Twenty forgotten French films from the new millenium.

By: kuxa kanema

Contemporary French cinema has many stars Bruno Dumont, Gaspar Noe, Claire Denis, Laurent Cantet, Olivier Assayas, Catherine Breillat to name a few. Whilst I love each one of these directors the other less hyped French film makers often get ignored or forgotten. Here is a list of twenty films by twenty French/ working in France contemporary directors which are certainly worth viewing.

20. Blame It On Fidel, Julie Gavras, 2006.
A nine year old girl weathers big changes in her household as her parents become radical political activists in 1970-71 Paris.-imdb Directed by Coasta Gavras’s daughter Julie.

19. One To Another, Jean Marc Barr, 2006.
Set in a small French town, One to Another is primarily seen through the eyes of the coltish, uninhibited Lucie (Lizzie Brocheré), who enjoys an unusually close connection to her brother, Pierre (Arthur Dupont). While the siblings draw the line at having actual sex together, the two share an intimacy that, for them, is even closer—an appreciation and deep knowledge of each other’s lithe body. Their physical exploration of one and other is captured in the kind of natural, off-handed way that, frankly, only the French could pull off without seeming icky or gratuitous.- Karagarga

18. Roberto Succo, Cedric Kahn, 2001.
Kurt’ claims to be a sales rep. He also claims to be English in spite of his heavy Italian accent. Kurt is an habitual liar and a dangerous driver, at the very least. In the south of France he meets Léa, age 16. Between his increasingly strange dates with Léa, Kurt engages in a number of armed robberies, some successful, some not… The police are perplexed by a series of crimes including disappearances and a murder. They conclude that they are dealing with a madman… -imdb

17. I Dreamt Underwater, Hormoz, 2008
A twentysomething bisexual takes many wrong turns down blind alleys in his search for affection and understanding in this drama from France. Antonin (Hubert Benhamdine) is a young man who is desperate for love and thinks he’s found it with Alex (Franck Victor), a handsome and talented musician. However, Alex is also a heroin addict, and when he succumbs to an overdose, Antonin is crushed and begins drowning his sorrows in anonymous and often degrading sex. Antonin becomes a prostitute and frequently finds himself infatuated with his clients, but most treat him with contempt except for Baptiste (Hicham Nazzal), who shows some compassion for the troubled young man.-All Movie Guide

16. Beyond Hatred, Olivier Meyrou, 2005
When their son Francois was brutally murdered by skinheads on September 13, 2002, Jean-Paul and Marie-Cecile vowed to do everything within their power to bring the killers to justice, and try to understand just what motivated them to carry out such a reprehensible act of violence. As preparations for the murder trial began, emerging details told the story of a hateful gang that went to the park in search of an Arab to kill. A heartbreaking documentary. -Rovi

15. Le Choses Secretes, Jean Claude Briseau, 2002
Two young women find themselves struggling to survive in Paris, street-wise Nathalie, a stripper, and naïve Sandrine, a barmaid. Together, they discover that sex can be used to their advantage, and pleasure. Both find positions in the office of a large bank, where bored, under-stimulated, prey are easy pickings…

14. La Ville est Tranquille, Robert Guediguian, 2000
A dark tale of working-class life in Marseilles, a city in crisis. Interesting characters include a hard-bitten but compassionate fish market worker with a drug addicted daughter and a moody bartender with a shocking secret life.

13. Grocer’s Son, Eric Guirado, 2007
Antoine Sforza, a thirty-year-old young man, left his village ten years before in order to start a new life in the big city, but now that his father, a traveling grocer, is in hospital after a stroke, he more or less reluctantly accepts to come back to replace him in his daily rounds.-imdb

12. Modern Life, Raymond Depardon, 2008
Raymond Depardon returns to the village of Le Villaret in this documentary. Marcel Privat and his brother Raymond Privat have spent nearly their whole lives as dairy farmers in Le Villaret, but it’s clear they can only continue for so long; Marcel is eighty-eight years old while his brother is only a few years younger, and unfavorable weather and poor soil conditions have devastated their grazing lands, reducing their flocks to a handful of cows and goats. Their nephew Alain Rouviere has moved from Calais to Le Villaret to help look after Marcel and Raymond as well as their farm, but it’s clear Alain’s wife Cecile doesn’t care for the old men and isn’t afraid to tell them what she thinks.-Rovi

11. Carnages, Delphine Gleize, 2002
After a bull dies in an arena, its remains are transported throughout Belgium, France, and Spain, where various characters cross its path.

