I developed my top 12 based on the ones I've seen, but I created a list of the ones I haven't and went on a French film odyssey to catch up. I also gleaned some movies off a Wes Anderson list and a Richard Ayoade list.
Here is my top 12
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Amélie (2001)
Blue is the warmest color (2013)
Jean de Florette (1986)
Les Enfants Terribles (1950)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
Shoot The Piano Player (1960)
Irreversible (2002)
Betty Blue (1986)
Hiroshima mon Amour (1959)
Persepolis (2007)
A Very Long Engagement (2004)
The Red Balloon (1956)
My friend asked me if I read summaries to see if I wanted to see the films, but I'm going into most of the movies blind. I think if I read about the movies, I wouldn't see them.
I added The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) immediately, even though I hadn't seen it before my list because it's just such an amazing movie. #1
When I did my reading through of Shakespeare, I came across Joan d'Arc in Henry IV, and was fascinated by her. This is a silent film and I thought I wouldn't like it because of that, but I liked it even more because of that. The facial expressions really carry the movie.
Here is the list to watch (the break is where I am):
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Le Samouraï (1967)
Rust & Bone (2012)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
Elle (2016)
Bernadetta (2021)
Irma Vep (1996)
I Killed My Mother (2009)
Knife + Heart (2018)
Le Corbeau (1943)
Holy Motors (2012)
(The Green Ray (1986))
La Haine (1995)
Ernest & Celestine (2012)
The Illusionist (2010)
The Taste of Things (2023)
Z (1969)
The Wages of Fear (1953)
Le Trou (1960)
Vortex (2021)
Climax (2018)
Titane (2021)
Inside (2007)
Wooden Crosses (1932)
C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005)
Cleo from 5 to 7 (1967)
Belle de Jour (1967)
RRRrrrr!!! (2004)
Ruby & Quentin (2003)
Claire’s Knee (1970)
Shoah (1985)
'Alphaville' (1965) Director: Jean-Luc Godard
“Trouble in Paradise” (1932)
“Toni” (1935)
“Grand Illusion” (1937)
“Quai des Orfevres” (1947)
“Drunken Angel” (1948)
“The Earrings of Madame De…” (1953)
“Sweet Smell of Success” (1957)
“Classe Tous Risques” (1960)
“My Life to Live” (1962)
“Au hasard Balthazar” (1966)
“The Taking of Power by Louis XIV” (1966)
“The Last Detail” (1973)
“The Friends of Eddie Coyle” (1973)
“The Tenant” (1976)
“Next Stop, Greenwich Village” (1976)
“The Man Who Loved Women” (1977)
“From the Life of the Marionettes” (1980)
“Loulou” (1980)
'The Bakery Girl of Monceau' (1963)
'Zazie dans le métro' (1960)
'F for Fake' (1973)
'Fat Girl' (2001)
'The Golden Age of Television' (1981)
'The Trial' (1962)
'Suzanne’s Career' (1963)
'White Dog' (1982)
Paris, 13th District (2021)
Mommy (2014)
Children of Paradise (1945)
Panique (1946)
Port of Shadows (1938)
Petit Maman (2021)
Night and Fog (1956)
Sundays and Cybele (1962)
Playtime (1967)
Jeanne Dielman (1976)
The Fire Within (1963)
Les Diaboliques (1955)
Faces Places (2017)
Boyfriends and Girlfriends (1987)
The Rocket (2005) about Maurice Richard
Les choristes (The Chorus) (2005)
Incendies (2010)
Monsieur Lazhar (2011)
Anatomy of a Fall (2023)
Intouchables (2011)
Donkey Skin (1970)
The Young girls of rochefort (1967)
Eyes without a Face (1960)
Bob Le Flambeur (1956)
Lady Oscar (1979)
Belle de Jour (1968)
The Beaches of Agnes (2008)
I Lost My Body (2019)
La Jetée (1962)
Le Pont du Nord (1981)
The Son of Joseph (2016)
Every Man for Himself (1980)
Lourdes (2019)
Boudu Saved from Drowning (1931)
Mauvais Sang (1986)
La Salamandre (2021)
The Life of Jesus (1997)
Diary of a Country Priest (1951)
Peppermint Soda (1977)
The Man Who Sleeps (1974)
Caché (2005)
Beau Travail (1999)
Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001)
Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
Bande à part (1964)
La règle du jeu (1939)
Les Quatre Cents Coups (1959)
Du côté d’Orouët (1971)
Masculine Feminine (1966)
In Praise of Love
L’Atalante (1934)
Espoir/Days of Hope (1939)
“La Règle du jeu”/The Rules of the Game (1939)
Olivia (1951)
I keep grooming the list, I added Bernadetta (2021) looking over Paul Verhoeven's list, though he's Dutch and not French, the film is in French just like Elle (2016). Prior to watching these two movies, I've always been a fan of Starship Troopers (1997). He is the first director whom I'm aware of and want to see more of his films.
