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!

Here's one that hasn't been mentioned yet...excellent movie, it should make you think...Le Huitieme Jour (The Eighth Day)

rlr -<BR>In addition to the growing - and wonderful - selection of titles you are receiving, here a a few more to add to the list .<BR><BR>&quot; La Gloire de Mon Pere &quot; and &quot;LKes Chateux de Ma Mere &quot; - both relatively recent and good remakes of Pagnol's earlyier films - wonderful, beautiful simple stories <BR><BR>&quot; Les Lunettes D'Or &quot; (with Philippe Noiret) <BR><BR>&quot; Hussier sur la Toit &quot; <BR>and<BR>&quot; La Femee du Chambre de le Titanic &quot;<BR>(these later both v different tales with Vincent Perez<BR><BR>&quot; Indochine &quot; with Catherine Deneuve<BR>a wonderful saga, terrific photgraphy and scenery and binding story tracing a family stor from the 1930s Vietnam through to the 1960's.<BR><BR>More to Come !<BR>Enjoy<BR><BR>++=<BR>

OMG I love cinema Francaise!! Keep looking, French films are incredible! Here are my picks among so many, I know I'm forgetting some:<BR><BR>Le Dernier Metro (The Last Metro)<BR>Belle du Jour<BR>The Dinner Game (totally hilarious!)<BR>La Belle Histoire<BR>Cousin, Cousine<BR>Un Ete Mertrieuse (not sure about this spelling... it translates to &quot;One Crazy Summer&quot; with Isabelle Adjani, really excellent movie)<BR>Ridicule<BR>Cyrano<BR><BR>I love all these movies and when I can recall the titles of others I'll post back.

&quot;Monsieur Hire&quot; by Patrice Leconte<BR>&quot;Ponette&quot; Winner of 1996 Venice Film festival best female actress<BR>&quot;The Widow of St. Pierre&quot; with Juliette Binoche.<BR>

Such a great list you all are compiling here! Started with the &quot;A's&quot; and very much enjoyed Au revoir les enfants. Forgot my list today but picked up Peppermint Soda. Thank you very much, again.<BR>

Just saw &quot;Jet Lag&quot; with Juliette Binoche and Jean Reno. <BR>It's so and so. French movie, but the goal might be to enter the US market.<BR>I definitely prefer Binoche in her previous films, vraiment.

I just saw a really interesting, very well done and a bit unusual movie called Ladies and Gentlemen with Jeremy Irons. It is spoken in French (even Jeremy) and takes place in Paris and Morocco, we loved it.

I wish Le Divorce would have been done in such a mature way as this movie was, I recommend it.

How did Jeremy Irons ever get mistaken as a French lieutenant? The French Lt's Woman.

I recently watched &quot;Wasabi&quot; which stars Jean Reno. Really enjoyed it.

I guess I am showing my age but I loved
A man and a women.
Un Homme et une femme
Does anyone remeber that one.

Doug, he does a really good job in this movie, he plays a thief/yachtsman, but there are many twists to the story.

And Now Ladies and Gentlemen:
Irons costars with the famous French Singer Patricia Kaas in her first film.
Other recent good ones.
Man on a train,
Dirty, Pretty things,
Swimming Pool.

That's the movie!
Did you see it cigalechanta? I loved it, sort of film noir.

lyban: Yes, &quot;A Man and A Woman.&quot; My French-speaking mother took me to see it when I was 11 or 12.

Also, &quot;The Umbrellas of Cherbourg&quot; - another romantic French film I remember from my childhood.

Pollyester, Yes! loved al those latest films that I have seen.
Qualalalisa, I have the Umbrella video and saw the film when it firt came out.
If you liked the plot, rent '&quot;Fanny&quot;
With Leslie Caron, Maurice Chavalier and Charles Boyer.It's based on a Marcel Pagnol book.

I have to second (or is it triple?) the vote for Au Revoir les Enfants One of my favorite movies ever made!

-Cyrano de Bergerac (Quite possibly the best version and certainly the finest subtitles of any film!),
-Au Bout de Souffle (Woefully rmade as Breathless with Richard Gere)
-Nikita (Badly remade as Point Of No Return which in turn spawned a crummy tv series, La Femme Nikita)
-Germinal
-Mon Pere Ce Hero (Badly remade as My Father The Hero)
-Colonel Chabert
-Cages Aux Folies (badly remade as Birdcage)
-Le Retour de Martin Guerre (insipidly remade with Richard Gere as Sommersby)
-Les Visiteurs
-L'Atalantique
-Rififi (How come this hasn't been remade!)
-Trois Hommes et un Couffin (sadly remade as Three Men &amp; A Baby and begetting 2 sequels of increasing naffness)

In short, as a rule of thumb, almost any French film remade in Hollywood is worth searching out in the original. Why? Well something must have appealed to those studio execs... if only they didn't feel the need to rewrite, recast and remake!

Serious question: What sort of exposure to French Films get in the US - both at the cinema and on tv?

Dr D.

I'm not a France lover, but I can recommend:

Umbrellas of Sherbourgh (spelling?)

The Toy - not the hollywood pathetic one, the french comedy!

what about &quot;the closet&quot;, anybody liked it?

L'Auberge Espagnole, which was out this spring, is a French film, tho its mostly shot in Barcelona (with opening and closing scenes in Paris). It's funny, sexy and actually makes a point. Plus it's not completely in French, a good bit of the dialouge is in English, some in Spanish and a little in Catalan. It'll be out on DVD in October.