10. Le Clan, Gael Morel, 2004
Annecy is no tourist destination for three working-class Algerian brothers and their father, in the months after their mother has died. Marc is deeply troubled: he tries to stiff drug dealers and then plots revenge. Christophe is released from jail, lands a job, and must overcome various temptations in order to keep it. Olivier, nearing 18, may be falling in love with Hicham, a young man who constantly practices capoeira on the shores of the lake. Both violence and fraternity are close to the surface of most interactions. How each brother emerges from his challenge comprises the film’s drama.-imdb

9. Couscous, Abdellatif Kechiche, 2007
At the port of Sète, Mr. Slimani, a tired 60-year-old, drags himself toward a shipyard job that has become more and more difficult to cope with as the years go by. He is a divorced father who forces himself to stay close to his family despite the schisms and tensions that are easily sparked off and that financial difficulties make even more intense. He is going through a delicate period in his life and, recently, everything seems to make him feel useless: a failure. He wants to escape from it all and set up his own restaurant. However, it appears to be an unreachable dream given his meager, irregular salary that is not anywhere near enough to supply what he needs to realize his ambition.-imdb

8.Un Lac, Phillippe Grandieux, 2008
The story takes place in a country about which we know nothing: a country of snow and dense forests somewhere in the North. A family lives in an isolated house near a lake. Alexi, the brother, is a young man with pure heart. A woodcutter. An ecstatic, prey to epileptic fits, he is entirely opened to the nature that surrounds him. Alexi is terribly close to his younger sister, Hege. Their blind mother, their father and their little brother are the silent witnesses to their overwhelming love.

7. Trilogy 1-2-3, Lucas Belvaux, 2002
Inspired by Lawrence Durrell’s collection of interrelated novels, The Alexandria Quartet, Lucas Belvaux’s trilogy—the violent noir On the Run, the romantic comedy An Amazing Couple, and the melodrama After the Life, examine many of the same characters from three distinct perspectives.-Rovi

6.Transylvania, Tony Gatlif, 2006
Zingarina arrives in Transylavania, accompanied by her close friend Marie and her guide and interpreter Luminitsa. She is not there only to visit this region of Romania but to trace her lover Milan, a musician who has made her pregnant and who left her without a word of explanation.-imdb

5. Tiresia, Bertrand Bonello, 2003
Tiresia is at the same time woman and man, according to Greek Mythology. Here, Tiresia is a Brazilian transexual living with her brother in the outskirts of Paris. Terranova, an admirer of aesthetics, is a dreamer. His obsession with Tiresia leads him to kidnapping her. However, without her regular dose of hormones, Tiresia gradually starts to change back to a male. Displeased, Terranova blinds Tiresia and abandons her in the countryside. -imdb

4. Presque Rien, Sébastien Lifshitz, 2000
Mathieu, 18, spends the summer at his mother’s summer house, in Brittany. On the beach, he meets Cédric, a boy his age. A love-story begins between the two boys. -imdb

3. Le Souffle, Damien Odoul, 2001
David (Pierre-Louis Bonnetblanc) is a teenager spending the summer holiday on his uncle’s farm. The film depicts a special day on the farm for David: the first time his two uncles allow him to eat and drink with the men – a group of farmers and other country dwellers. David gets drunk, throws up, lazes around in the sun, and then wanders off through the fields to meet his friend Matthieu (Laurent Simon). It’s a day fraught with tension and incident.-imdb

2. Before I Forget, Jacques Nolot, 2007
Imprisoned by his past and unable to cope with the loneliness that permeates every aspect of his life, an HIV-afflicted 58-year-old man seals himself up from the world in order to embark on an inward journey in director Jacques Nolot’s existential drama. Pierre is desperate to move past the suffering and overcome an unshakable case of writer’s block. After ingesting some psychotropic substances in hopes that it will help to clear his mind, Pierre learns that an old friend who had ostensibly stood him up for a lunch appointment has in fact died. In the following days, this desperate lost soul will be forced to contend with the law, meet with a few long-lost friends, and make one last effort to fulfill his greatest fantasies with the help of a kindly gigolo.

1. Last of the Crazy People, Laurent Achard, 2006
A boy is forced to witness the slow and painful collapse of his family in this drama from France. Martin (Julien Cochelin) is an eleven-year-old boy who lives with his family in a rural community. Their large, shabby house has seen better days, but household repair is the least of the family’s problems. Martin’s mother Nadege (Dominique Reymond) is emotionally unstable and has begun to retreat into a world of her own, and her husband Jean (Jean-Yves Chatelais) has all but given up on trying to communicate with her. Rose (Annie Cordy), Jean’s mother, has moved in with the intention of helping out while Nadege recovers, but it’s clear she has little regard for her daughter-in-law and avoids interacting with her grandson. Didier (Pascal Cervo), Martin’s older brother, helps look after the boy, as does Malika (Fettouma Bouamari), a Middle Eastern immigrant who helps keep house. However, Didier suffers a falling out with his parents when they discover he’s fallen in love with a neighbor boy, and Didier is devastated to learn his new boyfriend has announced his upcoming marriage to a girl. Le Dernier des Fous (aka Demented) was adapted from the novel The Last of the Crazy People by Timothy Findley. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Note: Abdellatif Kechiche is Tunisian born but works primarily in France and Couscous is French produced. Lucas Belvaux is Belgian born and his Trilogy is set in France and co-financed with France and starring mostly French actors. Transylvania by Tony Gatlif is set in Romania, but is French produced and Gatlif himself is Algerian descent, but holds French nationality.

British, U.S.A, Japan, Russian, Australian, Chinese lists will follow….