Noteworthy French/French Directed Films
by thankscoachron | created - 31 Jan 2015 | updated - 12 Jul 2022 | PublicA list of notable French language/French directed films
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Pola X (1999)
Not Rated | 134 min | Drama, Romance
A young writer becomes intrigued with a mysterious dark-haired woman who claims to be his long-lost sister, starting an unusual relationship with her and prompting a downward spiral involving his domineering mother and lovely fiancée.
Director: Leos Carax | Stars: Guillaume Depardieu, Yekaterina Golubeva, Catherine Deneuve, Delphine Chuillot
Votes: 5,278 | Gross: $0.17M
2. Bad Blood (1986)
Unrated | 105 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
As 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?
Director: Leos Carax | Stars: Michel Piccoli, Juliette Binoche, Denis Lavant, Hans Meyer
Votes: 9,320 | Gross: $0.02M
3. The Lovers on the Bridge (1991)
R | 125 min | Drama, Romance
Alex, who's homeless and addicted to alcohol, and Michèle, who's losing her sight, form a relationship while sleeping rough on Paris's Pont-Neuf bridge.
Director: Leos Carax | Stars: Juliette Binoche, Denis Lavant, Klaus-Michael Grüber, Marion Stalens
Votes: 15,436 | Gross: $0.12M
4. Holy Motors (2012)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama, Fantasy
A man boards a limousine to be driven to his day's work: nine mysterious "appointments."
Director: Leos Carax | Stars: Denis Lavant, Edith Scob, Eva Mendes, Kylie Minogue
Votes: 48,903
5. Tokyo! (2008)
Unrated | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A triptych examines the nature of one unforgettable city as it's shaped by the disparate people who live, work (and even run amok) inside one enormous, constantly evolving, densely populated megalopolis, the ravishing and inimitable Tokyo.
Directors: Leos Carax, Michel Gondry, Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Ayako Fujitani, Ryô Kase, Ayumi Ito, Nao Ômori
Votes: 11,869 | Gross: $0.35M
6. Sans titre (I) (1997)
9 min | Short
In 1997, for it's fiftieth anniversary, the Cannes Film Festival asked Leos Carax for a short film, a kind of postcard addressed to the festival, in which the director would give news of himself and of his film project "Pola X".
Director: Leos Carax | Stars: Guillaume Depardieu, Yekaterina Golubeva, Catherine Deneuve, Leos Carax
Votes: 250
7. Irreversible (2002)
Not Rated | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Events over the course of one traumatic night in Paris unfold in reverse-chronological order as the beautiful Alex is brutally raped and beaten by a stranger in an underpass tunnel.
Director: Gaspar Noé | Stars: Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel, Philippe Nahon
Votes: 147,638 | Gross: $0.75M
8. Enter the Void (2009)
Not Rated | 161 min | Drama, Fantasy
An American drug dealer living in Tokyo is betrayed by his best friend and killed in a drug deal. His soul, observing the repercussions of his death, seeks resurrection.
Director: Gaspar Noé | Stars: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy, Olly Alexander
Votes: 88,043 | Gross: $0.34M
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: 794,163 | Gross: $33.23M
10. 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: 71,661 | Gross: $1.51M
11. Micmacs (2009)
R | 105 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A man and his friends come up with an intricate and original plan to destroy two big weapons manufacturers.
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Dany Boon, André Dussollier, Nicolas Marié, Yolande Moreau
Votes: 31,268 | Gross: $1.26M
12. I Stand Alone (1998)
Not Rated | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A horse butcher's life and mind begin to break down as he lashes out against various factions of society while attempting to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Director: Gaspar Noé | Stars: Philippe Nahon, Blandine Lenoir, Frankie Pain, Martine Audrain
Votes: 25,800 | Gross: $0.05M
13. 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: 73,878 | Gross: $1.20M
14. 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: 1,245,718 | Gross: $19.50M
15. The Science of Sleep (2006)
R | 105 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A man entranced by his dreams and imagination is love-struck with a French woman and feels he can show her his world.
