French cinema has produced some of the most acclaimed, daring, emotional, and visually unforgettable films in modern movie history. From romantic comedies and coming-of-age dramas to psychological thrillers, horror, animation, and award-winning festival favourites, this list of 60 Must-See French Movies is designed for anyone looking to explore the very best of French-language cinema.
This post highlights films that achieved major critical acclaim, won important awards, earned Academy Award nominations, and in many cases became commercial successes around the world.
Below is the revised first batch of the list using your original script, now formatted for cleaner reading in Blogger.
Amelie, French, Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain, is a 2001 French language romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
The film received widespread critical acclaim with major praise for Tautou's performance, the cinematography visuals, production design, sound design, editing, musical score, writing, and Jeunet's direction.
Amelie won best film at the European Film Awards, four Cesar Awards including best film and best director, and two British Academy Film Awards including best original screenplay.
It was nominated for five Academy Awards including best foreign language film and best original screenplay.
The film was an enormous commercial success, grossing 174.2 million dollars worldwide against a budget of 10 million dollars and is one of the biggest international successes for a French film.
L'Auberge Espagnole, French, L'Auberge Espagnole, The Spanish Inn, also known as Potluck in the United Kingdom and The Spanish Apartment in Australia, is a 2002 romantic comedy drama film directed and written by Cédric Klapisch.
It is a co-production between France and Spain.
In the film, an economics graduate student from France, Xavier, spends a year in Barcelona to study.
His fellow Erasmus students are from all over Western Europe and have a flat share.
They each speak different languages and have different cultural standards.
It won audience awards at the Brisbane International Film Festival, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and the Sydney Film Festival.
It also won the Lumières Award for best screenplay.
Cécile de France received César and Lumières Awards for most promising actress.
Innocence is a 2004 avant-garde coming of age psychological drama film written and directed by Lucile Hadžihalilović in her feature directorial debut, inspired by the 1903 novella Mine-Haha or On the Bodily Education of Young Girls by Frank Wedekind and starring Marion Cotillard.
The film follows a year in the life of the girls in the third dormitory at a secluded boarding school where new students arrive in coffins.
The film is a co-production between France, the United Kingdom, and Belgium and made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10th, 2004.
It was released theatrically in France on January 12th, 2005, in Belgium on August 31st, 2005, and in the United Kingdom on September 30th, 2005.
Swimming Pool is a 2003 erotic thriller film co-written and directed by François Ozon and starring Charlotte Rampling and Ludivine Sagnier.
The plot focuses on a British crime novelist, Sarah Morton, who travels to her publisher's upmarket summer house in Southern France to seek solitude in order to work on her next book.
However, the arrival of Julie, who claims to be the publisher's daughter, induces complications and a subsequent crime.
Both lead characters are bilingual and the film's dialogue is a mixture of French and English.
Swimming Pool grossed 10.1 million dollars in the United States and Canada and 12.3 million dollars in other territories, including 4 million dollars in France, for a worldwide total of 22.4 million dollars against a budget of 6.1 million euros, roughly 7.8 million US dollars.
The Chorus, French, Les Choristes, The Choristers, is a 2004 French musical drama film directed by Christophe Barratier.
Co-written by Barratier and Philippe Lopes-Curval, it is an adaptation of the 1945 film A Cage of Nightingales (La Cage aux Rossignols).
The story is inspired by the origin of the boys’ choir The Little Singers of Paris.
At the 77th Academy Awards, The Chorus was nominated for best foreign language film and best original song, the latter for “Vois sur ton chemin” (listed as “Look to Your Path”), composed by Bruno Coulais.
The film had a worldwide gross of 83,580,890 dollars including 3,635,164 dollars in the United States and Canada, 2,062,908 dollars in the United Kingdom, and 48,765,590 dollars in its native France.
It ranked 72nd on the list of the highest-grossing films of 2005 worldwide and 195th in the US and Canada.
Games of Love and Chance, French, L'Esquive, is a 2003 French drama film directed by Abdellatif Kechiche and starring Sara Forestier.
