Best French movies of all time
These are movies who in their largest part would not be made today because of the modern national socialists who appear to lead the World undemocratically via their unelected Lobbies. I have not ranked them but I gave them a number of stars. The genres are many: War, Historical, Romance, Comedy, Satire, etc.
List activity
3 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
86 titles
- DirectorPierre SchoendoerfferStarsJacques PerrinBruno CremerPierre FabreIn Vietnam, 1954, a French platoon isolated behind enemy lines tries to come back. It is led by the inexperienced, idealistic sous-lieutenant Torrens, and by adjutant Willsdorf, a WWII veteran of the Wehrmacht.
- DirectorJean-Pierre MelvilleStarsLino VenturaPaul MeurisseJean-Pierre CasselAn account of underground resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied France.
- DirectorAlbert DupontelStarsNahuel Pérez BiscayartAlbert DupontelLaurent LafitteIn November 1919, two soldiers--a disfigured but brilliant artist and an ex-accountant--start a memorial con. But in Roaring Twenties France, their adventures soon turn dangerous.
- DirectorJean-Paul RappeneauStarsGérard DepardieuAnne BrochetVincent PerezFamed swordsman and poet Cyrano de Bergerac is in love with his cousin Roxane. He has never expressed his love for her as he his large nose undermines his self-confidence. Then he finds a way to express his love to her, indirectly.
- DirectorBertrand BlierStarsJean-Pierre MarielleJean RochefortBernard BlierTwo men flee to the countryside to escape their sexual duties and settle for a quiet, rustic life.
- DirectorBertrand BlierStarsGérard DepardieuBernard BlierJean CarmetAlphonse lives in an empty building. Empty but for one neighbour, the police captain Morvandieu. When the man who have killed Alphonse's wife appears, the three men will be thrown in a serie of event in a surrealist world.
- DirectorBertrand BlierStarsGérard DepardieuMiou-MiouPatrick DewaereTwo thugs harass assault, steal, murder, Marie-Ange, a jaded, passive hairdresser, joins them as lover, cook, and mother confessor, on her own search for seemingly unattainable sexual pleasure.
- DirectorPierre SchoendoerfferStarsJean RochefortClaude RichJacques PerrinA dying mariner, full of regret, is looking for his longtime colleague somewhere on the high seas.
- DirectorJean BeckerStarsIsabelle AdjaniAlain SouchonSuzanne FlonA young woman who oozes sensuality arrives in a small town and marries the local mechanic. Was it love at first sight? What links her enigmatic presence to the family's piano? Is it curiosity or is it something far more sinister?
- DirectorClaude BerriStarsColucheRichard AnconinaAgnès SoralA story of an odd friendship - and the unexpected consequences.
- DirectorBruno NuyttenStarsIsabelle AdjaniGérard DepardieuMadeleine RobinsonCamille Claude impresses already-famous sculptor Auguste Rodin. He hires her as an assistant, but soon Camille begins to sculpt for herself and she also becomes his mistress. But after a while, she would like to get out of his shadow.
- DirectorClaude BerriStarsYves MontandGérard DepardieuDaniel AuteuilA greedy landowner and his backward nephew conspire to block the only water source for an adjoining property in order to bankrupt the owner and force him to sell.
- DirectorClaude BerriStarsYves MontandEmmanuelle BéartDaniel AuteuilA beautiful but shy shepherdess plots vengeance on the men whose greedy conspiracy to acquire her father's land caused his death years earlier.
- DirectorFrancis VeberStarsPierre RichardGérard DepardieuPedro Armendáriz Jr.A daughter of a millionaire, distinguished by incredible bad luck, goes missing. The idea how to find her is either insane or brilliant - to send after her an equally unlucky person.
- DirectorClaude ZidiStarsColucheGérard DepardieuDominique LavanantThe clumsy son of a deceased police hero joins the police and his task is to protect a reporter from the most famous gangster of Paris.
- DirectorAlbert DupontelStarsClaude PerronAlbert DupontelRoland BlancheA 30 year old orphan finds his life's official version hard to swallow. His parents couldn't possibly have abandoned him in a trash can as a baby. No, they were victims of a mafia plot and today, if they're still alive, they need his help.
