Best French movies
by kentrahmn | created - 25 Jul 2016 | updated - 2 months ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Delicatessen (1991)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Crime
Post-apocalyptic surrealist black comedy about the landlord of an apartment building who occasionally prepares a delicacy for his odd tenants.
Directors: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Marie-Laure Dougnac, Dominique Pinon, Pascal Benezech, Jean-Claude Dreyfus
Votes: 90,035 | Gross: $1.79M
2. Polisse (2011)
Not Rated | 127 min | Crime, Drama
A journalist covering police assigned to a juvenile division enters into an affair with one of her subjects.
Director: Maïwenn | Stars: Karin Viard, JoeyStarr, Marina Foïs, Nicolas Duvauchelle
Votes: 15,326 | Gross: $0.17M
3. Betty Blue (1986)
Unrated | 119 min | Drama, Romance
A lackadaisical handyman and aspiring novelist tries to support his younger girlfriend as she slowly succumbs to madness.
Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix | Stars: Jean-Hugues Anglade, Béatrice Dalle, Gérard Darmon, Consuelo De Haviland
Votes: 23,342 | Gross: $2.00M
4. La Cage aux Folles (1978)
R | 97 min | Comedy
The manager of a Saint-Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment, and his star attraction, are a gay couple. Madness ensues when his straight son brings home a fiancée and her ultra-conservative parents to meet them.
Director: Édouard Molinaro | Stars: Ugo Tognazzi, Michel Serrault, Claire Maurier, Rémi Laurent
Votes: 11,907 | Gross: $20.42M
5. Auntie Danielle (1990)
PG-13 | 110 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Auntie Danielle, supposedly in ailing health but in reality just a nasty old bitch, lives with a paid housekeeper who she regularly abuses. When the housekeeper dies falling off a ladder, ... See full summary »
Director: Étienne Chatiliez | Stars: Tsilla Chelton, Catherine Jacob, Isabelle Nanty, Neige Dolsky
Votes: 3,725 | Gross: $0.60M
6. La haine (1995)
Not Rated | 98 min | Crime, Drama
24 hours in the lives of three young men in the French suburbs the day after a violent riot.
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz | Stars: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, Saïd Taghmaoui, Abdel Ahmed Ghili
Votes: 196,389 | Gross: $0.31M
7. 8 Women (2002)
R | 111 min | Comedy, Crime, Musical
A man is murdered in an isolated chalet, and the eight female residents are all suspects; their secrets are revealed as they try to determine who is guilty.
Director: François Ozon | Stars: Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Béart, Danielle Darrieux, Catherine Deneuve
Votes: 34,334 | Gross: $3.08M
8. Ma vie en rose (1997)
R | 88 min | Drama
Ludovic is an innocent seven-year-old child who provokes horror in his community when he dresses in girls clothes and insists he's a girl.
Director: Alain Berliner | Stars: Georges Du Fresne, Michèle Laroque, Jean-Philippe Écoffey, Hélène Vincent
Votes: 9,024 | Gross: $2.28M
9. Amélie (2001)
R | 122 min | Comedy, Romance
Despite being caught in her imaginative world, Amelie, a young waitress, decides to help people find happiness. Her quest to spread joy leads her on a journey where she finds true love.
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Lorella Cravotta
Votes: 794,147 | Gross: $33.23M
10. Léon: The Professional (1994)
R | 110 min | Action, Crime, Drama
12-year-old Mathilda is reluctantly taken in by Léon, a professional assassin, after her family is murdered. An unusual relationship forms as she becomes his protégée and learns the assassin's trade.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Natalie Portman, Danny Aiello
Votes: 1,245,657 | Gross: $19.50M
11. A Prophet (2009)
R | 155 min | Crime, Drama
A delinquent Muslim man struggles to get by in prison until he is taken under the wing of a powerful mob boss. But his gradual rise through the mob's ranks brings him in conflict with his mentor.
Director: Jacques Audiard | Stars: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Reda Kateb
Votes: 102,176 | Gross: $2.08M
12. High Tension (2003)
R | 91 min | Horror
Best friends Marie and Alexia decide to spend a quiet weekend at Alexia's parents' secluded farmhouse. But on the night of their arrival, the girls' idyllic getaway turns into an endless night of horror.