It won the César Award for best film, best director, best writing, and most promising actress.
Games of Love and Chance grossed 2.8 million dollars against a budget of 1.3 million dollars.
Caché, also known as Hidden, is a 2005 neo-noir psychological thriller film written and directed by Michael Haneke.
The plot follows an upper middle class French couple who are terrorized by anonymous tapes that appear on their front porch and seem to show the family is under surveillance.
The tapes lead Georges to the now-grown Majid, Maurice Bénichou.
Caché opened at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim for the performances and Haneke's direction.
The film won three awards at Cannes, including best director, five European Film Awards, including best film, and other honors.
It was controversially disqualified for the Academy Award for best foreign language film.
Caché has been regarded in the years since its release as one of the great films of the 2000s and was included in the BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century.
The film finished its run grossing 3.6 million dollars in the US and 1.1 million pounds in the UK, more than any previous Haneke film in either country.
It grossed 16,197,824 US dollars worldwide.
The Beat That My Heart Skipped, French, De Battre Mon Cœur S'est Arrêté, is a 2005 French neo-noir drama film directed by Jacques Audiard and starring Romain Duris.
It is a remake of the 1978 American film Fingers and tells the story of Tom, a shady realtor torn between a criminal life and his desire to become a concert pianist.
The film premiered on February 17th, 2005 at the Berlin Film Festival.
It was given limited release in theaters in North America and grossed 1,023,424 dollars there and 10,988,397 dollars worldwide.
Divines is a 2016 drama film directed by Houda Benyamina.
It was screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
At Cannes, Houda Benyamina won the Caméra d'Or.
The film was also an official selection of the Toronto International Film Festival in the Discovery section.
It was released on Netflix worldwide except in France on November 18th, 2016.
Bon Cop, Bad Cop is a 2006 Canadian black comedy thriller buddy cop film directed by Erik Canuel about two police officers, one Ontarian and one Québécois, who reluctantly join forces to solve a murder.
The dialogue is a mixture of English and French.
The title is a translation word play on the phrase “good cop, bad cop.”
The film opened in Quebec on August 4th, 2006, and Canada-wide on August 18th and as of December 17th, 2006 had grossed 12 million US dollars, making it one of the highest-grossing Canadian films of all time domestically.
La Vie en Rose, literally Life in Pink, is a 2007 biographical musical film about the life of French singer Édith Piaf, co-written and directed by Olivier Dahan and starring Marion Cotillard as Piaf.
The film is an international co-production between France, the Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom.
It made its world premiere at the 2007 Berlin Film Festival in the main competition.
Cotillard's performance received critical acclaim and earned her several awards including the Academy Award for best actress, the first time an Oscar had been given for a French-language role, the BAFTA Award for best actress in a leading role, the Golden Globe Award for best actress – motion picture musical or comedy, and the César Award for best actress.
The film also won the Academy Award for best makeup and hairstyling, the BAFTA Award for best makeup, the BAFTA Award for best costume design, the BAFTA Award for best film music, and four additional César Awards.
It grossed 87.4 million dollars worldwide on a 25 million dollar budget and sold over 7 million tickets in Europe, over 5 million tickets in France, and over 1 million tickets in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing French film of 2007.
Persepolis is a 2007 adult animated biographical drama film written and directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, based on Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name.
The story follows a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution.
The title references the historical city of Persepolis.
An international co-production between France and the United States, the film premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival where it co-won the Jury Prize alongside Silent Light.
It was released in France and Belgium on June 27th, 2007, earning universal praise from critics.
The film was selected as the French entry for the best foreign language film category at the 80th Academy Awards and was also nominated for best animated feature.
Persepolis grossed 22.8 million dollars against a budget of 7.3 million dollars.
The Class, French, Entre les Murs (“Between the Walls”), is a 2008 French drama film directed by Laurent Cantet based on the 2006 novel of the same name by François Bégaudeau.
The novel is a semi-autobiographical account of Bégaudeau's experiences as a French language and literature teacher in a middle school in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, particularly illuminating his struggles with problem children.