- DirectorBertrand BlierStarsGérard DepardieuJosiane BalaskoCarole BouquetA sharp love triangle is formed by a wealthy businessman.
- DirectorPhilippe LioretStarsSandrine BonnairePhilippe TorretonGrégori DerangèreCamille arrives at the island Ouessant where she was born, to sell the house of her parents. She finds a book of a certain Antoine and starts reading. A story of a stranger is told who came 1963 to the island. He wasn't well received and left again after 2 month.
- DirectorBertrand TavernierStarsDidier BezaceJean-Paul ComartCharlotte KadyRelentless struggle of the Parisian police against the drug trade.
- DirectorBertrand TavernierStarsPhilippe TorretonSamuel Le BihanBernard Le CoqThe war exploits of French captain Conan and his men during World War I and during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.
- DirectorBertrand BlierStarsGérard DepardieuCarole LaurePatrick DewaereA worried husband finds a lover for his depressed wife, but she falls in love with a bullied thirteen-year-old math prodigy and wants to have the boy's baby.
- DirectorAgnès JaouiStarsAnne AlvaroJean-Pierre BacriAlain ChabatThe lives of 6 people over 35 in Rouen, France, and their relationship to each other.
- DirectorRiad SattoufStarsVincent LacosteAnthony SonigoAlice TrémolièresComing-of-age tale about an adolescent boy and his efforts to fit in among a varied cast of characters.
- DirectorOlivier MarchalStarsDaniel AuteuilGérard DepardieuAndré Dussollier2 cops are promised by the retiring chief of the Paris police that the one, getting the violent gang robbing armored trucks, will get his job. The 2 will do whatever it takes to get the promotion, even if it means breaking the law.
- DirectorMichel GondryStarsGael García BernalCharlotte GainsbourgMiou-MiouA man entranced by his dreams and imagination is love-struck with a French woman and feels he can show her his world.
- DirectorJacques AudiardStarsRomain DurisAure AtikaEmmanuelle DevosWill Thomas still lead a life of crime and cruelty, just like his thuggish father, or will he pursue his dream of becoming a pianist?
- DirectorCosta-GavrasStarsJosé GarciaKarin ViardGeordy CouturiauA chemist (Garcia) loses his job to outsourcing. Two years later and still jobless, he hits on a solution: to genuinely eliminate his competition.
- DirectorPatrice LeconteStarsVanessa ParadisDaniel AuteuilFrédéric PflugerOne night, a fading entertainer intervenes when a woman contemplates suicide, beginning a strange, unpredictable relationship.
- DirectorJean-Jacques BeineixStarsJean-Hugues AngladeBéatrice DalleGérard DarmonA lackadaisical handyman and aspiring novelist tries to support his younger girlfriend as she slowly succumbs to madness.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsMiou-MiouMichel PiccoliMichel DuchaussoyDuring the events of May 1968 in France, different worldviews of conflicting relatives collide in their family estate.
- DirectorFrancis VeberStarsPierre RichardGérard DepardieuJean CarmetJean is taken hostage at a bank by a foolish bank robber. As Jean left prison an hour earlier, the police assume he's the robber. Everything goes comically wrong. The robber's little daughter joins the fugitives.
- DirectorMarc CaroJean-Pierre JeunetStarsRon PerlmanDaniel EmilforkJudith VittetA scientist in a surrealist society kidnaps children to steal their dreams, hoping that they slow his aging process.
- DirectorÉtienne ChatiliezStarsMichel SerraultEddy MitchellSabine AzémaFrancis, the boss of a small plumbing supply company, is harassed by tax collectors, striking employees, and an impossible wife and daughter. His only joy is sharing lunch with his friend Gerard. Then a TV show called "where are you?" shows a woman from Gers who is searching for her husband who disappeared 28 years ago. The lost husband looks like an identical twin of Francis...
- DirectorTristan AurouetGilles LelloucheStarsGuillaume CanetZabou BreitmanBenoît PoelvoordeGus (played by Guillaume Canet) suffers from narcolepsy. He falls asleep all the time and has dreams about supermen from comics (Van Damme would play one of these supermen, a short & secret appearance).
