Best Of...
French cinema: War
La 317e section (1965)
Pierre Schoendoerffer
In 1954, at the height of the Indochina War, a French platoon comprising four French soldiers and around forty Laotians is instructed to abandon Luong Ba, an outpost on the border with Laos, and relieve Lao Tsaï, a town 150 kilometres to the south...
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Pierre Schoendoerffer
L'Agonie de Byzance (1913)
Louis Feuillade
On 6th April 1453, the armies of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II surround the holy Christian city of Constantinople, poised to attack when the command is given...
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Louis Feuillade
L'Armée des ombres (1969)
Jean-Pierre Melville
October, 1942. During the Nazi occupation of France, Philippe Gerbier, a civil engineer, heads a small network in the French Resistance...
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Jean-Pierre Melville
L'Armée du crime (2009)
Robert Guédiguian
In Paris during the Nazi occupation, a labourer named Missak Manouchian leads a group of young Jewish immigrants, of various nationalities: Spanish, Rumanian, Hungarian, Polish, Italian and Armenian...
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Robert Guédiguian
Atonement (2007)
Joe Wright
England, in the summer of 1935. Briony Tallis is a 13-year-old girl with an overactive imagination who lives in a large country house with her older sister Cecilia...
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Joe Wright
Au revoir, les enfants (1987)
Louis Malle
France, 1944, during the Nazi Occupation. The Christmas holidays over, 12-year-old Julien Quentin must leave his comfortable middleclass home in Paris and return to his Catholic boarding school in the country... [More...]
Louis Malle
France, 1944, during the Nazi Occupation. The Christmas holidays over, 12-year-old Julien Quentin must leave his comfortable middleclass home in Paris and return to his Catholic boarding school in the country... [More...]
Avoir 20 ans dans les Aurès (1972)
René Vautier
It is 1961 and France is locked into a seemingly interminable war with its North African colony of Algeria. The French government of course does not recognise this as a war as such, but rather a 'campaign of pacification'... [More...]
René Vautier
It is 1961 and France is locked into a seemingly interminable war with its North African colony of Algeria. The French government of course does not recognise this as a war as such, but rather a 'campaign of pacification'... [More...]
La Bataille de l'eau lourde (1948)
Jean Dréville
Not long after Norway comes under Nazi Occupation at the start of World War II, the Germans commandeer a hydroelectric power plant in the mountains outside Rjukan... [More...]
Jean Dréville
Not long after Norway comes under Nazi Occupation at the start of World War II, the Germans commandeer a hydroelectric power plant in the mountains outside Rjukan... [More...]
La Bataille du rail (1946)
René Clément
This episodic film recounts the exploits of French railway workers supporting the activities of the French Resistance during the Second World War... [More...]
René Clément
This episodic film recounts the exploits of French railway workers supporting the activities of the French Resistance during the Second World War... [More...]
Le Bataillon du ciel (1947)
Alexander Esway
Spring, 1944: a decisive moment in the Second World War. Colonel Rouvier, a respected soldier who lost an arm in combat in Tunisia, is put in charge of training a parachute regiment of the French Free Forces in England... [More...]
Alexander Esway
Spring, 1944: a decisive moment in the Second World War. Colonel Rouvier, a respected soldier who lost an arm in combat in Tunisia, is put in charge of training a parachute regiment of the French Free Forces in England... [More...]
Boule de suif (1945)
Christian-Jaque
Normandy, 1870. With Rouen occupied by the Prussian army, a prostitute named Élisabeth Rousset decides to leave the town in a stage coach bound for Le Havre... [More...]
Christian-Jaque
Normandy, 1870. With Rouen occupied by the Prussian army, a prostitute named Élisabeth Rousset decides to leave the town in a stage coach bound for Le Havre... [More...]
Capitaine Conan (1996)
Bertrand Tavernier
In the final months of World War I, the French infantry are actively engaged in mopping up the enemy trenches on the Macedonian Front... [More...]
Bertrand Tavernier
In the final months of World War I, the French infantry are actively engaged in mopping up the enemy trenches on the Macedonian Front... [More...]
Le Caporal épinglé (1962)
Jean Renoir
June, 1940. In a German prisoner-of-war camp in North-East France, three soldiers are united by their desire to escape and return to their ordinary civilian lives... [More...]
Jean Renoir
June, 1940. In a German prisoner-of-war camp in North-East France, three soldiers are united by their desire to escape and return to their ordinary civilian lives... [More...]
Les Carabiniers (1963)
Jean-Luc Godard
Two country peasants are recruited to join the army and serve in the war. They are promised wealth, fulfilment and freedom to do whatever they wish whilst in active service... [More...]
Jean-Luc Godard
Two country peasants are recruited to join the army and serve in the war. They are promised wealth, fulfilment and freedom to do whatever they wish whilst in active service... [More...]
Le Chagrin et la pitié (1969)
Marcel Ophüls
Life in France at the time of the Nazi Occupation during World War II. Those who actively participated in the drama - politicians, soldiers, aristocrats, spies, collaborators and resistance supporters - recount their personal experiences with lucidity, eloquence and emotion.... [More...]
Marcel Ophüls
Life in France at the time of the Nazi Occupation during World War II. Those who actively participated in the drama - politicians, soldiers, aristocrats, spies, collaborators and resistance supporters - recount their personal experiences with lucidity, eloquence and emotion.... [More...]
La Chambre des officiers (2001)
François Dupeyron
At the start of the First World War, a young lieutenant, Adrien, is badly injured in a shell explosion. When he comes to, he realises that the lower part of his face has been blown away, although he is otherwise unharmed... [More...]
