Greatest Foreign Language Film Trilogies of All Time
by Dibyayan_Chakravorty | created - 12 May 2017 | updated - 13 May 2017 | PublicWhich of these acclaimed foreign language (non-English) live action film trilogies do you think is the greatest?
After voting, you may discuss the poll here.
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1. Pather Panchali (1955)
Not Rated | 125 min | Drama
Impoverished priest Harihar Ray, dreaming of a better life for himself and his family, leaves his rural Bengal village in search of work.
Director: Satyajit Ray | Stars: Kanu Bannerjee, Karuna Bannerjee, Subir Banerjee, Chunibala Devi
Votes: 38,577 | Gross: $0.54M
Apu Trilogy (India)
List of Films:
1. Pather Panchali (1955) (Song of the Little Road)
2. Aparajito (1956) (The Unvanquished)
3. Apur Sansar (1959) (The World of Apu)
Director: Satyajit Ray
2. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A recently laid off factory worker kidnaps his former boss' friend's daughter, hoping to use the ransom money to pay for his sister's kidney transplant.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Shin Ha-kyun, Bae Doona, Lim Ji-eun
Votes: 75,181 | Gross: $0.05M
Vengeance Trilogy (South Korea)
List of Films:
1. Boksuneun naui geot (2002) (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance)
2. Oldeuboi (2003) (Oldboy)
3. Chinjeolhan geumjassi (2005) (Lady Vengeance)
Director: Park Chan-wook
3. Three Colors: Blue (1993)
R | 94 min | Drama, Music, Mystery
A woman struggles to find a way to live her life after the death of her husband and child.
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski | Stars: Juliette Binoche, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy, Benoît Régent
Votes: 110,570 | Gross: $1.32M
Three Colors Trilogy (France, Poland, Switzerland)
List of Films:
1. Trois couleurs: Bleu (1993) (Three Colors: Blue)
2. Trois couleurs: Blanc (1994) (Three Colors: White)
3. Trois couleurs: Rouge (1994) (Three Colors: Red)
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
R | 152 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A journalist is aided by a young female hacker in his search for the killer of a woman who has been dead for forty years.
Director: Niels Arden Oplev | Stars: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Ewa Fröling, Lena Endre
Votes: 223,394 | Gross: $10.10M
Millennium Trilogy (Sweden)
List of Films:
1. Män som hatar kvinnor (2009) (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
2. Flickan som lekte med elden (2009) (The Girl Who Played with Fire)
3. Luftslottet som sprängdes (2009) (The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest)
Director: Niels Arden Oplev, Daniel Alfredson
5. Infernal Affairs (2002)
R | 101 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A story between a mole in the police department and an undercover cop. Their objectives are the same: to find out who is the mole, and who is the cop.
Directors: Andrew Lau, Alan Mak | Stars: Andy Lau, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Eric Tsang
Votes: 131,528 | Gross: $0.17M
Infernal Affairs Trilogy (Hong Kong)
List of Films:
1. Mou gaan dou (2002) (Infernal Affairs)
2. Mou gaan dou II (2003) (Infernal Affairs II)
3. Mou gaan dou III: Jung gik mou gaan (2003) (Infernal Affairs III)
Director: Andrew Lau, Alan Mak
6. Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama
Recently released from a mental hospital, Karin rejoins her emotionally disconnected family in their island home, only to slip from reality as she begins to believe she is being visited by God.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow, Lars Passgård
Votes: 27,396
Trilogy of Faith or Silence of God Trilogy (Sweden)
List of Films:
1. Såsom i en spegel (1961) (Through a Glass Darkly)
2. Nattvardsgästerna (1963) (Winter Light)
3. Tystnaden (1963) (The Silence)
Director: Ingmar Bergman
7. Late Spring (1949)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama
Several people try to talk 27-year-old Noriko into marrying, but all she wants is to keep on caring for her widowed father.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chishû Ryû, Setsuko Hara, Yumeji Tsukioka, Haruko Sugimura
Votes: 19,361
Noriko Trilogy (Japan)
List of Films:
1. Banshun (1949) (Late Spring)
2. Bakushû (1951) (Early Summer)
3. Tôkyô monogatari (1953) (Tokyo Story)
Director: Yasujirô Ozu
8. Where Is the Friend's House? (1987)
Not Rated | 83 min | Drama, Family
Eight-year-old Ahmed has mistakenly taken his friend Mohammad's notebook. He wants to return it, or else his friend will be expelled from school. The boy determinedly sets out to find Mohammad's home in the neighbouring village.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Babek Ahmed Poor, Ahmed Ahmed Poor, Khodabakhsh Defaei, Iran Outari
Votes: 18,737
Koker Trilogy (Iran)
List of Films:
