Paul Vecchiali’s Femmes Femmes is arguably the best french movie of the ‘70s. At least that’s what Pasolini thought (I tend to agree). He quoted it here :
To name a few more : Jacques Rozier, Guy Debord, Pierre Zucca, Jean-Claude Biette, Jean-Claude Guiguet, Jean-Claude Brisseau, Jacques Doillon.
Four Pialat films have been released on R1 DVD actually, but only two are in print, A Nos Amours and L’Enfance Nue. Van Gogh and Loulou have been released on R1 but have gone out of print.
I forgot that Criterion released L’Enfance Nue. Still, it’s a pitiful state of affairs.
The following list is solely based on the films in my collection:
Olivier Assayas: Late August, Early September, Demon Lover, Irma Vep, Boarding Gate
Michel Gondry: Tokyo!, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep
Arnaud Desplechin: My Sex Life, Or How I Got Into An Argument, Kings And Queen
Catherine Breillat: Fat Girl, Romance
Jacques Audiard: Read My Lips, The Beat That My Heart Skipped
Leo Carax: The Girl On The Bridge, Tokyo!
Jean Jacques Beineix: Diva, Betty Blue
Patrice Leconte: Girl On The Bridge, Monsieur Hire
Mathieu Kassovitz: La Haine
Christophe Gans: Brotherhood of the Wolf
Luc Besson: La Femme Nikita, Leon, The Firth Element
Georges Franju: Eyes Without A Face
Serge Bozon’s La France
Anything by Bruno Dumont
Claire Denis’s the intruder and beau travail
Betrand Bonnellos’ The pornographer and
anything by Leos Carax.
Alain Corneau’s Fear and Trembling and Tous les matins du monde
No mention of Ozon?
Ozon’s quite a clever character (and quite a Babe too.) He’s had a big success recently with Potiche — an old-fashioned Big Star comedy with Deneuve and Depardieu. But I much prefer the very small-scaled drama he made just before it, Le Refuge (aka. Hideaway) with Louis-Ronan Choisy ( a popstar who really knows how to act) and Isabelle Carre.
I seond your choices Kleber. Saw Femme Femmes recently and it’s quite something. Vecchiali believes in making intimate inexpensive films.
Guiguet was a protege of his (he died of AIDS0 His Les passagers is a masterpiece, much admired by Godard.
And speaking of J-lG he “sampled” Mediteranee in Film Socialisme
I suggest Heartbeat Detector (Dir: Nicolas Klotz, Writer: Elisabeth Perceval) if you want an apt representation of the banality of evil.
I want to watch more Klotz – Perceval films but apparently they are not easy to find.
DU SOLEIL POUR LES GUEUX by alain guiraudie is brilliant
L’oeuvre complète de François Truffaut
Patrice Leconte — Man on the Train
wow, no love for Abel Gance, Jean Cocteau, nor Marcel Carne? The Raymond Bernard Eclipse set is really amazing too. All of them are top-tier I’d say.
(edit – Cocteau was mentioned in the first post! C’est la vie!)
I’m going to mention Michael Haneke just because I can.
And Mia Hansen-Love, just because she’s on her way.
Jean Vigo
Philippe De Broca
@OP “….Francophone and have made films within the French system, so that’s what I was implying.”
Costa-Gavras
Barbet Schroeder
Luis Bunuel
( I know… what the hell! )
Serge Bozon
Cyril Collard.
Jerry Johnson
Becker and Pialat are gods. I still can’t believe Pialat has only one film available on R1 dvd (yes, I own all the MoC titles).