A Guide to French Cinema

Denerick

When I was a younger man I went through something of a French Film phase (Loved La Haine, also thought Hidden was excellent after the first viewing, Irreversible, C.R.A.Z.Y, and of course Amelie etc.) I'd appreciate a few pointers from someone who knows a thing or two about this rich cinematic tradition and some recommendations as well. Thanks.

Hank_Jones

Start with some of the French New Wave anyway, The 400 Blows and Breathless.

If you wanted to go back further, you could have a look at the films of Jean Vigo and Jean Renoir, such as La Grand Illusion and Zero du conduite.

Would also have a look at the Three Colours Trilogy, Blue, White and Red.

And the films directed by Jacques Audiard, if you haven't already.

Not exactly a guide, but some food for thought anyway.

Nolanger

Bob the gambler.

johnny_ultimate

Yep the New Wavers are a good start, although IMO tend to be of mixed quality. 400 Blows (wonderful) and Breathless are indeed the best starting points. I'd also throw in the delightfully playful Day for Night and Jules et Jim from Truffaut. Week End is a personal favourite, and one of the rare occasions when I don't find Jean Luc Godard an insufferable git of a director.

I'll admit to a fondness for Umbrellas of Cherbourg - one of the very few musicals I've ever enjoyed. But the art and visual design as well as the music are magnificent, and it's an accessible but bittersweet romance at the core.

I've only seen My Night with Maud - which I really enjoyed as an offbeat relationship drama - but Eric Rohmer would be another big name director. Jacques Tati is another one I've been meaning to check out in detail after being wooed by the charming comedy of Mon Oncle and The Illusionist (a recent animated film from the makers of the glorious Belleville Rendezvous based on an unmade script of Tatis).

In more contemporary terms, you've mentioned a good few of the big names already. If you liked Hidden, I'd strongly recommend Haneke's other French language highlight The Piano Teacher. Enter the Void is basically Irreversible on steroids. And while I personally think Amelie is Jean Pierre Jeunet's strongest work Delicatessen, City of Lost Children and A Very Long Engagement are all well worth a watch.

+1 on Audilard's stuff - A Prophet certainly brought new life to the stale prison movie 'genre'. The Mesrine double bill is well worth the time investment, although I thought the first was a much stronger film. I've Loved You So Long is an absolute gem of a character study.

And of course how could we have a discussion about contemporary French cinema without mentioning some of their hyper-violent horror films Inside and Martyrs aren't for the squeamish, but they're two of the most magnificent horror movies of recent years.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlT4vaqSXWQ

had to be done, sorry

but yeah as above, a prophet and the two mesrine movies are fantastic. martyrs is.. martyrs

Nolanger

Emmanuelle

Hank_Jones

Just to add a couple more.

You've probably already seen Nikita, but in case you haven't.

Also Les Amants de point neuf, it's quite slow moving, but is one of the stand out films from around that period, for me anyway.

Galvasean

Brotherhood of the Wolf is one I really enjoy. It's a sort of supernatural action movie that rivals the top American ones in terms of choreographed fight scenes, but still manages to be very clever in parts.

Leon: I know it's not in French but its stars Jean Reno and is directed by Luc Besson so counts as French in my book. It's also an action movie, but much classier than your average American one with superb acting by both Reno and a young Natalie Portman.

The Bear & Quest for Fire - two films by Jean Jaques Annuad that prove you don't need much (or any!) dialogue to tell a great story. The former is about an orphaned bear (who knew!?) cub, while the latter concerns cavemen on an epic journey (think 10,000BC, but good).

Riducule - a brilliant cynical comedy that i find hard to describe. i really have not seen anything quite like it.

Belleville Rendevouz (AKA The triplets of Belville) - a quality animated feature with great music, animation and a bonkers story jam packed with fun characters.

The Fifth Element is a cool sci-fi flickby Luc Besson with great art design and lots of cool ideas. Besson also wrote everybody's favourite 'Liam Neeson kicking ass epic' Taken (although i feel I am pushing the boundaries of what constitutes french auterism now so i think I'll stop now).

Nolanger

Diaboliques

sillo

Hank_Jones wrote: »

Would also have a look at the Three Colours Trilogy, Blue, White and Red.

