The Taste of Things
Dir. Tran Anh Hung
If it’s true that to cook is to love, then Dodin and Eugenie must be enraptured by one another. They…
Jean de Florette
Dir. Claude Berri
As the Provence countryside is painted in golden sunshine, Jean de Florette seems like a straightforward period drama, celebrating the…
Clouds of Sils Maria
Dir. Olivier Assayas
The film for which Kristen Stewart became the first American actress to win the César Award. The Twilight star turned…
Read My Lips
Dir. Jacques Audiard
In my own wished-for parallel universe, French actors Vincent Cassell and Emanuelle Devos are voted the sexiest actors alive. I…
Mustang
Dir. Deniz Gamze Ergüven & Female director
Five orphaned sisters are put under house arrest by their uncle and grandmother after they are seen horsing around with…
La Femme Nikita
Dir. Luc Besson
Before assassin protege Mathilda in Léon the Professional, humanoid Leeloo in The Fifth Element, and superpowered drug mule Lucy in…
Rust and Bone
Dir. Jacques Audiard
This is the type of movie I completely fell in love with but cannot articulate exactly why. Maybe it’s the…
La Haine
Dir. Mathieu Kassovitz
At the risk of being cliché, I’m going to state that only the French could have made a movie about…
The Ghost Writer
Dir. Laurent Bouzereau & Roman Polanski
Craving mystery? This is the film for you. A writer (Ewan McGregor) is given the lucrative task of bringing to life the…
Mauvais Sang
Dir. Leos Carax
Two aging crooks are given two weeks to repay a debt to a woman named The American. They recruit their…
Tell No One
Dir. Guillaume Canet
A man receives a mysterious e-mail appearing to be from his wife, who was murdered years earlier. As he frantically…
Three Colors: Blue
Dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
The wife of a famous composer survives a car accident that kills her husband and daughter. Now alone, she shakes…
A Christmas Tale
Dir. Arnaud Desplechin
When their regal matriarch falls ill, the troubled Vuillard family come together for a hesitant Christmastime reunion. Among them is…
Mesrine: Killer Instinct
Dir. Jean-François Richet
Jacques Mesrine, a loyal son and dedicated soldier, is back home and living with his parents after serving in the…
La Belle Époque
Dir. Nicolas Bedos
Victor, a disillusioned 60-something whose marriage is on the rocks, opts to relive the week of his life when, 40…
Days of Glory
Dir. Rachid Bouchareb
1943. They have never stepped foot on French soil but because France was at war, Said, Abdelkader, Messaoud and Yassir…
Quest for Fire
Dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud
In the prehistoric world, a Cro-Magnon tribe depends on an ever-burning source of fire, which eventually extinguishes. Lacking the knowledge…
Stranger by the Lake
Dir. Alain Guiraudie
Rarely do we get to see the human body in its natural state in public, mostly limited to nude beaches,…
The Bear
Dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud
If you enjoy wondering aloud to yourself how filmmakers were able to make a movie at all, 1988’s almost wordless…