Top 100 : French cinema (Les inRockuptibles)
cf. http://www.lesinrocks.com/2014/03/05/cinema/top-100-plus-beaux-films-francais-11468683/
List activity
280 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
100 titles
- DirectorJean EustacheStarsBernadette LafontJean-Pierre LéaudFrançoise LebrunThe chauvinist Alexandre balances relationships with several women in the post-1968 intellectual scene of Paris.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsBrigitte BardotJack PalanceMichel PiccoliA French writer's marriage deteriorates while working on Fritz Lang's version of "The Odyssey", as his wife accuses him of using her to court favor with the film's brash American producer.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsMarcel DalioNora GregorPaulette DubostA bourgeois life in France at the onset of World War II, as the rich and their poor servants meet up at a French chateau.
- DirectorMax OphülsStarsCharles BoyerDanielle DarrieuxVittorio De SicaWhen an aristocratic woman known only as "Madame de . . ." sells a pair of earrings given to her by her husband in order to pay some debts, she sets off a chain reaction of financial and carnal consequences that can end only in despair.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsPascale OgierTchéky KaryoFabrice LuchiniLouise is a suburban young interior decorator divided between a boyfriend, a lover (who is married) and the wish of having some fulfillment and some balance in her life. A change to reach some independence comes when she rents a small apartment.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsCatherine DeneuveJean SorelMichel PiccoliA frigid young housewife decides to spend her midweek afternoons as a prostitute.
- DirectorJacques DemyStarsCatherine DeneuveGeorge ChakirisFrançoise DorléacTwo sisters leave their small seaside town of Rochefort in search of romance. Hired as carnival singers, one falls for an American musician, while the other must search for her ideal partner.
- DirectorJacques DemyStarsCatherine DeneuveNino CastelnuovoAnne VernonA young woman separated from her lover by war faces a life-altering decision.
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsÉtienne BeckerJean NégroniHélène ChatelainThe story of a man forced to explore his memories in the wake of World War III's devastation, told through still images.
- DirectorGeorges FranjuStarsPierre BrasseurAlida ValliJuliette MaynielA surgeon causes an accident which leaves his daughter disfigured and goes to extreme lengths to give her a new face.
- DirectorJacques TatiStarsJacques TatiBarbara DennekRita MaidenMonsieur Hulot curiously wanders around a high-tech Paris, paralleling a trip with a group of American tourists. Meanwhile, a nightclub/restaurant prepares its opening night, but it's still under construction.
- DirectorJean VigoStarsDita ParloJean DastéGilles MargaritisNewly married couple Juliette and a ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'atalante along with the captain's first mate Le père Jules and a cabin boy.
- DirectorMaurice PialatStarsSandrine BonnaireMaurice PialatChristophe OdentAn erratic young woman's family desperately tries to prevent her increasingly erotic ways.
- DirectorChantal AkermanStarsDelphine SeyrigJan DecorteHenri StorckA lonely widowed housewife does her daily chores, takes care of her apartment where she lives with her teenage son, and turns the occasional trick to make ends meet. However, something happens that changes her safe routine.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsMartin LaSalleMarika GreenJean PélégriMichel passes the time by picking pockets, careful to never be caught despite being watched by the police. His friend Jacques may suspect, while both men may have their eyes on Jeanne, the pretty neighbor of Michel's ailing mother.
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsCorinne MarchandAntoine BourseillerDominique DavrayCleo, a singer and hypochondriac, becomes increasingly worried that she might have cancer while awaiting test results from her doctor.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsMarie RivièreMaría Luisa GarcíaVincent GauthierIt's July, and Delphine has nowhere to go for the summer. She feels very bored and "empty", but this won't last; one day she accidently meets someone who seems to be totally made for her...
- DirectorJean CocteauRené ClémentStarsJean MaraisJosette DayMila ParélyA beautiful young woman takes her father's place as the prisoner of a mysterious beast, who wishes to marry her.
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsGérard DepardieuFanny ArdantHenri GarcinTwo ex-lovers wind up living next door to each other with their respective spouses. Forbidden passions ensue.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsEmmanuelle RivaEiji OkadaStella DassasA French actress filming an anti-war film in Hiroshima has an affair with a married Japanese architect as they share their differing perspectives on war.
- DirectorJacques RivetteStarsJuliet BertoDominique LabourierBulle OgierA mysteriously linked pair of young women find their daily lives preempted by a strange boudoir melodrama that plays itself out in a hallucinatory parallel reality.