Do those really count as French? Not trying to be contrary, it's a real question. Kieslowski was polish, but the movies obviously deal with the themes of the french revolution & the flag;

as kieslowski himself said:

"The words [liberté, egalité, fraternité] are French because the money [to fund the films] is French. If the money had been of a different nationality we would have titled the films differently, or they might have had a different cultural connotation. But the films would probably have been the same."

Either way, of course, they are badass movies and you should check them out. If you're feeling adventurous afterwards make sure to check out Dekalog - a series of 10 one-hour movies about the ten commandments.

Jarren

Comedy wise I really enjoyed
Taxi 1,2,3,4
Anything that says Le Gendarme with Luis de Funes
Les Visiteurs 1,2 with Jean Reno
Anything that was produced in France with Gerard Depardieu

The last one I watched was Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis and really couldn't stop laughing

Technocentral

Hank_Jones wrote: »

Start with some of the French New Wave anyway, The 400 Blows and Breathless.

If you wanted to go back further, you could have a look at the films of Jean Vigo and Jean Renoir, such as La Grand Illusion and Zero du conduite.

Would also have a look at the Three Colours Trilogy, Blue, White and Red.

And the films directed by Jacques Audiard, if you haven't already.

Not exactly a guide, but some food for thought anyway.

Love them, but would consider them Polish because the director is and the sensibilities are very East European of the time.

Technocentral

Technocentral wrote: »

Love them, but would consider them Polish because the director is and the sensibilities are very East European of the time.

L'appartement with Vincent Cassel is fantastic. Jean de Florette and its sequel Manon des Source are also great.

Narcissus

I really enjoyed Ne le dis à personne (Tell No One). Great film

jam_mac_jam

I really like La reine Margot. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110963/

seosamh

The Class was a good gritty film about a teacher and his pupils in an inner-city school.

WatchWolf

Hank_Jones

sillo wrote: »

Do those really count as French? Not trying to be contrary, it's a real question. Kieslowski was polish, but the movies obviously deal with the themes of the french revolution & the flag;

as kieslowski himself said:

"The words [liberté, egalité, fraternité] are French because the money [to fund the films] is French. If the money had been of a different nationality we would have titled the films differently, or they might have had a different cultural connotation. But the films would probably have been the same."

They are still French though, with the majority of the trilogy based within the French language.

By that logic, any film that is directed by an foreign director must be from that country.

Hank_Jones

Hank_Jones wrote: »

They are still French though, with the majority of the trilogy based within the French language.

By that logic, any film that is directed by an foreign director must be from that country.

Much like if a film is written by/directed/starring/craft services by an Irish person it's instantly an Irish film in the minds of many over here.

Technocentral

Hank_Jones wrote: »

They are still French though, with the majority of the trilogy based within the French language.

By that logic, any film that is directed by an foreign director must be from that country.

No thats not true necessarily, a lot of the time producers will get a foreign director to shoot their film, for instance getting John Woo to direct their American action films but the films are in no substantial way Chinese, whereas Kieslowski was the very Polish vision behind those films, to raise money in later life he needed co - production finance which is why they were probably set in France even though the feeling was very East European. I think the directors vision is the main component that dictates the "nationality" of the Film, one of my favourite directors is David Lean, a very English film maker, though Lawrence is set in the Middle East and Dr. Zhivago in Russia they are British films not Middle Eastern or Russian. Anyways, however you consider their nationality the 3 Colours films are masterpieces that any lover of good cinema should see before they die.

AnonoBoy

Deleted User wrote: »

Much like if a film is written by/directed/starring/craft services by an Irish person it's instantly an Irish film in the minds of many over here.

If the granny of the best boy once passed wind in Co. Kerry then it's an Irish film. Don't you know anything?

Ellian

Cyrano De Bergerac is great although the end does kind of rival Lord of the Rings for dragging on a bit.

Also Les Apprentis is one of my lesser known faves. Closest thing I could describe it as is a sort of French Withnail and I?

Tell No-One - great thriller.

