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French Classics
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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La HaineLa Haine
Drama199598 minsDirector: Mathieu Kassovitz
Mathieu Kassovitz’s landmark mid-90s drama throws a cinematic Molotov cocktail at structural racism, police brutality and media manipulation.

Le MéprisLe Mépris
Drama1963103 minsDirector: Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard conducts an autopsy of love and the creative process, as a boorish film producer dismantles a seemingly strong marriage.

Breathless / À bout de souffleBreathless / À bout de souffle
Film noir196090 minsDirector: Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard’s extraordinary debut feature, an insouciant and iconoclastic crime film that paved the way for the French New Wave.

GirlhoodGirlhood
Drama2014113 minsDirector: Céline Sciamma
In the tough suburbs of Paris, sixteen-year-old Marieme decides to reinvent herself when she joins a girl gang.

TomboyTomboy
Drama201182 minsDirector: Céline Sciamma
Tender drama from Céline Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Girlhood) about a ten-year-old child exploring a new gender identity.

RomanceRomance
Drama199998 minsDirector: Catherine Breillat
Shockingly explicit, Catherine Breillat’s critically acclaimed Romance is one of the most controversial films of modern cinema.

Rust and BoneRust and Bone
Drama2012123 minsDirector: Jacques Audiard
Rust and Bone is as punchy and abrasive as its title suggests – but intensely moving and surprisingly poetic too.

A Prophet (Un prophète)A Prophet (Un prophète)
Crime2009156 minsDirector: Jacques Audiard
Jacques Audiard’s award-winning crime drama chronicles the rites of passage and eventual rise to power of a young French Arab. Tough, taut, truthful.

DheepanDheepan
Drama2015115 minsDirector: Jacques Audiard
Jacques Audiard’s soul-stirring Palme d’Or winner tells of a veteran Tamil Tiger guerrilla who finds fresh violence in his new life in Paris.

La ChinoiseLa Chinoise
Drama196796 minsDirector: Jean-Luc Godard
“The revolution is not a dinner-party.” Jean-Luc Godard's mix of mordant satire, pedagogical treatise, political tract, and pop-artwork.

AlphavilleAlphaville
Detective drama196599 minsDirector: Jean-Luc Godard
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.

Vivre sa vieVivre sa vie
Drama196283 minsDirector: Jean-Luc Godard
Anna Karina shines in Jean-Luc Godard’s critically acclaimed account of a Parisian woman's slow descent into prostitution.

Betty BlueBetty Blue
Drama1986185 minsDirector: 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.

La belle époqueLa belle époque
Comedy2019115 minsDirector: Nicolas Bedos
Daniel Auteuil’s illustrator is given the chance to visit a different era to re-evaluate his life in this resplendent and absurdly enjoyable French comedy.

One Deadly SummerOne Deadly Summer
Crime1983134 minsDirector: Jean Becker
A summer of love turns into a dark tale of revenge. This compelling film by Jean Becker features a stunning Isabelle Adjani in one of her most extraordinary performances.

Eyes without a FaceEyes without a Face
Horror196090 minsDirector: Georges Franju
Georges Franju’s gorgeous, poetic horror film about a surgeon’s dark obsession with restoring his daughter’s disfigured face.

Belle de JourBelle de Jour
Drama1967100 minsDirector: Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel's provocative classic about a bored and neglected housewife (Catherine Deneuve) risks her reputation to take up a daring new hobby.

The Discreet Charm of the BourgeoisieThe Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Comedy197297 minsDirector: Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel's Oscar®-winning black comedy follows a group of wealthy friends who, for increasingly absurd and fanciful reasons, cannot manage to have a meal.

Le cercle rougeLe cercle rouge
Crime1970135 minsDirector: Jean-Pierre Melville
Jean-Pierre Melville 's magisterial, epic heist movie centring on on the preparation, execution and aftermath of a lengthy, daring and meticulously planned jewel-robbery.

Army of ShadowsArmy of Shadows
War1969139 minsDirector: Jean-Pierre Melville
A faithful adaptation of Joseph Kessel’s celebrated novel about the French Resistance, this is also Melville’s most profoundly personal film.

Le DoulosLe Doulos
Film noir1963105 minsDirector: Jean-Pierre Melville
The first in Jean-Pierre Melville’s great series of thrillers is a dazzlingly intricate tale of deadly suspicion and betrayal.

Pauline at the BeachPauline at the Beach
Drama198295 minsDirector: Eric Rohmer
Eric Rohmer's final collaboration with the great cinematographer Nestor Almendros follows a holidaying teenager as she begins to navigate the adult world.

