This fabulous set collects two of French director Chris Marker's most famed films. The short La Jetee (the inspiration for Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys) is a stunningly inventive sci-fi short where the story is told entirely by a sequence of still images with voiceover. The frozen moments tell the story of a distopian world where one man is sent to the past and future in hopes of improving the present. The film has a wonderful meditative quality and the emotional heft to make its final moments truly beautiful.
The feature-length Sans Soleil may even be better. The nominal story is of a filmmaker travelling around the world, and the images are the videos he's taken in various places. A woman's voiceover reads from the filmmaker's letters to her, commenting on history, cultural differences, the treatment of death, memory, and identity. It's an astounding philosophical essay, both thought-provoking and emotionally compelling, and well suited to multiple viewings to pick up on all the dense layers of meaning.
Both films are beautifully presented on the DVD, and accompanied by some short analytical extras about Marker.