On the occasion of the French national holiday I thought I would dedicate today’s post to a few French movies I love. Classic or modern, funny, thrilling, dramatic, sad or serious… I find so much beauty, realism, openness, elegance, magic or ambiance in French movies that I often miss in other movies. It is not only the language I appreciate, but also the surroundings, photography, cinematic tradition, history, culture, everything that gives the French movie its unique signature. I find a lot of disappointment in Russian, German or other countries’ movies that, for example, completely adopt the American film-making school and lose their own identity. But this is a entirely different story :) The following are just a few of many French movies I love, in no particular order. I’m certain there are so many more I’m not even aware of yet. Enjoy!
Armée des Ombres by Jean-Pierre Melville
Chatte à Deux Têtes by Jacques Nolot
Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran by François Dupeyron
Les Quatre cents coups by François Truffaut
Les Triplettes de Belleville by Sylvain Chomet
Les chansons d’amour by Christophe Honoré
Une affaire de femmes by Claude Chabrol
De battre mon coeur s’est arrêté by Jacques Audiard
Alphaville by Jean-Luc Godard
Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux by Jean-Luc Godard
Most excellent list! All but one of my favorites are on here I think which is Le Ballon rouge (The Red Balloon) a childhood favorite of mine.
Hard to pick my “favorites of the favorites” but Chatte à Deux Têtes, Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran, Les Triplettes de Belleville, and Les chansons d’amour all rank pretty darn high.
Wish I spoke the language. I have been waiting forever it seems for that plug and play brain software that will allow me to learn anything instantly…you know the kind sci-fi novels always promise us? Might be the only way I ever successfully learn a new language.