Welcome to Films de France, your guide to French cinema

One of the main attractions of French cinema is its extraordinary diversity. Outside France, French films have a reputation for being intellectual and more concerned with style than substance. Whilst there are certainly many French auteur filmmakers (Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette, Arnaud Desplechin, to name just three) who take an intellectual approach to cinema and strive constantly to explore the artistic possibilities of the medium, there are many more who take a more conventional approach and are more interested in entertaining a mainstream audience than in making a profound artistic statement. Forget the stereotypical view of French films - they are far more diverse and entertaining than you may think. As well as the more serious auteur films loved by art house audiences, there are all the usual genre films - thrillers, war films, action-adventure films and horror movies - and comedies for every taste. Not many French filmmakers have the budgets of their Hollywood counterparts, but what directors lack in resources they more than make up for in imagination and daring. French cinema continues to be among the most diverse and exciting in the world.

    Best comedies      Best rom-coms      Best thrillers      Best historicals      Best war films      Best dramas

Cinema was invented in France in 1895 and ever since the French have embraced film as their Seventh Art, so that it now occupies an essential place in French culture. Watching French films not only allows you to improve your understanding of the French language, it also provides valuable insights into the nuances of life in France and the French psyche. Despite changing fashions and major political and social upheavals, the French film industry has thrived for over a hundred years and remains one of the strongest and most vibrant in the world today. The history of French cinema is fascinating and reveals how France, indeed the world, has changed over the past century. From the early efforts of the experimentalists of the silent era (Abel Gance, Jean Epstein, René Clair...) to the timeless masterpieces of the 1930s and 1940s, from the revolutionary developments of the French New Wave to today’s remarkably diverse assortment of films, French cinema is a veritable treasure trove that offers something for everyone.

    Browse films by decade:   1910s   1920s   1930s   1940s   1950s   1960s   1970s   1980s   1990s   2000s   2010s

Here you will discover some of the great filmmakers who have had such an impact on French cinema - from the giants of the pre-WWII era such as Jean Renoir and Marcel Carné to the leading lights of the French New Wave, François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, not forgetting the present generation of world-renowned film directors. Every art form has its great visionaries and French cinema is no exception. Directors across the world continue to take their inspiration from their French cousins.

    Jean Renoir      René Clair      Marcel Carné      François Truffaut      Jean-Luc Godard      Eric Rohmer

You will also discover some of the great actors and actresses who have illuminated French cinema and delighted generations of film audiences. These range from incomparable screen giants such as Raimu, Jean Gabin, Arletty, Gérard Philipe, Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu to iconic stars like Alain Delon, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Yves Montand, not forgetting the great comic performers who include Fernandel, Bourvil and Louis de Funès.  Here we pay tribute to the French film legends of the past whilst acknowledging the talent of the present.

    Jean Gabin      Fernandel      Alain Delon      Gérard Depardieu      Catharine Deneuve      Isabelle Huppert

And of course we have not overlooked the cinema from other countries than France in our movie and dvd reviews.  From the timeless movie classics of Hollywood to the great film masterpieces of Russia, India and Japan, filmsdefrance.com includes a comprehensive look at world cinema over the past century...

    Top 100 films      Best war films      Carry On films      Best horror films      Best sci-fi

Here are some of the all-time greats of cinema, films which no true aficionado of the seventh art can miss. From classic American film noir movies which continue to chill with their stylised camerawork and mise-en-scène to the inspired and timeless films of great cineastes like Ingmar Bergman and Alfred Hitchcock, there is plenty to discover in the wonderful world of cinema.

    Film noir      Ingmar Bergman      Alfred Hitchcock      Carl Dreyer

With so many great films to choose from, it is not easy to select a handful to recommend to the uninitiated. Like most things in life, cinema is very much a matter of personal taste. There are some who think French film art begins and ends with La Nouvelle Vague; there are others who would rather eat their grandmother than watch a film by Jean-Luc Godard. Some consider silent films to be museum pieces that should be left to rot in their cans; for others, silent cinema is the most evocative and poetic of all the visual arts (a point of view that you may share after watching Carl Dreyer’s La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc). For what it’s worth, here’s our selection of French films, cinematic jewels which, in our opinion, can hardly fail to arouse a healthy appetite for French cinema.

• Les 400 coups (1959)
• Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964)
• Les Enfants du paradis (1945)
• La Règle du jeu (1939)
• La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (1928)
• Le Samouraï (1967)
• Mon oncle (1958)
• Casque d’or (1952)
• La Belle et la bête (1946)
• Au revoir, les enfants (1987)
• Les Diaboliques (1955)
• Du rififi chez les hommes (1955)
• Un coeur en hiver (1992)
• Jean de Florette (1986)
• Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (2001)
• La Gloire de mon père (1990)
• À bout de souffle (1959)
• Un condamné à mort s’est échappé (1956)