French Cinema

[Great Gable]

It seems that a thread specifically covering French Cinema is called for - so here we are.

Before kicking off, these are just my personal perceptions and preferences, not de facto and I don't expect or desire agreement - just discussion.

I'll opine that France has stood almost alone, in the last 20 years, in making films that have great integrity and an ability to convey atmosphere, which Holywood has all but lost. Their use of music being a prime example of this. To my mind, Holywood use music excessively, with little thought to atmosphere or content. It's inclusion in films is often with a mind to post release marketing and merchandising. The French film industry use music propitiously - the right amount, the right piece and the use of silence wherever possible. It is my belief that atmosphere is obtained by ambient sounds and usually (but not exclusively) spoilt by the use of music - an opinion that is certainly not shared by Hollywood and often not by film fans.

I own the following French films on DVD

Alphaville, Une Etrange Aventure de Lemmy Caution - Criterion Special Edition
Amants Du Pont-Neuf, Les (aka The Lovers on the Bridge)
Amelie (aka Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amélie Poulain)
Armée Des Ombres, L'  (aka Army In The Shadows)
Bandera, La
Bob Le Flambeur
Bon Voyage
Bossu, Le
Breathless (aka "A Bout De Souffle")
Bride Wore Black, The (aka La Mariee Etait En Noir)
Brotherhood Of The Wolf (aka Le Pacte Des Loups)
Cercle Rouge, Le (aka The Red Circle) - Criterion Special Edition
City of Lost Children (Dubbed version) (aka La Cité des Enfants Perdus)
Clockmaker, The (aka L' Horloger de Saint-Paul)
Confidentially Yours  (aka Vivement Dimanche!) (aka Finally Sunday)
Corbeau, Le (aka The Raven)
Crimson Rivers 2:Angels Of The Apocalypse (aka Rivières Pourpres II, Les Anges de L'Apocalypse)
Crimson Rivers, The - Special Edition (aka Rivières Pourpres, Les)
Crying Freeman  (dubious inclusion - given it's English Languauge - and I have to say - it is DIRE)
Death In A French Garden (aka Péril en la Demeure)
Delicatessen
Diabolique, Les - Criterion Special Edition
Diva
Doulos, Le (Wide Screen)
Egouts Du Paradis, Les
Empire of the Wolves (aka L' Empire des Loups)
Espions, Les
Femme Nikita, La
Flic, Un (aka Dirty Money)
Girl From Paris, The (aka Une Hirondelle a Fait le Printemps)
Girl On The Bridge, The (aka La Fille sur le Pont)
Grande Illusion, La - Criterion Special Edition
Happenstance ( aka Le Battement d'ailes du Papillon)
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (aka À la Folie... Pas du Tout)
Homme Du Train, L'
Horseman on the Roof, The (aka Le Hussard Sur le Toit)
Jean de Florette
Lady And The Duke (aka L' Anglaise et le Duc)
Laissez-Passer (aka Safe Conduct)
L'Appartement
Last Metro, The (aka Le Dernier Metro)
Lift to the Scaffold (aka Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud / aka Elevator to the Gallows)
Lucie Aubrac
Ma Vie Est Un Enfer (aka My Life Is Hell)
Man Escaped, A (aka Un Condamné à Mort S'est Echappé)
Manon de Sources (aka Manon Of The Spring)
More
My Father's Glory (aka La Gloire De Mon Pere)
My Mother's Castle (aka La Chateau De Ma Mere)
Olivier, Olivier
Paltoquet, Le [1986]
Pepe Le Moko - Criterion Special Edition
Place Vendome
Professionnel, Le (aka The Professional)
Pura Formalita, Una (aka A Pure Formality)
Quai Des Orfevres (aka Jenny Lamour) - Criterion Special Edition
Reine Margot, La (aka Queen Margot)
Revenge of the Musketeers (aka La Fille de d'Artagnan)
Rififi - Criterion Special Edition (aka Du Rififi Chez Les Hommes)
Samouraï, Le - Criterion Special Edition
Sorrow And The Pity, The (aka Le Chagrin et la Pitié)
Subway
Sunday In The Country (aka Un Dimanche à la Campagne)
Trois Couleurs: Blanc (aka "Three Colours: White")
Trois Couleurs: Bleu (aka "Three Colours: Blue")
Trois Couleurs: Rouge (aka "Three Colours: Red")
Trou, Le (aka The Hole) - Criterion Special Edition
Vallee, La (aka "The Valley - Obscured By Clouds")
Very Long Engagement, A (aka Un Long Dimanche De Fiancailles)
Veuve De Saint-Pierre, La (aka "The Widow of Saint-Pierre")
Visiteurs, Les
Wages Of Fear, The (aka "La Salaire De La Peur") - Criterion Special Edition

[Harry]

Most of them I have also, but it will take me quite a while, to list all the French films I have, see, I forgot to build up a database. One day I will hire a student, to do that for me.
In the mean time my contribution has to wait, alas, but many film buffs will have their say in this, I am sure.....
Tis a good list GG!