François Dupeyron
At the start of the First World War, a young lieutenant, Adrien, is badly injured in a shell explosion. When he comes to, he realises that the lower part of his face has been blown away, although he is otherwise unharmed... [More...]
La Chatte (1958)
Henri Decoin
Paris during the Nazi Occupation. A patrol of German soldiers raid a house from which illicit radio transmissions are being sent... [More...]
Henri Decoin
Paris during the Nazi Occupation. A patrol of German soldiers raid a house from which illicit radio transmissions are being sent... [More...]
Le Crabe-Tambour (1977)
Pierre Schoendoerffer
The Jaureguiberry, a mighty escort ship, leaves the port of Lorient in the northwest of France and sets out on its long journey across the stormy Atlantic... [More...]
Pierre Schoendoerffer
The Jaureguiberry, a mighty escort ship, leaves the port of Lorient in the northwest of France and sets out on its long journey across the stormy Atlantic... [More...]
Les Croix de bois (1932)
Raymond Bernard
At the outbreak of World War I, Gilbert Demachy, an idealistic young student, enlists and is sent to the Western Front to fight for his motherland, France... [More...]
Raymond Bernard
At the outbreak of World War I, Gilbert Demachy, an idealistic young student, enlists and is sent to the Western Front to fight for his motherland, France... [More...]
De guerre lasse (1987)
Robert Enrico
May, 1942. After her husband, a Jewish surgeon, commits suicide, Alice leaves Nazi-controlled Austria with Jerôme, a diplomat... [More...]
Robert Enrico
May, 1942. After her husband, a Jewish surgeon, commits suicide, Alice leaves Nazi-controlled Austria with Jerôme, a diplomat... [More...]
Le Dernier métro (1980)
François Truffaut
With France under Nazi occupation, the Jewish playwright and stage director Lucas Steiner fears being deported like so many of his race... [More...]
François Truffaut
With France under Nazi occupation, the Jewish playwright and stage director Lucas Steiner fears being deported like so many of his race... [More...]
Deux amis (1946)
Dimitri Kirsanoff
1870, during the Franco-Prussian War. Paris is under siege and food is so scarce that its inhabitants are forced to eat their household pets and any rats they can catch... [More...]
Dimitri Kirsanoff
1870, during the Franco-Prussian War. Paris is under siege and food is so scarce that its inhabitants are forced to eat their household pets and any rats they can catch... [More...]
Diplomatie (2014)
Volker Schlöndorff
It is the night of the 24th-25th August 1944. The fate of Paris is in the hands of one man, General Von Choltitz, who has just received orders from the Fuhrer to blow up the capital... [More...]
Volker Schlöndorff
It is the night of the 24th-25th August 1944. The fate of Paris is in the hands of one man, General Von Choltitz, who has just received orders from the Fuhrer to blow up the capital... [More...]
La Douleur (2018)
Emmanuel Finkiel
In June 1944, France is still under Nazi occupation. The 30-year-old writer Marguerite Antelme waits anxiously for news of her husband Robert after he is arrested and deported on account of his resistance activities... [More...]
Emmanuel Finkiel
In June 1944, France is still under Nazi occupation. The 30-year-old writer Marguerite Antelme waits anxiously for news of her husband Robert after he is arrested and deported on account of his resistance activities... [More...]
Les Égarés (2003)
André Téchiné
In June 1940, the German armies are poised to take France when a widowed schoolteacher, Odile, bundles her two infants, Philippe and Cathy, into her car and flees the capital... [More...]
André Téchiné
In June 1940, the German armies are poised to take France when a widowed schoolteacher, Odile, bundles her two infants, Philippe and Cathy, into her car and flees the capital... [More...]
L'Ennemi intime (2007)
Florent-Emilio Siri
Algeria, 1959. Terrien, a young lieutenant in the French army, takes command of a battalion stationed in the Kabyle mountains... [More...]
Florent-Emilio Siri
Algeria, 1959. Terrien, a young lieutenant in the French army, takes command of a battalion stationed in the Kabyle mountains... [More...]
L'Équipage (1935)
Anatole Litvak
France, 1916. An idealistic young man Jean Herbillon enlists in the French flying corps, unaware that his chances of survival are less than that of an infantryman... [More...]
Anatole Litvak
France, 1916. An idealistic young man Jean Herbillon enlists in the French flying corps, unaware that his chances of survival are less than that of an infantryman... [More...]
Les Évadés (1955)
Jean-Paul Le Chanois
In 1943, during the Second World War, two French prisoners-of-war, François and Michel, succeed in escaping from Stalag B377 in the north of Germany... [More...]
Jean-Paul Le Chanois
In 1943, during the Second World War, two French prisoners-of-war, François and Michel, succeed in escaping from Stalag B377 in the north of Germany... [More...]
La Fayette (1962)
Jean Dréville
In 1776, the British colonies in America have begun to rise up against the British crown, intent on creating their own independent republic... [More...]
Jean Dréville
In 1776, the British colonies in America have begun to rise up against the British crown, intent on creating their own independent republic... [More...]
Flandres (2006)
Bruno Dumont
Somewhere in the depths of rural Flanders, a young farmer named Demester is pursuing a torrid love affair with an attractive woman of his own age, Barbe... [More...]
Bruno Dumont
Somewhere in the depths of rural Flanders, a young farmer named Demester is pursuing a torrid love affair with an attractive woman of his own age, Barbe... [More...]