Best Ever French Films: Top ten French movies of all time

Best French Films Ever.
Top Rated French Movies: popular, classic, famous "must watch" Cinema Français
Great Movie Pictures Old and New
The titles (in the US) of the best French films, sorted by title
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Title
8 Women
A Heart in Winter
Beauty and The Beast
Belle de Jour
Betty Blue
Birds Of A Feather
Bitter Moon
Breathless
Children of Paradise
Cyrano de Bergerac
Delicatessen
Diva
French Twist
Hidden
Hiroshima, Mon Amour
Jean de Florette
Jesus of Montreal
Jules et Jim
La Controverse de Valladolid
La Femme Nikita
Manon of the Spring
Monsieur Hire
My Life in Pink
One Swallow Brought Spring
Queen Margot
Ridicule
Swimming Pool
The 400 Blows
The Big Blue
The City of Lost Children
The Closet
The Discrete Charm of the Bougoisie
The Double Life of Veronique
The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain
The Girl On The Bridge
The Hate
The Last Metro
The Piano Teacher
The Reader
The Return of Martin Guerre
The Visitors
Three Colors: Blue
Three Colors: Red
Three Colors: White
Year
2001
1992
1946
1967
1986
1978
1992
1960
1945
1990
1991
1981
1995
2005
1959
1986
1989
1961
1992
1990
1986
1989
1997
2001
1994
1996
2003
1959
1988
1995
2001
1972
1991
2001
1999
1995
1980
2001
1988
1982
1993
1993
1994
1994
Genre
Music, Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Romance, Drama, Music
Fantasy Drama, Romance
Erotic Drama
Romace, Drama
Comedy
Sado-masochistic Erotic Drama
Drama, Romance
Drama, Romance
Romance, Drama
Sci-Fi Comedy
Action Thriller, Drama
Comedy
Drama
Romance, Drama
Drama, Modernised Greek Tragedy
Drama
Romance, Drama
History (16thC), Drama
Crime, Thriller, Romance, Drama
Drama, Romance, modernised Greek Tragedy
Crime Thriller, Romance, Drama
Comedy Drama
Comedy, Romance, Drama
History (16thC) Drama, Biography, History, Romance
History (18thC) Drama
Psychological Thriller, Mystery Drama
Crime Drama
Drama, Romance
Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Comedy Drama
Surreal Black Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Music, Fantasy, Romance, Psychological Drama
Comedy, Romance, Drama
Comedy, Romance, Fantasy, Drama
Crime, Drama
Romance, History (WW2) Drama
Drama, Music
Mildly Erotic Comedy Fantasy
History (16thC) Drama, Biography, Crime, Mystery,
Fantasy, Comedy
Drama, Music, Mystery, Romance
Drama, Mystery, Romance
Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Romance
Director
François Ozon
Claude Sautet
Jean Cocteau
Luis Buñuel
Jean-Jacques Beineix
Edouard Molinaro
Roman Polanski
Jean-Luc Godard
Marcel Carne
Jean-Paul Rappeneau
Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Jean-Jacques Beineix
Josiane Balasko
Michael Haneke
Alain Resnais
Claude Berri
Denys Arcand
François Truffaut
Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe
Luc Besson
Claude Berri
Patrice Leconte
Alain Berliner
Christian Carion
Patrice Chéreau
Patrice Leconte
François Ozon
François Truffaut
Luc Besson
Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro
Francis Veber
Luis Buñuel
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Patrice Leconte
Mathieu Kassovitz
François Truffaut
Michael Haneke
Michel Deville
Daniel Vigne
Jean-Marie Poiré
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Krzysztof Kieslowski
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The titles (in France) of the best French films, sorted by title
1
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3
4
5
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8
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13
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Title
37°2 Le matin
8 Femmes
À bout de souffle
Belle de jour
Caché
Cyrano de Bergerac
Delicatessen
Diva
Gazon maudit
Hiroshima, mon amour
Jean de Florette
Jésus de Montréal
Jules et Jim
La belle et la bête
Year
1986
2001
1960
1967
2005
1990
1991
1981
1995
1959
1986
1989
1961
1946
Genre
Romace, Drama
Music, Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Drama, Romance
Erotic Drama
Drama
Romance, Drama
Sci-Fi Comedy
Action Thriller, Drama
Comedy
Romance, Drama
Drama, Modernised Greek Tragedy
Drama
Romance, Drama
Fantasy Drama, Romance
Director
Jean-Jacques Beineix
François Ozon
Jean-Luc Godard
Luis Buñuel
Michael Haneke
Jean-Paul Rappeneau
Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Jean-Jacques Beineix
Josiane Balasko
Alain Resnais
Claude Berri
Denys Arcand
François Truffaut
Jean Cocteau
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
La cage aux folles
La cité des enfants perdus
