French movies
by mimesismovies | created - 07 May 2016 | updated - 31 May 2016 | PublicA list of France's greatest cinema.
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1. The Big Feast (1973)
NC-17 | 130 min | Comedy, Drama
A group of men go to a villa in the French countryside where they resolve to eat themselves to death.
Director: Marco Ferreri | Stars: Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret, Ugo Tognazzi
Votes: 14,714
2. Police Python 357 (1976)
Not Rated | 126 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
An inspector is having a secret relationship with a woman. When she is murdered by his boss, all proof is against him.
Director: Alain Corneau | Stars: Yves Montand, François Périer, Simone Signoret, Stefania Sandrelli
Votes: 2,076
3. Martyrs (2008)
R | 99 min | Horror
A young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.
Director: Pascal Laugier | Stars: Morjana Alaoui, Mylène Jampanoï, Catherine Bégin, Robert Toupin
Votes: 106,504
4. Irreversible (2002)
Not Rated | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Events over the course of one traumatic night in Paris unfold in reverse-chronological order as the beautiful Alex is brutally raped and beaten by a stranger in an underpass tunnel.
Director: Gaspar Noé | Stars: Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel, Philippe Nahon
Votes: 147,726 | Gross: $0.75M
5. So Long, Stooge (1983)
100 min | Crime, Drama
A story of an odd friendship - and the unexpected consequences.
Director: Claude Berri | Stars: Coluche, Richard Anconina, Agnès Soral, Mahmoud Zemmouri
Votes: 3,137
6. Crooks in Clover (1963)
105 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A 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.
Director: Georges Lautner | Stars: Lino Ventura, Bernard Blier, Francis Blanche, Claude Rich
Votes: 6,594
7. The Wages of Fear (1953)
Not Rated | 131 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
In a decrepit South American village, four men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot | Stars: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter van Eyck, Folco Lulli
Votes: 66,597
8. The Red Circle (1970)
Not Rated | 140 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After leaving prison, master thief Corey crosses paths with a notorious escapee and an alcoholic former policeman. The trio proceed to plot an elaborate heist.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Alain Delon, Bourvil, Gian Maria Volontè, Yves Montand
Votes: 28,173 | Gross: $0.37M
9. Without Apparent Motive (1971)
PG | 100 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A strange series of murders are being committed in Nice on the French riviera. The commissionaire Carella is in charge and tries desperately to find a missing link between all of these ... See full summary »
Director: Philippe Labro | Stars: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Dominique Sanda, Sacha Distel, Carla Gravina
Votes: 949
10. La Belle Noiseuse (1991)
Unrated | 238 min | Drama
The former famous painter Frenhofer revisits an abandoned project using the girlfriend of a young visiting artist. Questions about truth, life, and artistic limits are explored.
Director: Jacques Rivette | Stars: Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin, Emmanuelle Béart, Marianne Denicourt
Votes: 9,372 | Gross: $0.41M
11. The Bride Wore Black (1968)
Unrated | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Julie Kohler is prevented from suicide by her mother. She leaves the town. She will track down, charm and kill five men who do not know her. What is her goal? What is her purpose?
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Jeanne Moreau, Jean-Claude Brialy, Michel Bouquet, Charles Denner
Votes: 10,148 | Gross: $0.55M
12. Tout le monde il est beau, tout le monde il est gentil (1972)
105 min | Comedy, Music
According to "Radio closer to God", nothing is conceived without God, especially shampoos, cosmetics, the sale of records - Animator Christian Gerber denounces this scam on the air, which ... See full summary »
Director: Jean Yanne | Stars: Jean Yanne, Bernard Blier, Michel Serrault, Marina Vlady
Votes: 642
13. Port of Shadows (1938)
Not Rated | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A military deserter finds love and trouble (and a small dog) in a foggy, French port city.
Director: Marcel Carné | Stars: Jean Gabin, Michel Simon, Michèle Morgan, Pierre Brasseur
Votes: 9,966 | Gross: $0.03M
14. Breathless (1960)
Not Rated | 90 min | Crime, Drama
A small-time crook, hunted by the authorities for a car theft and the murder a police officer, attempts to persuade a hip American journalism student to run away with him to Italy.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Van Doude, Jean-Luc Godard
Votes: 87,962 | Gross: $0.34M
15. A Prophet (2009)
R | 155 min | Crime, Drama
A delinquent Muslim man struggles to get by in prison until he is taken under the wing of a powerful mob boss. But his gradual rise through the mob's ranks brings him in conflict with his mentor.