- DirectorJean-Pierre MelvilleStarsAlain DelonBourvilGian Maria VolontèAfter leaving prison, master thief Corey crosses paths with a notorious escapee and an alcoholic former policeman. The trio proceed to plot an elaborate heist.
- DirectorAlain CorneauStarsYves MontandGérard DepardieuCatherine DeneuveThe powerful story of a reformed underworld kingpin whose stable lifestyle is turned upside-down when a desperate, escaped killer hides out at his rural estate.
- DirectorMarc CaroJean-Pierre JeunetStarsMarie-Laure DougnacDominique PinonPascal BenezechPost-apocalyptic surrealist black comedy about the landlord of an apartment building who occasionally prepares a delicacy for his odd tenants.
- DirectorPhilippe LabroStarsJean-Paul BelmondoBruno CremerJean NégroniL'Alpagueur is a free-lance spy from the French secret agency. He's put on the investigation about L'epervier, a serial-killer who employs young boys to help him robbing banks before killing them.
- DirectorJulian SchnabelStarsMathieu AmalricEmmanuelle SeignerMarie-Josée CrozeThe true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and has to live with an almost totally paralyzed body; only his left eye isn't paralyzed.
- DirectorJean BeckerStarsGérard DepardieuGisèle CasadesusMauraneA semi-literate and lonely odd-job man bonds with a much older and well-read woman.
- DirectorLuc BessonStarsPierre JolivetJean BouiseJean RenoIn a post-apocalyptic future where no one is able to speak, the few remaining humans fight over resources in order to survive.
- DirectorLuc BessonStarsChristopher LambertIsabelle AdjaniRichard BohringerOn improvising a burglary at a shady tycoon's home, Fred takes refuge in the hip and surreal universe of the Paris Metro and encounters its assorted denizens, the tycoon's henchmen and his disenchanted young wife.
- DirectorLuc BessonStarsJean RenoGary OldmanNatalie Portman12-year-old Mathilda is reluctantly taken in by Léon, a professional assassin, after her family is murdered. An unusual relationship forms as she becomes his protégée and learns the assassin's trade.
- DirectorLuc BessonStarsAnne ParillaudMarc DuretPatrick FontanaConvicted felon Nikita isn't going to jail; she's given a new identity and trained, stylishly, as a top secret spy/assassin.
- DirectorLuc BessonStarsJean-Marc BarrJean RenoRosanna ArquetteThe rivalry between Enzo and Jacques, two childhood friends and now world-renowned free divers, becomes a beautiful and perilous journey into oneself and the unknown.
- DirectorJean-Jacques AnnaudStarsSean ConneryChristian SlaterHelmut QualtingerAn intellectually nonconformist friar investigates a series of mysterious deaths in an isolated abbey.
- DirectorLuc BessonStarsMilla JovovichJohn MalkovichRab AffleckA young girl receives a vision that drives her to rid France of its oppressors.
- DirectorDenys de La PatellièreStarsHardy KrügerLino VenturaMaurice BiraudDuring World War II, French commandos join forces with a German officer in order to survive the African desert.
- DirectorGeorges FranjuStarsPierre BrasseurAlida ValliJuliette MaynielA surgeon causes an accident which leaves his daughter disfigured and goes to extreme lengths to give her a new face.
- DirectorJacques TatiStarsJacques TatiBarbara DennekRita MaidenMonsieur Hulot curiously wanders around a high-tech Paris, paralleling a trip with a group of American tourists. Meanwhile, a nightclub/restaurant prepares its opening night, but it's still under construction.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsYves MontandCharles VanelPeter van EyckIn a decrepit South American village, four men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.
- DirectorJacques TatiStarsJacques TatiJean-Pierre ZolaAdrienne ServantieMonsieur Hulot visits the technology-driven world of his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew, but he can't quite fit into the surroundings.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinDita ParloPierre FresnayDuring WWI, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are eventually sent to a seemingly inescapable fortress.
- DirectorJean-Pierre MelvilleStarsAlain DelonFrançois PérierNathalie DelonAfter professional hitman Jef Costello is seen by witnesses his efforts to provide himself an alibi drive him further into a corner.
