Personal favourites:
La Haine
Beat that my heart skipped
Caché
Orchestra Seats
Irreversible
L’Appartement
The Dreamers
Les Chansons D’Amour
Le Diner De Cons
Baise-Moi
Regular Lovers
Merci Pour Le Chocolat
Taxi 1 and 2 (terrible but great fun)
A little bit older but Manon Des Sources and Jean De Florrette are amazing too.
Anything with Romain Duris, Vincent Cassel, Louis Garrel, Bellucci, Beart etc.
Man on a Train by Patrice Leconte; My Wife is an Actress by Yvan Ttal; Facing Windows by Ferzan Ozpetek; Red Lights by Cedric Kahn; The Girl from Paris by Christian Carion; Lemming by Dominik Moll.
Red Lights
Man On A Train
Swimming Pool
Under The Sand
La Haine
Beat That Stopped My Heart
He Loves Me He Loves Me Not
Delicatessen
City of Lost Children
A Very Long Engagement
Damn forgot a Very Long Engagement I really enjoyed that one, double damn on Delicatessen
Couple more I thought of
With A Friend Like Harry(Hitchcock styled thriller) and The Dinner Party
I’ll fly a flag for Francois Ozon, I recently discovered him and he has some interesting work. I’ve only seen Under the Sand and Water Drops on Burning Rocks. Any Fassbinder fans should check out *Water Drops^ since it’s based on a play written by Fassbinder.
Also Raoul Ruiz, who was born in Chile and emigrated to France, has made some stunning films, including the GORGEOUS fable that is Three Crowns of the Sailor.
And Rivette is still working, and he is one of the best today most definitely.
Also, Claude Chabrol is the French Hitchcock and currently does the best suspense dramas in the world.
see anything from Arnaud Desplechin
consider 8 women if you want something lighter
Rosetta
‘he loves me, he loves me not’ is such a fantastic film.
Adding to CESTPARTI, CHRIS, and STEVE’s list:
Delicatessen (1991) – Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet
La Cité des enfants perdus – The City of Lost Children (1995) – Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Les Choristes – The Choir (2004) – Christophe Barratier
Dans Paris – In Paris (2006) – Christophe Honoré
Apres lui – After Him (2007) – Gael Morel
Ma mere – My Mother (2004) – Christophe Honoré
La France (2007) – Serge Bozon
Joyeux Noel (2005) – Christian Carion
Indigenes – Days of Glory (2006) – Rachid Bouchareb
..and…
Trois couleurs: Rouge – Red (1994) – Krzysztof Kieslowski
(Red is entirely in French, whereas Blue and White have dialogs in both Polish and French)
There are also recent comedies like Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis (Welcome to the Sticks) and Mon meilleur ami (My Best Friend)
tell no one
Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train
Gabrielle
Son Frere
L’Homme Blesse
(The above four all directed by the greatest living filmmaker)
Les Amants Reguliers
Les Chansons d’amour
Ma Mere
The Witnesses
Before I Forget
Cache
Jim W
I love the old French movies of the new wave era but outside of Amelie (which I loved) I haven’t seen/heard of many other newer french movies. What are some good ones that have come out lately? (like late 90s to present)