The term “arthouse,” when applied to the filmmaking world, is a fairly loose one.

The following movies all contain strong arthouse elements, with some feeling a little more approachable than others.

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Cast

34.

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But thats not much.

Who knows, you could have a beautiful day.

Could watching it a dozen times be enough?

David looking pensive in The Lobster

Image via Picturehouse Entertainment

Would those dozen watches have to be spaced out over a dozen years?

But it encompasses so much, both time-wise and thematically.

To say its hard to forget, once seen, would be a considerable understatement.

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Of his various films, thefirst in the thematicThree Colourstrilogy, known asBlue, is arguably the best.

Its plot is vague in a way that allowsThe Holy Mountainto be about almost everything, at least thematically.

Its an odyssey through modern-day Paris… maybe.

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people standing in formation in front of a hut in Mishima

Image via Warner Bros.

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Bill the stick figure with a hat next to a cliff in ‘It’s Such a Beautiful Day’

Image via Bitter Films

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Caden looking up with a shocked expression in Synecdoche, New York.

Image via Sony Pictures Classics

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Two people in a car as the lights out the windows blur in Koyaanisqatsi

Image via Island Alive

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Chungking Express - 1994 - poster (1)

Image via Jet Tone Production Co., Ltd.

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Jean-Louis Trintignant as Marcello Clerici looking out a window in The Conformist

Image via Paramount Pictures

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Pierre Brasseur and Maria Casares in Children of Paradise

Image via Pathé Consortium Cinéma

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Leonie Benesch as Eva leaning on Christian Friedel as the Teacher during a carriage ride in The White Ribbon

Image via Sony Pictures Classics

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Corinne Marchand glancing out a window in ‘Cleo from 5 to 7’

Image via Athos Films

Cleo from 5 to 7 Movie Poster

Jean Seberg kissing Jean-Paul Belmondo on the cheek in Breathless

Image via StudioCanal

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Three Colours Blue

Image via mk2 Diffusion

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Bjork in Dancer in the Dark

Image via Angel Films

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Delphine Seyrig as Jeanne Dielman peeling potatoes in Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Image via Janus Films

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A still from Derek Jarman’s 1993 movie Blue

Image via Channel 4

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Three figures kneeling on a floor in The Holy Mountain - 1973

Image via ABKCO Films

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A woman looking to her left in Funeral Parade of Roses.

Image via Art Theatre Guild

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Paris, Texas0

Image via Argos Films

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Death and Antonius playing chess in The Seventh Seal.

Image via SF Studios

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Sans Soleil

Image via Argos Films

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A man looking ahead in Werckemeister Harmonies

Image via Pierre Grise Distribution

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A woman laying on a garden looking to the distance in The Tree of Life

Image Via Fox Searchlight Pictures

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Emmanuelle Riva and Eiji Okanada in Hiroshima Mon Amour

Image via Cocinor

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Maggie Cheung as Su Zi-Lhen looking out the window drinking in In The Mood for Love

Image via Universal Pictures

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A samurai leading an army in Ran

Image via Toho

Ran 1985 Movie Poster

man with medieval armor in front of a dirty river

Image via Filmverlag der Autoren

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Richard Gere and Brooke Adams in Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven (1978)

Image Via Paramount Pictures

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holy-motors

Image via Les Films du Losange

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A man in dark clothes stands in the center with two figures behind him in ‘Stalker’s poster

Image via Goskino

Two men looking at each other from a distance in Beau Travail

Image via Pyramide Distribution

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Marcello Mastroianni looking mischievous in 8½

Image via Avco Embassy Pictures

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Alain Delon as Jef Costello with a gun pointed to his face in the 1967 film Le Samouraï.

Image via S.N. Prodis

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Jonathan Chang taking a picture with a camera in ‘Yi Yi’

Image via Diaphana Films

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Come and See (1)

Image via Sovexportfilm

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Movie

The Seventh Seal