#5 Elle is an intense movie, and who doesn't love Isabelle Huppert?
#6 Bernadetta is my kind of movie, I love religious movies that are realism. I love how people have visions and experiences, I've read William James' The Variety of Religious Experience. I think about my own spiritual experiences of intense meditation, and my strivings. Dutch director, French language, set in Italy.
#7 Irma Vep has an interesting article. It's a perfect film for me to watch because it's about French cinema. The director is obsessed with silent films, and I can see why after watching The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). This one is based on Les Vampires (1915). I searched it up and the movie they are watching is a short film Classe de lutte (1969). They lament that political films are no longer made. This film reminds me of Cinema Paradiso (1988) and other films of the ilk. I'm tempted to watch a few Maggie Cheung films. There's a TV show remake, which I might watch too.
#8 I Killed My Mother isn't the kind of movie I'd usually watch, very stressful start, dischord. It's Canadian, French language. Stressful relationship between 16 year old gay son and mother. Intermittent explosive disorder. They both have it. I can't help but wonder if grandmother or father was a drunk and they learned to bottle bottle and then blow, somewhere along the line, intergenerational transmission of trauma.
I can't help but think of an aunt who was repudiated by her daughter. She died on the table giving birth to her, but they revived her. She worked 90 hour shifts, and then smoked pot all the time. Substance abuse is in there with the mother hatred, because the mother can't cope with her stressful choices. She white knuckles life and the indulges. Tough love. Not a good match between mother and daughter. I found it beyond revolting to listen to her complain about it, and then watch her be rude to everyone in her inebriation. I became very angry and righteous in my sobriety. I could see how selfish substance abuse makes you. She worked and provided, but she wasn't able not to self medicate.
Violence against LGBTQ is a horrible plague on our society.
Male presence advice by the principal made me think of the article, "But where is the father?" about how missing fathers are always brought up, but there's no real solution and children need a father and this and that and all kinds of people, so to just focus on the father isn't really insightful or helpful. It's a tired cliche among those who wish to help that harms others. I'll never forget that article.
It turns out the grandmother did have mental health issues. There's a certain amount of working through in the movie, so it's wasn't too traumatic to watch.
I'll have to try some more Xavier Dolan movies. He made 8 films and has said he wants to retire. This was his first at 19. Pretty amazing for a young person film. He's quite famous in French speaking world, but isn't really that known in the English speaking world. I'm glad to learn more about him. 7 more films for my list.
#9 Knife + Heart: French films aren't afraid to give a little gay porn and violence, that's for sure. Or is the movie about female empowerment in women directing and producing male to male porn? The character mouth comes on when they need a sucking, does it for free. Drugs, dancing and cutting away before it becomes porn. The plot? I reach for one. This one woman wants another woman maybe, Lois and Ann? They're tired from running male porn production. Then there's a murderer. Is it me, but is the Dionysian snuff film overdone? They even joke about repressed homosexuality as the cause of violence in one of the porns Homocidal. There's a lesbian cabaret that enacts a murder. 200 Francs for a scene, they say, "less than a blow job." They don't use Francs any more, but it's about $50. Is this a love affair through rushes and editing? Is it symbolic how easy men are with each other and how hard it is for women to hook up? Narcissistic love is destroyed by reality. Confusing lust and love is common, so intimate and yet not necessarily love.
I can't stop thinking about how in Irma Vep they accuse the government of funding films nobody likes except the academics. In America a slightly experimental film has people ranting and raving about how self indulgent the film is. I think outlandish films like this create imaginary space for other films. I wouldn't consider it a great film, but it does serve a function in the imaginary space of filmgoers.
