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French movies reviews Archive 1999 - 2011
French movies reviews 2012 - present
French movies group
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A Prophet
While one might have expected another prison movie, A Prophet goes far beyond the limits of this sub-genre.
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The Killer
The directorial debut from Cédric Anger, The Killer chronicles the intriguing relationship between an investment analyst and the man who has been sent to kill him.
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L'Auberge Espagnole
L'Auberge Espagnole has tried too hard to do the fashionable thing and has fairly squandered the opportunity to properly scrutinise a fascinating strata of transient European life
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La Vie d'Artiste
There is a fine line between living from your art and selling out, which is what La Vie d'Artiste explores, following the sinuous paths of an actress, a singer and a writer.
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La Vie en Rose
Marion Cotillard's performance is the essence of this film. A successful work by director Olivier Dahan on the life of legendary French singer Edith Piaf.
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The Last Mistress
In a filmography which mostly focuses on a full-frontal approach to the sexuality of modern women, this rather classic adaptation of a novel set in 19th century France might at first somewhat shock Catherine Breillat's followers.
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The Light
The Light belongs to the sub-genre of "regional" French dramas, with its unwelcoming inhabitants, little secrets and remote locations.
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Love Me If You Dare
Cap ou pas cap? Audiences game enough for Love Me If You Dare will not be disappointed.
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Love Crime
The last film from the late Alain Corneau (Tous les matins du monde, Fort Saganne) had been designed to fulfill one of his obsessions, the making of a perfect crime.
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Love Thy Father
Gérard Depardieu's life is strangely echoed in Love Thy Father, a heavy work about the tumultuous relationship between a writer and his son.
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The Man on the Train
In Patrice Leconte's The Man on the Train, a heavy handed and sometimes lazy work about the unlikely meeting of two very opposite men, French rock icon Johnny Halliday and Jean Rochefort breathe life into their characters and the movie as soon as they share the screen.
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Men & Women
After seeing Claude Lelouch's Men & Women, a postmodern pudding blending parts 1 and 2 of an unfinished trilogy, I'm not sure that the French filmmaker still has a place in this new cinematic century.
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Merry Christmas
Set during World War I, Merry Christmas is based on numerous accounts that French and German enemy forces found peace for a brief moment on the frontlines by fraternizing to celebrate Christmas.
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Mesrine
If you're not familiar with Jacques Mesrine, France's most notorious contemporary gangster, looking at the two posters that accompany the release of this 2-part biopic might somewhat leave you puzzled.
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The Messenger
Big budget bloody Middle Ages epic. If this version of the story of the French icon is probably the most spectacular, its main asset "resides" in French director Luc Besson, (La Femme Nikita) who takes on the story by questioning the authenticity of the divine messages and Joan of Arc's sanity.
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Mon Colonel
Co-written by Costa-Gavras Mon Colonel exposes the use of torture against Algerians during the colonial war.While it certainly makes its point, it should be seen as a minor work.
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Novo
Fleeing any kind of format or structure, the most beautiful way, Novo has to be seen. This is French, this is not Besson, and this grabs you by the throat.
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Orchestra Seats
Avenue Montaigne falls into the Parisian comedy sub-genre, focusing on that weird self-centered microcosm that the City of Lights is.
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OSS 117
Making fun of Bond — and spy films — is nothing new, but this comedy takes a more subtle and incisive direction, with a strong dose of social and political commentary in the background.
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OSS 117 Lost in Rio
The second entry in the OSS 117 comedy series, OSS 117 Lost in Rio jumps from 50's Cairo to 60's Rio to give us another biting satire, this time taking on the peace and love movement as well a country that used to be a Nazi haven.
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Paris
The problem, if you're familiar with French cinema, is that you've seen these kinds of Parisian characters a million times, which turns this film into a cliched social commentary piece.
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Persepolis
Adapted from Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel, Persepolis is a personal history everyone can relate to, told with a knowing mix of humor and nostalgia.
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The Pharmacist
Described by its author, first-time director Jean Veber, as a mix of thriller, horror and humor, The
Pharmacist is the tale of an environmentalist whose crusade cuts a bloody path as he murders
high-profile symbols of ecological nuisance.
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The Piano Teacher
Never has perversion been so shockingly real without going for cheap thrills or voyeurism. In this tale of painful love and frustration, Isabelle Huppert plays Erika, a loveless piano teacher who escapes her oppressive mom (Annie Girardot) and working routine by frequenting peepshows. When a student, Walter (Benoit Magimel), unexpectedly falls for her, she finally finds a way to materialize her ultimate fantasies.
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Poison Friends
The story of a micro-society formed by Parisian literature students and dominated by the most brilliant and charismatic of them all.
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Priceless
Nothing revolutionary or Oscar-worthy here, but the script by writer/director Pierre Salvadori has enough fun with its characters and its setting that you can't help falling under Priceless' charm.
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The Princess of Montpensier
The Princess of Montpensier is more of a good quality television series, but proves to be a complete wreck on the big screen.
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Queen To Play
Using chess as the central thread of this story, Queen to Play isn't however a film about the game itself but rather the portrait of a woman's mid-life crisis, with light doses of social commentary in the background.
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Rapt
While writer/director Lucas Belvaux keeps a couple elements inherent to this subgenre, he delivers a different type of film, focusing instead on the behind the scenes and psychological consequences of a kidnapping.
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Read My Lips
A sexless tale of love from two marginal people in French society might not sound like a thriller or a trip down Ha Ha Street, but humor and edginess compete to make a heartfelt film.
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Red Lights
A suspense film with strong doses of dark comedy, Cédric Kahn's new film shows how our lives and the consequences of our acts can get caught in a precise and intricate mechanism only controlled by fate.
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The Red Siren
Is there life after The Professional? That's what French director Olivier Megaton seems to think as The Red Siren recycles all the tricks of the European action cinema trade with, at times, a few moments of inspiration.
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Renegade
What makes Blueberry a unique and worthy western entry is not only its deconstructive aspect but how it twists two emblematic roots of the genre, revenge and duals.
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Rivals
Leather jackets, tight jeans, big moustaches, Renault 5 and disco sounds: there is no doubt, we're in the 70's. Filled with nostalgia, Jacques Maillot's Rivals brings us back to an era that was marked by Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon's cop and gangster movies.
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The Russian Dolls
In this follow-up to the international hit L'Auberge Espagnole, we once again follow the romantic misadventures of Xavier, which this time, bring him from Paris to England and Russia.
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French Movies
