French Cinema

Directed by Jean-Luc Godard.
90 minutes; released 1960.
A young French criminal hides from the police in the apartment of an American student. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Catherine Breillat.
86 minutes; released 2001.
With her family on holiday by the sea, Anaïs yearns for the experience of first love. However, she experiences it by proxy when her beautiful older sister gets involved with an older boy; her naive hopes of romance will be shattered setting a chain of events in motion that will shatter her family forever. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Maurice Pialat.
102 minutes; released 1983.
Frustrated with her home life, a confused fifteen-year-old Parisian girl flings herself at various men. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Jean-Luc Godard.
99 minutes; released 1965.
In some futuristic age, a haggard private eye is sent to an ultramodern city run by a master computer, where his mission is to locate and rescue a scientist trapped there. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud.
115 minutes; released 1992.
A young French girl has an affair with a Chinese man in 1920s Saigon. In French or English, with optional French, English, or Spanish subtitles.

Directed by François Truffaut.
95 minutes; released 1979.
A man divorces his wife and then re-encounters his teenage love. The final chapter in François Truffaut's saga about Antoine Doinel. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Éric Rohmer.
98 minutes; released 1972.
A happily-married partner in a small Paris office daydreams about other women, but has no intention of taking any action until the former mistress of an old friend decides to seduce him. In French with English subtitles.

Directed by Alain Resnais.
94 minutes; released 1961.
A man confronts a woman with whom he claims to have had an affair. In French and Italian with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Robert Bresson.
81 minutes; released 1983.
A man is arrested for passing a counterfeit note. In French with English subtitles.

Directed by Louis Malle.
92 minutes; released 1958.
A Parisian woman and her ex-paratrooper lover want to murder her husband by faking a suicide, but a crucial mistake jeopardizes their plan. Starring Jeanne Moreau. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Jean Vigo.
87 minutes; released 1934.
A village girl marries the young captain of a barge and befriends the ship's colourful sailor, but soon grows bored of married life and escapes to Paris. In French with English subtitles.

Directed by Cédric Klapisch.
122 minutes; released 2002.
A straight-laced French student has his eyes opened when he participates in an exchange program to Barcelona. In French and Spanish with optional English and Spanish subtitles.

Directed by Robert Bresson.
95 minutes; released 1966.
Bresson's masterpiece follows a much-abused donkey, Balthazar, whose life strangely parallels that of his owner. A beast of burden suffering the sins of man, Balthazar nevertheless nobly accepts his fate. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Louis Malle.
101 minutes; released 1987.
A Jewish boy is hidden from the Nazis in a French Catholic boarding school. In French with English subtitles.

Directed by Jacques Demy.
79 minutes; released 1963.
An older woman draws a young bank clerk into the world of casinos and gambling. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by François Truffaut.
91 minutes; released 1968.
A man leaves the army and re-unites with an old girlfriend. The third chapter in Truffaut's saga about Antoine Doinel. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Jean-Luc Godard.
95 minutes; released 1964.
Two young men enlist the aid of a woman to rob her aunt of a fortune. In French with English subtitles.

Directed by Jean Renoir.
89 minutes; released 1936.
A baron, forced by circumstances, gives up his life of luxury and to takes up residence in the slums of Paris. The baron observes a frustrated romance, the thwarted dreams of an actor, and the oppressive cruelties of a landlord. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo.
123 minutes; released 1966.
A film commissioned by the Algerian government that shows the Algerian revolution from both sides. The French foreign legion, fresh from their defeat in Vietnam, clash with Algerians seeking independence. The torture used by the French is contrasted with the Algerian's use of bombs in soda shops.

Directed by Jean Renoir.
96 minutes; released 1938.
An adaptation of Zola's novel about a man who witnesses a married couple commit murder, but does not report the crime because he is in love with the woman. In French with English subtitles.

Directed by Roberto Rossellini.
129 minutes; released 1972.
A feature film exploring life in seventeenth-century Europe from the perspective of the polymath Blaise Pascal.

Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville.
102 minutes; released 1956.
Bob the gambler and his friends learn that the Deauville Casino expects to pull in 800 million francs. On the night of the heist Bob plays the casino tables until the appointed time. Before the dawn breaks, some of the men and women will win, some will lose, and some will die. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Jean Renoir.
84 minutes; released 1932.
A well-off bookseller rescues a tramp from a suicidal plunge into the Seine and his family dedicates itself to reforming him. He shows his gratitude by shaking the household to its foundations, challenging the hidebound principles of his hosts. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Eric Rohmer.
23 minutes; released 1963.
In this first of Rohmer's six morality tales, a young man approaches a girl in the street, but soon after flirts with a girl at the local bakery. Eventually, he has to choose between them. In French with English subtitles.

Directed by Michael Haneke.
118 minutes; released 2005.
A talk show host and his wife and son seem to be living an ideal life until clandestinely-filmed videotapes of their private lives start to show up on their front porch. The resulting stress and fear lead to conflict, obsession, and deceit--and bring up bad memories. Starring Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil.

Directed by Bruno Nuytten.
159 minutes; released 1988.
A dramatization of the relationship between sculptor Auguste Rodin and his prodigy Camille Claudel. Starring Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Adjani. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Jean-Luc Godard.
80 minutes; released 1963.
Two peasants join the army. In French with English subtitles.

