French Films
 

Let me begin by saying I love France so please don't misconstrue this as a hate the French thread. I have watched many French films and continue to wait to be awed. Yes, I liked Manon in Spring but most of the French films I have seen are pointless and ...yes, I know, the French culture. I understand that the French film industry is supported by the government. Is this what you get when you have a state run industry?<BR><BR>I keep wondering if Texas, which is the size of France, had a film industry and churned out as many films as the French, what we would think of the Texas film industry. (France is third in film production behind the US and India). <BR><BR>If you have seen a French film you can recommend, could you please post the title here or even refer me to a web page. I would really like to see a good French film.

How do you know that the French films some of us might recommend are not the same ones that you consider to be pointless? That said, I think Camille Claudel and Lucie Aubrac are 2 excellent Fr. films in which things do happen, in case by pointless you mean that &quot;nothing happens.&quot;

&quot;Diva&quot; and &quot;Betty Blue&quot;

Some of my favorites are &quot;La Haine&quot;, &quot;The Dreamlife of Angels&quot;, &quot;Un Coeur en Hiver&quot;, and the three colors trilogy of films (&quot;Red&quot;, &quot;White&quot;, and &quot;Blue&quot;). &quot;Amelie&quot; was cute also. Like Sue said, since you didn't mention any specific films that you don't like or explain why you find them pointless, its difficult to know what to suggest. French films may just not be to your taste.

Anything by Robert Bresson. He was not only the best French film-maker, but also one of the few great film makers of all time.

L''Samorai,<BR>Jules and Jim,<BR>Breathless,<BR>Children of Paradise,<BR>Celine and Julie go Boating,<BR>La Balance,<BR>the Mother and the Whore,<BR>nellie and Monsieur arnoud,<BR>Beau Pere<BR>Shoot the piano player,<BR>Pierrot le Fou,<BR>and too many more off the top of my head.<BR>all of the new wave directors, like Truffaut, godard, Chabrol, Bresson, Rohmer, Resnais,Rivette, Tavenier, Varda, Malle, the best.

Also try La'Jetee by Chris Marker. Absolutely mesmerizing (and short, at around 30 minutes or so). This short served as the basis for Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys.

Here are 2 interesting films. &quot;The Story of Women&quot; and &quot;L'argent de Poche&quot; (Pocket Money). The first is the true story about the last woman executed in France. The second was kind of dumb but an enjoyable movie about the lives of children in a small French town. It was directed by Francois Truffaut. Oh, one more film, &quot;Peppermint Soda.&quot; If you haven't seen any of these, please do.

Delicatessen (1991)http://us.imdb.com/Title?0101700<BR><BR>It sounds sick but it was actually very funny.

Two of my favorites were:<BR><BR>Au revoir les enfants<BR><BR>Jean de Florette

From 1972: Les Deux Oiseaux en Or.

Thank you for all the film titles. I will definitely check them out. <BR><BR>The most recent films I have watched were Happenstance and My Wife is an Actress, both recent releases. Happenstance has the same actress starring in it who played in Amelie. She is just darling but I wouldn't say either was memorable. Just smacked my forehead and said &quot;OH, NO another French film.&quot; I'm talking something with meat that makes you think, something you will remember for more than 2 seconds, a great story line, and some great acting.

&quot;The Dinner Game&quot; was so funny I went to see it twice in two nights. Went with my kids the first night and made my husband go the next night.

Une autre jouale d'americain.

Betty Blue

I think you have to try to acquaint yourself with the French themselves and their culture. It is then much easier to appreciate their films if you are having difficulty.<BR><BR>You may want to try these. Fellow Fodorites have listed excellent films.<BR><BR>A Bout de Souffle (Jean-Paul Belmondo and the late Jean Seberg)<BR><BR>Diva<BR><BR>Indochine<BR><BR>La Femme Nikita<BR><BR>La Reine Margot<BR><BR>37 2 le Matin (Betty Blue)<BR><BR>Les Nuits Fauves<BR><BR>Madame Bovary (with Isabelle Hupert)<BR><BR>Le Ma&icirc;tre de Musique (Depardieu / Anne Brochet)<BR><BR>Trop Belle pour Toi! (Depardieu / <BR>Carole Bouquet / Josiane Balasko)<BR><BR>Les Visiteurs (great comedy)<BR><BR>La vie est un long fleuve tranquille (great comedy)<BR><BR>Le P&egrave;re No&euml;l est une ordure (great comedy many Frenchmen can reference too)<BR><BR>Le Colonel Chabert<BR><BR>Ridicule<BR><BR>La Petite Voleuse<BR><BR>La Belle et la B&ecirc;te (Beauty and the Beast) with Jean Gabin<BR><BR>Belle de Jour (classic with Catherine Deneuve)<BR><BR>Tristana (classic with Catherine Deneuve directed by Spaniard Luis Bu&ntilde;uel)<BR><BR>and the list goes on and on .......

Jean Reno is one of my favorite actors, but I've only seen him in English language films. What is his stature in the French film industry?

&quot;The French film industry is supported by the government&quot;. True, but this support mainly applies to more &quot;arty&quot; films (in proportion), because, believe it or not, French spectators go and see French films ! Depending on the year, 35 to 40 % of all movie tickets boughtin the country are to see French movies, 15 to 20 for other European movies, around 5 % for movies from developing countries (often co-produced by France), and the rest for American cinema, whose market share is the smallest in Europe (less than half). So, government support to the national film industry doesn't amount to flogging a dead horse. The distorted image of French movies abroad (wordy, intellectual, slow... )comes from the fact that, for some reason, distributors only export &quot;high brow&quot; films, whereas the bulk of successful French movies at home is made of comedies, lighter films. But I suppose it's difficult to break a cliche, and it also suits the foreign audiences who are comforted in the reflection of their intellectual prowesses that the fact to going to a French movie is supposed to grant them.

All movies made by Jacques Tati.

Thierry:<BR>Well said, written, and... spelled.<BR>Imagine all Frenchmen had the ability and inclination to express themselves in English the way you do. But then again, France wouldn't be France the way we know it!