,

Thanks for the reply. If it's really only 1 scene and 5 seconds of non-graphic boobs then it's likely going to be OK if I can skip past it. If it is that great of a film and not to be missed? I do have Braveheart, Terminator, Dark City, 5th Element, The Contender, Blade Runner, and a few others with brief nudity that that can be quickly by-passed if needed (like the strip scene in Dark City). I've got to be careful about these types of films though, cause if I bring in too many she may say out with them all (Don't want to give up my sci-fi favorites). I've indexed a few films (Terminator, Dark City, Blade Runner) so that I know just when to hit pause, then change the time index ahead to skip the offending stuff.

So the bottom line is if it is a fantastic film and only has a single brief scene, it may be ok. But I wish to really limit the number of these to avoid getting them all thrown out.

 

[Pascal A]

Blue Angel 1930 - no sex or nudity, some bare stockings
Earth 1930 – no sex or nudity
Farewell My Concubine: Director's Cut 1993 – I don't remember any specific scene of nudity on this one. The title refers to a traditional play, not a person. The concubine role is played by a male actor of female roles. The "love" between the two characters is unrequited.
Smiles Of A Summer Night 1955 – Definitely none, just verbal dalliances
Strike 1925 – none
Two English Girls (Les Deux anglaises et le continent) 1971 – I don't remember any nude scenes, but the narration is quite sexually frank, even graphic, especially at the end. I was personally turned off by the final narration myself, irrespective of its tongue and cheek tone.
Ivan the Terrible, Parts I and II 1945 - none
Red Desert 1964 – none, but some sexual innuendo when several friends get together at a fishing shack.
Oh, and as for All About My Mother, definitely no nudity, but the language is very sexually frank, especially by La Agrado.

 

[Brook K]

Aguirre has no nudity or even any sexual situations. It's about the arrogance of civilized man in believing he can conquer nature and "primitive" people and about one man's meglomania.
Strike has no sexual situations, and I don't think any nudity, maybe a breastfeeding. But it is a wonder of montage editing and very fast cut so no shot lingers.
Blue Angel has no nudity. It was considered very racy at the time and the Catholic League demanded cuts, but it's mild by today's standards. Just underwear shots. Though Marlene Dietrich is very attractive.
I would also recommend Ikiru, Children of Paradise, Cries & Whispers, Stalker, Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Wild Child, My Life To Live, Stolen Kisses, Claire's Knee, Fitzcarraldo, Das Boot, Mother & Son, Zentropa, A Better Tomorrow, The Hole, Madadayo, Dersu Uzala, Not One Less, Butterfly, The King of Masks.
And I think In The Realm of the Senses would be perfect for you two.

 

[Scott Page]

Thanks Pascal.

My wife thought that "There's something about Mary" was really gross (I didn't see it) so if you were offended by Two English Girls, then I will likely skip it.