This movie is on Tubi, and I really wonder if the advertisements want to be associated with this film. I'm pretty sure the square community would object to this film.
In the end the mystery is solved, so it does have a fair enough resolution and payoff for watching.
# 10 Le Corbeau: Woof, another movie that stirs up uncomfortable emotions. Similar things going on now. Toronto accused the NYCFC coach of punching a player in March. They complain no camera caught it, and there must have been no mark, they didn't take a photo. But they bring it out in May after losing a game. I think Trump uses this energy, the same energy the Raven used. This also reminds me of the play Winesburg Ohio, small town America. The willingness to think the least of others, and not recognizing it as just negative thinking, almost mass public depression. The use of swaying public opinion to raise yourself up by putting others down.
I think Ginette Leclerc is a wonderful actress, she's the star of this movie. Woof, what a ride, whodunit. Another satisfying ending.
# 11 Holy Motors: "Mesmerizingly strange and willfully perverse, Holy Motors offers an unforgettable visual feast alongside a spellbinding – albeit unapologetically challenging – narrative." (Rotten Tomatoes).
Spoiler: Who were we by Kylie Minogue audio (video). I didn't see that coming.
#12 would have been The Green Ray (1986), but I can't find it anywhere online (for free). You can buy a $37 DVD on Amazon. It's on the Criterion channel, which is $11 a month, not bad, I could do binge months, but not right now, maybe in the future. You could do a 7 day free trial and not pay maybe, but I don't like that. So to get a Eric Rohmer I substituted Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle, it has a 4.0 ranking and The Green Ray is 4.2.
#12: Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle: A woman's bike gets a flat tire, and two young women strike up a friendship, that travels from rural to the city. I think I like Eric Rohmer. The Green Ray is the most popular of his films, so I'm going to have to think hard about subscribing to the Criterion channel.
"At the shoot of Richard Linklater's Nouvelle Vague, a journalist asks which New Wave director most influenced him. "One might think Éric Rohmer, but my favorite may be Jacques Rozier." His U.S. viewers will be at a loss: no disks, stream, or retrospective." (tweet)
(#13) Climax (2018). This movie is overwhelming. I have to watch it in spurts or in the evening when I'm too tired to resist. Great dancing scene, but 35 minutes was all I could take. I feel so bad when I reject a movie, but I also didn't like Le Samori. Whatever, say it's my lack. I'm not going to review on Letterboxd.
#13. La Haine (The Hate) (1995). "Hatred breeds hatred". They imitate DeNiro in Taxi Driver, "You talking to me." It's all about a tough posture, and information, connection to others.
"“La Haine immersed a worldwide audience in the viciousness of daily life for many in the banlieue. Director Matthieu Kassovitz, a wealthy child of the industry, teamed with Saïd Taghmaoui, a school dropout from the projects, to furnish their three characters—a “belle équipe” of Arab, Black, and Jew—with the language and the look to shock and fascinate a global audience. Oozing authenticity, yet stylish, and spiked with a rapper rhythm, it asks if human beings can possibly flourish within crowded apartments that boil with family problems, and in tattered public spaces rife with vicious gangs.” (Dudley Andrew in French Cinema)
#14 Ernest and Celestine (2012) is a cute and harrowing unlikely friends animation movie. I showed it to my daughter to widen her perspective. She thought it was interesting.
Writing about films isn't easy, watching a movie is easy. More recently I've come to see the two hour commitment to a movie as quite difficult. Mostly because I like to look at my phone, so it's hard to keep my eyes on a film the whole time. Reading the translation at the bottom keeps me focused and alert to the film.
Writing about French film is a dangerous game, I don't speak French and I don't know much about anything.
When I am done, I will rewatch my list, and then see if I want to change it.
Things I've learned about France. People don't feel like they need to be stylish and they are also stylish. Weird stylish stuff, maybe it's just foreign, but it's interesting to see people who think they're being stylish and with my American tastes, I see they are clearly not stylish in a universal way. Maybe that is what style is, something preposterous that the normal person would not do. Different society, different norms.
I saw a graph that the French were more accepting of infidelity than other countries. I like their sexual liberty, their freedom.
French films I saw while doing this project:
Mars Express (2023) Interesting detective noir with future tech.
Books I'm reading on French Films
Dudley Andrew French Cinema: A Very Short Introduction (2023)
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