- DirectorAlain GuiraudieStarsPierre DeladonchampsChristophe PaouPatrick d'AssumçaoSummertime. A cruising spot for men, tucked away on the shores of a lake. Franck falls in love with Michel, an attractive, potent and lethally dangerous man. Franck knows this but wants to live out his passion anyway.
- DirectorMax OphülsStarsMartine CarolPeter UstinovAnton WalbrookWhen she is reduced to appearing in a circus, a notorious beauty thinks back on her past loves.
- DirectorMaurice PialatStarsIsabelle HuppertGérard DepardieuGuy MarchandA bored wife leaves her husband for an unemployed, petty criminal.
- DirectorPhilippe GarrelStarsJean SebergNicoTina AumontBiographical film about Jean Seberg, loosely based on Nietzsche's The Antichrist.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsJean-Paul BelmondoJean SebergVan DoudeA small-time crook, hunted by the authorities for a car theft and the murder a police officer, attempts to persuade a hip American journalism student to run away with him to Italy.
- DirectorJacques RivetteSuzanne SchiffmanStarsMichèle MorettiHermine KaragheuzKaren PuigFollowing the May 1968 civil unrest in France, a deaf-mute and a con artist simultaneously stumble upon the remnants of a secret society.
- DirectorPaul VecchialiStarsHélène SurgèreSonia SaviangeHuguette ForgeThe fantasies and dreams of two over-the-hill actresses are intertwined with their realities, as the two roommates struggle to survive their day-to-day lives in the expensive and difficult world of Paris. In the end, their struggles are eased when the widow of a man they had both been married to gives them a small legacy.
- DirectorClaude LanzmannStarsSimon SrebnikMichael PodchlebnikMotke ZaïdlClaude Lanzmann's epic documentary recounts the story of the Holocaust through interviews with witnesses - perpetrators as well as survivors.
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsJean-Pierre LéaudKika MarkhamStacey TendeterAt the beginning of the 20th century, middle-class young Frenchman Claude Roc meets young Englishwoman Ann Brown in Paris. They become friends and she invites him to spend holidays at the house where she lives with her mother and her sister Muriel, for whom she intends Claude. During these holidays, Claude, Ann, and Muriel become very close and he gradually falls in love with Muriel. But both families lay down a one-year-long separation with no contact before agreeing to the marriage. So Claude goes back to Paris and has many love affairs before sending Muriel a break-off letter.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsSylvia BatailleJane MarkenGeorges D'ArnouxThe family of a Parisian shop-owner spends a day in the country. The daughter falls in love with a man at the inn, where they spend the day.
- DirectorAndré TéchinéStarsCatherine DeneuvePatrick DewaereEtienne ChicotHélène, a distracted pill-popping anesthetist, almost runs down Gilles one evening on a Biarritz street. She is still numb from the drowning death earlier that year of her lover, a visionary architect.
- DirectorJacques DemyStarsAnouk AiméeMarc MichelJacques HardenA bored young man meets with his former girlfriend, now a cabaret dancer and single mother, and soon finds himself falling back in love with her.
- DirectorJean EustacheStarsMichael LonsdaleDouchkaJean-Noël PicqA group of friends listen as one man tells them a story about a time when, in a small cafe, he discovered a peephole into the ladies' bathroom and became addicted to looking through it at female genitals.
- DirectorMax OphülsStarsJean GabinDanielle DarrieuxSimone SimonThree separate stories about the same thing: le plaisir (pleasure).
- DirectorJacques RozierStarsCaroline CartierDanièle CroisyFrançoise GuéganA patient observation on the adventures a group of three young girls spending their three-week summer vacation at a small village, a quotidian that includes cooking, excursions, playing cards and going out with guys, enjoying the simple pleasures life has to offer.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsAntoine MonnierTina IrissariHenri de MaublancCharles drifts through politics, religion and psychoanalysis, rejecting them all. Once he realises the depth of his disgust with the moral and physical decline of the society he lives in, he decides that suicide is the only option...
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsAnna KarinaSady RebbotAndré S. LabartheTwelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinFrançoise ArnoulMaría FélixThis comedy drama from Jean Renoir chronicles the revival of Paris' most notorious dance as it tells the story of a theater producer who turns a humble washerwoman into a star at the Moulin Rouge.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsChristian PateySylvie Van den ElsenMichel BriguetA counterfeit bill that starts off as a schoolboy prank leads to incarceration and violence.
- DirectorLeos CaraxStarsDenis LavantEdith ScobEva MendesA man boards a limousine to be driven to his day's work: nine mysterious "appointments."
