French Films

[cheifo]

Def recommend it, A Face.Both Stylish and entertaining.

[geysir]

Alain Delon : Le Samourai 1967, about a hit man named Costello
Le Cercle Rouge 1960, Monsieur Klein 1976.

I like this poster, don't know about the film

[stojkovic]

Alain Delon : Le Samourai 1967, about a hit man named Costello
Le Cercle Rouge 1960, Monsieur Klein 1976.

I like this poster, don't know about the film

Et Dieu crea la femme - And God created Woman

[mypost]

One of the better of more recent times is "Choses Secretes", or "Secret Things", where 2 Parisien girls manipulate their male colleagues to climb the corporate ladder. It's an Adult Drama, and the girls use all the tricks in the book to move up in the world. The film turns nasty however in the last 10 minutes, which sadly, many European films tend to do.

As for "Irreversible", it's another violent film and OB. Any film featuring sexual abuse or explosions, is out for me.

[Heliodorus]

Hidden/Cache was one of the finer movies of recent years for anyone who likes psycological movies full of suspense.

A Very Long Engagement from the people who made Amelie is well worth a look too

Hidden was over rated imo. I read one review which called it the first classic of the 21st century which is wildly over the top.

I enjoyed A Very Long Engagement.

Two French films I enjoyed were Le Boucher http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/le_boucher/. The director is Chabrol one of Frances' greatest.

and La Balance a gritty police thriller from the 1980s. I would put the trailer for this up from youtube but it being French they throw a pair of breasts into the trailer when their is virtually no nuditity in the film.

Le Boucher is a classic

[The Apostle]

Run Lola Run, The 400 Blows, Jules et Jim and Amelie.

[shakermaker1982]

Ordered the prophet from lovefilm. I know it's going to be class....

[the 12 th man]

Ordered the prophet from lovefilm. I know it's going to be class....

You won't be disappointed

[Eminence Grise]

Crikey! Baise Moi (F*** Me, in English) and Irreversible... Both have disturbing rapes. The main actresses in Baise Moi were porn stars - the director felt they could do the sex and rape scenes realistically. Les Valseuses/The Bo//ocks is funny but dated: a small-time hoodlum gets his dangly bits shot and loses his lust for life (as the radio ads say!). It's a road movie about getting ... IT! I remember Antoine de Caunes, carrying one of their infamous red triangles, announcing it on C4... Compared to some recent stuff, it's not that bad!

There have been some great suggestions here: we could probably set up a French cinema society!!

Anyway, a few more:
Comedy
Taxi 1, 2 and 3 (Produced by Luc Besson: a Marseille taxi driver with a souped-up Peugeot helps the city’s most inept police officer. The first two have Marion Cotillard. Nuff said!)
Le Placard (Daniel Auteuil’s in danger of getting fired from his job with a condom maker, until his neighbour persuades him to pretend he’s gay.)
Les Visiteurs (A knight, Jean Reno, and his squire get transported to modern France.)

Period drama
La Veuve de Saint Pierre (Auteuil’s an army officer in French Canada charged with executing a prisoner. While awaiting a guillotine, his wife, Juliet Binoche, befriends the prisoner.)
Ridicule (A poor nobleman goes to Louis XVI's court seeking money to improve his estates, and learns that wit is the best currency.)
La Reine Margot (Set during the Huguenot wars, and the St Bartholomew's day massacre. Complex and bloody.)
Horseman on the Roof (Binoche in a drama about an outbreak of cholera.)
Brotherhood of the Wolf (Vincent Cassell and Monica Belucci in a drama about a mysterious, murderous beast. Stylish, but odd.)
Blanche (A phenomenon in France a few years ago. Part revenge drama, western, costume romp, mafia film... the scene with techno music and rapid cuts is just weird.)

Drama
Le Huitième Jour (Auteuil befriends a special needs youth. Lovely film.)
Indigènes (The story of North African soldiers recruited into the French army during WW2. Jamel Debbouze and Sami Naceri star.)
La Belle et la Bête (Jean Cocteau at his best!)
Orphée (Cocteau's Orpheus, set in post-WW2 France)
Huit Femmes (Eight women stranded in a house: all could have killed the family patriarch. A glorious whodunnit with Emmanuelle Béart, Virginie Ledoyen, Catherine Deneuve, and a twist right at ... the death!)
Swimming Pool (An author with writer's block spends summer in her publisher's French house. Enter a mainly nude Ludovine Sagnier - who wouldn't? - to get inspiration flowing.)
La Femme Nikita (Ann Parillaud and Tcheky Karyo in Besson’s original.)
Betty Blue (Red triangle, but Beatrice Dalle was perfect for Betty: playing nuts comes naturally...)

And a gem that can't be categorised: Paris, Je t'Aime. 18 vignettes in 18 Parisien arrondissements. Binoche, Depardieu, Bob Hoskins, Maggie Gyllenhall, Marianne Faithful, Steve Buscemi… Brilliant!

[McNasara]

The Intouchables

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1675434/?ref_=nv_sr_1

The Professional

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110413/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1