THE BEST FRENCH FILMS OF ALL TIME
Comedies and romantic French comedies
France has many comedies, some of which have won the admiration of critics and / or the public for many years. Released in 1966, Gérard Oury’s great party is undoubtedly one of the best examples. The great French comedians Louis de Funès and Bourvil interpret respectively an orchestra conductor and a painter called up to the ranks that must take three British aviators to a safe zone. On the other hand, French comedy in general is a type of film that looks very well represented. You can take romantic dyes, as in The seducers of P. Chaumeil.
Animated movies
French cinema are also animated films. Let’s not forget that France also has extensive experience in this sector. French cartoons are exported well and create more than six thousand jobs. For example, Persepolis, of the Franco-Iranian Marjane Satrapi, deals with a wide variety of issues such as political repression by the bodies of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the evidence to which the population is subjected, the horrors of war, the exile or the importance of the family nucleus to overcome the daily difficulties. Through a science fiction narrative, René Laloux’s movie The Wild Planet released in 1973 is an allegory about the importance of culture and education. Les Triplettes de Belleville by Sylvain Chomet is also a very successful film streaming. For the little ones, the works of Michel Ocelot (Azur and Asmar, Kirikou and the sorceress) and also Zarafa by R. Bezançon and J-C Lie are perfect examples of children’s films.
Fantastic movies
French films also include masterpieces of fantastic cinema. Among these films there is one that occupies a privileged place: it is about Beauty and the Beast by Jean Cocteau. This film deserves to be seen and seen again with such emotion that its dreamlike poetry causes it to give it a timeless dimension. Jean Marais and Josette Day are unforgettable and invite us to reflect on this phrase: “Love can turn a man into a beast, but love can also turn a man’s ugliness into beauty.”
Movies inspired by literary works
We cannot speak of the best French films without naming (more or less partially, according to) those films that are developed in the South of France. The “Marseille trilogy” composed of Marius (1931), Fanny (1932) and César (1936) represents on this subject one of the most illustrious testimonies of life in the city of ancient Focea and the Mediterranean spirit. The famous card game is an anthology scene and we will never tire of hearing the singing accent of the great Raimu.
The great classics
Other works deserve the greatest respect as influential as they were at the time. This is the case of the great films of the Nouvelle Vague, famous cinematographic current that has boasted great directors such as F. Truffaut (Jules and Jim), JL Godard (Contempt) or C. Chabrol (The beautiful Sergio, The Ceremony, … ).
Without belonging to specific currents, some films represent essential references that have excited generations of spectators. We cannot give an exhaustive list of these French cult films, but works such as Les enfants du Paradis by Marcel Carné (1945), The salary of fear by Heri-George Clouzot (1953), The Cherbourg umbrellas by Jacques Demy (1964) Goodbye, guys from Louis Malle (1987) or even Van Gogh from Maurice Pialat (1991) are our unreserved recommendations.
Although, obviously, a classification of the best films can only be subjective and incomplete, it is important to keep in mind that French cinema has hundreds of works that lovers of French language and culture have to know without excuses.