[Great Gable]

Most of them I have also, but it will take me quite a while, to list all the French films I have, see, I forgot to build up a database. One day I will hire a student, to do that for me.
In the mean time my contribution has to wait, alas, but many film buffs will have their say in this, I am sure.....
Tis a good list GG!

Hire a student! Give me strength Harry! 

I have to maintain lists for insurance purposes. My collection is small compared to yours (3950 CDs and 1550 DVDs) but keeping records is essential as even a modest collection is outside the scope of normal insurance.

[Harry]

Hire a student! Give me strength Harry! 

I have to kep lists - for insurance purposes. My collection is small compared to yours (3950 CDs and 1550 DVDs) but keeping records is essential as even a modest collection is outside the scope of normal insurance.

I have a special arrangement with my insurance.
I simply did not expect so many in so short a time, that's all.
And I would not call your collection small my friend.

[Great Gable]

I have a special arrangement with my insurance.
I simply did not expect so many in so short a time, that's all.
And I would not call your collection small my friend.

Well I did say in comparison to yours. I read, only this morning in the Saturday Times, of a guy who has 35,000 CDs. He is a music journalist but even he admitted it was about 30,000 too many, in terms of practical use during his lifetime.

We digress - back to the subject.

[longears]

I'll opine that France has stood almost alone, in the last 20 years, in making films that have great integrity and an ability to convey atmosphere, which Holywood has all but lost.

Not just French film, but German, Canadian, Scottish, Italian, Australian, Dutch, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese, and so on, as well as independent American films.

Hmmm...I wonder if Coup de torchon is on DVD?

[Great Gable]

Not just French film, but German, Canadian, Scottish, Italian, Australian, Dutch, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese, and so on, as well as independent American films.

Hmmm...I wonder if Coup de torchon is on DVD?

Yes, it is.

[Millfields]

Hey Gable,
Impressive list you have. I think I have only watched Breathless from the list which was a great film. What would you advise as a top 10 recommendation for newbies to the genre such as myself?

cheers

[Great Gable]

Hey Gable,
Impressive list you have. I think I have only watched Breathless from the list which was a great film. What would you advise as a top 10 recommendation for newbies to the genre such as myself?

cheers

I'll give that some thought - I won't be able to stick to 10 but let me see.

[Great Gable]

Millfields - as requested. As you can see ten was utterly impossible. Remember, these are my favourites - NOT necessarily what I, or others, may consider to be the BEST French films.

Amelie - Quirky, charming, funny, romantic (usually a quality I would avoid like the plague) and GREEN.

Armée Des Ombres, L'  (aka Army In The Shadows) - Understated film about the Resistance - heroic.and at times brutal.

Bossu, Le - Swashbuckling romp along the lines of the Three Musketeers

Brotherhood Of The Wolf (aka Le Pacte Des Loups) - Odd amalgam of mystery and martial arts set in France of 1765 - yet it all works. Visually stunning with a great soundtrack

Cercle Rouge, Le (aka The Red Circle) - Jewellery heist with a fantastic robbery section set in complete silence

Death In A French Garden (aka Péril en la Demeure) - Elaborate mystery surrounding a music teacher,his affair with a pupil's mother and a hit-man. The most original use of scene transposition and great music - Schubert and Granados.

Delicatessen - Post apocalyptic black comedy, where a local grocer feeds the inhabitants of an apartment building on meat - but where does it come from? Bizarre but great fun. Another GREEN film.

Diabolique, Les -Wife and mistress of a sadistic school-teacher plot to kill him. They drown him in the bathtub and dump the body in the school's  swimming pool... but when the pool is drained, the body has disappeared! What follows is really creepy and suspenseful. A classic.

Diva - Stylish film about a motorcycle delivery rider's obsession with an opera singer, a tape mixup, and an ingenious escape from the two groups of pursuers - features Catalani's" La Wally"

Doulos, Le - Gangster flick about betrayal and revenge

Flic, Un (aka Dirty Money) - Hitchcockian bank heist

Grande Illusion, La - WW1 prison camp drama

Jean de Florette - City boy moves to the country to what he thinks is a pastoral idyll. Watch your neighbours!

