The best French films of the 1990s

French cinema in the 1990s held its own against Hollywood at home, helped by public funding and quotas, and by a few enormous hits. Costume dramas such as Cyrano de Bergerac and La Reine Margot travelled well abroad. A new generation of directors, including Mathieu Kassovitz, Arnaud Desplechin, Claire Denis and Bruno Dumont, made films about the suburbs, youth and the body. Foreign directors came to France to work, among them Krzysztof Kieślowski and Michael Haneke.

Cyrano de Bergerac (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 1990)

Edmond Rostand's play in verse, with Gérard Depardieu as the poet with the long nose. A worldwide success and ten Césars.

Nikita (Luc Besson, 1990)

A young drug addict sentenced for murder is turned into a government assassin. Stylish and influential, with Anne Parillaud.

La Double Vie de Véronique (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1991)

Two identical young women, one in Poland and one in France, live parallel lives. Irène Jacob won the best actress prize at Cannes.

Delicatessen (Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, 1991)

In a ruined future, a butcher feeds the tenants of his building with the meat of his employees. A black comedy of great visual invention.

Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (Leos Carax, 1991)

Two homeless young people fall in love on the Pont-Neuf in Paris, closed for repairs. One of the most expensive French films of its time, partly because the bridge had to be rebuilt as a set.

Un cœur en hiver (Claude Sautet, 1992)

A violin maker, Daniel Auteuil, refuses to love the woman his partner is about to marry, played by Emmanuelle Béart. Sautet at his most precise.

Trois Couleurs: Bleu, Blanc, Rouge (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1993-1994)

A trilogy loosely based on liberty, equality and fraternity, with Juliette Binoche, Julie Delpy and Irène Jacob. Bleu won the Golden Lion.

Les Visiteurs (Jean-Marie Poiré, 1993)

A medieval knight and his servant land in the 1990s by magic. The biggest French comedy of the decade.

Les Roseaux sauvages (André Téchiné, 1994)

Teenagers at a boarding school in the south-west in 1962, at the end of the Algerian War, discovering desire and politics. Winner of the César for best film.

La Haine (Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995)

Twenty-four hours with three young men from a housing estate outside Paris after a riot. Black and white, angry and still relevant.

Ridicule (Patrice Leconte, 1996)

At the court of Louis XVI, a provincial engineer learns that wit is the only way to gain the king's attention. Sharp and elegant.

Le Dîner de cons (Francis Veber, 1998)

A publisher who invites idiots to a weekly dinner for fun meets one who wrecks his life. A perfectly built farce.

Beau travail (Claire Denis, 1999)

Foreign Legionnaires training in Djibouti, a jealous sergeant and a young recruit. A film close to dance, ending with one of cinema's great final scenes.

Where to go next

Continue with the best French films of the 2000s, or go back to the 1980s.