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| Le
Trou
Jacques Becker (1960) |
Plein
soleil
René Clément (1960) |
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Becker's
final film is his best, an uncompromisingly hard-edged realist portrait
of a prison break-out attempt, offering a compelling study of human nature.
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The
talented Alain Delon plays the original Mr Ripley in this sumptuous yet
chilling adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's thriller novel.
[More...] |
| Moderato
cantabile
Peter Brook (1960) |
Tirez
sur le pianiste
François Truffaut (1960) |
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A
frustrated housewife witnesses a murder and places herself in the power
of s stranger to relive the same drama. A haunting elegy in self-realisation
magnificently portrayed by Jeanne Moreau.
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The
first and best of Truffaut's crime thrillers captures perfectly the mood
of the American film noir and stars Charles Aznavour in probably his best
screen role.
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| L'Année
dernière à Marienbad
Alain Resnais (1961) |
La
Jetée
Chris Marker (1962) |
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A
love triangle set in a baroque mansion offers a haunting study in time,
space and memory. Resnais' dream-like film is not just a masterpiece,
it is a compelling cinematographic innovation.
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A
short but captivating film in which the memories of survivor of a post-apocalyptic
world provide mankind's only hope of survival. A chilling and humane
portrait in the form of a photo-novel.
[More...] |
| Jules
et Jim
François Truffaut (1962) |
Vivre
sa vie
Jean-Luc Godard (1962) |
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Truffaut's
enduring masterpiece is a poignant love triangle which captures fully the
director's humanity and morbid passion for life, and which features Jeanne
Moreau in arguably her best screen role.
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One
of the defining films of the French New Wave, Vivre sa vie is a
pot-pourri of poetry and irony, a film which, despite its unconventional
form, both captivates and shocks its audience.
[More...] |
| Le
Feu follet
Louis Malle (1963) |
Le
Mépris
Jean-Luc Godard (1963) |
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A
melancholic study of a burnt-out writer looking for reasons not to kill
himself. Arguably Malle's best film, it avoids sentimentality and
voyeurism and instead offers a poignant depiction of despair.
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Brigitte
Bardot shows genuine talent in this aching, melancholic story of
ennui and self-fulfilment. Considered by many as Godard's best
film, Le Mépris is also the director's first and best attempt
to satarise and demonise the film-making industry.
[More...] |
| Les
Tontons flingueurs
Georges Lautner (1963) |
Les
Parapluies de Cherbourg
Jacques Demy (1964) |
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The
best of Georges Lautner's comic parodies of the French crime thriller unites
Lino Ventura and Bernard Blier as you have never seen them before.
Michel Audiard's witty dialogue is a bonus.
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With
the yearning music of Michel Legrand, Jacques Demy creates a fairytale
world which is cursed by ill-fate and biting melancholia, making this arguably
the best French film musical and also one of the most memorable of screen
love stories.
[More...] |
| Alphaville
Jean-Luc Godard (1965) |
Pierrot
le fou
Jean-Luc Godard (1965) |
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Lemmy
Caution is resurrected for this bizarre blend of crime thriller and science-fiction,
intended as a satire on contemporary French politics. Outrageously
funny and deeply disturbing, Alphaville is often cited as the best example
of French film science-fiction.
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Godard's
most celebrated film is this bizarre yet striking deconstruction of American
pulp fiction. It marks the start of Godard's radical departure from
the conventional narrative form in his continual quest to re-invent cinema.
[More...] |
| La
Grande vadrouille
Gérard Oury (1966) |
Le
Deuxième souffle
Jean-Pierre Melville (1966) |
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Top
comic actors Bourvil and Louis de Funès join forces with Terry-Thomas
in this big-budget hilarious World War II comedy. With 17 million
ticket sales, it remains the most popular film made in France.
[More...] |
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This
is arguably the best of Jean-Pierre Melville's distinctive crime thrillers,
both mesmerising and shocking its audience with its hard-edged neo-realist
depiction of gangland violence.
[More...] |
| Le
Samouraï
Jean-Pierre Melville (1967) |
Les
Demoiselles de Rochefort
Jacques Demy (1967) |
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With
its ice-cold existentialist cinematography and a chilling performance from
Alain Delon, this stylish cult film is the closest that the gangster thriller
got to being represented as a work of art.
[More...] |
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Danielle
Darrieux and the famous Dorléac sisters give their all in this ebullient
musical romance set in Jacques Demy's sugar-coated fantasy world.
Much lighter than Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, the film still has
its poignant moments.
[More...] |
| Week-end
Jean-Luc Godard (1967) |
Le
Boucher
Claude Chabrol (1969) |
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Godard's
most extreme assault on bourgeois complacency and the materialistic capitalist
system is not comfortable viewing, but some of the imagery he evokes in
this post-apocalyptic Utopia is breathtakingly effective.
[More...] |
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A
sleepy provencial village harbours a serial killer and the school mistress
suspects the local butcher. One of the best psychological thrillers
made in France, filled with suspense, with a chilling macabre under-belly.
[More...] |
| Ma
nuit chez Maud
Eric Rohmer (1969) |
Les
Choses de la vie
Claude Sautet (1969) |
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The
third of Rohmer's Morality Tales revolves around free-will and the ability
to choose our own destiny. Jean-Louis Trintignant captures the ambiguity
and dilemma in Rohmer's thesis, making this one of his most compelling
and profound films.
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With
possibly the most poetic and tranquil depiction of death in any film, Les
Choses de la vie is both a poignant and reassuring drama, beautifully
filmed, with fine performances from Michel Piccoli and Romy Schneider.
[More...] |
| Z
Costa-Gavras (1969) |
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This
landmark political thriller which won two Oscars was partly inspired by
real-life events in Greece. Beneath the obvious caricatures and the
black comedy there is a chilling sub-text.
[More...] |
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