Amelie - lovely film and I met Audrey once and she was (in the words of Stephen Fry, the ratherest thing)

If you want to go really old school - check out Un Chien Andalou - weird surreal thing with one of the most famous and visceral images ever put on film (hint: the Pixies reference it in Debaser)

tricky D

Adding to what's already mentioned...

No one has yet mentioned the weird and nutty Betty Blue, 37°2 le matin (Jean-Jacques Beineix).

Also worth a watch is the comedy Les Valseuses (The Bollocks) (Bertrand Blier) with Depardieu.

And the partially french The Big Blue (Luc Besson) which is quite charming except when Arquette is whinning.

Diva (Jean-Jacques Beineix) and Subway (Luc Besson) are good outings of french 80's new wave style.

jarecki1976 wrote: »

Les Visiteurs 1,2 with Jean Reno

They made a sequel, todo list updated.

Nolanger

And God created woman.

AaronEnnis

Unmissable stuff.

Denerick

Thanks for all the recommendations. I downloaded Delicatessen last night and will look for a couple more over the week. Planning a grand French movie marathon this weekend (I live dangerously) This is a nice thread I've got to say, might make enquiries about German films in a month or so, broaden my cinematic horizons a bit

Can anyone offer opinions on good historical/political films? Perhaps based on French literature? (I'm still a sucker for Les Miserables with Liam Neeson) Preferably in French with a French director, but even if its inspired by French politics or history I'd be content. Something along the vein of those Tony Blair biopics with Michael Sheen (The Special Relationship etc.) or the biopics on Churchill (The Gathering Storm, Into the Storm) Basically those films but about French political figures.

Galvasean

Denerick wrote: »

Can anyone offer opinions on good historical/political films?

J/K
It's about as French as American Pie.

Denerick

Also I'm only really interested in films written in the modern era (1970 onwards) I find a lot of films before that period in any culture are un-necessarily hard work, its like acting methods and plot development are greviously undeveloped and tend to deliberately confuse profundity for boredom. Generally speaking there are some great exceptions (Off the top of my head: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Waterfront, Twelve Angry Men) but even at that I liked the film in spite of the directorial epoch, which I generally find derisory.

To quote; 'To each man his own'.

Bodhisopha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIk7T61lC28

TheUsual

Agree with Mesrine, film is from a true story as well. Not a story based on, the guy was nuts.

"Angel-A" is a great movie from Luc Besson. In black and white but Paris never looked so good.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0473753/


"36 Quai des Orfèvres" is great, I can be sure Hollywood will remake it in english. Really good acting and story.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390808/

Also "MR 73" another great story and great acting from actor Daniel Auteuil.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0920470/

kraggy

A Very Long Engagement is a very good film also. Stars Audrey Tautou from Amelie and has the same director too.

Beatifully shot with a story gorgeously told.

tricky D

Denerick wrote: »

Can anyone offer opinions on good historical/political films?

The Battle of Algiers

Ellian

Denerick wrote: »

Thanks for all the recommendations. I downloaded Delicatessen last night and will look for a couple more over the week. Planning a grand French movie marathon this weekend (I live dangerously) This is a nice thread I've got to say, might make enquiries about German films in a month or so, broaden my cinematic horizons a bit

Can anyone offer opinions on good historical/political films? Perhaps based on French literature? (I'm still a sucker for Les Miserables with Liam Neeson) Preferably in French with a French director, but even if its inspired by French politics or history I'd be content. Something along the vein of those Tony Blair biopics with Michael Sheen (The Special Relationship etc.) or the biopics on Churchill (The Gathering Storm, Into the Storm) Basically those films but about French political figures.

There is a really great version of Les Miserables updated to WWII vintage with Jean Paul Belmondo. Basic set up is Belmondo is illiterate truck driver who gives people lifts to read the book to him and starts to see parallels between the characters and his own life.

Ellian

Days of Glory about French Algerian soldiers is very good too.

Nolanger

Denerick wrote: »

Also I'm only really interested in films written in the modern era (1970 onwards) I find a lot of films before that period in any culture are un-necessarily hard work, its like acting methods and plot development are greviously undeveloped and tend to deliberately confuse profundity for boredom. Generally speaking there are some great exceptions (Off the top of my head: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Waterfront, Twelve Angry Men) but even at that I liked the film in spite of the directorial epoch, which I generally find derisory.

