French films

Hey I'm looking for films in french to watch, anything will do. I got a big list of my friend a while ago but I've watched them all!

Captain Havoc

Perfect Contrast wrote: »

Hey I'm looking for films in french to watch, anything will do. I got a big list of my friend a while ago but I've watched them all!

In HMV there's "Public Enemy No. 1" and "Killer Instinct" in a double set for about €10 and they're fantastic films. They're a two part true story about Jacques Mesrine and would be similar to the General, they star Vincent Cassel. Any Luc Besson films are good, the Big Blue, Nikita, Taxi, Subway and these are easily enough found. La Haine is popular one, also starring Vincent Cassel. Binevenue chez les ch'tis was very good if you're French is good. You can always take a look and order on amazon.fr for films.

General General

Try 'blame it on fidel'...

nervous_twitch

The French Film Festival begins in the IFI on the 18th of this month, and its definitely worth checking out.

Otherwise, some of the more recent movies I've enjoyed - La Science des reves, Une prophete, Jeux d'enfants, Les Beaux Gosses, Paris, je t'aime.. all easily available!

Hootanany

A Prophet top film

Up-n-atom!

+1 A Prophet - saw it at last a few weeks ago and it's great. Look out for films on TG4, they used to do French films every Friday night, am sure they'll have them on again at some point (or have them running still and I just didn't realise!). Couple of good ones would be 'Au Revoir Les Enfants', 'Belle du Jour', 'Il y a Longtemps Que Je T'aime', '300 Coups' - if you like something a bit more avant garde check out the New Wave directors from the 60's, Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski (esp 'The Double Life of Veronique'), something like 'Cache/Hidden', 'The Umbrellas of Cherbourg' or 'Betty Blue'.

Michellenman

Ne le dis a personne is an excellent film

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362225/

Gaspode

Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis is also one to watch.

shrapnel222

Gaspode wrote: »

Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis is also one to watch.

lol. not really to be honest

OP, what are you looking for, thriller, drama,comedy, horror, etc? there's a lot to look at!!

enda1

How about the classic two part: Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources

enda1

shrapnel222 wrote: »

lol. not really to be honest

OP, what are you looking for, thriller, drama,comedy, horror, etc? there's a lot to look at!!

Agreed. I didn't think it was very good either.

Except with the bit at the start, "C'est le Noooorrrrddd!".

Captain Havoc

I really enjoyed it biloute.

shrapnel222

36 quai des orfevres is very good and very dark. there's a 2nd film as well, which is even darker.

le prophete and ne le dis a personne as mentionned above are very good.

for a bit of comedy: asterix et obelix:mission cleopatre, les visiteurs, le diner de cons, gazon maudit

other good ones: un long dimanche de fiancailles, delicatessen, les choristes, amelie, subway, au revoir les enfants, l'auberge espagnole.

god more i think about them, the more come to mind.

if you're looking for older stuff, there are some absolute great classics like "la grande vadrouille" or "les tontons flingueurs"

Gaspode

shrapnel222 wrote: »

lol. not really to be honest

Yes really tbh . Why not, sure it's a nice gentle giggle of a movie, nothing heavy or serious. Movies are entertainment after all, and the OP is interested in anything so why not indeed. They might love it, who knows.

work.inprocess

Anthony Zimmer - best one I've seen lately... definitely much better than The Tourist

A Prophet (Un Prophète)

Anything For Her (Pour Elle)

Taxi (1,2,3,4)

Paris je t'aime

Love Me If You Dare (Jeux d'enfants) - brilliant film !

Paris

District 13/District 13 Ultimatum (Banlieue 13/Banlieue 13U)

Tell Noone (Ne le dis à personne)

I've Loved You for So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t'aime)

Pot Luck/Russian Dolls (L'Auberge Espagnol/Les Poupées Russes)

A Nous les petites Anglaises

La Haine

Caché (definitely the weirdest film I've ever seen !)

