Two obvious ones -- Midnight in Paris (Paris, Versailles, Giverny)and The Longest Day (Normandy, Omaha Beach, Avranches). I'm like you I try to absorb as much as I can before I go then review again when I return.

For Paris you can start with "Midnight in Paris" and then on to Amélie.

For Omaha Beach and Normandy, try "The Longest Day", "Band of Brothers", "Saving Private Ryan".

For Versailles, try "Madame du Barry", "The Perfect Furlough", "Paris Blues" and any one of a hundred other films shot in and around Versailles.

For reading about Norman history, try reading "William the Conqueror" by David Bates and "1066: The Year of the Conquest" by David Howarth.

Don't forget "Claude Monet, painter of light", "Monet's Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism", Monet's Garden" and a few dozen other works on the artist.

well, there are zillions of movies on France and set in Paris, so who knows where to start. Lots of films set in Paris are really about people or characters, so they aren't really like travelogues that much. Maybe Paris Je T'Aime is a good one to start as it is fairly recent and a set of vignettes. And I think it was supported by the French govt or tourism office, not sure. Lots o

There have been several good movies about Marie Antoinette in recent years, and I've liked them all. I liked the one with Kirsten Dunst and the more recent one that was French (think had Diane Kruger in the main role?).

TOns of war movies, but they don't give you an ambience about Normandy, in particular (nor at all, mainly about war). Private Ryan, etc., not so mention all the old ones.

I can't think of any films that immediately come to mind filmed in the Loire, although I'm sure there are some.

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/movies-featuring-paris-and-french-countryside.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/any-good-french-movies.cfm

Quick response and ideas THANK YOU!

any old classics come to mind?

Sunny

isabel, thank you, I just checked your lists... now too decide?

When I saw the title of this thread, I wanted to suggest Alfred Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief," but you aren't going to the south. Aw, heck, see it anyway. It's a great movie.

For ambiance, Breathless and Last Year at Marienbad. That last is set in the Czech Rep., but the film is very French, and the French language used is easy. Both on Netfilix.

May I make a suggestion?

There are really glorious achievements in French cinema, and I wouldn't for a moment want you to miss a single great movie.

But why clog up your eyes with a lot of other people's views of France -- in particular sentimental SCHLOCK like Midnight in Paris or some other Hollywood nostalgia?

Just wanted to get that in. If you do watch Midnight in Paris, bear in mind that some of us cringe watching it (and not just because we can't stand Owen Wilson and Adrian Brody!)

A 2-minute Google search for "The 100 Greatest French Films" will pop up for you a list of truly great films that you will give you France as French cinema artists themselves have understood their own culture.

It really is a great thing to go to Versailles without preconceptions -- and certainly not to be pointing and saying: "That's where Mel Brooks stood!" His movies are great, but so is YOUR view of Paris.

Dare to be an original and go to Paris and have your own thoughts and reactions.

Oh -- and the point of the D-Day invasion was not to save Matt Damon. Even he will tell you that. There really are better ways to go about this. Even Wikipedia is better.

Lay you 8 to 5 ol' zeppole's back.

But about old movies . . .

Saint Joan, A Tale of Two Cities, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Three Musketeers (Richard Lester version), The Sorrow and the Pity, Children of Paradise, The Count of Monte Cristo (2002), The Grand Illusion, Gigi, Jules and Jim, The Return of Martin Guerre.

Quite a mix, from the sublime to the ridiculous, but it ought to keep you busy!

Thank you all! I have a lot of movies to watch

French Kiss-Kevin Kline, Meg Ryan (Hey, it's not Grand Illusion, but what is?)

One interesting fact, many movies about Versailles and Marie Antionette is that most are not actually filmed at Versailles, the french do allow any film maker to just go and use the Chateau.. but , special permission was granted to Sophia Coppola , who directed the Marie Antionette with Kirsten Dunst in it, as the french highly regarded her father( who wouldn't) . So the scenes there are actually there and not a sound stage!

Paths of Glory-One of the greats.

Les Miserables would be my book recommendation. The current movie is fine, but the depth and breadth of the characters and the times, is much more developed in the book, naturally. On the other end of the spectrum (and even though you're not going to Provence), for a lighthearted and charming book, try Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence.

Movies? Do you mind subtitles? How about Jean de Florette and the sequel Manon of Spring? Also, we just saw The Well Digger's Daughter (again subtitles). Both wonderful.

It's not set in any the towns you listed... but I still want to throw out "The Choir" (set in a boarding school in the French countryside) just because it's such a gem of a movie...

Truffaut's Antoine Doinel series.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Doinel

Paris Je T'aime is a wonderful anthology movie and the last time I looked, all of the "chapters" were available on You Tube. The American woman on her first trip to Paris is one of the loveliest films ever made.

Breathless (the one with Jean Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg) still determines what I see when I close my eyes and imagine I am in Paris.

Daguerrotypes by Agnes Varda -- life on a Parisian street then and now.

The Antoine Doinel movies by Francois Truffaut as suggested above: Stolen Kisses, Bed and Board, and Love on the Run.

I am a huge fan of the late Eric Rohmer. One of his films, Rendezvous in Paris, is another anthology film. We organized a visit to Paris around visiting the parks where a young woman leads her lover on successive weeks.

"Charade", "How To Steal A Million", "Two For The Road"

"M. Hulot's Holiday"

If you can find it: "Under The Roofs of Paris", a 1930 film.

Mark

An American in Paris.
Chocolat

Yes fra_Diavolo, zeppole is back!

The Day of the Jackal and A Man and a Woman are two good ones. Also ditto to the already mentioned two part Jean De Florette and Manon of the Spring. Kevin Klein plays a great role in French Kiss and much of the story revolves around an always contemporary problem for visitors to France — stolen luggage.

Stolen Kisses, Bed and Board, and Love on the Run.

and the 400 Blows.

Sunswhtdog,

One book that gives a panoramic picture of Paris in its glorious 19th century is THE GREATER JOURNEY: AMERICANS IN PARIS 1830-1900 by David McCullough. Contains beautiful illustrations also.

Must disagree with poster who wrote:

“But why clog up your eyes with a lot of other people's views of France -- in particular sentimental SCHLOCK like Midnight in Paris or some other Hollywood nostalgia?”

Beg to differ, but MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is a fun flick containing great cinematography – Rodin Museum, Versailles, Shakespeare & Co, the Mouffetard (5th district where Hemingway lived), Pont Alexandre III to name just a few.

I watched it twice before my last visit to Paris and once when I returned home. Love all those sites!

I really like many of French actor Daniel Auteuil's films...Jean de Florette, Manon des Sources, The Closet, The Valet, Conversations with my Gardener, My Best Friend, The Well-digger's daughter. Apart from a good story, they also have the added benefit of lovely atmospheric backdrops of Paris or beautiful regional areas such as Provence. I also enjoyed Romantics Anonymous (Les Emotifs Anonymes) about two shy chocolatiers, and Coco Before Chanel with Audrey Tatou. None of these films are necessarily in your 'target areas' but they are a good distraction!

Actually, if you want to do amazing scenes of Paris so you can walk around saying, "I know that!" the first Bourne movie has them.

It's not a movie, just an amateur video, but it should put you in the mood. PARIS BY NIGHT accompanied by Je T'aime Moi Non Plus, Paul Mauriat version. http://tinyurl.com/76j7akb