La controverse de Valladolid
La double vie de Véroniquee
La fille sur le pont
La haine
La lectrice
La pianiste
La reine Margot
Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie
Le dernier métro
Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain
Le grand bleu
Le placard
Le retour de Martin Guerre
Les enfants du paradis
Les quatre cents coups
Les visiteurs
Lunes de fiel
Ma vie en rose
Manon des sources
Monsieur Hire
Nikita
Ridicule
Swimming Pool
Trois couleurs: Blanc
Trois couleurs: Bleu
Trois couleurs: Rouge
Un coeur en hiver
Une hirondelle a fait le printemps
1978
1995
1992
1991
1999
1995
1988
2001
1994
1972
1980
2001
1988
2001
1982
1945
1959
1993
1992
1997
1986
1989
1990
1996
2003
1994
1993
1994
1992
2001
Comedy
Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
History (16thC), Drama
Music, Fantasy, Romance, Psychological Drama
Comedy, Romance, Fantasy, Drama
Crime, Drama
Mildly Erotic Comedy Fantasy
Drama, Music
History (16thC) Drama, Biography, History, Romance
Surreal Black Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Romance, History (WW2) Drama
Comedy, Romance, Drama
Drama, Romance
Comedy Drama
History (16thC) Drama, Biography, Crime, Mystery,
Drama, Romance
Crime Drama
Fantasy, Comedy
Sado-masochistic Erotic Drama
Comedy Drama
Drama, Romance, modernised Greek Tragedy
Crime Thriller, Romance, Drama
Crime, Thriller, Romance, Drama
History (18thC) Drama
Psychological Thriller, Mystery Drama
Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Romance
Drama, Music, Mystery, Romance
Drama, Mystery, Romance
Romance, Drama, Music
Comedy, Romance, Drama
Edouard Molinaro
Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro
Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Patrice Leconte
Mathieu Kassovitz
Michel Deville
Michael Haneke
Patrice Chéreau
Luis Buñuel
François Truffaut
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Luc Besson
Francis Veber
Daniel Vigne
Marcel Carne
François Truffaut
Jean-Marie Poiré
Roman Polanski
Alain Berliner
Claude Berri
Patrice Leconte
Luc Besson
Patrice Leconte
François Ozon
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Claude Sautet
Christian Carion
Sort the best French Films by Title, Year or Director, Select by Genre or search for a Keyword
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sort by
French Title
Title
UK Title
Year
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French Cinema
France is the birthplace of cinema and has been responsible for many innovations in cinematography. Important cinematic movements, including the New
Wave (Nouvelle Vague) began in France. France is proud its strong film industry which is distinctively French. Notable features of typical French cinema
include:
slow, subtle and ambiguous plot-lines
strong character development
no expectation of happy, predictable, neat or conclusive endings
an emphasis on art rather than revenue - partly assisted by state subsidies
These elements characterise a product that is noticeably different from the typical output of Hollywood and Bollywood. A few French films have become
popular in the English speaking world, but most are completely unknown except to art-house and Francophone audiences. Many successful French films are
remade for English speaking audiences who are generally unaware of the fact. Aficionados familiar with both the French original and the English remake
rarely regard the remake as remotely as good as the French original. Le Retour de Martin Guerre was remade as Summersby, La Cage Aux Folles, remade
as Birdcage Cyrano de Bergerac, ill-advisedly remade with the same name featuring Steve Martin, and Les Visiteurs remade as The Visitors. La Femme
Nikita somehow morphed into a US television series!
The French are particularly good at historical dramas such as Le Retour de Martin Guerre, La Controverse de Valladolid, La Reine Margot, Ridicule and Jean
de Florette / Manon Des Sources.
French Film Makers
French language films are made not only in France but other French Speaking countries, such as Canada, Belgium and Switzerland. French cinema is
sometimes intertwined with the cinema of other nations. Directors from Poland (Roman Polanski, Krzysztof Kieslowski, and Andrzej Zulawski, Argentina
(Gaspar Noe and Edgardo Cozarinsky), Russia (Alexandre Alexeieff, Anatole Litvak) and Georgia (Gela Babluani, Otar Iosseliani) are as famous in French
cinema as the native French. French directors have been important in the development of cinema in other countries, most notably Luc Besson in the United
States.
