French Movies: (pictures and text from www.amazon.com)

Amélie (In French, English subtitles) Amélie, an innocent and naive girl in Paris, with her own sense of justice, decides to help those around her and along the way, discovers love. |
Les Choristes (The Chorus) The new teacher at a severely administered boys' boarding school works to positively effect the students' lives through music. A beautiful film that has won several academy awards. |
L'Auberge Espagnole (The Spanish Apartment) (In French, English subtitles) A young Parisian not sure what his life is about, decides to spend a year in Barcelona studying economics --leaving behind his unhappy girlfriend (Audrey Tautou, Amélie) but joining an international mix of students in a hectic, crowded apartment. He learns more about life than economics! |
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Jeux d'enfants (Love Me If You Dare) (In French, English subtitles) 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. How far will they go? |
Mission Cléopatre (Subtitles in French only) In a bet with Julius Caesar that her people are still great, Cleopatra vows to build a palace within three months. Numerobis, the chosen architect, calls upon an old friend to help him out: the druid Panoramix who brews a fantastic potion that gives supernatural strength. Based on the “Asterix and Obelix” series, this fun movie is a riotous adventure, full of puns that will keep you laughing until the end. |
Jean de Florette (In French, English subtitles) Jean, a city tax-collector, (Gérard Depardieu) comes to the countryside with his wife and daughter to tend the land he has inherited, seeking the “authenticity” of country life. However, his neighbor (Yves Montand), has his sights set on that land, and thwarts Jean’s efforts by concealing a valuable spring. Set in the beautiful hills of Provence, this film evokes the timeless struggle for control over personal destiny. |
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Manon des sources (Manon of the Springs) (In French, English subtitles) This sequel to Jean de Florette tells the story of Jean’s daughter (Emmanuelle Béart). As an adult, she discovers that their neighbor (Yves Montand) was responsible for her father’s tragedy. In revenge, she sabotages the spring, cutting off the water supply to the entire village. But there is an ironic twist; families and destinies become strangely intertwined in this tale of greed where water plays a leading role. |
La Gloire de mon père (My Father's Glory) (In French & English, English subtitles) A young boy's life in turn-of-the-century France. Marcel, witnesses the success of his teacher father, as well as the success of his arrogant Uncle Jules. Marcel and family spend their summer vacation in a cottage in Provence, and Marcel befriends a local boy who teaches him the secrets of the hills in Provence. |
Le Château de ma mère ( My Mother's Castle) (In French & English, English subtitles) Sequel to "La Gloire de mon père", this movie recounts the trials and joys of Marcel's family as they spend time in their beloved hills. Despite his mother's failing health, Marcel's family carts their belongings on foot, until a friend gives them a special key that lets them clandestinely follow the canal, along a path bordering private estates. All would have gone well, had it not been for the grumpy one-legged guard, and his ferocious dog, Masher.... |
Les visiteurs (The Visitors) (In French, no subtitles) A medieval nobleman and his squire are accidentally transported to contemporary times by a senile sorcerer. He enlists the aid of his descendent to try to find a way to return home, all the while trying to cope with the cultural and technological changes distinguishing his time from ours. |
Tous les matins du monde (All the Mornings of the World) (In French, English subtitles) In the late 17th century, a viola player, Monsieur de Sainte Colombe, returns home to find that his has wife died. In his grief he builds a small house in his garden and moves in, dedicating his life to music. One day a young man, Marin Marais, comes to see him with a request, he wants to be taught how to play the viol. |
Une Affaire de femmes (Story of Women) (In French, English subtitles) From acclaimed director Claude Chabrol comes the compelling true story of working-class housewife Marie (Isabelle Huppert), who performs illegal abortions in France during World War II, evading the Nazis, and betraying those she loves. Brought to life by Chabrol on actual locations, The Story of Women is an honest, original, and utterly absorbing film, which won Isabelle Huppert Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. |
Le Colonel Chabert (In French, English subtitles) Colonel Chabert (Gerard Depardieu) is severely wounded in war to the point that the medical examiner has signed his death certificate. When he regains his health and memory, he goes back to Paris where his "widow" has married the Count Ferraud who is financing his rise to power using Chabert's money. Chabert hires a lawyer to help him get back his money and his honor. |
Germinal (In French, English subtitles) Set in mid-19th century northern France, the story tells of exploited coal miners who eventually rally and strike, bringing danger on themselves and repressive action by the mine’s owner. This film is a rendition of Emile Zola's 1885 novel of the same name.
