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French Cinema
From the New Wave to poetic realism and cinéma vérité, French cinema takes many forms and offers endless delights.
Our subscription collection serves up the perfect primer, featuring undisputed masterpieces and provocative classics.
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Swimming Pool Swimming Pool
Drama 2003 102 mins Director: François Ozon
A crime novelist seeks peace but gets a dangerous muse in this twisted bilingual thriller from François Ozon.
Chocolat Chocolat
Drama 1988 100 mins Director: Claire Denis
Claire Denis' fully formed debut offers a child’s-eye-view of racial and sexual tension that bubbles with unspoken desires.

La Piscine La Piscine
Drama 1969 123 mins Director: Jacques Deray
A ménage à trois stirs passion and jealousy beside a secluded pool in this sultry, French cult-thriller.

Celine and Julie Go Boating Celine and Julie Go Boating
Drama 1974 194 mins Director: Jacques Rivette
Jacques Rivette’s biggest commercial hit is an exhilarating combination of theatricality, paranoia and ‘la vie parisienne’, around an entrancing examination of making and watching films.

The Balconettes The Balconettes
Comedy 2024 104 mins Director: Noémie Merlant
Co-written with Céline Sciamma, Noémie Merlant’s bold film follows three friends as they dispose of the body of an abuser they’ve accidentally killed.

Student Services Student Services
Drama 2010 103 mins Director: Emmanuelle Bercot
A cash-strapped student becomes an escort exposing the stark realities of economic exploitation in this uncompromising gritty French drama.

Pickpocket Pickpocket
Drama 1959 76 mins Director: Robert Bresson
Bresson’s hugely influential study of a petty thief in late 50s Paris is one of his most widely acclaimed films.

The Origin of Evil The Origin of Evil
Thriller 2022 123 mins Director: Sébastien Marnier
Laure Calamy stars in this involving thriller by Sébastien Marnier, playing an outsider tangled in a web of upper-class family malice.

Betty Blue Betty Blue
Drama 1986 185 mins Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Jean-Jacques Beineix’s story of a volatile, highly sexual relationship was one of the most successful French films of the 1980s.

Jeune & jolie Jeune & jolie
Drama 2013 93 mins Director: François Ozon
Francois Ozon’s sly and seductive account of teenage girl’s dalliance with high-class prostitution.

Pacifiction Pacifiction
Drama 2022 165 mins Director: Albert Serra
Albert Serra’s hypnotic Palme d'Or-nominated drama about the greed and hypocrisy of colonial power in Tahiti.

Eat the Night Eat the Night
Thriller 2024 107 mins Director: Caroline Poggi and Johnathan Vinel
Siblings find passion and peril online and in the real world, in this visually electric French drama.

Personal Shopper Personal Shopper
Drama 2016 106 mins Director: Olivier Assayas
Kristen Stewart plays a celebrity's personal shopper, who keeps receiving strange text messages from an unknown source.

Romance Romance
Drama 1999 98 mins Director: Catherine Breillat
Shockingly explicit, Catherine Breillat’s critically acclaimed Romance is one of the most controversial films of modern cinema.

Pauline at the Beach Pauline at the Beach
Comedy 1982 95 mins Director: Eric Rohmer
Eric Rohmer's final collaboration with the great cinematographer Néstor Almendros follows a holidaying teenager as she begins to navigate the adult world.

Sex Is Comedy Sex Is Comedy
Comedy 2002 95 mins Director: Catherine Breillat
A director struggles to film a difficult sex scene with two actors who hate each other, in Catherine Breillat's exploration of intimacy coordination.

Àma Gloria Àma Gloria
Drama 2023 84 mins Director: Marie Amachoukeli
Six-year-old Cléo spends a final summer with her beloved nanny Gloria, in this profoundly moving story of chosen family, duty and innocence lost.

La Haine La Haine
Drama 1995 98 mins Director: Mathieu Kassovitz
Mathieu Kassovitz’s landmark mid-90s drama throws a cinematic Molotov cocktail at structural racism, police brutality and media manipulation.

The Passion of Joan of Arc The Passion of Joan of Arc
Biopic 1928 80 mins Silent Director: Carl Th. Dreyer
An incontestable masterpiece of silent cinema, Carl Dreyer's moving biopic features one of the most powerful performances ever captured on film.

Red Island Red Island
Drama 2023 117 mins Director: Robin Campillo
Writer-director Robin Campillo offers an exploration of memory and politics, in this boldly conceived story of boyhood in 1970s Madagascar.

The New Girlfriend The New Girlfriend
Melodrama 2014 108 mins Director: François Ozon
Ruth Rendell provides the source novel for this delicious tale of deception and identity, from the master of mischievous melodrama, François Ozon.
The 400 Blows The 400 Blows
Drama 1959 100 mins Director: François Truffaut
François Truffaut’s French New Wave landmark is one of the greatest movies about adolescence.

The Green Ray The Green Ray
Drama 1986 99 mins Director: Eric Rohmer
Eric Rohmer's masterpiece about a woman chasing romance and adventure during a long, hot summer.