The film stars Bégaudeau himself in the role of the teacher.
The Class received a unanimous Palme d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, making it the first French film to do so since 1987 when Maurice Pialat won the award for Under the Sun of Satan.
It was also nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign language film but lost to Departures.
A Christmas Tale, French, Un Conte de Noël, is a 2008 French Christmas comedy drama film co-written and directed by Arnaud Desplechin.
It tells the story of a family with strained relationships which gathers at the parents' home for Christmas having just learned that their mother has leukemia.
It was in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
Summer Hours, French, L'Heure d'été, is a 2008 French drama film written and directed by Olivier Assayas.
It is the second in a series of films produced by the Musée d'Orsay after Flight of the Red Balloon.
In the film, two brothers and a sister witness the disappearance of their childhood memories when they must relinquish the family belongings after the death of their mother.
The film was a critical triumph in the United States.
Martyrs is a 2008 French-language psychological horror film written and directed by Pascal Laugier.
It follows a young woman's quest to seek revenge against individuals who abducted and tortured her as a child, and her friend, also a victim of abuse.
An international co-production of France and Canada, Martyrs was filmed in Montreal and screened at the French film market Marché du Film in May 2008 where it incited audience walkouts due to its graphic and disturbing content.
It was released theatrically in France on September 3rd, 2008.
The film received polarized reviews from critics and has been cited by some critics as being part of the New French Extremity movement, an association Laugier denounced.
In 2017, IGN named it one of the best horror films of all time, ranking it number 32 in a list of 100 films, while Rolling Stone included it in a 2021 list of the greatest horror films of the 21st century.
An American-produced remake of the film bearing the same title premiered in 2015.
A Prophet, French, Un Prophète, is a 2009 French prison crime film directed by Jacques Audiard with a screenplay by Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri, and Nicolas Peufaillit from a story by Dafri.
The film stars Tahar Rahim in the title role as an imprisoned petty criminal of Algerian origins who rises in the prison hierarchy, becoming a mob associate and drug trafficker as he is absorbed into the Corsican mafia and then ingratiates himself into the Maghrebi crime syndicate.
The film grossed 10,309,555 dollars in France and 2,087,720 dollars in the United States and Canada.
In the United Kingdom, it grossed 1.3 million pounds, about 2,025,000 dollars, making it the fourth highest-grossing foreign-language film of 2010 in the UK.
Enter the Void is a 2009 English-language art film written and directed by Gaspar Noé, a fantasy psychological drama set in the neon-lit nightclub environments of Tokyo.
The story follows Oscar, a young American drug dealer who gets fatally shot by the police but continues to watch subsequent events during an out-of-body experience.
A rough cut premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, but post-production work continued and the film was not released in France until almost a year later.
A cut-down version was released in the United States and United Kingdom in September 2010.
Enter the Void won the Special Jury Award and the prize for best cinematography at the 2009 Sitges Film Festival.
It received the main award for best film at the 2010 Neuchâtel Film Festival.
The Artist is a 2011 French comedy drama film in the style of a black-and-white silent film or part-talkie.
It was written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius.
The story takes place in Hollywood between 1927 and 1932 and focuses on the relationship between a rising young actress and an older silent film star as silent cinema falls out of fashion and is replaced by the talkies.
The Artist received widespread critical acclaim and won many accolades.
Jean Dujardin won best actor at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival where the film premiered.
The film was nominated for six Golden Globes, the most of any 2011 film, and won three: best motion picture – musical or comedy, best original score, and best actor – motion picture musical or comedy for Dujardin.
In January 2012, it was nominated for 12 BAFTAs, the most of any film from 2011, and won seven including best film, best director, best actor for Dujardin, and best original screenplay for Hazanavicius.
It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won five including best picture, best director for Hazanavicius, and best actor for Dujardin, making him the first French actor ever to win in this category.
It was also the first French-produced film to win best picture and the first mainly silent film to win since 1927’s Wings at the first Academy Awards in 1929.
