French
see all genres ›Cinema was born in France (or at least the public exhibition of motion pictures) and the medium shows no signs of slowing down. France remains the go-to first stop for many film buffs seeking foreign alternatives to commercial formula since French filmmakers have a justifiable reputation for unaffected, intimately-scaled dramas of everyday life.
From the casual enthusiast to the ultimate Francophile, our collection of hundreds of French language films will fully immerse you in the rich cultures of the French speaking world. Whether you're looking to boost your knowledge of the language, or for something exciting to watch on a Friday night, this diverse selection of films has something for every mood.
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Watch French Films
Genres / International / European / French
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35 Shots of Rum
Widely hailed as one of the best films of 2009, the latest from the renowned director of BEAU TRAVAIL, Claire Denis’ sublime 35 SHOTS OF RUM is the moving story of a father and daughter whose close-knit, tender relationship is disrupted by a handsome young suitor. Sumptuously filmed and featuring...Watch Movie -
Kung-fu Master!
A lovely, bittersweet companion to JANE B. PAR AGNÈS V. from director Agnes Varda and star/muse Jane Birkin, this film has nothing to do with martial arts (the film's title comes from an arcade video game played obsessively in the film by a teenaged boy, Julien). Birkin delivers one of her finest...Watch Movie -
Santa Sangre
In the 1970s, his legendary films EL TOPO and THE HOLY MOUNTAIN redefined movies as both art and entertainment while changing the face of cinema forever. And in 1989, visionary writer/director Alejandro Jodorowsky returned with his modern masterpiece: It is the story of a young circus performer,...Watch Movie
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Daguerréotypes
A classic documentary from Agnes Varda, DAGUERREOTYPES is a wonderfully intimate portrait of the small shops and shopkeepers on a short stretch of the Rue Daguerre, a picturesque street that has been the filmmaker's home for more than 50 years. As in her films THE BEACHES OF AGNES and THE...Watch Movie -
The Bridesmaid
It's love at first sight when bridesmaid Senta falls into the life of handsome young Philippe at the wedding of his younger sister. As their passion for one another intensifies, Philippe slowly discovers that Senta is shrouded in mystery. When one day she asks Philippe to perform a terrible deed...Watch Movie
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Fear and Trembling
A dream job rapidly becomes a nightmare for Amelie, a Japanese-born Belgian woman, who suffers a series of increasingly humiliating demotions after she lands a job as an interpreter at a large Japanese corporation. Sylvie Testud earned the French equivalent of the Academy...Watch Movie -
In the City of Sylvia
A young artist searches the winding streets of Strasbourg for an old love in Jose Luis Guerin's acclaimed and exceedingly beautiful IN THE CITY OF SYLVIA. During a languid summer, a young man spends his afternoons sketching in an outdoor café. He is looking for a woman he met...Watch Movie -
The Rape of Europa
THE RAPE OF EUROPA is an epic journey through seven countries, into the violent whirlwind of fanaticism, greed, and warfare that threatened to wipe out the artistic heritage of Europe. For twelve long years, the Nazis looted and destroyed art on a scale unprecedented in...Watch Movie
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La captive
Chantal Akerman’s insinuating chamber drama distills the romantic pathologies of suspicion and control with remarkable precision. Based on the fifth volume Proust’s IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME, LA CAPTIVE treats the novel’s fetishized structures of detail and time as symptoms of a slow spreading...Watch Movie -
Réponse de femmes
1975: the "Year of the Woman." A television station gives seven female filmmakers seven minutes to answer the question "What does it mean to be a woman?" Agnès Varda answers with the cine-tract, ("Our Body: Our Sex"). Women talking about sex, desire, commercials and children...Watch Movie -
Left Foot Right Foot
Marie, a subdued young woman just emerging from adolescence, is drawn by luxury and glitter like a moth to a flame. Her life changes dramatically when she meets Olivier, a wealthy nightclub owner, who is unable to resist her disconcerting candor. Through him, she learns how to...Watch Movie
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Come Undone
This sensual gay classic COME UNDONE explores a young man's homosexual awakening and the turbulence of first love in a small French seaside town. Mathieu, a quiet 18-year-old spending the summer with his troubled family, meets the handsome and aggressive Cedric, who takes an interest in the...Watch Movie -
Bill Cunningham New York
"We all get dressed for Bill," says Vogue editrix Anna Wintour. The "Bill” in question is New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham. For decades, this Schwinn-riding cultural anthropologist has been obsessively and inventively chronicling fashion trends and high society...Watch Movie -
Le petit lieutenant
A gripping police noir, LE PETIT LIEUTENANT tells the story of Antoine, an ambitious young cop from the provinces who joins a plainclothes crime unit in Paris. Antoine spends his days eagerly awaiting his first assignment, drinking with his fellow detectives and developing an...Watch Movie
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The Beaches of Agnès
Agnès Varda takes a cinematic stroll through her career—and the history of French film—in this jovial first-person documentary that "walks backwards" across the beaches, landscapes, and movie sets of her life and times. For some, turning eighty may mean settling down, but for...Watch Movie -
I, Dalio
The great French actor, Marcel Dalio, who has the lead role in Jean Renoir's THE RULES OF THE GAME, also appears in Renoir's GRAND ILLUSION. In both films he plays a character who is Jewish, as Dalio was in real life. In fact, in most of the French films he's in the 1930s, he almost always plays...Watch Movie -
Girl on a Bicycle
Paolo, an Italian who drives a Paris tour bus, has just proposed to his true love, the German stewardess, Greta, when the young French beauty, Cécile pulls up beside his bus on her bicycle. In short order, Paolo, following some very bad advice from his friend Derek, finds...Watch Movie