Bande à part Bande à part
Crime 1964 95 mins Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Godard's playful tribute to the Hollywood pulp crime movies of the 1940s, executed with typically Gallic cool.

The Gleaners & I The Gleaners & I
Documentary 2000 79 mins Director: Agnès Varda
Agnès Varda’s award-winning study of those living on the margins of French society at the turn of the millennium.

The Wages of Fear The Wages of Fear
Crime 1953 153 mins Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Henri-Georges Clouzot's classic, nail-biting suspense thriller won both The Golden Bear and the Palme d'Or in 1953.

The Woman Next Door The Woman Next Door
Drama 1981 105 mins Director: François Truffaut
Happily married Bernard (Gérard Depardieu) has his life is thrown into turmoil when Mathilde (Fanny Ardant) - an old flame - moves into the house opposite.

Shoah (Second Era) Shoah (Second Era)
Documentary 1985 293 mins Director: Claude Lanzmann
Claude Lanzmann's monumental chronicle of the Holocaust has been acclaimed by many as the greatest documentary ever made.

Love on the Run Love on the Run
Drama 1978 94 mins Director: François Truffaut
Separated from Christine and uncertain about his latest relationship, Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) has finally written a novel inspired by his own experiences in this final chapter of François Truffaut’s series.

Shoah (First Era) Shoah (First Era)
Documentary 1985 274 mins Director: Claude Lanzmann
Claude Lanzmann's monumental chronicle of the Holocaust has been acclaimed by many as the greatest documentary ever made.

Eyes without a Face Eyes without a Face
Horror 1959 90 mins Director: Georges Franju
Georges Franju’s gorgeous, poetic horror film about a surgeon’s dark obsession with restoring his daughter’s disfigured face.

The Aviator's Wife The Aviator's Wife
Drama 1980 106 mins Director: Eric Rohmer
A bittersweet fable about a young man's jealous pursuits; the first film in Eric Rohmer's six-film series, Comedies and Proverbs.

The Last Metro The Last Metro
Romance 1979 132 mins Director: François Truffaut
Catherine Deneuve shines as the director and lead actor of a Parisian theatre struggling to survive under the Nazi occupation in Truffaut's wartime drama.

La Peau Douce La Peau Douce
Drama 1964 118 mins Director: François Truffaut
Truffaut’s Palme d'Or-nominated account of an ill-starred adulterous affair boasts Hitchcockian precision and pitch-perfect performances.

Bed and Board Bed and Board
Drama 1970 97 mins Director: François Truffaut
In this typically ambivalent comedy from Truffaut, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) becomes a father... But is he mature enough for parenthood?

Orphée Orphée
Drama 1950 96 mins Director: Jean Cocteau
Magical retelling of the Orpheus myth by poet, playwright, artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau.

La Belle et la Bête La Belle et la Bête
Fantasy 1946 95 mins Director: Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau’s ravishingly restored 1946 film is a cinematic classic. “Five stars. [This] magical exploration of the fairytale is a compelling and bizarre masterpiece” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Stolen Kisses Stolen Kisses
Comedy 1968 91 mins Director: François Truffaut
Naively idealistic and largely inept both in his dealings with women and in any job, Antoine clumsily courts Christine while working for a private detective agency.

Haute Tension Haute Tension
Horror 2003 93 mins Director: Alexandre Aja
Alexandre Aja defined a new breed of horror by bringing the American slasher format into French cinema.

Jules et Jim Jules et Jim
Drama 1962 106 mins Director: François Truffaut
François Truffaut’s hugely popular classic depicts one of cinema’s most captivating love triangles

Les Enfants Terribles Les Enfants Terribles
Drama 1949 106 mins Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Jean-Pierre Melville’s film of Jean Cocteau's controversial novel about a teenage brother and sister and their intense, closeted relationship.

L'Argent L'Argent
Crime 1983 84 mins Director: Robert Bresson
Bresson’s superb final film and Cannes winner is a Tolstoy adaptation relating how a prank with a forged bank note leads to tragedy.

Lips of Blood Lips of Blood
Horror 1975 87 mins Director: Jean Rollin
Jean Rollin’s hauntingly poetic horror about a man trying to solve the riddle of a tormenting childhood memory.

The Valley (Obscured by Clouds) The Valley (Obscured by Clouds)
Drama 1972 105 mins Director: Barbet Schroeder
Different worlds collide when a chic young diplomat's wife meets an intriguing adventurer and his hippy friends in Barbet Schroeder's striking second feature.

Maitresse Maitresse
Drama 1976 113 mins Director: Barbet Schroeder
Gerard Depardieu plays the young innocent who falls for the mysterious maitresse Ariane (Bulle Ogier), a leather clad dominatrix, in Barbet Schroeder’s controversial film.

More More
Drama 1969 116 mins Director: Barbet Schroeder
The first feature by Barbet Schroeder (Maîtresse, The Valley), More created a sensation when it was released in 1969, quickly becoming a cult classic and famed for its Pink Floyd soundtrack.