In France, it was nominated for 10 César Awards, winning six including best film, best director for Hazanavicius, and best actress for Bérénice Bejo.
The Artist has received more awards than any other French film.
Tomboy is a 2011 French drama film written and directed by Céline Sciamma.
The story follows a 10-year-old gender non-conforming child who moves to a new neighborhood during the summer holiday and experiments with their gender presentation, adopting the name Michael.
Amour, French for “Love”, is a 2012 romantic drama film written and directed by Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke.
The narrative focuses on an elderly couple, Anne and Georges, who are retired music teachers with a daughter who lives abroad.
Anne has a stroke that paralyzes the right side of her body.
Amour premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Palme d'Or, making Haneke the first Austrian filmmaker to win the prize twice.
The film garnered critical acclaim for its direction, screenplay, and the performances of Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva and has been widely regarded by critics as one of the greatest films of the 21st century.
Amour received multiple accolades including five nominations at the 85th Academy Awards, including best picture, and won the Academy Award for best foreign language film.
The film earned 6,739,492 dollars in the US and grossed 36,784,044 dollars worldwide on an 8.9 million dollar budget.
Rust and Bone, French, De Rouille et d'Os, is a 2012 romantic drama film directed by Jacques Audiard, based on Craig Davidson's short story collection Rust and Bone.
It tells the story of a nightclub bouncer who falls in love with a woman who trains killer whales and lost her legs in a workplace accident.
The film had its world premiere at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival where it competed for the Palme d'Or, received positive early reviews, and a 10-minute standing ovation at the end of its screening.
It was a critical and box office hit in France and was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award, two Golden Globes, two BAFTA Awards, five Lumières Awards, winning two, three Magritte Awards, and nine César Awards, winning four, including most promising actor for Matthias Schoenaerts.
The film grossed a total of 25.8 million dollars worldwide.
Something in the Air, French, Après Mai (“After May”), is a 2012 French coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Olivier Assayas.
The film was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 69th Venice International Film Festival where it premiered on September 3rd, 2012.
Assayas won the best screenplay award at Venice.
The film also won the Georges Delerue Award for best soundtrack/sound design at Film Fest Gent in 2012.
Blue Is the Warmest Colour, French, La Vie d'Adèle, Chapters 1 & 2, is a 2013 romantic drama film co-written, co-produced, and directed by Abdellatif Kechiche.
It depicts the lesbian relationship between Adèle and Emma from Adèle's high school years to her early adult life and career as a school teacher.
The film's premise is based on the 2010 graphic novel of the same name by Julie Maroh.
At the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, the film unanimously won the Palme d'Or from the official jury and the FIPRESCI Prize.
It is the first film to have the Palme d'Or awarded to both the director and the lead actresses.
The film grossed 2,199,787 dollars in the US theatrically and had greater success in the US home entertainment market, generating more than 3.5 million dollars in Blu-ray and DVD sales alone.
Girlhood, French, Bande de Filles (“Group of Girls”), is a 2014 French coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Céline Sciamma.
The plot focuses on the life of a teenage girl who lives in a rough neighborhood on the outskirts of Paris.
The film discusses and challenges conceptions of race, gender, and class.
Sciamma's goal was to capture the stories of Black teenagers, characters she claims are generally underdeveloped in French films.
Accolades include the Special Jury Award at the Lumières Awards and the Philadelphia Film Festival, as well as the Bronze Horse for best film and best cinematography at the Stockholm International Film Festival.
Eden is a 2014 French drama film directed by Mia Hansen-Løve.
The film premiered in the Special Presentation section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.
It was also screened at the 52nd New York Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival.
The film is loosely based on Mia Hansen-Løve's brother Sven's life; in addition to being the inspiration behind the film, he also co-wrote the script.
Clouds of Sils Maria, known simply as Sils Maria in some territories, is a 2014 psychological drama film written and directed by Olivier Assayas.
The film follows an established middle-aged actress, Juliette Binoche, who is cast as the older lover in a romantic lesbian drama opposite an upstart young starlet, Chloë Grace Moretz.