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Cyrano de Bergerac (In French, English subtitles) A dashing officer of the guard and romantic poet, Cyrano de Bergerac falls in love with Roxane. His one fault in his life, he feels, is his large nose and he believes that Roxane will reject him. Using his razor-sharp wit, he resorts to writing letters to her on behalf of one of his cadets, Christian, who is also in love with Roxane. |
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Bon Voyage (In French, English subtitles) In this World War II comedy, the fate of the free world hangs in the balance at the posh Hotel Splendide in Bordeaux. Cabinet members, journalists, physicists, and spies of all persuasions gather in order to escape the Nazi occupation of Paris. High society socialites hobnob with jailbirds. Murderous intrigues, scientific secrets and love affairs flourish. |
Au revoir, les enfants (Good-bye Children) (In French, English subtitles) Julien, an 11-year-old Catholic boarding-school resident during the Nazi occupation of France witnesses the courage of his instructors, who defy the German's anti-Semitic policies and quietly enroll Jewish children into the school under assumed names. The refugee children are betrayed by a hostile ex-employee of the school. |
The Story of Adele H (In French, English subtitles) Halifax, 1863. A young woman, miss Lewly, comes to Halifax to search for Lt Pinson, whom she is madly in love with. Actually, she is Adele Hugo, the second daughter of the great French poet. The Lt Pinson does not answer to her love and made her understand it is hopeless. But Adele is obsessed by him and keeps chasing and harassing him. This film about passionnate and obesseive love, and self-destruction, has been written from real Adele Hugo's diary. |
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La Reine Margot (Queen Margot) (In French, English subtitles) The night of August 24, 1572, is known as the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. In France a religious war is raging. In order to impose peace a forced wedding is arranged between Margot de Valois, sister of the immature Catholic King Charles IX, and the Hugenot King Henri of Navarre. Catherine of Medici maintains her behind-the-scenes power by ordering assaults, poisonings, and instigations to incest. Contains graphic content. |
Laissez-Passer (In French, no subtitles) In occupied France, German-run Continental Films calls the shots in the movie business. Assistant director and Resistance activist Jean Devaivre works for Continental, where he can get "in between the wolf's teeth and avoid being chewed up". Fast-living screenwriter Jean Aurenche uses every possible argument to avoid working for the enemy. For both, wartime is a battle for survival. |
Lacombe Lucien (In French, English subtitles) This is the tale of a young boy during WWII who wants to join the Resistance but is shunned by them because of his youth. So instead he joins the Gestapo. Unfortunately, he then falls in love with a young Jewish girl. Suddenly he has both the unsympathetic Resistance and the Gestapo hot on his trail. Not a pretty picture of either side. |
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The Horseman on the Roof (Le Hussard sur le toit) (In French, English subtitles) In 1832, war and cholera ravage Provence. Angelo, a young Italian officer hunted by the Austrian secret police, meets Pauline de Theus and gallantly tries to help her find her husband. In a country torn apart by chaos, their only chance of survival is each other. |
Le Retour de Martin Guerre (The Return of Martin Guerre) (In French with English subtitles) During medieval times, Martin Guerre returns to his hometown after being away at war for a very long time. Nobody recognizes him and the townspeople suspect him of being an imposter. Even his wife is unsure of his identity. When suspicions lead to trial, will she stand by him? Based on one of the most famous actual trials of the sixteenth century. |
Ridicule (In French with English subtitles)
To get royal backing on a needed drainage project, a poor French lord must learn to play the delicate games of wit at court at Versailles. In the periwigged and opulent France of Louis XVI, this unwitting nobleman soon discovers that survival at court demands both a razor wit and an acid tongue. Contains a graphic opening scene. |
Murmur of the Heart (Le souffle au cœur) (In French with English subtitles) This is a jolly coming-of-age story about a 15-year-old boy named Laurent Chevalier who is growing up in bourgeois surroundings in Dijon, France in the mid-1950s. He gets drunk, he smokes, he has sex, he is smothered by his mother, he is ignored by his father, a priest makes a pass at him, he gets rheumatoid fever, etc. There's enough scandalous behavior in this film to make 100 made-for-TV movies, and yet this is a very happy and oddly innocent tale. |
Monsieur Ibrahim (In French with English subtitles) Some crowded Parisian atmosphere and the burnished presence of Omar Sharif make this coming-of-age tale a pleasure. It's the early 1960s, and an adolescent Jewish boy mostly left to his own devices by an ineffectual father, makes friends with the worldly wise Persian man (Sharif) who runs a small neighborhood grocery. The kid's fumbling experiences with sexual curiosity are the reliable stuff of many a French movie, but the unlikely friendship of young Jew and old Muslim make for an offbeat through-line. --Robert Horton |
Les Triplettes de Belleville (In French with English subtitles) An orphaned boy, Champion, is raised by his grandmother, Madame Souza. Her gift of a tricycle starts a craze for cycle-racing that becomes the cornerstone of their life together. After years of relentless training, Champion makes it to the Tour de France, the toughest cycling event in the world. Alas, Champion and a handful of other top competitors are mysteriously kidnapped by a pair of sinister crooks with hangdog expressions. Supported by her faithful sidekick, her fat and flatulent dog Bruno, Madame Souza sets off to rescue her beloved Champion. (ANIMATED) |