Director: Michel Gondry | Stars: Gael García Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Miou-Miou, Alain Chabat
Votes: 70,889 | Gross: $4.66M
16. Amer (2009)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
As a young girl Ana was a rebellious child. She was also tormented by images of death and a shadowy, ominous figure in black. Now an adult, she is once again tormented by shadowy, other-worldly forms.
Directors: Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani | Stars: Cassandra Forêt, Charlotte Eugène Guibeaud, Marie Bos, Biancamaria D'Amato
Votes: 6,574
17. The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears (2013)
Not Rated | 102 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Returning home from a business trip to discover his wife missing, a man delves deeper and deeper into a surreal kaleidoscope of half-baked leads, seduction, deceit, and murder. Does anyone in the building know something?
Directors: Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani | Stars: Klaus Tange, Ursula Bedena, Joe Koener, Birgit Yew
Votes: 4,358 | Gross: $0.01M
18. Martyrs (2008)
R | 99 min | Horror
A young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.
Director: Pascal Laugier | Stars: Morjana Alaoui, Mylène Jampanoï, Catherine Bégin, Robert Toupin
Votes: 106,406
19. La Jetée (1962)
Not Rated | 28 min | Short, Drama, Romance
The story of a man forced to explore his memories in the wake of World War III's devastation, told through still images.
Director: Chris Marker | Stars: Étienne Becker, Jean Négroni, Hélène Chatelain, Davos Hanich
Votes: 37,058
20. Mood Indigo (2013)
Not Rated | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Wealthy, inventive bachelor Colin endeavors to find a cure for his lover Chloe after she's diagnosed with an unusual illness caused by a flower growing in her lungs.
Director: Michel Gondry | Stars: Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh, Omar Sy
Votes: 16,718 | Gross: $0.30M
21. Love Me If You Dare (2003)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
As adults, best friends Julien and Sophie continue the odd game they started as children -- a fearless competition to outdo one another with daring and outrageous stunts. While they often act out to relieve one another's pain, their game might be a way to avoid the fact that they are truly meant for one another.
Director: Yann Samuell | Stars: Guillaume Canet, Marion Cotillard, Thibault Verhaeghe, Joséphine Lebas-Joly
Votes: 72,453 | Gross: $0.55M
22. 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: 35,658 | Gross: $0.20M
23. Rubber (2010)
R | 82 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
A homicidal car tire, discovering it has destructive psionic power, sets its sights on a desert town once a mysterious woman becomes its obsession.
Director: Quentin Dupieux | Stars: Stephen Spinella, Roxane Mesquida, Wings Hauser, Jack Plotnick
Votes: 40,311 | Gross: $0.10M
24. Le daim (2019)
77 min | Comedy, Horror
A man's obsession with his designer deerskin jacket causes him to blow his life savings and turn to crime.
Director: Quentin Dupieux | Stars: Jean Dujardin, Adèle Haenel, Albert Delpy, Coralie Russier
Votes: 11,656
25. Mandibles (2020)
77 min | Comedy, Fantasy
When simple-minded friends Jean-Gab and Manu find a giant fly trapped in the boot of a car, they decide to train it in the hope of making a ton of cash.
Director: Quentin Dupieux | Stars: Grégoire Ludig, David Marsais, Adèle Exarchopoulos, India Hair
Votes: 5,992
26. Raw (2016)
R | 99 min | Drama, Horror
A young woman, studying to be a vet, develops a craving for human flesh.
Director: Julia Ducournau | Stars: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Nait Oufella, Laurent Lucas
Votes: 89,109 | Gross: $0.51M
27. Titane (2021)
R | 108 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Following a series of unexplained crimes, a father is reunited with the son who has been missing for ten years.
Director: Julia Ducournau | Stars: Vincent Lindon, Agathe Rousselle, Garance Marillier, Laïs Salameh
Votes: 56,126
28. 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: 196,403 | Gross: $0.31M
Tell Your Friends