L'Appartement - Passion, coincidences and plot twists

Lucie Aubrac - Another Frech resistance film - this time with regard to what lengths a wife will go to to affect her husband's release from the Gestapo

Man Escaped, A (aka Un Condamné à Mort S'est Echappé) - Another man imprisoned by the Gestapo - intriguing escape plans afoot again

Manon de Sources (aka Manon Of The Spring) - Daughter of Jean de Florette dishes out her revenge on the villlage that brought her father's life to a premature end

My Father's Glory (aka La Gloire De Mon Pere) - Funny, nostalgic and charming - seen from the eyes of two brothers and the freidn they make at their holiday home, set in the dry heat of the Provence

My Mother's Castle (aka La Chateau De Ma Mere) - Sequel to the above. A short cut through a private estate and the eccentric people they meet on their journeys

Olivier, Olivier - Boy goes missing and turns up years later. Is it really him?

Pepe Le Moko - Gangster flic set in the Algiers Casbah and the cops attempts to capture the anti-hero.

Rififi (aka Du Rififi Chez Les Hommes) - Fabulous safe-cracking drama

Samouraï, Le - Stylish drama about an emotionless hitman whose life is put in dangre when his latest hit is witnessed and he is arrested

Trou, Le (aka The Hole) - Fabulous prison break drama - ingenuity personified

Wages Of Fear, The (aka "La Salaire De La Peur") - Stunning drama about a bunch of losers hired to transport lorry loads of nitroglycerine over a treachorous mountain pass

[Montpellier]

I have but a few compared with these great collections.  One or two by Alain Resnais - in fact it was his work on Robbe-Grillet's
L'année dernière à Marienbad that snared me.  I couldn't get on with Hiroshima but liked the later Murielle, then Je t'aime, je t'aime, but he seems to have lost it on his most recent work.  Also have a few early Brigitte Bardot films and most of Jean Reno's.     



   

[Solitary Wanderer]

Great list Simon and great thread idea!

I will go through your titles and hopefully be able to comment on a few. 

[Great Gable]

Great list Simon and great thread idea!

I will go through your titles and hopefully be able to comment on a few. 

Oo-er Chris - I feel like I'm going up before the Beak!

[Solitary Wanderer]

Oo-er Chris - I feel like I'm going up before the Beak!

Not to worry. I haven't actually explored French cinema per se, so my knowledge is very limited.

From your original list theres only about a dozen I think I've seen. Maybe a few more...

Your highligh list is a better starting point for me and I'm definately interested in these four movies to start:

Jean de Florette - City boy moves to the country to what he thinks is a pastoral idyll. Watch your neighbours!

Manon de Sources (aka Manon Of The Spring) - Daughter of Jean de Florette dishes out her revenge on the villlage that brought her father's life to a premature end

My Father's Glory (aka La Gloire De Mon Pere) - Funny, nostalgic and charming - seen from the eyes of two brothers and the freidn they make at their holiday home, set in the dry heat of the Provence

My Mother's Castle (aka La Chateau De Ma Mere) - Sequel to the above. A short cut through a private estate and the eccentric people they meet on their journeys

Just the cover art makes my heart swell! 

[M forever]

There is some truth in what you say. French films have a lot of what, for instance, German films are often totally lacking - namely style, and they are often far more original and "daring" than many American and British productions aimed at the large international market. However, the influence of so-called "classic Hollywood" movies especially on French film makers of the 50s and 60s must not be underestimated.

How come you don't have stuff like "Le grand bleu", "L'homme de Rio", "La tulipe noire" - too obvious, too mainstream, too often on TV? - or "Tous les matins du monde" - that seems to be lacking in the collection of someone who also listens to "classical" music. And what about "Ascenseur pour l'échafaud", a real classic with haunting music by Miles Davis?   

Brotherhood Of The Wolf (aka Le Pacte Des Loups) - Odd amalgam of mystery and martial arts set in France of 1765 - yet it all works. Wonderful to look at and a great soundtrack

Very odd indeed, but a great movie, very original and a lot of atmoshpere (and style again), one of the best "action" films I have seen. Great photography, too.

Ever heard of "L'appât" (which means "the bait" but I have no idea if that was ever released in English)? Pretty good film, too, about a young girl who hooks up in bars with rich lonely older men, and when they take her home, she lets her friends in and they rob them. Except for one time, things go really wrong.