Dans Paris (don't remember watching the whole of this - got pretty weird aswell)

Coco Avant Chanel

Regarde Moi (didn't actually see it - read good reviews though)

Les beaux gosses (didn't like it, personally, but that's just my opinion)

Neuilly sa mère

Secret Défense (very good film)

Nos 18 ans (thought it was good, more of a teenage film though)

Les choristes

Versailles

L'Arnacoeur (Heartbreaker - meant to be really good, downloaded it, haven't gotten around to watching it yet)

Entre les murs (The Class - very good film ! Easy enough to understand too with no subtitles)

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Although, I would say if you're going to buy off Amazon - don't use the .fr site, unless you're getting someone to post them to you from France, because the shipping costs are extortionate to say the least. Amazon.co.uk now have free shipping to Ireland for over 25£ - which is good if you've got a list of things to buy. However, if you are near Dublin - the Alliance Française has got a DVD library from which you can rent DVDs (though, most of them don't have subtitles - I'm not sure if this is relevent to you) all for a yearly membership of about 25ish € (it may be a bit more - I'm a student)

kitsuune

I'm really surprised that not many Jeunet films have been mentioned... I mean most people have seen Amélie, but Delicatessen and Un Long Dimanche de Fiançailles (A Very Long Engagement) are also great.

Le Dîner des Cons is good for a laugh and very light.

La Haine is brilliant, as is Vincent Cassel in general.

Belle de Jour (Bunuel), and Le Mépris (Godard) are also must-sees.

I loved Jeux d'Enfants as well! Quirky romance. If you like Guillaume Canet (the French guy from The Beach) then I would also highly highly recommend Joyeux Noel! It's so so great (it's in French, German and English).

A good animation I really enjoyed at the time was Les Triplettes de Belleville (Belleville Rendezvous in English). Really unusual animation.

Les Choristes is a lovely lovely film with a great soundtrack as well!

I'm sure I'll be back to this thread when I think of more! Always on the look out for new stuff to watch!

marienbad

OSS 117 Cairo Nest of Spies- Hilarious spoof on Bond type movies and politically incorrect as well , Sequel set in Rio which I can't seem to get

Le Cercle Rouge/Le Samourai/Un Flic -The Alain Delon,Jean Pierre Melville crime films,

L'armee Des Ombres- Melville again, this time French resistance in WW II

Chance or Coincidence -Claude Lelouch -Loss,Love,Loss,Love as only the French can.

Un Coeur en Hiver- a love triangle and the music of Ravel ( and no not the Bolero )

Diva - Jean Jacques Beineix bursts on the scene, a thriller, a romance, the style ,the glamour, and the glorious music , watched it again recently and it is as good as ever.

Safe Conduct- Bertrand Tavernier . Making movies in Paris under the Nazis.

La Reine Margot-Patrice Chereau , brilliant historical drama -strong stuff

Some great French thrillers in the last few years ,most already mentioned.

Mesrine/Le Haine/Le Prophete/ Tell No one/Anything For Her/Anthony Zimmer

Some good war ones also Army of Crime/Female Agents/Strayed

gustus

"La Haine"
"irreversible"
"Treize"
"Amelie Poulain"

kitsuune

I just watched La Fille sur le Pont and loved it. Vanessa Paradis and Daniel Auteuil. Kind of crazy semi-romance about good and bad luck and the trials and tribulations of making a career out of being a knife-thrower!!

Aard

L'enquête Corse.

ValerieR

The "Gainsbourg" film is pretty good too.

Valerie

ValerieR

Oh, and also "Le Herisson" with Josiane Balasko.

Valerie

Naomi00

'Le Couperet' - Very good thriller, not that scary though, but it's about a man who kills the other candidates for a job he's looking for.

'Aprés Vous' - Comedy, a man who stops a stranger from hanging himself and then has to help him get a job etc. It's really funny.

'Coco Avant Chanel' - biopic about Gabrielle Chanel's life

'Hors de Prix' (Priceless)- comedy about a gold digger who goes out with a bartender who pretends to be rich.

joshrogan

Amelie is my favourite french film followed by jean de florette.

2 Miles From Narnia

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly / Le scaphandre et le papillon is another good one - based on a true story of a journalist who was paralysed after a stroke. It's really not as grim to watch as it sounds, I promise!

pluie

Les Amours Imaginaires (Heartbeats) is very good if you want something that's quite humorous, yet with some drama. It's Canadian, but in French. This isn't released on Region 2 until September, though. It's basically about two friends (one guy, one girl) who fall for the same guy. They then begin to fight each other for him. It's seriously good.