- DirectorJean-Marie PoiréStarsAnémoneJosiane BalaskoMarie-Anne ChazelTwo neurotics, working for a suicide hotline on the night of Christmas Eve, get caught up in a catastrophe when a pregnant woman, her abusive boyfriend, and a transvestite visit their office.
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsÉtienne BeckerJean NégroniHélène ChatelainThe story of a man forced to explore his memories in the wake of World War III's devastation, told through still images.
- DirectorGeorges LautnerStarsLino VenturaBernard BlierFrancis BlancheA dying mob boss hands over his business to an old friend, Fernand. The boss' assistants want to get rid of the latter. But are the Volfoni brothers and Théo real threats? Ensuing fights and shootouts are more comical than deadly.
- DirectorAlain CorneauStarsPatrick DewaereMyriam BoyerMarie TrintignantFranck Poupart is a slightly neurotic door-to-door salesman in a sinister part of Paris' suburbs. He meets Mona, a teenager, who's been made a prostitute by her own aunt. Franck would like to change his life and also save Mona from her aunt. Murder is the only solution he finds to achieve his goal... A very gloomy movie, exuding despair and uneasiness, with pathetic characters.
- DirectorRené ClémentStarsAlain DelonMaurice RonetMarie LaforêtTom Ripley is a talented mimic, moocher, forger and all-around criminal improviser; but there's more to Tom Ripley than even he can guess.
- DirectorPaul GrimaultStarsJean MartinPascal MazzottiRaymond BussièresA chimney sweep and a shepherdess seek to escape from the clutches of a tyrannical king.
- DirectorHenri VerneuilStarsJean-Paul BelmondoCharles DennerAdalberto Maria MerliCommissaire Letellier and Inspector Moissac are tracking Minos, a serial killer whose victims are women.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsMaurice RonetLéna SkerlaYvonne ClechDepressed Alain Leroy leaves the clinic where he was detoxified. He meets friends, acquaintances and women, trying to find a reason to continue living. Will this help him?
- DirectorJacques TatiStarsJacques TatiNathalie PascaudMicheline RollaMonsieur Hulot comes to a beachside hotel for a vacation and accidentally, but good-naturedly, causes havoc.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsAndré BervilJean KeraudyMichel ConstantinDistrust and uncertainty arise when four long-term inmates cautiously induct a new prisoner into their elaborate prison-break scheme.
- DirectorCédric KlapischStarsJean-Pierre BacriJean-Pierre DarroussinCatherine FrotAn upper middle-class French family celebrates a birthday in a restaurant. In one evening and during one meal, family history, tensions, collective and separate grudges, delights, and memories both clash and coalesce.
- DirectorRobert EnricoStarsBourvilLino VenturaMarie DuboisAn ex-con with ulterior motives convinces the struggling inheritor of a sawmill to use convicts as affordable lumberjacks.
- DirectorTerence YoungStarsWilliam HoldenVirna LisiBourvilSince the death of his mother, Pascal, ten years old, spends his holidays with his father, the rich Laurent Segur. One day, when diving near the shores of Corse, an aircraft falls into the sea. The holiday goes on happily with Catherine, the young and pretty girlfriend of Laurent. But soon blue marks appear on the face of Pascal. He has been contaminated by a nuclear weapon carried by the destroyed plane, and he won't survive more than six months. There is nothing Laurent can do, except give his son the best six months he has ever lived.
- DirectorRobert HosseinStarsLino VenturaJean CarmetMichel BouquetThe story of Jean Valjean, a Frenchman convicted of minor crimes, who is hounded for years by an unforgiving and unrelenting police inspector, Javert.
- DirectorClaude MillerStarsLino VenturaMichel SerraultRomy SchneiderA police inspector, suspecting an attorney of two child sex murders, has him held for a questioning session that goes on for hours.
- DirectorHenri VerneuilStarsJean GabinAlain DelonLino VenturaAn ambitious young mobster plans an elaborate diamond heist while seducing the daughter of a ruthless mob patriarch as a determined police commissioner closes in on all of them.