1. Khane-ye doust kodjast? (1987) (Where is the Friend's Home?)
2. Zendegi va digar hich (1992) (Life and Nothing More...)
3. Zire darakhatan zeyton (1994) (Through the Olive Trees)
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
9. The Seventh Continent (1989)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama
A European family who plan on escaping to Australia seem caught up in their daily routine, only troubled by minor incidents. However, behind their apparent calm and repetitive existence, they are actually planning something sinister.
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Birgit Doll, Dieter Berner, Leni Tanzer, Udo Samel
Votes: 17,056
Glaciation Trilogy (Austria)
List of Films:
1. Der siebente Kontinent (1989) (The Seventh Continent)
2. Benny's Video (1992) (Benny's Video)
3. 71 Fragmente einer Chronologie des Zufalls (1994) (71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance)
Director: Michael Haneke
10. Drifting Clouds (1996)
Not Rated | 95 min | Comedy, Drama
The recession hits a couple in Helsinki.
Director: Aki Kaurismäki | Stars: Kati Outinen, Kari Väänänen, Elina Salo, Sakari Kuosmanen
Votes: 9,071
Finland Trilogy (Finland)
List of Films:
1. Kauas pilvet karkaavat (1996) (Drifting Clouds)
2. Mies vailla menneisyyttä (2002) (The Man Without a Past)
3. Laitakaupungin valot (2006) (Lights in the Dusk)
Director: Aki Kaurismäki
11. The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
R | 120 min | Drama
Maria marries Hermann Braun in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. Alone, Maria puts to use her beauty and ambition in order to find prosperity during Germany's "economic miracle" of the 1950s.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Hanna Schygulla, Klaus Löwitsch, Ivan Desny, Gisela Uhlen
Votes: 14,934
BRD Trilogy (Germany)
List of Films:
1. Die Ehe der Maria Braun (1979) (The Marriage of Maria Braun)
2. Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss (1982) (Veronika Voss)
3. Lola (1981) (Lola)
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
12. Pratidwandi (1970)
110 min | Drama
A young college graduate is struggling to find a job. He lives in a flat with his younger, employed sister, revolutionary brother and widowed mother. The strain of the situation ultimately causes him to hallucinate.
Director: Satyajit Ray | Stars: Dhritiman Chatterjee, Asgar Ali, Arabinda Banerjee, Soumitra Bannerjee
Votes: 1,916
Calcutta Trilogy (India)
List of Films:
1. Pratidwandi (1970) (The Adversary)
2. Seemabaddha (1971) (Company Limited)
3. Jana Aranya (1975) (The Middleman)
Director: Satyajit Ray
13. L'Avventura (1960)
Not Rated | 144 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A woman disappears during a Mediterranean boating trip. During the search, her lover and her best friend become attracted to each other.
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni | Stars: Gabriele Ferzetti, Monica Vitti, Lea Massari, Dominique Blanchar
Votes: 32,653
Trilogy on Modernity and Its Discontents or Alienation Trilogy (Italy)
List of Films:
1. L'avventura (1960) (The Adventure)
2. La notte (1961) (The Night)
3. L'eclisse (1962) (Eclipse)
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
14. Days of Being Wild (1990)
Not Rated | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A man tries to find out who his real mother is after the woman who raised him tells him the truth.