There's also Born in '68. This is very long, but it goes through French socio-political history from 1968 to 2007. It goes from the 1968 revolution to the AIDS epidemic to Sarkozy being elected. It's brilliant, but it's a long one so make sure you give yourself plenty of time to watch it.

Welcome is great. It's about an illegal immigrant near Calais who decides to take swimming lessons from a French local because he wants to swim across the Channel to be with his girlfriend who lives in London.

The Class. This is set mostly in a classroom full of young teens in a school in the suburbs (I presume Paris). It's basically like Dangerous Minds, but in French. The students are students too in real life, and the teacher is a teacher in real life too I think, so it's very realistic.

Presque rien is a drama about two young men who get together while holidaying in Brittany. It's quite sombre, but very very good.

scotty_irish

Potiche is a new one that's good. as already mentioned,L'Auberge Espagnol and Les Poupées Russes are excellent. Of course, the classic Amelie!

doomed

Diner des Cons
Ridicule
Germinal
36 Quai des Orfèvres

Mountainsandh

Haven't seen "Le Huitieme Jour" mentioned yet, that's brilliant.
Also Angel-A, and if you enjoyed Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources, then surely you will enjoy Marcel Pagnol's La Gloire de Mon Pere and Le Chateau de Ma Mere (Film 1 and 2). Beautiful Provence scenery.

d.a.r.r.a.g.h

What about La vie en rose/La Môme

mental07

kitsuune wrote: »

I just watched La Fille sur le Pont and loved it. Vanessa Paradis and Daniel Auteuil. Kind of crazy semi-romance about good and bad luck and the trials and tribulations of making a career out of being a knife-thrower!!

Daniel Auteuil is in every French film I've ever seen!!!!!

OK, that's an exaggeration. But he pops up a hell of a lot.

ShallowPockets Lucy

Panique au Village (A Town called Panic) is one of my all-time favourite films. It's a Belgian film, but all in French. It's been described as "Toy Story on acid", which does sum it up pretty well. The first 20 mins or so will just have you confused as to what's happening but then it gets brilliant!

Persepolis is a good one too - it's about an Iranian girl growing up in France during the Islamic Revolution.

Indigènes (Days of Glory) is one dealing with WWII that won some awards a few years ago.

Angel A is a really quirky one about an Angel helping a young man sort himself out - a fun watch!

Custardpi

Anything by Francis Veber is generally very good. The most famous of his works is of course Le Dîner de Cons but other stuff like Le Placard & La Chèvre are also very funny, though they can be harder to find.
Another great film, which has just got a new release (mais malheureusement, toujours sans sous-titres anglais, dommage, comme ça merite être plus connu) is Le Sucre - a 70s film with Depardieu dealing with the perils of international finance. Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeousie is another film from that decade, a very trippy, surrealist film of which I'm always reminded when I'm in a restaurant/cafe & they tell me they're out of something (anyone who's seen it knows the scene).

Some of the older, classic French films are well worth checking out too. A Nous la Liberté (which Chaplin blatantly stole from for Modern Times) is one of my favourites.

two wheels good

Hasn't anyone mentioned Juliette Binoche?
Three Colours red\white\blue (are they all in French?)
Cache
Code Unknown
don't bother with Certified Copy

La Haine, and Vincent C. is great. (I saw it once with Asian Dub Foundation playing a live soundtrack)

JJayoo

Love Me If You Dare (Jeux d'enfants) - brilliant film !

Loved it

tolosenc

I enjoyed La Rafle, though I think I missed something culturally, as all the French people in the cinema came out sobbing!

O.

tolosenc wrote: »

I enjoyed La Rafle, though I think I missed something culturally, as all the French people in the cinema came out sobbing!

For your information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vel_d%27Hiv

two wheels good

O. wrote: »

For your information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vel_d%27Hiv

That's interesting. No wonder the film goers were sobbing.
Twenty years later the same racist cops under Papon were detaining Algerians in the same velodrome.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_massacre_of_1961

fralez1

I don't know if it's been mentioned already because I just skimmed through the thread, but have you watched Jean-Luc Godard's films? They're what got me into watching French films. Breathless(À Bout de Souffle) and Une Femme Est Une Femme are two of my favourites.

jaffa20

8 Femmes

Aard

Actually yeah, Huit Femmes was pretty good alright! I always forget about it. (Probably because I think of it as a musical.)

JJayoo

Any links to these films?