History of French Cinema
In the late 19th century, during the early years of cinema, Frenchmen Auguste and Louis Lumière invented the cinématographe and their L'Arrivée d'un train
en gare de La Ciotat in Paris in 1895 is considered by many historians to mark the birth of cinematography. Alice Guy Blaché made her first film, La Fée aux
Choux, in 1896. During the next few years, filmmakers all over the world started experimenting with this new medium. Georges Méliès invented many of the
techniques now common in the cinematic language, and made the first science fiction film Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon) in 1902.
Alice Guy Blaché was head of production at Gaumont Pictures, where she made some 400 films between 1897 and 1906. She then continued her career in
the United States, as did Maurice Tourneur and Léonce Perret after the First World War. During the period between the First World War and the Second
World War, Jacques Feyder became one of the founders of poetic realism in French cinema. He dominated French Impressionist Cinema along with Abel
Gance, Germaine Dulac and Jean Epstein.
After the First World War, the French film industry suffered through a lack of capital. Film production decreased as it did in other European countries. This
allowed the United States film industry to enter the European cinema market, most notably Britain and Ireland, because American films could be sold more
cheaply than European productions, the studios having already recouped their costs in the home market. When film studios in Europe began to fail, many
European countries began to set import barriers. France installed an import quota. For every seven foreign films imported to France, one French film was to
be produced and shown in French cinemas.
In 1931, Marcel Pagnol filmed the first of his great trilogy, Marius, Fanny, and César. He followed this with other films including La Femme du Boulanger (The
Baker's Wife). Other notable films of the 1930s included René Clair's Sous les Toits de Paris (Under the Roofs of Paris, 1930), Jacques Feyder's La kermesse
héroïque (Carnival in Flanders, 1935), and Julien Duvivier's La belle equipe (They Were Five, 1936). In 1935, renowned playwright and actor Sacha Guitry
directed his first film and went on to make more than 30 films that were precursors to the New Wave era. In 1937, Jean Renoir, the son of painter PierreAuguste Renoir, directed what many see as his first masterpiece, La Grande Illusion (Grand Illusion). In 1939, Renoir directed La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of
the Game). Several critics have cited this film as one of the greatest of all-time.
Marcel Carné's Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise) was filmed during the First World WarI and released in 1945. The three-hour film was difficult
to make due to the Nazi occupation. Set in Paris in 1828, it was voted Best French Film of the Century in a poll of 600 French critics and professionals in the
late 1990s.
In the magazine Cahiers du cinéma founded by André Bazin, critics and lovers of film would discuss film and why it worked. Modern film theory was born
there. Additionally, Cahiers critics such as Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, and Eric Rohmer went on to make films themselves, creating
what was to become known as the French New Wave. Some of the first films of this new genre were Godard's Les Quatre Cent Coups (Breathless) in 1960,
starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Truffaut's À Bout de Souffle (Breathless) in 1959 starring Jean-Pierre Léaud. From 1959 until 1979, Truffaut followed
Léaud's character Antoine Doinel, who falls in love with Christine Darbon in Baisers volés ( Stolen Kisses) marries her in Domicile Conjugal (Bed & Board
1970) and separates from her in the last post-New Wave movie L'amour en fuite (Love on the Run).
Contemporaries of Godard and Truffaut followed their lead, and some achieved international critical acclaim with styles of their own, such as the minimalist
films of Robert Bresson and Jean-Pierre Melville, the Hitchcockian-like thrillers of Henri-Georges Clouzot, and other New Wave films by Agnès Varda and
Alain Resnais. The movement became an inspiration to other national cinemas and was a string influence on the future New Hollywood directors.
During this period, French commercial film also made a name for itself. Popular French comedies starring Louis de Funes topped the French box office. The
war comedy La Grande Vadrouille (1966), from Gérard Oury with Bourvil and featuring Terry Thomas (!) was the most successful film in French theaters for
more than 30 years. Another example was La Folie Des Grandeurs with Yves Montand. French cinema also was the birthplace for many sub-genres of the
crime film, most notably the modern caper film, starting with Du Rififi Chez les Hommes (Refifi, 1955) by American-born director Jules Dassin and followed by
a large number of serious noir-ish heist dramas along with more playful playful caper comedies throughout the sixties. also popular was the "polar," a typical
French blend of film noir and detective fiction. In addition, French movie stars began to acheive fame abroad as well as at home. Popular actors of the period
included Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, Jeanne Moreau, Simone Signoret, Yves Montand, Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Brigitte Bardot, and
Jean Gabin.