Directed by Eric Rohmer.
55 minutes; released 1963.
In this second of Rohmer's six morality tales, a story rife with complex feelings and misconceptions, two friends befriend a girl who at first appears easily exploited. In French with English subtitles.

Directed by Jean Renoir.
103 minutes; released 1953.
In this comedy, set in Central America during the 18th Century, the star of a touring theatre company tries to decide between three men: a viceroy, who gives her a golden coach; a matador, who offers her fame; and a young Spanish officer.

Directed by Jacques Becker.
94 minutes; released 1952.
At a dance hall, the members of Leca's gang are relaxing with their ladies. A story of love, death, friendship and jealousy during the Belle Epoque. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville.
140 minutes; released 1970.
After getting released from prison, an expert thief tries his luck at crime again, plotting a jewel heist with a notorious killer and an alcoholic ex-cop. Starring Alain Delon, André Bourvil, Yves Montand and Gian Maria Volont.

Directed by Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel and Benoît Poelvoorde.
96 minutes; released 1992.
A camera crew follows a serial killer/thief around as he exercises his craft. He expounds on art, music, nature, society, and life as he offs mailmen, pensioners, and random people. Slowly he begins involving the camera crew in his activities, and they begin wondering if what they're doing is such a good idea. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Luis Buñuel.
126 minutes; released 1977.
In this satire of sexual obsession, a man lusts after a much younger woman. Based on the novel by Pierre Lous. In French or English with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Clive Donner.
205 minutes; released 1993.
A dramatization of the life of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne.

Directed by Claire Denis.
106 minutes; released 1988.
A young French woman returns to West Africa to revisit her childhood in a colonial outpost in Cameroon. Starring Isaach De Bankolé and Giulia Boschi.

Directed by Luis Buñuel.
101 minutes; released 1972.
An upper-class sextet sits down to dinner but never eats, their attempts continually thwarted by a vaudevillian mixture of events both actual and imagined. Mixes biting social satire with bold surrealistic invention. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Agnès Varda.
90 minutes; released 1962.
A girl waiting for the result of a medical examination wanders around Paris thinking she has cancer. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Eric Rohmer.
87 minutes; released 1967.
A womanizing art dealer and his painter friend share a Riviera villa with a young bohemian woman whom they accuse of seducing men. In French with English subtitles.

Directed by Yves Angelo.
112 minutes; released 1994.
A man claims to be a long-lost war hero. Based on the novel by Honore de Balzac. In French with English subtitles.

Directed by Peter Watkins.
345 minutes; released 2000.
This film explores the brief, tragic period when poor working-class Parisians rose up against the bourgeois French national government in March 1871. In French with English subtitles.

Directed by Robert Bresson.
100 minutes; released 1956.
A French resistance activist is imprisoned by the Nazis and devotes all of his time to planning an elaborate escape. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Henri Georges Clouzot.
91 minutes; released 1943.
A mysterious writer of poison pen letters, known as Le Corbeau, plagues a French provincial town, unwittingly exposing the collective suspicion and fear seething beneath the community's calm surface. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Bertrand Tavernier.
128 minutes; released 1981.
After the only police officer in a small African village is ridiculed by the local pimp, cheated on by his wife, and suffers his mistresses being beaten, he begins to get rid of the evil ones in his life. In French with optional English subtitles

Directed by Raymond Bernard.
113 minutes; released 1932.
A French regiment in World War I trudges from patriotism to disillusionment. Based on the novel by Roland Dorgelès. In French, with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Robert Bresson.
85 minutes; released 1945.
To get revenge on her upper-class lover who is rapidly losing interest in her, a society lady concocts a scandalous affair between him and a prostitute. Based on the novelette by Denis Diderot. Starring Maria Casars.

Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.
129 minutes; released 1972.
Nominated for 2 Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Actor, Last Tango in Paris depicts an erotic affair between a 45-year-old American living in Paris and a 20-year-old Parisian. Starring Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider.

Directed by Jean-Luc Godard.
87 minutes; released 1967.
Juliette, a bourgeois housewife, is a loving wife and mother whose domestic moments alternate with her days and nights as a call girl. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Diane Kurys.
97 minutes; released 1977.
A lighthearted comedy about the misadventures of two teenaged sisters living in Paris in 1963. In French with English subtitles.

Directed by Henri Georges Clouzot.
116 minutes; released 1955.
When a sadistic headmaster repeatedly brutalizes his fragile wife and headstrong mistress, they murder him and dump his body in a pool. But then the body mysteriously disappears. Based on the novel by by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac.

Directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix.
123 minutes; released 1981.
A young man makes an illegal recording of a beautiful opera singer. In French or English, with optional English subtitles.

Directed by François Truffaut.
97 minutes; released 1970.
A married man with a child on-the-way has an affair and leaves his wife. The fourth chapter in François Truffaut's saga about Antoine Doinel. In French with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Jules Dassin.
118 minutes; released 1955.
Four crooks meticulously plan and carry out a perfect jewelry heist. But then things start to go wrong. In French or English with optional English subtitles.