[Great Gable]

There is some truth in what you say. French films have a lot of what, for instance, German films are often totally lacking - namely style, and they are often far more original and "daring" than many American and British productions aimed at the large international market. However, the influence of so-called "classic Hollywood" movies especially on French film makers of the 50s and 60s must not be underestimated.

How come you don't have stuff like "Le grand bleu", "L'homme de Rio", "La tulipe noire" - too obvious, too mainstream, too often on TV? - or "Tous les matins du monde" - that seems to be lacking in the collection of someone who also listens to "classical" music. And what about "Ascenseur pour l'échafaud", a real classic with haunting music by Miles Davis?   

Very odd indeed, but a great movie, very original and a lot of atmoshpere (and style again), one of the best "action" films I have seen. Great photography, too.

Ever heard of "L'appât" (which means "the bait" but I have no idea if that was ever released in English)? Pretty good film, too, about a young girl who hooks up in bars with rich lonely older men, and when they take her home, she lets her friends in and they rob them. Except for one time, things go really wrong.

Agreed about the Hollywood of the 50's. A very good reason for it's wide-reaching influence - they made bloody good films back in the 40's and 50's - before commercialism took hold and integrity took a back seat.

I don't know the titles "Le grand bleu", "L'homme de Rio", "La tulipe noire" (the last two are not available on DVD) (or L'appât")- hence not in the collection. "Tous les Matins..." is on my wants list - I did see it a few years ago and enjoyed it.

I do have "Ascenseur pour l'échafaud" - it's in my original post. That's one I only just got and have never seen.

[Great Gable]

There was a time when a lot of French movies got shown on British TV - whcih is how I got into them in the first place. They rarely get aired now - even on digital TV. Although they recently have been showing "Army in the Shadows" on Film4. And of course Amelie gets shown every couple of weeks - or so it seems!

[M forever]

Agreed about the Hollywood of the 50's. A very good reason for it's wide-reaching influence - they made bloody good films back in the 40's and 50's - before commercialism took hold and integrity took a back seat.

Well, films were always made for commercial reasons, including and especially those made in the old Hollywood studio system, and most of the French titles you listed, too. I think I do understand what you mean though, a lot of movies which come out today are just recycled clichés and product placement vehicles. Although one could argue it has always been like that - only that of the millions of old movies, only a few today are remembered as classics. But they also cranked out a lot of crap in the days of the classics. Only we don't get to see that stuff anymore.

I don't know the titles "Le grand bleu"

Really? That was such a huge megahit in Europe in the 80s, and (at least in Berlin) it was regularly shown later because of its stunning visual quality (as the title suggests, there is a lot of blue in the movie  ), and the same is true for France of course - they even made new 70mm prints of it a few years ago, something that happens very rarely these days, given the horrendous costs for the prints and the fact that only few cinemas can even still play them.

"L'homme de Rio", "La tulipe noire" (the last two are not available on DVD) (or L'appât")- hence not in the collection.

I just checked because I couldn't believe that. They are all available on DVD, at least from amazon.fr.

[Great Gable]

I just checked because I couldn't believe that. They are all available on DVD, at least from amazon.fr.

That, for a non-French speaker is the equivalent of not being available. Most of the films released ONLY in France do not come with Englich subtitles. Bizarre but there you have it. Another example of that is "Le Grand Chemin" - one of my faves but French version only.

Regarding France vs Hollywood. Many of my favourite fims of all time are from England and USA during the 40's and 50's. None of my favourites come from either country since around 1990. My favourite French films come from all eras, which speaks volumes.

One depressing point, however, is that the terrible modern trend for wobbly, so-called documentary style, camera work has now filtered into French cinema. Ah well - nothing good ever lasts!

I must say M, that if something is a "mega-hit" I usually avaoid it. For example, I didn't watch "The Exorcist" for about 15 years due to the original hype. It is often the case that if it's popular I won't like it.

[Harry]

One depressing point, however, is that the terrible modern trend for wobbly, so-called documentary style, camera work has now filtered into French cinema.

That style ruins good cinema. Have a few Swedish films, that just have such a style, and its giving me a headache, allthough I like the films very much.
What I wonder about is, that nobody talks about the bad transfers of older films. That,....seems not important, but for me its a major drawback to buy films. Not long ago a firm in Holland started a series on Chinese films, with some yummy titles, until I saw the transfers, o,well, 8 euro's a film did not bode well huh?
Such a shame.
Again, try "Kaos", and you see why I cry......