French Cinema

Judith Chemla shines in this Guy de Maupassant adaptation, a tale spanning 20 years of a woman’s life.

Isabelle Huppert gives an unforgettable performance in Paul Verhoeven’s provocative thriller about one woman’s response to a violent attack.

Director Bertrand Tavernier guides us on a fascinating voyage through French film history, from the 1930s through to the '70s.

Francois Ozon’s sly and seductive account of teenage girl’s dalliance with high-class prostitution.

Mia Hansen-Løve’s stylish and transcendent story of house music is one of the great films about dance culture.

The pangs and pains of young love are artfully and respectfully rendered in this subtle and sensitive drama from Mia Hansen-Løve (Eden).

In the tough suburbs of Paris, sixteen-year-old Marieme decides to reinvent herself when she joins a girl gang.

Godard’s stunning, colour widescreen account of the wild journey of ‘the last romantic couple’, Pierrot (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and his lover Marianne (Karina).

Jean-Luc Godard’s venture into sci-fi pits secret agent Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) on a mission to destroy the malevolent supercomputer, Alpha 60.

Ruth Rendell provides the source novel for this delicious tale of deception and identity, from the master of mischievous melodrama, François Ozon.

When Alice takes a job as a ship’s engineer her fidelity towards her shore-bound fiancé is tested when she discovers a former lover is the ship’s captain.

High-school students start a private orgy society in Eva Husson’s dazzlingly shot, no-holds-barred drama.

Academy Award-winner Marion Cotillard’s collaboration with Cannes Festival-favourites Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne is a stunning, tense drama about a woman’s race against time to save her job.

Jérôme Salle's candid biopic of the underwater explorer and photographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau is a bold tribute to the lure of the sea.

Jean-Jacques Beineix’s story of a volatile, highly sexual relationship was one of the most successful French films of the 1980s.

Claire Denis’ moody and atmospheric thriller about an absent brother returning to the fold to investigate his family’s murky secrets.

The long-awaited second feature from Lucile Hadžihalilović (Innocence) is a gorgeously surreal coming-of-age tale laced with bizarre body-horror.

Ziad Doueiri’s provocative Lila Says is a sun-drenched romance full of sensuality, secrets, and tragedy.

The epic, passionate and strikingly naturalistic Palme d'Or-winning romance.

The film that inspired a wave of British migration to Provence, Claude Berri’s magical evocation of a bygone rustic France, with Gerard Depardieu.

The sequel to Jean de Florette concludes the Provencal period saga about two farming clans, headed by Emmanuelle Béart and Daniel Auteuil.

Jacques Audiard’s award-winning prison drama chronicles the rites of passage and eventual rise to power of a young French Arab. Tough, taut, truthful

Rust and Bone is as punchy and abrasive as its title suggests – but intensely moving and surprisingly poetic too.

Jean-Luc Godard’s typically innovative and playful meditation on technology, love and language was acclaimed one of the best films of 2014.

Godard’s colourful and exuberant tribute to the Hollywood musical, with Anna Karina, Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Jean-Claude Brialy.

A gay pick-up turns into a dangerous game of betrayal and violence in this slyly subversive and compelling thriller.

The stunning, BAFTA-winning drama stars Kristin Scott Thomas as an ex-con starting afresh after a fifteen-year prison sentence.

A broken soldier guards a tycoon's family in this involving thriller with hints of Taxi Driver, starring Matthias Schoenaerts and Diane Kuger.

Jessica Hausner’s cool, compassionate exploration of religious faith follows various believers and non-believers hoping for miracle cures in Lourdes

Robert Bresson’s pared-down style elicits extraordinary pathos from this devastating tale of an abused donkey passing from owner to owner.