Director: Jacques Audiard | Stars: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Reda Kateb
Votes: 102,203 | Gross: $2.08M
16. The Bait (1995)
Not Rated | 115 min | Crime, Drama
Three teenagers plan to steal the necessary funds to open their dream shop in the US, but things get messy.
Director: Bertrand Tavernier | Stars: Marie Gillain, Olivier Sitruk, Bruno Putzulu, Richard Berry
Votes: 2,405 | Gross: $0.04M
17. A Day in the Country (1946)
Not Rated | 40 min | Short, Comedy, Drama
The family of a Parisian shop-owner spends a day in the country. The daughter falls in love with a man at the inn, where they spend the day.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Sylvia Bataille, Jane Marken, Georges D'Arnoux, André Gabriello
Votes: 7,103
18. Stavisky (1974)
PG | 120 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A swindler's activity indirectly caused a political crisis in France in the last years before World War II.
Director: Alain Resnais | Stars: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Charles Boyer, François Périer, Anny Duperey
Votes: 2,500 | Gross: $0.01M
19. Violette (1978)
Not Rated | 124 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In an interwar France struggling with profound social and political change, 18-year-old Violette Noziere rebels against the constraints of her claustrophobic, working-class (and possibly incestuous) family, with troubling consequences.
Director: Claude Chabrol | Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Stéphane Audran, Jean Carmet, Jean-François Garreaud
Votes: 2,527
20. The Crimson Rivers (2000)
R | 106 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A murder detective must follow the footsteps of a brutal killer within the secrets of a classist college.
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz | Stars: Jean Reno, Vincent Cassel, Nadia Farès, Dominique Sanda
Votes: 65,661 | Gross: $0.63M
21. The Grand Illusion (1937)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama, War
During 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.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Jean Gabin, Dita Parlo, Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim
Votes: 38,870 | Gross: $0.17M
22. Army of Shadows (1969)
Not Rated | 145 min | Drama, War
An account of underground resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied France.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Simone Signoret
Votes: 25,862 | Gross: $0.74M
23. The Old Gun (1975)
R | 103 min | Drama, Thriller, War
During World War II, a peaceful French surgeon decides to ruthlessly exterminate an SS squad because of the atrocities they'd just committed in his countryside home and childhood village.
Director: Robert Enrico | Stars: Philippe Noiret, Romy Schneider, Jean Bouise, Joachim Hansen
Votes: 4,855
24. Touchez pas au grisbi (1954)
Not Rated | 96 min | Crime, Drama
An aging, world-weary gangster is double-crossed and forced out of retirement when his best friend is kidnapped and their stash of eight stolen gold bars demanded as ransom.
Director: Jacques Becker | Stars: Jean Gabin, René Dary, Dora Doll, Vittorio Sanipoli
Votes: 8,547 | Gross: $0.13M
25. Pardon Mon Affaire (1976)
PG | 105 min | Comedy, Romance
As loyal as a dove, a family man is about to tell his first lie to his wife when he falls for an enchanting woman in a billowy red dress. With a bit of help, he just might get what he wishes for; however, is love always a bed of roses?
Director: Yves Robert | Stars: Jean Rochefort, Claude Brasseur, Guy Bedos, Victor Lanoux
Votes: 2,354
26. Manon of the Spring (1986)
PG | 113 min | Drama
A beautiful but shy shepherdess plots vengeance on the men whose greedy conspiracy to acquire her father's land caused his death years earlier.
Director: Claude Berri | Stars: Yves Montand, Emmanuelle Béart, Daniel Auteuil, Hippolyte Girardot
Votes: 23,959 | Gross: $3.94M
27. Jean de Florette (1986)
PG | 120 min | Comedy, Drama
A 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.
Director: Claude Berri | Stars: Yves Montand, Gérard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil, Elisabeth Depardieu
Votes: 27,550 | Gross: $4.94M
28. Going Places (1974)
R | 117 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Two 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.
Director: Bertrand Blier | Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Miou-Miou, Patrick Dewaere, Christian Alers
Votes: 9,954 | Gross: $0.77M
29. A Pain in the Ass (1973)
PG | 85 min | Comedy
Milan must kill Louis Randoni before he testifies in a court of law. He is disturbed by his depressed roommate François Pignon who commits suicide by hanging himself from the toilet pipe flooding Milan's room. Here he is stuck in problems.
Director: Édouard Molinaro | Stars: Lino Ventura, Jacques Brel, Caroline Cellier, Jean-Pierre Darras
Votes: 3,691
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