Top 25 French movies
by RemyWeidi | created - 25 Apr 2015 | updated - 07 Jun 2020 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Playtime (1967)
Not Rated | 155 min | Comedy
Monsieur 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.
Director: Jacques Tati | Stars: Jacques Tati, Barbara Dennek, Rita Maiden, France Rumilly
Votes: 25,930
2. Touchez pas au grisbi (1954)
Not Rated | 96 min | Crime, Drama
An aging, world-weary gangster is double-crossed and forced out of retirement when his best friend is kidnapped and their stash of eight stolen gold bars demanded as ransom.
Director: Jacques Becker | Stars: Jean Gabin, René Dary, Dora Doll, Vittorio Sanipoli
Votes: 8,541 | Gross: $0.13M
3. OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006)
Not Rated | 99 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Secret agent OSS 117 foils Nazis, beds local beauties, and brings peace to the Middle East.
Director: Michel Hazanavicius | Stars: François Damiens, Jean Dujardin, Khalid Maadour, Youssef Hamid
Votes: 23,102 | Gross: $0.30M
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. Pépé le Moko (1937)
Not Rated | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A wanted gangster is both king and prisoner of the Casbah. He is protected from arrest by his friends, but is torn by his desire for freedom outside. A visiting Parisian beauty may just tempt his fate.
Director: Julien Duvivier | Stars: Jean Gabin, Gabriel Gabrio, Saturnin Fabre, Fernand Charpin
Votes: 8,070 | Gross: $0.15M
6. July 14 (1933)
86 min | Comedy, Romance
Jean is a young cab driver. Anna, a flower-girl neighbour, is in love with him. But he is still thinking to Pola, who just left him. Jean asks her to the bal. Many events (Pola's come back,... See full summary »
Director: René Clair | Stars: Annabella, Jorge Rigaud, Raymond Cordy, Paul Ollivier
Votes: 474
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: 21,167
8. Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
Not Rated | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A self-assured businessman murders his employer, the husband of his mistress, which unintentionally provokes an ill-fated chain of events.
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Georges Poujouly, Yori Bertin
Votes: 28,632 | Gross: $0.11M
9. Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998)
TV-PG | 71 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
Kirikou, an unusual little boy, must search the wisdom of the forbidden mountain in order to save his village from a spell cast by the evil sorceress Karaba
Directors: Michel Ocelot, Raymond Burlet | Stars: Doudou Gueye Thiaw, Maimouna N'Diaye, Awa Sene Sarr, Robert Liensol
Votes: 10,803 | Gross: $0.06M
10. Fantastic Planet (1973)
PG | 72 min | Animation, Sci-Fi
On a faraway planet where blue giants rule, oppressed humanoids rebel against their machine-like leaders.
Director: René Laloux | Stars: Barry Bostwick, Jennifer Drake, Eric Baugin, Jean Topart
Votes: 36,806 | Gross: $0.19M
11. Persepolis (2007)
PG-13 | 96 min | Animation, Biography, Drama
A precocious and outspoken Iranian girl grows up during the Islamic Revolution.
Directors: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi | Stars: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Gena Rowlands, Danielle Darrieux
Votes: 100,151 | Gross: $4.45M
12. Port of Shadows (1938)
Not Rated | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A military deserter finds love and trouble (and a small dog) in a foggy, French port city.
Director: Marcel Carné | Stars: Jean Gabin, Michel Simon, Michèle Morgan, Pierre Brasseur
Votes: 9,958 | Gross: $0.03M
13. Ernest & Celestine (2012)
PG | 80 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
The story of an unlikely friendship between a bear, Ernest, and a young mouse named Celestine.
Directors: Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, Benjamin Renner | Stars: Lambert Wilson, Pauline Brunner, Anne-Marie Loop, Patrice Melennec
Votes: 22,247 | Gross: $0.29M
14. Le Jour Se Leve (1939)
Not Rated | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
After committing a murder, a man locks himself in his apartment and recollects the events that led him to the killing.
Director: Marcel Carné | Stars: Jean Gabin, Jacqueline Laurent, Arletty, Jules Berry
Votes: 8,270 | Gross: $0.03M
15. Hotel du Nord (1938)
83 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
On the meandering Canal St. Martin, at the Parisian Hôtel du Nord, a nearly fatal gunshot separates a dejected young couple. But, amid a sad but beautiful panorama of lively characters, love has the final say. Can life be a fairy tale?
Director: Marcel Carné | Stars: Annabella, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Louis Jouvet, Arletty
Votes: 3,236
16. 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: 196,357 | Gross: $0.31M
17. Beauty and the Devil (1950)
Approved | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
The Faust story retold, with an aged alchemist accepting the gift of renewed youth from the devilish Mephistopheles.
Director: René Clair | Stars: Michel Simon, Gérard Philipe, Nicole Besnard, Simone Valère
Votes: 1,814
18. Shoot the Piano Player (1960)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A pianist helps his brother escape from two gangsters, who retaliate by abducting their kid brother.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Charles Aznavour, Marie Dubois, Nicole Berger, Michèle Mercier
Votes: 20,624
19. Bob the Gambler (1956)
PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After losing big, an aging gambler decides to assemble a team to rob a casino.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Roger Duchesne, Isabelle Corey, Daniel Cauchy, Guy Decomble
Votes: 13,353 | Gross: $0.02M
20. Au hasard Balthazar (1966)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama
The story of a mistreated donkey and the people around him. A study on saintliness and a sister piece to Bresson's Mouchette.
Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: Anne Wiazemsky, Walter Green, François Lafarge, Jean-Claude Guilbert
Votes: 22,812 | Gross: $0.04M
21. Un drôle de paroissien (1963)
Not Rated | 92 min | Comedy
Bad financial conditions compel an aristocratic family named Lachesnaye to do strange work.
Director: Jean-Pierre Mocky | Stars: Bourvil, Francis Blanche, Jean Poiret, Jean Yonnel
Votes: 731
22. Three Colors: Blue (1993)
R | 94 min | Drama, Music, Mystery
A woman struggles to find a way to live her life after the death of her husband and child.
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski | Stars: Juliette Binoche, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy, Benoît Régent
Votes: 110,472 | Gross: $1.32M
23. Judex (1963)
Not Rated | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Favraux, an unscrupulous banker receives a threatening note signed only "Judex", demanding that he pay back the people he has swindled. He refuses, and seemingly faces his fate.
Director: Georges Franju | Stars: Channing Pollock, Francine Bergé, Edith Scob, Théo Sarapo
Votes: 2,842
24. 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: 36,028 | Gross: $0.04M
25. 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: 794,084 | Gross: $33.23M
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