To quote; 'To each man his own'.

If you're only interested in French cinema after 1970 then it's pointless.

johnny_ultimate

Nolanger wrote: »

If you're only interested in French cinema after 1970 then it's pointless.

Like the vast majority of your posts, then.

Renn

Ha, it's not even trolling at this stage - this guy is actually the genuine article. Fascinating.

peckerhead

Denerick wrote: »

Can anyone offer opinions on good historical/political films? Perhaps based on French literature?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9x-M_iPHdA

paulosham

Here are a couple of great films

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWEIxzlKCgA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZs2vL2my7o

sillo

Bloody heck, just when I thought I had gotten over my french cinema habit, now i have about a dozen new bloody movies to track down. Thanks a lot guys!

kraggy

AaronEnnis wrote: »

Unmissable stuff.

I'm a big fan of Vincent Cassel but I thought Mesrine was awful. Not his fault, but just didn't like the film. I thought it was messy. And it tried to hard.

Was hugely disappointed.

Sad Professor

I liked Mesrine, but I agree that it was messy and far from the classic that it could have been. The story is all over the place and contributes nothing of any substance to the genre. But very entertaining all the same and probably worth seeing just for Cassel's performance.

As for French cinema in general, I like some of the early New Wave stuff, 400 Blows especially. I also love many of Truffait's later films such as Stolen Kisses. Some of Melville's work is fantastic as well, particularly Le Samourai, Army of Shadows and Le Cercle Rouge. Melville was a big influence on Michael Mann and his inspiration can also be felt in Drive, which is basically a modern take on Le Samourai.

However, my favourite French film by far is Amélie. I adore that film.

Denerick

Renn wrote: »

Ha, it's not even trolling at this stage - this guy is actually the genuine article. Fascinating.

I hope you weren't referring to me. I actually regret the harshness of my words earlier, though I do feel I'm expressing an opinion commonly held, though rarely uttered.

Renn

Ha no not at all, referring to the other guy!

Technocentral

Denerick wrote: »

Also I'm only really interested in films written in the modern era (1970 onwards) I find a lot of films before that period in any culture are un-necessarily hard work, its like acting methods and plot development are greviously undeveloped and tend to deliberately confuse profundity for boredom. Generally speaking there are some great exceptions (Off the top of my head: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Waterfront, Twelve Angry Men) but even at that I liked the film in spite of the directorial epoch, which I generally find derisory.

To quote; 'To each man his own'.

Your missing out on some of the best and totally accessible films ever including the Film Noir ones of the 40s and 50s like The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity and The Big Sleep and the Likes of Casablanca, Sunset Boulevard, The Treasure Of The Sierra Nevada, Night Of The Hunter, The Third Man, Dr. Strangelove, Lawrence Of Arabia and hundreds more amazing ones and directors like Hitchcock who has never been bettered. It seems a pity to set a time limit on brilliance but if thats what your into fair enough.

Denerick

Technocentral wrote: »

Your missing out on some of the best and totally accessible films ever including the Film Noir ones of the 40s and 50s like The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity and The Big Sleep and the Likes of Casablanca, Sunset Boulevard, The Treasure Of The Sierra Nevada, Night Of The Hunter, The Third Man, Dr. Strangelove, Lawrence Of Arabia and hundreds more amazing ones and directors like Hitchcock who has never been bettered. It seems a pity to set a time limit on brilliance but if thats what your into fair enough.

I did mention the exceptions - Dr. Strangelove is of course excellent, as are (some) of the Hitchcock films - some of them are incredibly exaggerated. What you say is all well and good but on balance, given all the old films I've forced myself to watch over the years, I've come to the conclusion that that was a less sophisticated age in many ways and that cinema was in an elemental or primitive stage of development.

There are some great novels written before the 18th century. But not many. The novel was in an early period of development and with a few grand exceptions, many of them are utterly unreadable today (Or more simply put, just not that good) They were devised mainly for the idle wives and daughters of aristocrats, and it was only later that they became the beacons of social commentary and reflections on life which now make them so enjoyable.