She is overcome with personal insecurities and professional jealousies, all while sexual tension simmers between her and her personal assistant, Kristen Stewart.
It won the Louis Delluc Prize for best film in December 2014 and received six César Award nominations.
Stewart received the César Award for best supporting actress in February 2015, the first time an American won the award.
Clouds of Sils Maria opened in the United States on April 10th, 2015 in three theaters and grossed 69,729 dollars on its opening weekend for an average of 23,243 per theater.
By June 4th, 2015, the film had grossed an estimated 1,743,577 dollars in the US after expanding.
Breathe, French, Respire, is a 2014 French coming-of-age drama film directed by Mélanie Laurent, based on the novel of the same name by Anne-Sophie Brasme.
It was screened in the Critics' Week section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.
It was also screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.
In January 2015, the film received three nominations at the 20th Lumières Awards and two nominations at the 40th César Awards.
Stranger By the Lake, French, L'Inconnu du Lac, is a 2013 French erotic thriller drama film written and directed by Alain Guiraudie.
The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival where Guiraudie won the award for best director.
The film also won the Queer Palm award and was mentioned on multiple top 10 lists of the best films of 2014.
Things to Come, French, L'Avenir, is a 2016 drama film written and directed by Mia Hansen-Løve.
The film explores themes of aging, family ties, intellectual passion, and personal freedom and is considered among the best films of the 2010s and of the 21st century.
Accolades include the Silver Bear for best director at the Berlin International Film Festival and multiple best actress awards for Isabelle Huppert from US critics’ groups including Boston Society of Film Critics, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, National Society of Film Critics, and New York Film Critics Circle.
Things to Come grossed 5.6 million dollars at the worldwide box office.
Evolution, French, Évolution, is a 2015 French science fiction horror thriller film directed by Lucile Hadžihalilović.
It was shown in the Vanguard section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.
Cinematographer Manuel Dacosse received Special Jury prizes for best cinematography at the San Sebastián International Film Festival and the Stockholm International Film Festival.
Raw, French, Grave, is a 2016 coming-of-age body horror drama film written and directed by Julia Ducournau.
The plot follows a young vegetarian's first year at veterinary school where she tastes meat for the first time and develops a craving for human flesh.
Raw was screened in the Critics' Week section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival where it won the FIPRESCI Prize.
During a screening at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, some viewers received emergency medical services after allegedly fainting from the film's graphic scenes, which shocked Ducournau when she heard about it during a Q&A.
The film won several awards in European genre festivals including top prizes at the Sitges Film Festival, Festival International du Film Fantastique de Gérardmer, and the Paris International Fantastic Film Festival, and also won best feature film at the 2016 Monster Fest in Melbourne, Australia.
My Life as a Courgette, French, Ma Vie de Courgette, titled My Life as a Zucchini in North America and Australia, is a 2016 stop-motion animated comedy drama film directed by Claude Barras.
It is the second adaptation of Gilles Paris's 2002 novel Autobiographie d'une Courgette, after a French live-action television film adaptation called C'est mieux la vie quand on est grand which aired in 2007.
It won best animated film and best adapted screenplay at the 42nd César Awards.
At the 89th Academy Awards, it was nominated for best animated feature and was also selected as the Swiss entry for best foreign language film, making the December shortlist.
Nocturama is a 2016 thriller film written and directed by Bertrand Bonello.
It was released in France on August 31st, 2016.
It tells the story of a group of young, multi-ethnic radicals committing a series of terrorist attacks in Paris.
The film was placed at number 13 on Sight & Sound's annual critics' poll.
It was ranked number three on Slant Magazine's best films of 2017 list, as well as number three on Film Comment's best undistributed films of 2016 list and number five on their best films of 2017 list.
BPM (Beats per Minute), French, 120 Battements par Minute, is a 2017 French drama film directed by Robin Campillo.
The film is about the AIDS activism of ACT UP Paris in 1990s France.
Campillo and co-screenwriter Philippe Mangeot drew on their personal experiences with ACT UP in developing the story.
