Best French Movies

Nikita is young and attractive, but has already gone to the bad. During a hold up of a pharmacy (drug store) with her drug-crazed criminal gang, she deliberately kills a policeman, coldly shooting him in the face.

She is condemned to prison for life, but the French secret services, looking for cold blooded killers, have identified the potential in her. They offer her an alternative future. If she proves herself, she could become a secret agent herself. She accepts and starts a hard career.

Director Luc Besson manages to keep a high level of energy and our interest – from the opening scene – a violent drugstore shootout until the very last moment. A high adrenaline anti-heroine thriller.

IMDB Rating : 7.5 /10

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One of the greatest French films of the 80s. Two Parisian mob killers, two tapes, one corrupt policeman, an opera fan, a teenage thief, and the coolest philosopher ever filmed. All these characters twist their way through an intricate and stylish French language thriller. Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 6 wins & 5 nominations.

IMDB Rating : 7.1/10

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Is it horror? Yes and no. Is it a comedy? Yes and no. Is it brilliant? Oh yes definitely!
In a post-apocalyptic world, the residents of an apartment above the butcher shop receive an occasional delicacy of meat, something that is in low supply. A young man new in town falls in love with the butcher’s daughter, which causes conflicts in her family, who need the young man for other business-related purposes.

This is a very funny film which, in spite of the storyline, is not as black as the opening scene would suggest. Jeunet and Caro’s filmographic style is unusual – in fact genuinely surreal in places. The extraordinary performances from all of the cast members (particularly Pinon and Dougnac), the spooky incidental music, and the creepy sets all add to the bizarre, other-worldliness of this film.

IMDB Rating : 7.9/10

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A True Masterpiece! A film which regularly charts top in critics’ polls of the best films of all time, director Marcel Carné and screenwriter Jacques Prévert’s masterpiece Les Enfants du Paradis is as solid a landmark in French film history as the Eiffel Tower is on the Parisian landscape. And at 187 minutes running time, it’s a edifice indeed, built from a rambunctious cast of characters–ranging from pickpockets and prostitutes to aristocrats and actors–whose lives intersect around the Theatre des Funambules, a popular Parisian theater on the Boulevard du Crime, during the 1840s. (The title refers to the poor who can only afford seats in the upper galleries of the theater.) The heart of the plot is a love story between mime artiste Baptiste (Jean-Louis Barrault) and streetwalker Garance (the magnificent, sand-paper-voiced Arletty). When Garance is falsely accused of pickpocketing, Baptiste provides a mimed alibi for her to the police (one of the film’s most famous set pieces). The rose she later throws him in gratitude sets off a romantic obsession, one of several that structure the film, as do love triangles, duels, and tortured confessions of feeling.

IMDB Rating : 8.0/10

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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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Nominated for 5 Academy Awards and another 51 wins & 46 nominations including Best Original Screenplay, this magical comedy earned overwhelming acclaim nationwide! A painfully shy waitress working at a tiny Paris cafe, Amélie makes a surprising discovery and sees her life drastically changed for the better! From then on, Amélie 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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Hailed as one of the finest French films ever made, legendary director François 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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