Director: Kar-Wai Wong | Stars: Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Andy Lau, Carina Lau
Votes: 25,517 | Gross: $0.14M
Days of Being Wild Trilogy (Hong Kong)
List of Films:
1. Ah fei jing juen (1990) (Days of Being Wild)
2. Fa yeung nin wah (2000) (In the Mood for Love)
3. 2046 (2004) (2046)
Director: Kar-Wai Wong
15. Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)
Not Rated | 242 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Arch-criminal Dr. Mabuse sets out to make a fortune and run Berlin. Detective Wenk sets out to stop him.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Aud Egede-Nissen, Gertrude Welcker, Alfred Abel
Votes: 9,175
Dr. Mabuse Trilogy (Germany)
List of Films:
1. Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (1922) (Dr. Mabuse the Gambler)
2. Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (1933) (The Testament of Dr. Mabuse)
3. Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse (1960) (The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse)
Director: Fritz Lang
16. A City of Sadness (1989)
157 min | Drama, History
The story of a family embroiled in the "White Terror" that was wrought on the Taiwanese people by the Kuomintang government after their arrival from mainland China in the late 1940s.
Director: Hsiao-Hsien Hou | Stars: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Shu-Fen Hsin, Sung-Young Chen, Jack Kao
Votes: 6,104
Taiwan Trilogy (Taiwan)
List of Films:
1. Bei qing cheng shi (1989) (A City of Sadness)
2. Xi meng ren sheng (1993) (In the Hands of a Puppet Master)
3. Hao nan hao nu (1995) (Good Men, Good Women)
Director: Hsiao-Hsien Hou
17. The Decameron (1971)
R | 111 min | Comedy, Drama, History
An adaptation of nine stories from Boccaccio's "Decameron".
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini | Stars: Franco Citti, Ninetto Davoli, Jovan Jovanovic, Vincenzo Amato
Votes: 12,106
Trilogy of Life (Italy)
List of Films:
1. Il Decameron (1971) (The Decameron)
2. I racconti di Canterbury (1972) (The Canterbury Tales)
3. Il fiore delle mille e una notte (1974) (Arabian Nights)
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
18. Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1969)
132 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
Goopy wants to sing, and Bagha wants to play the dhol. They meet accidentally and are helped by King of Ghosts. With newly endowed abilities, they land in kingdom of Shundi, where their adventure begins.
Director: Satyajit Ray | Stars: Tapan Chatterjee, Rabi Ghosh, Ajoy Banerjee, Iva Banerjee
Votes: 2,759
Goopy-Bagha Trilogy (India)
List of Films:
1. Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1969) (Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne)
2. Heerak Rajar Deshe (1980) (Kingdom of Diamonds)
3. Goopy Bagha Phire Elo (1991) (The Return of Goopy Bagha)
Director: Satyajit Ray, Sandip Ray
19. Pusher (1996)
Not Rated | 110 min | Crime, Thriller
A drug pusher grows increasingly desperate after a botched deal leaves him with a large debt to a ruthless drug lord.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Stars: Kim Bodnia, Zlatko Buric, Laura Drasbæk, Slavko Labovic
Votes: 44,576 | Gross: $0.00M
Pusher Trilogy (Denmark)
List of Films:
1. Pusher (1996) (Pusher)
2. Pusher II (2004) (Pusher II: With Blood on My Hands)
3. Pusher III (2005) (Pusher III: I'm the Angel of Death)
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
20. Jamón, Jamón (1992)
Unrated | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When a mother disapproves of her son's lover, she hires an underwear model and former bullfighter to seduce her away.
Director: Bigas Luna | Stars: Penélope Cruz, Stefania Sandrelli, Anna Galiena, Juan Diego
Votes: 15,097 | Gross: $0.94M
Iberian Trilogy (Spain)
List of Films:
1. Jamón Jamón (1992) (Ham, Ham)
2. Huevos de oro (1993) (Golden Balls)
3. La teta y la luna (1994) (The Tit and the Moon)
Director: Bigas Luna
21. Songs from the Second Floor (2000)
Not Rated | 98 min | Comedy, Drama
Where are we humans going? A film poem inspired by the Peruvian poet César Vallejo. We meet people in the city. People trying to communicate, searching compassion and get the connection of small and large things.