- DirectorJean VigoStarsJean DastéRobert le FlonLouis LefebvreIn a repressive boarding school with rigid rules of behavior, four boys decide to rebel against the direction on a celebration day.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsJean-Paul BelmondoAnna KarinaGraziella GalvaniPierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run.
- DirectorJean-Claude BietteStarsJean-Christophe BouvetSonia SaviangeHoward VernonChristian takes his friend Ingrid's help to find out more about René, an artist.
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsJean-Pierre LéaudClaude JadeDelphine SeyrigAfter being discharged from the army, Antoine Doinel centers a screwball comedy where he applies for different jobs and tries to make sense of his relationships with women.
- DirectorClaude ChabrolStarsMichel DuchaussoyCaroline CellierJean YanneA man asserts himself within the life of an actress he believes is somehow responsible for his son's death.
- DirectorChristophe HonoréStarsLudivine SagnierLouis GarrelClotilde HesmeIsmael and Julie enter a playful yet emotionally laced threesome with Alice. When tragedy strikes, these young Parisians are forced to deal with the fragility of life and love.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsPatricia WaltersNora SwinburneEsmond KnightThe growing pains of three young women contrast with the immutability of the holy Bengal River, around which their daily lives unfold.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsJean-Louis TrintignantFrançoise FabianMarie-Christine BarraultA devout Catholic man's rigid principles are challenged during a one-night stay with Maud, a divorced woman with an outsize personality.
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsJean DesaillyFrançoise DorléacNelly BenedettiPierre Lachenay is a well-known publisher and lecturer, married with Franca and father of Sabine, around 10. He meets an air hostess, Nicole. They start a love affair, which Pierre is hiding, but he cannot stand staying away from her.
- DirectorJean GrémillonStarsJean GabinMireille BalinPierre EtchepareSoldier Lucien meets elegant Madeleine one night in Cannes. Lovestruck, he follows her to Paris after he is discharged. Their love affair begins anew, but eventually runs cold and he returns to Orange in the south of France. She follows.
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsJean-Pierre LéaudAlbert RémyClaire MaurierA young boy, left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.
- DirectorMarguerite DurasStarsDelphine SeyrigMichael LonsdaleMathieu CarrièreAnne-Marie Stretter, wife of a French diplomat, lives in 1930s India. She takes many lovers as systems of oppression decay around her.
- DirectorLouis FeuilladeStarsMusidoraÉdouard MathéMarcel LévesqueAn intrepid reporter and his loyal friend battle a bizarre secret society of criminals known as The Vampires.
- DirectorClaire DenisStarsVincent GalloTricia VesseyBéatrice DalleTwo American newlyweds in Paris experience a love so strong, it almost devours them.
- DirectorJacques RozierStarsRosa-Maria GomesAbdel KedadoucheLuis Rego"Maine-Ocean" is the name of a train that rides from Paris to Saint-Nazaire (near the ocean). In that train, Dejanira, a Brazilian, has a brush with the two ticket inspectors. Mimi, another traveler and also a lawyer, helps her. The four of them will meet together later and live a few shifted adventures with a strange-speaking sailor (Mimi's client).
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsBernard VerleyZouzouFrançoise VerleyThough he has an adoring wife, a bourgeois man is still tempted to pursue other women.
- DirectorJean-Pierre MelvilleStarsAlain DelonFrançois PérierNathalie DelonAfter professional hitman Jef Costello is seen by witnesses his efforts to provide himself an alibi drive him further into a corner.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsAnne WiazemskyWalter GreenFrançois LafargeThe story of a mistreated donkey and the people around him. A study on saintliness and a sister piece to Bresson's Mouchette.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsAnna MagnaniOdoardo SpadaroNada FiorelliThree men of varying social standing - a viceroy, a bullfighter, and a soldier - vie for the affections of an actress in 18th-century Peru.
- DirectorAbdellatif KechicheStarsLéa SeydouxAdèle ExarchopoulosSalim KechioucheAdèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire and to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adèle grows, seeks herself, loses herself, and ultimately finds herself through love and loss.
- DirectorLeos CaraxStarsMichel PiccoliJuliette BinocheDenis LavantAs a deadly virus which infects people who have loveless sex sweeps Paris, a lonely pariah attempts to steal a potent antidote, only to fall for the mistress of his partner-in-crime. Is the infectious young love the cure to the bad blood?