Similarily you could go on a rampage about how I'm excluding Swift, Cervantes etc... Which is why I'm careful to talk up the exceptions...

Technocentral

Denerick wrote: »

I did mention the exceptions - Dr. Strangelove is of course excellent, as are (some) of the Hitchcock films - some of them are incredibly exaggerated. What you say is all well and good but on balance, given all the old films I've forced myself to watch over the years, I've come to the conclusion that that was a less sophisticated age in many ways and that cinema was in an elemental or primitive stage of development.

There are some great novels written before the 18th century. But not many. The novel was in an early period of development and with a few grand exceptions, many of them are utterly unreadable today (Or more simply put, just not that good) They were devised mainly for the idle wives and daughters of aristocrats, and it was only later that they became the beacons of social commentary and reflections on life which now make them so enjoyable.

Similarily you could go on a rampage about how I'm excluding Swift, Cervantes etc... Which is why I'm careful to talk up the exceptions...

I think the total opposite is the case! The 40s to early 70s were the height of the craft (In Lawrence Of Arabia Lean built a whole town for the assault on Aqaba!) and invention in cinema, (think of how post modern Citizen Kane is) nowadays cinema is pretty much just the less glamourous sister of TV and like the 50s they are trying gimmicks like 3D to entice people away from TV (which is 3D for some people now too!). Nothing apart from over reliance on computers has really changed in the structure of cinema since 1970, most of the narrative and visual invention was there already plus lots of those older films are documents of there time that you can't capture 50 years or whatever later, think of the scene in my favourite film ever Casablanca where they sing La Marseillaise in Ricks, lots of the extras are crying because in reality they had been forced to leave Nazi occupied europe for America shortly before appearing in the film, it lends it an incredible poignancy that you can't recreate in a film made now about WW2, I love loads of post 70 films too, maybe more than pre 70 but no real movie fan can dismiss the previous 50 or 60 years of brilliant cinema from around the world because in essence people and their motivations which drive the best stories haven't changed at all really in that time.

Denerick

Technocentral wrote: »

I think the total opposite is the case! The 40s to early 70s were the height of the craft (In Lawrence Of Arabia Lean built a whole town for the assault on Aqaba!) and invention in cinema, (think of how post modern Citizen Kane is) nowadays cinema is pretty much just the less glamourous sister of TV and like the 50s they are trying gimmicks like 3D to entice people away from TV (which is 3D for some people now too!). Nothing apart from over reliance on computers has really changed in the structure of cinema since 1970, most of the narrative and visual invention was there already plus lots of those older films are documents of there time that you can't capture 50 years or whatever later, think of the scene in my favourite film ever Casablanca where they sing La Marseillaise in Ricks, lots of the extras are crying because in reality they had been forced to leave Nazi occupied europe for America shortly before appearing in the film, it lends it an incredible poignancy that you can't recreate in a film made now about WW2, I love loads of post 70 films too, maybe more than pre 70 but no real movie fan can dismiss the previous 50 or 60 years of brilliant cinema from around the world because in essence people and their motivations which drive the best stories haven't changed at all really in that time.

Your passion is inspiring. And there is much merit to what you say. However I cannot help but feel that those films that do deserve accolade in that earlier epoch where good in spite of the era they were written in.

Denerick

Of Gods and Men looks brilliant! Will definately watch that tomorrow. I'm going to be riotously hungover tomorrow and so far I've the following lined up:

La Haine (Meaning to rewatch it for years)

Of Gods and Men.

Delicatessen.

The Battle of Algiers (if I can summon the energy)

Will write reviews as I go.

Technocentral

Denerick wrote: »

Your passion is inspiring. And there is much merit to what you say. However I cannot help but feel that those films that do deserve accolade in that earlier epoch where good in spite of the era they were written in.

I won't convince you but I'll just say that I think things are either good or bad irregardless of the era, lots of rubbish in the 1940s, lots of rubbish in the 1980s and today and of course the opposite is true of all eras. Even if you look at the top 100 films of all time in a popular mag like Total Film a huge amount are pre 1970.

Nolanger

That's why The Artist will do so well. People who've never watched a silent feature film from the 1920s will be raving about it.