Director: Roy Andersson | Stars: Lars Nordh, Stefan Larsson, Bengt C.W. Carlsson, Torbjörn Fahlström
Votes: 20,354 | Gross: $0.00M
Living Trilogy (Sweden)
List of Films:
1. Sånger från andra våningen (2000) (Songs from the Second Floor)
2. Du levande (2007) (You, the Living)
3. En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron (2014) (A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence)
Director: Roy Andersson
22. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (I) (1959)
Not Rated | 208 min | Drama, History, War
A Japanese pacifist, unable to face the dire consequences of conscientious objection, is transformed by his attempts to compromise with the demands of war-time Japan.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Chikage Awashima, Ineko Arima
Votes: 9,365
The Human Condition Trilogy (Japan)
List of Films:
1. Ningen no jôken (1959) (No Greater Love)
2. Ningen no jôken (1959) (Road to Eternity)
3. Ningen no jôken (1961) (A Soldier's Prayer)
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
23. Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1954)
Not Rated | 93 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
Depicts the early life of the legendary warrior Musashi Miyamoto; his years as an aspiring warrior, an outlaw and finally a true samurai.
Director: Hiroshi Inagaki | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Mariko Okada, Rentarô Mikuni, Kurôemon Onoe
Votes: 9,513
Samurai Trilogy (Japan)
List of Films:
1. Miyamoto Musashi (1954) (Musashi Miyamoto)
2. Zoku Miyamoto Musashi: Ichijôji no kettô (1955) (Duel at Ichijoji Temple)
3. Miyamoto Musashi kanketsuhen: kettô Ganryûjima (1956) (Duel at Ganryu Island)
Director: Hiroshi Inagaki
24. The Cloud-Capped Star (1960)
Not Rated | 126 min | Drama
A selfless young woman (Supriya Choudhury) sacrifices her own happiness for her unappreciative family.
Director: Ritwik Ghatak | Stars: Supriya Choudhury, Anil Chatterjee, Gyanesh Mukherjee, Bijon Bhattacharya
Votes: 3,245
Refugee Trilogy (India)
List of Films:
1. Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960) (The Cloud-Capped Star)
2. Komal Gandhar (1961) (A Soft Note on a Sharp Scale)
3. Subarnarekha (1965) (The Golden Thread)
Director: Ritwik Ghatak
25. Days of '36 (1972)
105 min | Drama, History
When a trade unionist is murdered in broad daylight, the suspects rounded up include Sofianos, who doggedly maintains his innocence. When a minister visits his cell, he tricks his warders and takes the man hostage, threatening to kill him.
Director: Theodoros Angelopoulos | Stars: Vangelis Kazan, Kostas Pavlou, Thanos Grammenos, Giorgos Kyritsis
Votes: 1,195
Trilogy of History (Greece)
List of Films:
1. Meres tou '36 (1972) (Days of '36)
2. O thiasos (1975) (The Travelling Players)
3. Oi kynigoi (1977) (The Hunters)
Director: Theodoros Angelopoulos
26. Voyage to Cythera (1984)
120 min | Drama
An old communist returns to Greece after 32 years in the Soviet Union. However, things aren't the way he had hoped for.
Director: Theodoros Angelopoulos | Stars: Manos Katrakis, Mary Hronopoulou, Dionysis Papagiannopoulos, Dora Volanaki
Votes: 3,094
Trilogy of Silence (Greece)
List of Films:
1. Taxidi sta Kythira (1984) (Voyage to Cythera)
2. O melissokomos (1986) (The Beekeeper)
3. Topio stin omihli (1988) (Landscape in the Mist)
Director: Theodoros Angelopoulos
27. The Suspended Step of the Stork (1991)
143 min | Drama, Romance
A reporter stuck in a border town with an overcrowding of refugees sees a man he believes to be a long lost politician.
Director: Theodoros Angelopoulos | Stars: Marcello Mastroianni, Jeanne Moreau, Gregory Patrick Karr, Ilias Logothetis
Votes: 2,754
Trilogy of Borders (Greece)
List of Films:
1. To meteoro vima tou pelargou (1991) (The Suspended Step of the Stork)
2. To vlemma tou Odyssea (1995) (Ulysses' Gaze)
3. Mia aioniotita kai mia mera (1998) (Eternity and a Day)
Director: Theodoros Angelopoulos
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