My Favourite French Films
by style-is-eternal | created - 26 Aug 2011 | updated - 07 Apr 2018 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A surreal, virtually plotless series of dreams centered around six middle-class people and their consistently interrupted attempts to have a meal together.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Fernando Rey, Delphine Seyrig, Paul Frankeur, Bulle Ogier
Votes: 46,816 | Gross: $0.20M
2. Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Not Rated | 93 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A beautiful young woman takes her father's place as the prisoner of a mysterious beast, who wishes to marry her.
Directors: Jean Cocteau, René Clément | Stars: Jean Marais, Josette Day, Mila Parély, Nane Germon
Votes: 28,077 | Gross: $0.30M
3. The Wages of Fear (1953)
Not Rated | 131 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
In a decrepit South American village, four men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot | Stars: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter van Eyck, Folco Lulli
Votes: 66,542
4. The Hole (1960)
Not Rated | 131 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Distrust and uncertainty arise when four long-term inmates cautiously induct a new prisoner into their elaborate prison-break scheme.
Director: Jacques Becker | Stars: André Bervil, Jean Keraudy, Michel Constantin, Philippe Leroy
Votes: 20,361 | Gross: $0.03M
5. Contempt (1963)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, Romance
A 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.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Brigitte Bardot, Jack Palance, Michel Piccoli, Giorgia Moll
Votes: 36,024 | Gross: $0.04M
6. The Raven (1943)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A French village doctor becomes the target of poison-pen letters sent to village leaders, accusing him of affairs and practicing abortion.
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot | Stars: Pierre Fresnay, Ginette Leclerc, Micheline Francey, Héléna Manson
Votes: 10,894 | Gross: $0.03M
7. Children of Paradise (1945)
Not Rated | 189 min | Drama, Romance
The theatrical life of a beautiful courtesan in 1830s Paris and the four men who love her.
Director: Marcel Carné | Stars: Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, Pierre Renoir
Votes: 21,166
8. Pierrot the Fool (1965)
Not Rated | 110 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Pierrot 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.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina, Graziella Galvani, Aicha Abadir
Votes: 36,931
9. The Earrings of Madame De... (1953)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, Romance
When 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.
Director: Max Ophüls | Stars: Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux, Vittorio De Sica, Jean Debucourt
Votes: 11,106
10. Forbidden Games (1952)
Not Rated | 86 min | Comedy, Drama, War
A young French girl orphaned in a German air attack is befriended by the son of a poor farmer, and together they try to come to terms with the realities of death.
Director: René Clément | Stars: Georges Poujouly, Brigitte Fossey, Amédée, Laurence Badie
Votes: 13,097 | Gross: $0.01M
11. Diabolique (1955)
Not Rated | 117 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
The wife and mistress of a loathed school principal plan to murder him with what they believe is the perfect alibi.
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot | Stars: Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, Paul Meurisse, Charles Vanel
Votes: 69,369 | Gross: $1.09M
12. The Samurai (1967)
GP | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After professional hitman Jef Costello is seen by witnesses his efforts to provide himself an alibi drive him further into a corner.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Alain Delon, François Périer, Nathalie Delon, Cathy Rosier
Votes: 57,106 | Gross: $0.04M
13. The 400 Blows (1959)
Not Rated | 99 min | Crime, Drama
A young boy, left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, Claire Maurier, Guy Decomble
Votes: 128,040
14. Casque d'Or (1952)
Not Rated | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Three gangsters and an ex-con carpenter all fall for the same beautiful golden-haired woman in Belle Époque France.
Director: Jacques Becker | Stars: Simone Signoret, Serge Reggiani, Claude Dauphin, Raymond Bussières
Votes: 6,216
15. Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962)
Not Rated | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Cleo, a singer and hypochondriac, becomes increasingly worried that she might have cancer while awaiting test results from her doctor.
Director: Agnès Varda | Stars: Corinne Marchand, Antoine Bourseiller, Dominique Davray, Dorothée Blanck
Votes: 27,271
16. The Grand Illusion (1937)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama, War
During WWI, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are eventually sent to a seemingly inescapable fortress.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Jean Gabin, Dita Parlo, Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim
Votes: 38,860 | Gross: $0.17M
17. Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
In a strange and isolated chateau, a man becomes acquainted with a woman and insists that they have met before.
Director: Alain Resnais | Stars: Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sacha Pitoëff, Françoise Bertin
Votes: 24,882 | Gross: $0.06M
18. Diary of a Chambermaid (1964)
Not Rated | 97 min | Crime, Drama
A sophisticated and self-assured woman from Paris joins a middle-class rural estate as a maid and causes quite a stir among the variously uptight, perverse and violent inhabitants.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Jeanne Moreau, Georges Géret, Michel Piccoli, Daniel Ivernel
Votes: 9,769 | Gross: $0.02M
19. Eyes Without a Face (1960)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Horror
A surgeon causes an accident which leaves his daughter disfigured and goes to extreme lengths to give her a new face.
