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Why this is a useful order
Marker worked across documentary, essay film, science fiction, and multimedia forms. A first viewing is easier to navigate if it moves from a concise, formally distinctive film to a more open-ended essay, then broadens into works concerned with public events, everyday life, and new forms of storytelling. The route below is an editorial recommendation based on how the films are described by the Cinémathèque française, the Criterion Collection, and the BFI; none establishes a required viewing order.
The sequence also offers a set of comparisons to carry from one film to the next: how images make meaning, how narration shapes what viewers see, how memory changes the reading of an image, and how personal observation connects to historical events. Rather than treating Marker’s films as one genre or a single argument, this approach lets their differences become part of the introduction.
The Cinémathèque française characterizes Marker as the author of “une cinquantaine de films documentaires”—around fifty documentary films. That is an approximate figure, not an exact count or a dated statistic, but it conveys the breadth of a career that cannot be represented by one famous short or a single genre. The five-film route is a doorway into that range, not a substitute for it.
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1. Begin with La Jetée
La Jetée is the most direct first encounter: a science-fiction story told primarily through still photographs. Made in 1962, its striking form makes the film’s treatment of memory and cinematic time immediately visible, without requiring familiarity with Marker’s wider body of work. The Cinémathèque française describes it as a film that, through still photographs, “invents a style and a new cinematic writing.” Criterion likewise identifies it as a time-travel tale told through still images.
Notice how the photographs do more than illustrate a story. Their stillness changes the pace of viewing, while the sequence and narration encourage you to imagine movement and duration between one image and the next. This is a useful starting point for considering a recurring Marker question: what happens when an image is remembered, revisited, or placed beside another image?
It is also a practical first choice if you are unsure whether Marker’s work is for you: the film offers a compact example of his formal inventiveness. It does not, however, stand in for the more expansive travelogue-essays or documentary and political work in the rest of this route. Treat its brevity and unusual construction as an introduction to one strand of his filmmaking, rather than as a template for every film that follows.
2. Continue with Sans Soleil
After the concentrated fiction of La Jetée, Sans Soleil offers a feature-length encounter with Marker as an essay filmmaker. It is a free-form travelogue moving among places, images, culture, history, and memory. Criterion describes a journey from Africa to Japan and emphasizes the film’s questions about time and memory. The BFI calls it a speculative travelogue-essay whose narrated letters move from Guinea to Japan to Iceland.
There is no need to approach the film as a conventional itinerary or a documentary that delivers one settled conclusion. Its movement between locations and ideas is part of the experience. Pay attention to how a voiceover steers your response to an image, and whether the image seems to confirm, complicate, or outlast the narration. Compared with La Jetée, the question shifts from how still images can tell a story to how collected images and reflections can form an essay.
The contrast between the two films makes a useful first comparison. La Jetée builds a science-fiction narrative from still photographs; Sans Soleil gathers travel, cultural observation, and reflection into a looser essay form. Both invite you to think about time and memory, but they organize the viewer’s attention differently. You can watch for that difference without expecting one film to provide a key that solves the other.
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Choose a narration track
Criterion says Marker made both English and French narration tracks for Sans Soleil and preferred viewers to experience the film in the language they know better. If both tracks are available in your edition, that is a practical guide: choose the language that lets you attend most closely to the narration and its relation to the images. Track availability depends on the edition or service you use, so check its audio options rather than assuming both are included.
3. Turn to political history with Le Fond de l’air est rouge
Next, watch Le Fond de l’air est rouge, released in English as A Grin Without a Cat. It broadens the route from travel, memory, and formal play to collective movements and twentieth-century political events. The Cinémathèque française includes it among Marker’s major landmarks, making it a strong next step for viewers interested in how his filmmaking engages with political history.
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This is also a useful point to compare the scale of the films. The earlier stops make memory, narration, and the reading of images especially visible; here, consider how images relate to collective movements and a wider historical record. The route places this film after Sans Soleil so the move from individual reflection and travel to political history is easy to notice. That order is a viewing aid, not a claim about the only correct way to understand either film.
4. See early documentary work in Le Joli Mai
Le Joli Mai is a major documentary from Marker’s early period and gives the route another kind of encounter: documentary observation. Placing it after the political-historical work provides a way to notice the difference between attending to everyday life and arranging images around broader historical movements. The Cinémathèque française lists it among the defining works of Marker’s career.
As you watch, consider how a documentary’s choice of people, situations, and images affects what can be understood about a period. That comparison helps keep “documentary” from becoming a catch-all label: Marker’s work can approach reality through observation, through essayistic reflection, or through the construction of a historical argument.
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The film’s place in this route is not meant to suggest that documentary observation is less complex than essay film or political history. Instead, it gives you another basis for comparison: what changes when a film attends to lived situations rather than foregrounding a travelogue structure or collective political events? The institutional list identifies Le Joli Mai as a defining work, while the route’s order encourages you to notice how its mode of looking differs from the films already seen.
5. Finish the starter route with Level Five
End this first sequence with Level Five, a later work included among the Cinémathèque française’s major films. It is useful as a final stop because it gives you a chance to see Marker’s continued experimentation after encountering his still-image fiction, travelogue-essay, political history, and early documentary work.
By this point, compare how each film handles narration, images, memory, and history rather than looking for a single formula. The value of the sequence is its range: it shows several ways Marker’s filmmaking can organize images and ideas, not a definitive ranking of the films. The Cinémathèque française’s list supports identifying Level Five as a later experiment, but it does not establish a specific technical feature or a detailed account of its subject here, so the best first-watch prompt is simply to notice what feels newly experimental after the earlier films.
