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Le Mepris (Contempt), 1963

French cult-director Jean-Luc Godard made this masterpiece way in 1963 but it is still as captivating as it was then. Le Mepris, Featuring superstar Brigitte Bardot and Michel Piccoli as her husband- screenwriter who is hired to write a screenplay based on the ancient Greek myth “The Odyssey”.

The story deals with the creative process of film making as viewed by Godard, but also focuses on the breakdown of a marriage by the growing contempt of Bardot for her husband , whom she feels is selling out to greedy US producer Jack Palance.

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Chocolat, 2000

Driven by fate, Vianne drifts into a tranquil French village with her daughter Anouk in the winter of 1959. Her newly opened chocolatier is a source of attraction and fear, since Vianne’s ability to revive the villagers’ passions threatens to disrupt their repressive traditions.

The pious mayor sees Vianne as the enemy, and his war against her peaks with the arrival of “river rats” led by Roux, whose attraction to Vianne is immediate and reciprocal. Splendid subplots involve a battered wife, a village elder, and her estranged daughter, and while the film’s broader strokes may be regrettable (if not for Molina’s rich performance, the mayor would be a caricature), its subtleties are often sublime. A sweet delightful treat.

Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 8 wins & 28 nominations

IMDB Rating : 7.3/10

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The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain, 2001

Nominated for 5 Academy Awards and another 51 wins & 46 nominations including Best Original Screenplay, this magical comedy Amelie earned overwhelming acclaim nationwide! A painfully shy waitress working at a tiny Paris cafe, Amelie makes a surprising discovery and sees her life drastically changed for the better!

From then on, Amelie dedicates herself to helping others find happiness … in the most delightfully unexpected way! But will she have the courage to do for herself what she has done for others? Amelie is, without a doubt, one of the most heartwarming films ever made.

IMDB Rating : 8.6/10

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Le Samourai, 1967

Alain Delon is the coolest killer to hit the screen, a film noir loner for the modern era, in Jean-Pierre Melville’s austere 1967 French crime classic. Delon’s impassive hit man, Jef Costello, is the ultimate professional in an alienated world of glass and metal.

Hitman Jef Costello is a perfectionist who always carefully plans his murders and who never gets caught. One night however, after killing a night-club owner, he’s seen by witnesses. His efforts to provide himself with an alibi fail and more and more he gets driven into a corner.

IMDB Rating : 8.2/10

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Pierrot le fou, 1965

A very unique movie which words can not easily tell the highest level of quality!

Pierro escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl, who is chased by hit-men from Algeria.

They lead a unorthodox live, always on the run. One of the best Belmondo classics.

IMDB Rating : 7.5

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Jules et Jim, 1962

Hailed as one of the finest French films ever made, legendary director Francois Truffaut’s early masterpiece Jules and Jim charts the relationship between two friends and the object of their mutual obsession over the course of twenty-five years.

Francois Truffaut’s Jules et Jim was a very popular art-house movie in the early sixties. If you like character-driven stories about unconventional people, you’ll enjoy Jules and Jim.

IMDB Rating : 7.8

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The Return of Martin Guerre , 1982

The film tells us a true story about a young man from Southern France who leaves his village to fight in the Wars of Religion in the 16th century. He comes back to his village and family eight years after he left – now a different man.

Nobody notices the changes in him after many years until one day a vagrant claims to recognize him and says that he is not the real Martin Guerre. His family had to consider the possibility that he may not be really Martin Guerre. Eventually the question goes to court. The film was remade in English, and updated to the Reconstruction, in 1993 as Sommersby, starring Richard Gere and Jodie Foster. See this original instead of the imitation. The film story flows well and the cinematography is great.

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