Re: Chris Marker Sans Soleil (Sunless) (1983) DVDrip
Trinity Pullam
Chris Marker Sans soleil (Sunless) (1983) DVDrip
Sans soleil (French for "Sunless") is a 1983 documentary film by the French filmmaker Chris Marker. It is a meditation on the nature of human memory, showing the inability to recall the context and nuances of memory, and how, as a result, the perception of personal and global histories is affected. The film is composed of stock footage, clips from Japanese movies and shows, excerpts from other films as well as documentary footage shot by Marker. A female narrator reads from letters supposedly sent to her by the (fictitious) cameraman Sandor Krasna.
The film is often labeled as a documentary, travelogue, or essay-film. Despite the film's modest use of fictional content, it should not be confused with a mockumentary. The fictional content derived from the juxtaposition of narrative and image adds meaning to the film along with occasional nondescript movement between locations and lack of character-based narrative. Marker has said: "On a more matter-of-fact level, I could tell you that the film intended to be, and is nothing more than, a home movie. I really think that my main talent has been to find people to pay for my home movies. Were I born rich, I guess I would have made more or less the same films, at least the traveling kind, but nobody would have heard of them except my friends and visitors."
The title Sans soleil is from the song cycle Sunless by Modest Mussorgsky, a brief fragment of which features in the film. The film explores various themes such as time, memory, culture, politics, religion, art, and media. It travels across different locations such as Japan, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Iceland, Paris, and San Francisco. It reflects on the differences and similarities between these places and how they shape the human experience. The film also makes references to various works of literature, philosophy, cinema, and music, such as Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, George Orwell's 1984, Jorge Luis Borges' Funes the Memorious, and Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris.
The film is widely regarded as one of the best documentaries of all time. In a 2014 Sight and Sound poll, film critics voted Sans Soleil the third best documentary film of all time. The film has also influenced many other filmmakers and artists, such as Agnès Varda, Michael Moore, Harun Farocki, and The Caretaker.
If you are interested in watching this film, you can download it from [this link]. It is a DVDrip version with English subtitles. You can also watch it online on [this website]. Enjoy!
References:
- [1] Chris Marker quoted in Catherine Lupton, Chris Marker: Memories of the Future (London: Reaktion Books, 2005), p. 178.
- [2] Sans Soleil (1983), directed by Chris Marker [DVD]. Argos Films.
- [3] George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (London: Secker & Warburg, 1949).
- [4] Jorge Luis Borges, Funes el memorioso in Ficciones (Buenos Aires: Editorial Sur, 1944).
- [5] Solaris (1972), directed by Andrei Tarkovsky [DVD]. Mosfilm.
- [6] "The Greatest Documentaries of All Time", Sight & Sound (September 2014), available at [this link].
- [7] Agnès Varda quoted in Jonathan Rosenbaum, "Marker's Invisible Aim", Film Comment (January/February 2003), available at [this link].
- [8] Michael Moore quoted in Chris Darke, "Chris on Chris", in Chris Marker: A Grin Without a Cat (London: Whitechapel Gallery & Koenig Books Ltd., 2014), p. 15.
- [9] Harun Farocki quoted in Catherine Lupton, Chris Marker: Memories of the Future (London: Reaktion Books, 2005), p. 11.
- [10] The Caretaker, An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (2011) [CD]. History Always Favours the Winners.
- [11] [Sans Soleil (1983) - Watch Online]
- [12] [The Greatest Documentaries of All Time]
- [13] [Marker's Invisible Aim]
- [14] [Sans Soleil (1983) - Download]