French Films

[HarpoJoyce]

My own favourite is Les Valseuses by Betrand Blier.
Gerard Depardeu, Patrick Dewaere (French star died in 1981) and a young Isabelle Huppert. Also Miou Miou a centre-page model.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072353/

It's very misogynous (bloke orientated) and it works. Two guys travelling around France and being forward with their requests. It has various translations but www.metacafe.com have a short clip where the two break into an unoccupied holiday home.

Jean Pierre Jeunet after Delicatessan and City of Lost Children, went to Hollywood and did Alien Resurrection. He said that he prefered working with American actors than Europeans because Americans would swim underwater when they were asked while Europeans resisted. I don't know where that left Sigourney Weaver.

[ken foree]

All directed by Kieslowski. Red and Blue are set in France. White is set in both France and Poland, the dialogue is about 50/50 in each language also.

If you look at the "Best scene from a movie" thread, you'll see I recommended White.

ahh t'was you then. i knew i saw those movies kickin around here somewhere.

[bennocelt]

People, just wondering have there been any good French films out lately? Good ones mind, seriously dont want to go to the trouble of checking something out for it to be complete crap, which sometimes can happen.

To get the ball rolling ....

La Haine



Thought this was a quality film, definitely in my top ten. Brilliant plot, camera work, characters, everything.

man this is my all time fav movie
Le haine has everything................cool music, cool dancing (break dancing), cool dialogue ( The Polish guy in the toilet!!), great acting, overall greatness

I also like it cause of the cows!! I had a similar thing happen to me when i over used too many substances....i also kept seeing cows!!!!!!!!!!!! I wonder is this as common as we think!!

i love French movies. But can never remember the titles of a lot of them
delicatessen is an obvious one.
The french revolution one Cyrano did
3 men and a baby, the french original
Nikita
cops
etc etc

[thischarmingman]

Danton is pretty good:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Danton-Gerar...0504308&sr=8-1

Synopsis
A dramatic metaphor for the revolutionary events unfolding in his native Poland, Andrzej Wajda's adaptation of Stanislawa Przybyszewska's play is a brilliant account of the struggle of the two leaders of the French Revolution to control the country's future. Gerard Depardieu stars as Danton, who has retired to his country estate after having been supplanted as head of the Committee for Public Safety by Robespierre (Wojciech Psoniak). But with the commencement of the Reign of Terror, Danton returns to Paris in November 1793 in the hope that he can stem the tide of bloodshed unleashed by his former ally. Confident that his rhetorical skills and the high esteem in which he is held by the French people will cause them to rise up against the brutal ruling regime, Danton is stunned to find them pauperised by the recent war with Austria and cowed by the ubiquity of Robespierre's minions. Behind closed doors, Danton's attempts to act as a mediator between warring factions are met with cold indifference by the rigidly obsessive Robespierre. Anchored by exceptional performances by Depardieu and Psoniak and featuring exceptional photography and art direction, Wajda's coruscating epic is a masterpiece of reimagined history.

[Flawless]

I would Give Jean De Florette a look for sure,pretty good plot too!, iwatched it first in 5th year in school i think, during french class. Watched it again a year or so ago after i Served Gérard Depardieu in bar in a hotel i worked in!, was the only film I really knew him from, he was surprised i brought it up and not one of his others!!, forgot how good it was!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_de_Florette

[cheifo]

Really cool French b&w film from late 50s.Thriller about a lady who falls for a criminal who has to go on the run.Think he shoots a copper at the start of the film.Very raw and edgy for its time.Can I remember the name of it?Can I ****

[HarpoJoyce]

Really cool French b&w film from late 50s.Thriller about a lady who falls for a criminal who has to go on the run.Think he shoots a copper at the start of the film.Very raw and edgy for its time.Can I remember the name of it?Can I ****

Maybe Á Bout de Soufle by Jean-Luc Godard. The American actress plays a dim blonde role aswell.

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[cheifo]

Thats the one, you legend Harpo!Really enjoyed that flick as it had an earthy feel to it and did'nt portray a sanitised version of 1950s society the way most American and British films of the time did.

[bennocelt]

Danton is pretty good:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Danton-Gerar...0504308&sr=8-1

That was the one i was thinking about, cheers, must try and download it
Thanks

[A face]

Maybe Á Bout de Soufle by Jean-Luc Godard.

Now that looks like a good film. Googled a bit on it and it looks great. Must check it out.

[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