What are your favourite French films?

[AlpacaTheBags]

I love world cinema especially French but it’s been a few years since I’ve really been able to enjoy films regularly and I want to return to enjoying French cinema. I’d appreciate any recommendations. It doesn’t matter if I’ve seen them so I won’t list them here because it’ll remind me of how much I loved them and to watch them again.

TIA

And I also second Anatomy of a fall, utter masterpiece. And Au revoir Les enfants

Amazon Prime has "A Perfect Plan" (Un Plan Parfait) which I thought was funny and sweet.

BBC showed Spiral - it won loads of awards. Excellent series.

Gazon Maudit - bloody hilarious

No one has mentioned one of my favourite films yet - Une Liason Pornagraphique. It’s not a porn film (although it had to be renamed in the US to An Affair of Love), has been shown on the BBC and was nominated and won several awards including Best Actress for Nathalie Baye at the Venice Film Festival. It’s just the couple in the film and you never learn their names. They each tell their version of how they met, conducted their affair and what happened. It’s so subtly acted with glances and expressions and has stayed with me for 25 years. And you never find out what the sexual act they meet to do is - that’s left to your imagination.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074p8q

L'Appartement
Zazi dans le Metro
Jean de Florette
Manon des sources
La gloire de mon père
Le chateau de ma mère
Être et avoir

The Taste of Things

un couer en hiver
la vie en rose
Kirsten Scott Thomas as the piano teacher - in your hands I think it is called (?)

So glad people are mentioning Caché!

Also yes La Vie en Rose. I think Marion Cotillard’s performance is one of the best I’ve seen.

Another vote for Le Dîner de cons!

Another good film starring Marion Cotillard is De rouille et d'os (Rust and Bone).

Just remembered another one I really enjoyed

Red Lights (2004)

ooh and also Le Gamin au Vélo - Kid on a Bike (2011) which is a Belgian/French film

I have a major crush on him, sadly I don’t think I’m his type! Loved the Dix Pour-cent episode with him.

Themroc (the urban caveman).

The Wages of Fear 1953

He has got a certain twinkle in his eye hasn't he? I loved him in Un Gars Une Fille.

They were fab films! And he is very watchable 😂

Wonderful. Thanks everyone. I’m so excited to watch and rewatch these.

If I may add to my own thread a few movies that I loved that I can remember were The Widow of Saint Pierre, The Girl On The Bridge and a film called Little White Lies with Francois Cluzet. Apologies if they’ve already been mentioned.

What a great thread @AlpacaTheBags, thank you .

I've saved this thread so I can refer to it for suggestions. The Hairdresser's Husband, La gloire de mon père and Le Château de ma mère are personal favourites, along with the Monsieur Hulot films and Pauline at the Beach.

Spiral was great.

If you can expand to TV series as well as film, Call My Agent and Spiral are both brilliant.

Other Nicolas Philibert documentaries are well worth watching such as On the Adamant.

If not previously mentioned:

Juste la Fin du Monde..

A bit of a marmite one but a heck of a cast:

Marion Cotillard, Lea Seydoux, Nathalie Baye, Vincent Cassel, and the late Gaspard Ulliel.

Lovely film, excellent exaggerated performance by Marion Cotillard.

As for Vincent Cassel, La Haine deserved all the praise it received.

Agnès Varda and François Ozon are my favourite French directors. Varda's Cléo from 5 to 7 is simply brilliant and The Crime is Mine by Ozon is currently on iPlayer.

@AlpacaTheBags

There are some fabulous films on Amazon prime at the moment like la piscene with Alain delon and a truly stunning film called le samurai , the samurai ..again with Alain delon.

Agree with the jon de florette series and three colours series // ridicule and so many more.

I really liked Caché, directed by Michael Hanneke.