| Madame Bovary (In French with English subtitles) Gustav Flaubert's celebrated novel of obsessive ardor undergoes a dazzling retrofit for the screen, courtesy of French neurosis-master Claude Chabrol. The basic story (a woman's selfish quest for happiness ends up obliterating all she holds dear) may be the same, but Chabrol's talent for biting through to the dark marrow of passion makes this a startling experience, even for people familiar with the source material or the numerous other cinematic adaptations. --Andrew Wright |
A Very Long Engagement (In French with English subtitles) A young woman named Mathilde (Tautou, Amélie) separated from her lover by World War I refuses to believe he's been killed and launches an investigation into his fate--an investigation that spins in all directions, creating dozens of miniature stories that shift to and fro in time. --Bret Fetzer |
Lancelot of the Lake (In French with English subtitles) This masterpiece is a remarkable act of mythic revisionism. Stripped bare of its enduring romance, the Arthurian legend in Bresson's hands becomes an ugly and uncomfortably familiar vision of powerful men capable of cruelty, rivalry, disillusionment, and self-destruction. Lancelot (Luc Simon) is portrayed as a ruthless and ignoble opportunist who returns from his impossibly futile mission to locate the Holy Grail, only to callously rekindle his affair with Guinevere. The emotional impact of the film is that of pure shock: the Arthurian ideal turns out to have little chance in the real world. --Tom Keogh |
Total Eclipse (In English) This biographical account of the tempestuous, taboo-shattering love affair between two 19th century French poets--Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis) and Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio)-- begins in 1870 when the newly married Verlaine is 24 and Rimbaud is 17. The volatile combination of their reckless passions, idiosyncratic talents, and obnoxious egos is a recipe for disaster--and l'amour fou--culminating in a two-year prison term for Verlaine after he shoots Rimbaud in the wrist. |
Le Sexe des étoiles (In French with English subtitles) Camille a douze ans et vit avec sa mère Michèle. Entre sa passion pour l'astronomie et son nouveau petit ami Lucky, elle espère, chaque seconde, le retour de son père Henri-Pierre qui a quitté la maison il y a cinq ans. Un jour, le père adoré revient sous les traits de... Marie-Pierre…
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Gaz Bar Blues (In French with English subtitles) M. Brochu, surnommé "Le Boss", gère son commerce du mieux qu'il peut malgré les petits vols et les hold-up à répétition, la concurrence des libres-services s'installant dans le coin et les relations difficiles avec ses deux fils aînés qui caressent d'autres rêves que de prendre la relève du Gaz Bar Champlain. A travers ces petites tragédies, on retrouve les habitués du quartier qui viennent quotidiennement y flâner, rigoler et jaser... |
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Chocolat (In French, English subtitles) Not to be confused with the Miramax film starring Juliette Binoche, Claire Denis's "Chocolat" documents French colonialism in Cameroon through the eyes of a young French girl. Relationships between her bored mother, her traveling father, and their servant Protée are already uneasy, but when a plane crashes nearby, bringing more white people into the home, the undercurrents of racism and forbidden passion erupt into devastating scenarios that threaten the entire community. |
Diabolique (In French, English subtitles)
Legend has it that Henri-Georges Clouzot beat out Alfred Hitchcock to secure the rights to this novel, which proved to be a veritable blueprint for an icy masterpiece of murder, mystery, and suspense. The sickly wife of a callous boarding school headmaster gets together with his mistreated mistress to plot and carry out his murder, a brutal drowning that director Clouzot documents in chilly detail. However, the corpse disappears, and a nosy detective starts sniffing around the grounds as threatening notes taunt the women. --Sean Axmaker |
Dangerous Liaisons (Les liaisons dangereuses) (In French, English subtitles) This visually sumptuous adaptation of the classic French novel of seduction, betrayal, and revenge stars the great Catherine Deneuve as the scheming Madame de Meurteuil, who--to get back at a man who spurned her for a younger woman--persuades her equally amoral friend Valmont to seduce the young woman in question. Thus begins one of the most intricate and hypnotic plots every orchestrated; it's no wonder Les Liaisons Dangereuses has been adapted into film so many times. This 2003 French miniseries starts with cars, costumes, and music from the early 20th century, then rapidly becomes more modern. |
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La vie en rose (In French, English subtitles) This film is depicts the life of the legendary international singing icon, Edith Piaf, whose voice and talent captivated the world. Starring award-winner Marion Cotillard (A Very Long Engagement) in an astonishing performance, the film is a portrait of a remarkable artist born into poverty who survived using the only gift she had: her voice. Piaf’s tragic life was a constant battle to sing and survive to live and love with no regrets. |
The Last Metro (Le dernier métro) (In French, English subtitles)
The Last Metro is a tale of the theater in occupied France. Marion Steiner (Catherine Deneuve) manages the Theatre Montmarte during World War II in the stead of her Jewish husband, director Lucas Steiner. He has purportedly fled France but is really hiding out in the basement of the theater. The one hope to save the Montmarte is a new play starring the dashing Bernard Granger (Gérard Depardieu). The theme of the director locked away while his lover and his creation are appropriated by others makes for interesting Truffaut study, but first and foremost this is a well-spun romance. --Keith Simanton |