The Green RayThe Green Ray
Drama198699 minsDirector: Eric Rohmer
Eric Rohmer's masterpiece about a woman chasing romance and adventure during a long, hot summer.

The Aviator's WifeThe Aviator's Wife
Drama1980106 minsDirector: 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.

La Grande BouffeLa Grande Bouffe
Comedy1973130 minsDirector: Marco Ferreri
Marco Ferreri's provocative and controversial satire about four friends who retreat to a country mansion with the intention of eating themselves to death.

Immoral TalesImmoral Tales
Anthology1974103 minsDirector: Walerian Borowczyk
Walerian Borowczyk presents four stories of sexual taboos throughout the ages, in his highly controversial classic of 1970s erotic cinema.

The BeastThe Beast
Comedy197598 minsDirector: Walerian Borowczyk
An outrageous classic of erotic cinema, Walerian Borowczyk’s playful and subversive fantasy finds a horny heiress courting the ravenous desires of a wild beast.

Shoah (First Era)Shoah (First Era)
Documentary1985274 minsDirector: Claude Lanzmann
Claude Lanzmann's monumental chronicle of the Holocaust has been acclaimed by many as the greatest documentary ever made.

Shoah (Second Era)Shoah (Second Era)
Documentary1985293 minsDirector: Claude Lanzmann
Claude Lanzmann's monumental chronicle of the Holocaust has been acclaimed by many as the greatest documentary ever made.

Two in the WaveTwo in the Wave
Documentary200992 minsDirector: Emmanuel Laurent
Jean Luc-Godard and Francois Truffaut: the story of a friendship, a break-up and the birth of a new cinematic movement that would sweep the world.

OrphéeOrphée
Drama195096 minsDirector: Jean Cocteau
Magical retelling of the Orpheus myth by poet, playwright, artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau.

La Belle et la BêteLa Belle et la Bête
Fantasy194695 minsDirector: 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

Les Enfants TerriblesLes Enfants Terribles
Drama1949106 minsDirector: 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.

The Valley (Obscured by Clouds)The Valley (Obscured by Clouds)
Drama1972105 minsDirector: 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.

MoreMore
Drama1969116 minsDirector: 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.

MaitresseMaitresse
Drama1976113 minsDirector: 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.

Trans-Europ-ExpressTrans-Europ-Express
Thriller196695 minsDirector: Alain Robbe-Grillet
This stylish, cult 1966 erotic thriller stars French New Wave icons Jean-Louis Trintigant and Marie-France Pisier.

Successive Slidings of PleasureSuccessive Slidings of Pleasure
Drama1974106 minsDirector: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Alain Robbe-Grillet’s serpentine erotic mystery presented as a surreal investigation into a woman with feared sexual powers.

Eden and AfterEden and After
Drama196998 minsDirector: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Alain Robbe-Grillet’s sensual fantasy follows a group of students who enter a bizarre sado-masochistic realm after taking a mysterious drug.

The Passion of Joan of ArcThe Passion of Joan of Arc
Biopic192780 minsSilentDirector: Carl Th. Dreyer
An incontestable masterpiece of silent cinema, Carl Dreyer's deeply moving biopic features one of the most powerful performances ever captured on film.

La Règle du jeuLa Règle du jeu
Drama1939102 minsDirector: Jean Renoir
Renoir's depiction of an intransigent society teetering towards disaster was derided upon release and only later acclaimed as one of cinema’s most vital films.

Partie de campagnePartie de campagne
Period drama193639 minsDirector: Jean Renoir
On a country picnic, a young girl leaves her family for a while and succumbs to an all-too-brief romance in Jean Renoir's sensuous tribute to the countryside.

Celine and Julie Go BoatingCeline and Julie Go Boating
Drama1974194 minsDirector: 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.

Paris Nous AppartientParis Nous Appartient
Drama1961142 minsDirector: Jacques Rivette
Remarkable first feature from cinematic visionary Jacques Rivette, brilliantly capturing the mood of paranoia and uncertainty of the Cold War period.

Fantastic PlanetFantastic Planet
Animation & Artists Moving Image197372 minsDirector: René Laloux
René Laloux and Roland Topor’s surreal, psychedelic sci-fi animation imagines a world in which humanoid creatures are kept as pets by a race of giants.

Irma VepIrma Vep
Drama199699 minsDirector: Olivier Assayas
Olivier Assayas' sexy and stylish ode to the madness of filmmaking, with Maggie Cheung as the Hong Kong movie star playing a Catwoman-style anti-heroine.

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