What to watch next
Once you have seen the five recommended films, the Cinémathèque française’s wider list offers several directions for continuing. These titles extend the range of the route without requiring a particular order:
- Dimanche à Pékin and Lettre de Sibérie
- Cuba Si and À bientôt, j’espère
- L’Héritage de la chouette
- Le Tombeau d’Alexandre and Le Souvenir d’un avenir
Pick a next film according to what interested you most: a place-based essay, a political or historical subject, or another experiment with form. The larger body of work is not reducible to the five-film introduction. The titles above are a selection from the archive’s broader list, not a prescribed second syllabus.
How to watch and compare the films
For a more attentive first pass, use one question at a time rather than trying to decode every reference. A simple viewing checklist can make the differences between films easier to see:
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- Form: Is the film built around still photographs, travel footage, documentary observation, or a mixture?
- Narration: Does the voice guide the images, sit beside them, or create tension with what they show?
- Memory: Are images presented as immediate evidence, recollection, or material being reconsidered?
- Scale: Does the film focus on personal observation, cultural encounters, or collective historical events?
These are viewing prompts, not a decoding key. Their purpose is to help you notice how the films work and how one changes your understanding of another. You might also compare the film forms directly: a still-image fiction beside a free-form essay, or an observational documentary beside a work organized around political history. Those contrasts are grounded in the route’s documented forms and themes; they do not require a single interpretation.
Where to find the films
At the time its director page was checked for this guide, the Criterion Channel listed five Marker films: La Jetée, Junkopia, Letter from Siberia, Sans Soleil, and Sunday in Peking. Catalogs and territorial availability change, so check the service’s current catalog in your region before planning a watch. The listed selection includes the two recommended starting films as well as several options for continuing. Availability on one service should not be taken as a guarantee that a title is available in every country or remains in the catalog.
Criterion’s catalog search also lists a La Jetée/Sans Soleil release, a potentially convenient pairing for viewers seeking those two starting works in one edition. The listing alone does not establish its current format, stock, or price, so check the catalog or retailer directly for current details before buying. It may be a practical option if you want to own the two recommended starting films, but no live retailer listing or particular purchase price is confirmed here.
Streaming and physical media are different routes to access, and neither should be assumed without checking current details. The Criterion Channel page supports checking for selected Marker films, while the catalog search establishes a paired release listing; neither provides a complete, country-by-country availability map. If you are looking for a specific title, verify its current listing, regional access, edition details, and narration options directly with the service or seller.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Frequently asked questions
Where should I start with Chris Marker?
Start with La Jetée, then watch Sans Soleil. The first is a compact science-fiction story told through still photographs; the second expands into a free-form travelogue-essay. Follow them with Le Fond de l’air est rouge, Le Joli Mai, and Level Five for a wider sense of Marker’s political, documentary, and experimental work.
Is this the definitive Chris Marker viewing order?
No. It is an editorial route chosen for accessibility and range, not a sequence established by Marker or the institutions cited here. Start elsewhere if a particular film or subject interests you, and treat the suggested order as a way to make comparisons rather than a rule.
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Do I need to watch La Jetée before Sans Soleil?
No. The order is recommended because La Jetée offers a concise introduction to Marker’s distinctive use of images and cinematic time before the more expansive essay-film form of Sans Soleil. The films can also be watched independently.
Which language track should I choose for Sans Soleil?
Criterion reports that Marker made English and French narration tracks and preferred viewers to watch in the language they know better. Choose the track that helps you follow the narration most closely, if your edition offers both.
Where can I watch or buy the films?
The Criterion Channel director page listed La Jetée, Junkopia, Letter from Siberia, Sans Soleil, and Sunday in Peking when checked for this guide. The Criterion catalog search also lists a La Jetée/Sans Soleil release. Availability, region, format, stock, and price can change, so confirm current details with the service or seller before making plans or purchasing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where should I start with Chris Marker?
Start with La Jetée, then watch Sans Soleil. The first is a compact science-fiction story told through still photographs; the second expands into a free-form travelogue-essay. Follow them with Le Fond de l’air est rouge, Le Joli Mai, and Level Five for a wider sense of Marker’s political, documentary, and experimental work.
Is this the definitive Chris Marker viewing order?
No. It is an editorial route chosen for accessibility and range, not a sequence established by Marker or the institutions cited here. Treat it as a way to make comparisons rather than a rule.
Do I need to watch La Jetée before Sans Soleil?
No. The order is recommended because La Jetée offers a concise introduction to Marker’s distinctive use of images and cinematic time before the more expansive essay-film form of Sans Soleil. The films can also be watched independently.
Which language track should I choose for Sans Soleil?
Criterion reports that Marker made English and French narration tracks and preferred viewers to watch in the language they know better. Choose the track that helps you follow the narration most closely, if your edition offers both.
Where can I watch or buy the films?
The Criterion Channel director page listed La Jetée, Junkopia, Letter from Siberia, Sans Soleil, and Sunday in Peking when checked for this guide. Criterion’s catalog search also lists a La Jetée/Sans Soleil release. Availability, region, format, stock, and price can change, so confirm current details directly with the service or seller.
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The Bottom Line
For a first route through Chris Marker, begin with La Jetée and Sans Soleil, then continue through Le Fond de l’air est rouge, Le Joli Mai, and Level Five. The sequence is not canonical; it is a practical way to move from still-image fiction into essay film, political history, documentary observation, and later experimentation.
Quick Recap
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