Director: Georges Franju | Stars: Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, Juliette Mayniel, Alexandre Rignault
Votes: 35,123 | Gross: $0.05M
20. Breathless (1960)
Not Rated | 90 min | Crime, Drama
A 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.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Van Doude, Jean-Luc Godard
Votes: 87,898 | Gross: $0.34M
21. The Bakery Girl of Monceau (1963)
Not Rated | 23 min | Short, Romance
A law student regularly visits a Paris bakery to flirt with a brunette employee.
Director: Éric Rohmer | Stars: Barbet Schroeder, Claudine Soubrier, Michèle Girardon, Fred Junck
Votes: 5,434
22. 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: 794,020 | Gross: $33.23M
23. Murmur of the Heart (1971)
R | 118 min | Comedy, Drama
As France is nearing the end of the first Indochina War, an open-minded teenage boy finds himself torn between a rebellious urge to discover love, and the ever-present, almost dominating affection of his beloved mother.
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Lea Massari, Benoît Ferreux, Daniel Gélin, Michael Lonsdale
Votes: 10,843 | Gross: $0.35M
24. La Ronde (1950)
Not Rated | 93 min | Drama, Romance
Soldiers, chambermaids, poets, prostitutes, aristocrats-all are on equal footing in this multi-character merry-go-round of love and infidelity.
Director: Max Ophüls | Stars: Anton Walbrook, Simone Signoret, Serge Reggiani, Simone Simon
Votes: 5,959
25. The Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne (1945)
Not Rated | 86 min | Drama, Romance
A society lady engineers a marriage between her lover and a cabaret dancer who is essentially a prostitute.
Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: Paul Bernard, María Casares, Elina Labourdette, Lucienne Bogaert
Votes: 4,832
26. Tomboy (2011)
Not Rated | 82 min | Drama
A family moves into a new neighborhood, and a 10-year-old named Laure deliberately presents as a boy named Mikhael to the neighborhood children.
Director: Céline Sciamma | Stars: Zoé Héran, Malonn Lévana, Jeanne Disson, Sophie Cattani
Votes: 22,266 | Gross: $0.13M
27. The Phantom of Liberty (1974)
R | 104 min | Comedy
A series of surreal sequences that critique morality and society in a stream of consciousness style.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Jean-Claude Brialy, Adolfo Celi, Michel Piccoli, Monica Vitti
Votes: 17,188 | Gross: $0.01M
28. Claire's Knee (1970)
GP | 105 min | Drama, Romance
On lakeside summer holiday, a conflicted older man is dared to have a flirt with two beautiful teenage half-sisters despite his betrothal to a diplomat's daughter and the fact that the girls have boyfriends.
Director: Éric Rohmer | Stars: Jean-Claude Brialy, Aurora Cornu, Béatrice Romand, Laurence de Monaghan
Votes: 12,490 | Gross: $0.04M
29. Masculine Feminine (1966)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, Romance
A romance between young Parisians, shown through a series of vignettes.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Chantal Goya, Marlène Jobert, Michel Debord
Votes: 17,319 | Gross: $0.20M
30. Le Million (1931)
Not Rated | 91 min | Comedy, Musical
An impoverished painter and his rival engage in a race across Paris to recover a jacket concealing a winning lottery ticket.
Director: René Clair | Stars: Annabella, René Lefèvre, Jean-Louis Allibert, Paul Ollivier
Votes: 3,840
31. The Terrible Children (1950)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
The dangerously obsessive relationship between a psychologically manipulative brother and sister who isolate themselves and draw others into their mind games.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Nicole Stéphane, Edouard Dermithe, Renée Cosima, Jacques Bernard
Votes: 4,328
32. Happiness (1965)
Not Rated | 80 min | Drama, Romance
François, a young carpenter, lives a happy, uncomplicated life with his wife Thérèse and their two small children. One day he meets Emilie, a clerk in the local post office.
Director: Agnès Varda | Stars: Jean-Claude Drouot, Marie-France Boyer, Marcelle Faure-Bertin, Manon Lanclos
Votes: 9,515
33. Les Biches (1968)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama
Architect Paul Thomas insinuates himself into the relationship of two bisexual women living in a St. Tropez villa with tragic consequences.
Director: Claude Chabrol | Stars: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jacqueline Sassard, Stéphane Audran, Nane Germon
Votes: 3,557
34. The Story of a Cheat (1936)
81 min | Comedy
A charming scoundrel reflects on his exploits, from childhood through to manhood.
Director: Sacha Guitry | Stars: Sacha Guitry, Adolphe Borchard, Marcel Lucien, Raymond Clunie
Votes: 2,536
35. Lola (1961)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Romance
A 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.
Director: Jacques Demy | Stars: Anouk Aimée, Marc Michel, Jacques Harden, Alan Scott
Votes: 7,526
36. House of Tolerance (2011)
Not Rated | 122 min | Drama
At 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.
Director: Bertrand Bonello | Stars: Noémie Lvovsky, Hafsia Herzi, Céline Sallette, Jasmine Trinca
Votes: 7,794 | Gross: $0.02M
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