Director: Alexandre Aja | Stars: Cécile de France, Maïwenn, Philippe Nahon, Franck Khalfoun
Votes: 77,840 | Gross: $3.68M
13. Rust and Bone (2012)
R | 120 min | Drama, Romance
Put in charge of his young son, Alain leaves Belgium for Antibes to live with his sister and her husband as a family. Alain's bond with Stephanie, a killer whale trainer, grows deeper after Stephanie suffers a horrible accident.
Director: Jacques Audiard | Stars: Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Armand Verdure, Céline Sallette
Votes: 70,297 | Gross: $2.06M
14. District B13 (2004)
R | 84 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
In the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and an ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb.
Director: Pierre Morel | Stars: Cyril Raffaelli, David Belle, Tony D'Amario, Bibi Naceri
Votes: 73,874 | Gross: $1.20M
15. The Intouchables (2011)
R | 112 min | Comedy, Drama
After he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caregiver.
Directors: Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano | Stars: François Cluzet, Omar Sy, Anne Le Ny, Audrey Fleurot
Votes: 929,270 | Gross: $13.18M
16. The Young Lieutenant (2005)
Unrated | 110 min | Crime, Drama
A rookie policeman from provincial Le Havre volunteers for the high pressure Parisian homicide bureau and is assigned to a middle-aged woman detective.
Director: Xavier Beauvois | Stars: Nathalie Baye, Jalil Lespert, Roschdy Zem, Antoine Chappey
Votes: 2,639
17. In Your Hands (2010)
81 min | Drama
An act of revenge takes an unexpected turn in this psychological drama from French Writer and Director Lola Doillon. Anna (Dame Kristin Scott Thomas) flees a house on the outskirts of Paris... See full summary »
Director: Lola Doillon | Stars: Kristin Scott Thomas, Pio Marmaï, Jean-Philippe Écoffey, Marie-Sohna Condé
Votes: 805
18. The Hairdresser's Husband (1990)
R | 82 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Antoine has always been fascinated by a hairdresser's delicate touch, the beguiling perfume and the enticing figure of a woman with an opulent bosom. After all, he always knew he would marry one, completing his idealised love fantasy.
Director: Patrice Leconte | Stars: Jean Rochefort, Anna Galiena, Roland Bertin, Maurice Chevit
Votes: 10,363 | Gross: $1.16M
19. The Grocer's Son (2007)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama
Antoine moves home to help his mom drive the mobile grocery, when his dad's hospitalized. He brings Claire along, hoping she'll become more than a friend. He drives around Provence's countryside, selling mainly to old people.
Director: Eric Guirado | Stars: Nicolas Cazalé, Clotilde Hesme, Daniel Duval, Jeanne Goupil
Votes: 2,530 | Gross: $0.28M
20. Partir (I) (2009)
Unrated | 85 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Suzanne "Dame Kristin Scott Thomas" is a well to do married mother, but her bourgeois lifestyle gets her down and she decides to go back to work as a physiotherapist by building an office in their backyard. Then Suzanne falls in love with the man hired to build the office.
Director: Catherine Corsini | Stars: Kristin Scott Thomas, Sergi López, Yvan Attal, Bernard Blancan
Votes: 4,537 | Gross: $0.17M
21. I Killed My Mother (2009)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Romance
A semi-autobiographical story about Hubert as a young homosexual at odds with his mother.
Director: Xavier Dolan | Stars: Anne Dorval, Xavier Dolan, François Arnaud, Suzanne Clément
Votes: 31,419
22. Dobermann (1997)
R | 103 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Dobermann is the world's most ruthless bank robber and with his gang rob bank after bank, now in Paris. What can the police do but to let the mad, morally bankrupt police commissioner loose on him?
Director: Jan Kounen | Stars: Vincent Cassel, Tchéky Karyo, Monica Bellucci, Antoine Basler
Votes: 18,756
23. Elle (I) (2016)
R | 130 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A successful businesswoman gets caught up in a game of cat and mouse as she tracks down the unknown man who raped her.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny, Charles Berling
Votes: 71,138
24. The Prey (2011)
R | 105 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Bank-robber Franck Adrien is serving a prison sentence after robbing a national bank. Before he was caught he managed to hide the money but now it's not just the police who are looking for ... See full summary »
Director: Eric Valette | Stars: Albert Dupontel, Alice Taglioni, Stéphane Debac, Sergi López
Votes: 5,856 | Gross: $0.01M
25. Dalida (2016)
PG | 127 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The story of the Egyptian-Italian singer Dalida and her story against life and how she dealt with her problems while she was the most successful artist in the history of France.