- DirectorHenri VerneuilStarsJean-Paul BelmondoLino VenturaReginald KernanA rough trucker assigns his new truck and its mysterious cargo to his newest employee, only to see it hijacked by one of his experienced drivers. Now, his friends are after him to retrieve the goods. Are 100,000 dollars worth dying for?
- DirectorHenri VerneuilStarsJean-Paul BelmondoJacques VilleretMichel ConstantinIn 1943 in Tunisia, a unit of the French Foreign Legion fights the Germans over possession of a bank treasure in gold bars.
- DirectorYves BoissetStarsPatrick DewaereAurore ClémentPhilippe LéotardThe young judge Fayard is not afraid of anybody as he does his work honestly.
- DirectorClaude SautetStarsPatrick DewaereBrigitte FosseyJacques DufilhoBruno is released from prison. He looks for a job and tries to start a new life. His first stop is at his father's apartment.
- DirectorJean-Jacques AnnaudStarsPatrick DewaereFrance DougnacDorothée JemmaThe miserable football player becomes a town hero after bringing victory in extremely important game. He uses his fame for revenge to the team star for the previous mockeries.
- DirectorBertrand BlierStarsGérard DepardieuMichel BlancMiou-MiouA bisexual petty criminal named Bob encounters a married couple arguing in a bar. Bob breaks up the fight and proceeds to seduce first the wife and then the husband. Then Bob teaches the couple how to be burglars and they join him in his criminal exploits.
- DirectorPierre SalvadoriStarsJean RochefortMarie TrintignantGuillaume DepardieuInto the solitary life of middle-aged hitman Victor Meynard come two people: Antoine, a youth who becomes Victor's apprentice; and Renée, a bold thief Victor's been hired to kill because she cheated a mobster. When circumstances prevent Victor from killing her, the gangster sends two more teams to do it and to dispatch Victor and Antoine. Victor decides to help Renée, and the unlikely trio ends up at his house with his temperamental mother; as they hide out there, Victor's attraction to Renée grows, she discovers his vocation and fears he will kill her, and an ultimate showdown with their hunters is inevitable.
- DirectorJean-Marie PoiréStarsChristian ClavierJean RenoValérie LemercierA medieval knight and his servant ask a familiar wizard to move them back in time to prevent father-in-law's accidentally killing. Instead, they fly away to the 20th century.
- DirectorPhilippe Le GuayStarsFabrice LuchiniLambert WilsonMaya SansaTwo actors. One play. Can the differences between the two egocentric men be put aside for the sake of friendship and theatre?
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsFrançois LeterrierCharles Le ClaincheMaurice BeerblockA captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from a German prison in France.
- DirectorGeorges LautnerStarsJean-Paul BelmondoGeorges GéretJean-François BalmerCommissaire Stanislas Borowitz is going undercover as gangster Antonio Cerutti in order to expose corrupted policemen.
- DirectorMichel BlancStarsMichel BlancCarole BouquetPhilippe NoiretWhat is going on here?!? French director, Michel Blanc (as Himself), just doesn't understand why his life is suddenly falling apart. This nightmarish comedy-thriller is all about identity. What defines a famous person? Is it their public self or their private self? What is the public's legitimate claim on their fame? With the glitterati of French Cinema starring as themselves, the anonymous faces in the audience gain a glimpse into the downside of public recognition.
- DirectorJacques TatiStarsJacques TatiGuy DecomblePaul FrankeurA village postman with no sense of humour delivers his mail via bicycle on the day the travelling fair comes to town. He is disrupted by a short film about US speed and efficiency and the playful teasing of the village folk.
- DirectorQuentin DupieuxStarsGrégoire LudigDavid MarsaisAdèle ExarchopoulosWhen simple-minded friends Jean-Gab and Manu find a giant fly trapped in the boot of a car, they decide to train it in the hope of making a ton of cash.
- DirectorQuentin DupieuxStarsBenoît PoelvoordeGrégoire LudigMarc FraizeLouis just found the corpse of a man in front of his apartment building. Taken in for custody by Captain Buron, he finds himself on the wrong end of a surreal interrogation. But how can you prove you are innocent when the cops are crazy?