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsCharles BlavetteCelia MontalvánJenny HéliaIn the 1920s, the Provence is a magnet for immigrants seeking work in the quarries or in agriculture. Many mingle with locals and settle down permanently - like Toni, an Italian who has moved in with Marie, a Frenchwoman. Even a well-ordered existence is not immune from boredom, friendship, love, or enmity, and Toni gets entangled in a web of increasingly passionate relationships. For there is his best pal Fernand, but also Albert, his overbearing foreman; there is Sebastian, a steady Spanish peasant, but also Gabi, his young rogue relative; there is Marie, but there is also Josefa.
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsAmilcar CabralFlorence DelayArielle DombasleA woman narrates the contemplative writings of a seasoned world traveler, focusing on contemporary Japan.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardAn 8-part documentary chronically the history of cinema: "All the Histories", "A Single History", "Only Cinema", "Deadly "Beauty", "The Coin of the Absolute", "A New Wave", "The Control of the Universe", and "The Signs Among Us".
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsCatherine DeneuveJean-Paul BelmondoNelly BorgeaudA wealthy plantation owner is captivated by a mysterious woman with a shady past.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsFrançois LeterrierCharles Le ClaincheMaurice BeerblockA captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from a German prison in France.
- DirectorJacques RivetteStarsBulle OgierPascale OgierPierre ClémentiYoung unhinged female ex-con with a motorcycle helps a sickly young homeless woman in red discover what the map of Paris she took from her gangster boyfriend leads to.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsAndré BervilJean KeraudyMichel ConstantinDistrust and uncertainty arise when four long-term inmates cautiously induct a new prisoner into their elaborate prison-break scheme.
- DirectorJacques RozierStarsJean-Claude AiminiDaniel DescampsStefania SabatiniParis, summer 1960. Michel is about to leave for Algeria for military service. He meets Liliane and Juliette, two inseparable friends. Michel goes on vacation to Corsica, where the two girls decide to join him
- DirectorArnaud DesplechinStarsEmmanuelle DevosGeoffrey CareyThierry BoscParallel storylines tell the current state of affairs for two ex-lovers: Nora's a single mother who comes to care for her terminally ill father; holed in up in mental ward, Ismael, a brilliant musician, plots his escape.
- DirectorJean EustacheStarsMartin LoebJacqueline DufranneJacques RomainA boy is left to his own devices when his mother refuses to pay for his schooling.
- DirectorJean-Pierre MelvilleStarsLino VenturaPaul MeurisseJean-Pierre CasselAn account of underground resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied France.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsPaul BernardMaría CasaresElina LabourdetteA society lady engineers a marriage between her lover and a cabaret dancer who is essentially a prostitute.
- DirectorJean GrémillonStarsMicheline PresleMassimo GirottiGaby MorlayMarie Prieur, a young doctor, decides to settle down on Ushant, a remote island belonging to Brittany. Little by little she manages to be accepted by the population. One day she meets André Lorenzi, a handsome engineer, and it is love at first sight. Life is wonderful for a while but André wants to marry her only if she remains at home. Despite her strong feelings for André, Marie refuses to give up her vocation and the two lovers part. Marie finds herself alone, with a broken heart.
- DirectorJean-Pierre MelvilleStarsLino VenturaPaul MeurisseRaymond PellegrinA gangster escapes jail and quickly makes plans to continue his criminal ways elsewhere, but a determined inspector is closing in.
- DirectorJean-Claude BrisseauStarsCoralie RevelSabrina SeyvecouRoger MiremontNathalie teaches Sandrine that sexual transgression can cause violent pleasure and give those who use it a powerful weapon to climb the social hierarchy. They decide to get a job in a bank, a place where victims abound.
- StarsPierre DorisJacqueline DufranneAgathe NatansonRealistic chronicle of everyday life during the Great War. A ranger collects in his family several Parisian children refugees because of the conflict. All share the life of the country village, the school, the news from the front.
- DirectorMarcel PagnolStarsOrane DemazisFernandelHenri PouponA young and naive peasant girl in Provence, who has been seduced and abandoned, moves to Marseilles and becomes a street-walker after having her baby.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsIsabelle HuppertJacques DutroncNathalie BayeAn examination of sexual relationships, in which three protagonists interact in different combinations.
- DirectorArnaud DesplechinStarsMathieu AmalricEmmanuelle DevosEmmanuel SalingerPaul Dedalus is at a crossroads in his life. He has to make several decisions; should he complete his doctorate, does he want to become a full professor, does he really love his long-standing girlfriend, or should he re-start with one of his other lovers? Is he avoiding the despairing life his father can't escape from ?
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsFernando ReyDelphine SeyrigPaul FrankeurA surreal, virtually plotless series of dreams centered around six middle-class people and their consistently interrupted attempts to have a meal together.