Director: Lisa Azuelos | Stars: Sveva Alviti, Riccardo Scamarcio, Jean-Paul Rouve, Niels Schneider
Votes: 3,616
26. Mommy (I) (2014)
R | 139 min | Drama
A widowed single mother, raising her violent son alone, finds new hope when a mysterious neighbor inserts herself into their household.
Director: Xavier Dolan | Stars: Anne Dorval, Antoine Olivier Pilon, Suzanne Clément, Patrick Huard
Votes: 61,823 | Gross: $3.49M
27. Les Misérables (2019)
R | 104 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A cop from the provinces moves to Paris to join the Anti-Crime Brigade of Montfermeil, discovering an underworld where the tensions between the different groups mark the rhythm.
Director: Ladj Ly | Stars: Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djebril Zonga, Issa Perica
Votes: 28,288 | Gross: $0.33M
28. Two Days, One Night (2014)
PG-13 | 95 min | Drama
Liège, Belgium. Sandra is a factory worker who discovers that her workmates have opted for a EUR1,000 bonus in exchange for her dismissal. She has only a weekend to convince her colleagues to give up their bonuses in order to keep her job.
Directors: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne | Stars: Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione, Catherine Salée, Baptiste Sornin
Votes: 50,533 | Gross: $1.44M
29. A Very Long Engagement (2004)
R | 133 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
Tells the story of a young woman's relentless search for her fiancé, who has disappeared from the trenches of the Somme during World War One.
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Jodie Foster, Dominique Pinon
Votes: 75,952 | Gross: $6.17M
30. The City of Lost Children (1995)
R | 112 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
A scientist in a surrealist society kidnaps children to steal their dreams, hoping that they slow his aging process.
Directors: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Ron Perlman, Daniel Emilfork, Judith Vittet, Dominique Pinon
Votes: 71,658 | Gross: $1.51M
31. Mea culpa (2014)
R | 90 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Franck and Simon are both good cops and partners. Simon has been troubled since he killed three in a drunk driving accident, but when Simons son witnesses a murder, and is hunted by ruthless killers, he's efficiently back.
Director: Fred Cavayé | Stars: Vincent Lindon, Gilles Lellouche, Nadine Labaki, Gilles Cohen
Votes: 2,989
32. It's Only the End of the World (2016)
97 min | Drama
Louis (Gaspard Ulliel), a terminally ill writer, returns home after a long absence to tell his family that he is dying.
Director: Xavier Dolan | Stars: Gaspard Ulliel, Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux, Vincent Cassel
Votes: 25,195
33. In Safe Hands (2018)
G | 110 min | Drama
Theo was born an unwanted child. The social services set out to find the perfect home for his adoption.
Director: Jeanne Herry | Stars: Sandrine Kiberlain, Gilles Lellouche, Élodie Bouchez, Olivia Côte
Votes: 2,602 | Gross: $0.00M
34. Angel-A (2005)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A beautiful woman helps an inept scam artist get his game together.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Rie Rasmussen, Jamel Debbouze, Gilbert Melki, Serge Riaboukine
Votes: 35,657 | Gross: $0.20M
35. Other People's Children (2022)
103 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A childless woman forms a deep bond with her boyfriend's young daughter.
Director: Rebecca Zlotowski | Stars: Virginie Efira, Roschdy Zem, Chiara Mastroianni, Callie Ferreira-Goncalves
Votes: 2,479
36. Love Affair(s) (2020)
122 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Waiting for her boyfriend to join her on a country vacation, three months pregnant Daphne bonds with his cousin Maxime, and their shared intimacy brings them closer together into a full fledged love affair.
Director: Emmanuel Mouret | Stars: Camélia Jordana, Niels Schneider, Vincent Macaigne, Émilie Dequenne
Votes: 2,971
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