The 1979 film La Cage Aux Folles ran for well over a year at the Paris Theatre, an art house cinema in New York City, and was a commercial success at
theaters throughout the country, in both urban and rural areas. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and for years it remained the
most successful foreign film to be released in the United States.
Jean-Jacques Beineix's Diva (1981) sparked the beginning of the 1980s wave of French cinema. Movies which followed in its wake included 37°2 Le Matin
(Betty Blue) by Beineix, Le Grand Bleu (The Big Blue, 1988) by Luc Besson, and (Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (The Lovers on the Bridge , 1991) by Léos
Carax. These films, made with a slick commercial style and emphasizing the alienation of its main characters, was known as "Cinema du look" Camille
Claudel, directed by newcomer Bruno Nuytten and starring Isabelle Adjani and Gérard Depardieu, was a major commercial success in 1988, earning Adjani,
who was also the film's co-producer, a César Award for best actress.
Gérard Depardieu was one of the most active French actors of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Jean-Paul Rappeneau's Cyrano de Bergerac was a major boxoffice success in 1990, earning several César Awards, including best actor for Gérard Depardieu, as well as an Academy Award nomination for best foreign
picture. Depardieu also starred in Le Retour de Martin Guerre and Jean de Florette / Manon Des Sources.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet made Delicatessen and La Cité Des Enfants Perdus (The City of Lost Children) both of which featured strange and disturbing fantasy
worlds.
In 1992, Claude Sautet co-wrote (with Jacques Fieschi) and directed UN Coeur En Hiver considered by many to be a masterpiece. Roman Polanski made a
wonderfully dark movie the same year Lunes de Fiel (Bitter Moon) - with most of the action in French but most opf the dialogue in English - a great precedent
for blurring French and English language films.
Mathieu Kassovitz's 1995 film La Haine (Hate) made Vincent Cassel a star.and in 1997, Juliette Binoche won the Academy Award for Best Supporting
Actress for her role in The English Patient. That same year, Luc Besson's The Fifth Element became a cult favorite.
The success of Michel Ocelot's Kirikou and the Sorceress in 1998 rejuvenated the production of original feature-length animated films by such filmmakers as
Jean-François Laguionie and Sylvain Chomet.
In 2001, after a brief stint in Hollywood, Jean-Pierre Jeunet returned to France with Amèlie (Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain) starring Audrey Tautou
and Mathieu Kassovitz. It became the highest-grossing French-language film ever released in the United States. The following year, Brotherhood of the Wolf
became the second-highest-grossing French-language film in the United States..
In 2008, Marion Cotillard won the Academy Award for Best Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her portrayal of legendary
French singer Edith Piaf in La Moôme (La Vie en Rose), the first French-language performance to be so honored. The film won two Oscars and four BAFTAs
and became the third-highest-grossing French-language film in the United States in the last two decades. Cotillard was second person (and the first woman)
and to win both an Academy Award and César Award for the same performance.
In the 2000s, several French directors made international productions, often in the action genre. These include Gérard Pirès (Riders, 2002), Pitof
(Catwoman), Jean-François Richet (Assault on Precinct 13), Florent Emilio Siri (Hostage), Christophe Gans (Silent Hill), Mathieu Kassovitz (Babylon A.D.),
Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk), Alexandre Aja (Mirrors), and Pierre Morel (Taken).. The 2008 rural comedy Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis drew an audience
of more than 20 million, the first French film to do so. Its $193 million gross in France puts it just behind Titanic as the most successful film of all time in
French theaters.At the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, Entre les murs (The Class) won the Palme d'Or, the first French victory at the festival in 21 years.
As the advent of television threatened the success of cinema, countries were again faced with the problem of reviving movie-going. The French cinema
market, and more generally the French-speaking market, is smaller than the English-speaking market.. As a consequence, French movies have to recoup
their costs on a relatively small market and thus generally have budgets far lower than their American counterparts, ruling out expensive settings and special
effects. The highly interventionist French government has implemented measures aimed at supporting local film production and movie theaters. The Canal+
TV channel has a broadcast license imposing it to support the production of movies. Taxes are levied on movies and TV channels for use as subsidies for
French movie production, some tax breaks are given for investment in movie productions, and the sale of DVDs and videocassettes of movies shown in
theaters is prohibited for six months after the showing in theaters, to ensure some revenue for movie theaters. French national and regional governments
involve themselves in film production. For example, the award-winning documentary Le Pays Des sourds (In the Land of the Deaf) was created by Nicolas
Philibert in 1992. The film was co-produced by a multinational partners, which reduced the financial risks inherent in the project; and co-production also
ensured enhanced distribution opportunities.
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