- DirectorJacques DemyStarsCatherine DeneuveJean MaraisJacques PerrinA fairy godmother helps a princess disguise and flee the kingdom so she won't have to marry the king who happens to be her father.
- DirectorMaurice PialatStarsJacques DutroncAlexandra LondonBernard Le CoqThe final sixty-seven days of Van Gogh's life are examined.
- DirectorJacques TatiStarsJacques TatiJean-Pierre ZolaAdrienne ServantieMonsieur Hulot visits the technology-driven world of his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew, but he can't quite fit into the surroundings.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsDelphine SeyrigGiorgio AlbertazziSacha PitoëffIn a strange and isolated chateau, a man becomes acquainted with a woman and insists that they have met before.
- DirectorJean GrémillonStarsJean GabinMadeleine RenaudMichèle MorganThe captain of the tugboat Cyclone, André Laurent, rushes off to save the Mirva. He abandons his sick wife Yvonne and the couple celebrating their marriage. In the early morning, the Cyclone tugs the Mirva ashore with Catherine aboard.
- DirectorArnaud DesplechinStarsSummer PhoenixIan HolmFabrice DesplechinA Jewish girl in nineteenth century London, dreams of becoming a stage actress.
- DirectorJacques RivetteStarsBulle OgierJean-Pierre KalfonJosée DestoopDuring the rehearsals for the production of the tragedy Andromaque, the leading actress and her director, a couple behind the scenes, can't find a way to leave their personal problems at home. And life imitates fiction, creating a real tragedy for this couple when the man finds comfort with other women while the actress prefers to stay focused on her work, as if nothing is happening with her partner.
- DirectorSacha GuitryStarsSacha GuitryRaimuJacqueline DelubacA husband who has just cheated on his wife returns home in the early morning, in a daze. Another man is there, and the dazed man confesses his infidelity to this stranger--who turns out to be his wife's lover.
- DirectorClaude ChabrolStarsStéphane AudranMichel BouquetMaurice RonetA man begins to believe his wife is cheating on him.
- DirectorAlain CavalierStarsCatherine DeneuveMichel PiccoliRoger Van HoolLucile, 25, is the beautiful mistress of Charles, a rich, good-hearted businessman. Being a kept woman suits her as she refuses to work. She is grateful to Charles for that but she does not feel true love for him. When she meets Antoine, a charming young man of her age, it is love at first sight. Living with Antoine is not as easy as it was with Charles: Lucile is forced to find a job, which she hates, and she gets pregnant and has to ask Charles for help. After having an abortion, her love for Antoine gradually fades. That is the reason why she comes back to Charles who, full of indulgence, has patiently waited for her.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsRaymond RouleauMicheline PresleJean ChevrierPhilippe Clarence, a famous Parisian dressmaker, seduces his friend's fiancee. But, for the first time in his life, this is for real. The film is also a sharp picture of the fashion world.
- DirectorJacques DemyStarsJeanne MoreauClaude MannPaul GuersJean is a clerk in a bank. His colleague Caron is a gambler and gives him the virus. In the casinos, Jean meets Jackie. Their love affair will follow their luck at the roulette.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsAnna KarinaJean-Claude BrialyJean-Paul BelmondoAn exotic dancer is desperate to become a mother and accepts her reluctant boyfriend's suggestion that she be impregnated by his best friend.
- DirectorBruno PodalydèsStarsDenis PodalydèsJeanne BalibarIsabelle CandelierA sound engineer who is chronically hesitant has to make a hard choice between three successively charming young women.
- DirectorJean-Paul RappeneauStarsYves MontandCatherine DeneuveLuigi VannucchiMartin lives alone on a Caribbean island. On an excursion to the port city, he helps Nelly, who has fled from her groom.
- 1993–199452m7.3 (128)TV EpisodeDirectorPatricia MazuyStarsLeslie AzzoulaiHélène EichersJulien GerinIn the late 1970s, a teenage French girl is obsessed with the then popular American movie heartthrob, John Travolta.
- DirectorPaul VecchialiStarsNicolas SilbergBéatrice BrunoLouis LyonnetA mechanic living in Paris falls in love with a chemist. At first she does not return his affections, but learning she is affected by a terminal illness changes her disposition.
- DirectorBertrand BonelloStarsNoémie LvovskyHafsia HerziCéline SalletteAt an elegant Parisian bordello at the dawn of the 20th century exists a cloistered world of pleasure, pain, hope, rivalries--and, most of all, slavery.