It had its world premiere at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, followed by screenings at other festivals.
At Cannes it won critical acclaim and four awards including the Grand Prix.
It went on to win six César Awards including best film and several other honors and was selected as the French entry for best international feature film at the 92nd Academy Awards, eventually receiving a nomination.
Lady J, French, Mademoiselle de Joncquières, is a 2018 French period drama film directed by Emmanuel Mouret and inspired by a story in Denis Diderot's novel Jacques the Fatalist, which had already been adapted in 1945 for the film Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne by Robert Bresson.
Set in France before 1789, it stars Cécile de France as Madame de La Pommeraye, an attractive widow whose bachelor lover, the Marquis d'Arcis, Édouard Baer, will not propose to her, and she gets her revenge by tricking him into marrying Mademoiselle de Joncquières, Alice Isaaz, a former prostitute.
The Most Assassinated Woman in the World, French, La Femme la Plus Assassinée du Monde, is a 2018 French mystery thriller and the debut feature film directed and produced by Franck Ribière.
The leading lady of the Grand Guignol theater in Paris, Paula Maxa, Anna Mouglalis, is known for being murdered in every show on stage.
Someone starts to notice that there is a link between these staged murders and a series of murders in real life.
The film is the first Belgian movie made for Netflix.
It was shot in a 1.85:1 screen ratio through spherical lenses and is loosely inspired by the work and life of the actual French actress Paula Maxa.
It was filmed over a month and a half on an estimated budget of 4.5 million euros and released straight to Netflix after a premiere at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival in April 2018.
Les Misérables is a 2019 French crime thriller film directed by Ladj Ly in his full-length feature directorial debut from a screenplay by Ly, Giordano Gederlini, and Alexis Manenti, based on Ly's 2017 short film of the same name.
Set in the commune of Montfermeil in the aftermath of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, it is based on a real-life case of police violence that took place in the city on October 14th, 2008 and was observed and filmed by Ly.
The film had its world premiere on May 15th, 2019 at the Cannes Film Festival where it won the Jury Prize.
It received critical acclaim, earning 12 César nominations and winning four including best film and was selected as the French entry for best international feature film at the 92nd Academy Awards, where it was nominated.
I Lost My Body, French, J'ai Perdu Mon Corps, is a 2019 French adult animated fantasy drama film directed by Jérémy Clapin, based on the novel Happy Hand by Guillaume Laurant.
It premiered in the Critics' Week section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Nespresso Grand Prize, becoming the first animated film to do so in the section's history.
The film was later nominated for best animated feature at the 92nd Academy Awards.
Deerskin, French, Le Daim (“The Deer”), is a 2019 French black comedy film written and directed by Quentin Dupieux.
In the film, Georges, Jean Dujardin, becomes obsessive after purchasing a fringed deerskin jacket.
It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in the Directors’ Fortnight section on May 15th, 2019, and was released in France on June 19th, 2019 by Diaphana Distribution.
Atlantics, French, Atlantique, is a 2019 internationally co-produced supernatural romantic drama film directed by Mati Diop in her feature directorial debut.
It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where Diop became the first Black woman to direct a film featured in competition at the festival.
The film centers on a young woman, Ada, and her partner, Souleiman, struggling amid employment, class, migration, crime, family pressures, and ghosts.
At Cannes, the film won the Grand Prix.
It was selected as the Senegalese entry for best international feature film at the 92nd Academy Awards and went on to win best first feature in IndieWire's 2019 critics' poll, ranking fourth in best foreign film.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire, French, Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu (“Portrait of the Young Lady on Fire”), is a 2019 French historical romantic drama film written and directed by Céline Sciamma.
Set in France in the late 18th century, it tells the story of a lesbian love affair between an aristocrat and a painter commissioned to paint her portrait.
It marked Adèle Haenel's final film role prior to her retirement from the French film industry in 2023.
The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Queer Palm, becoming the first film directed by a woman to win the award.
Sciamma also won the award for best screenplay at Cannes.
Anelka: Misunderstood, French, Anelka: L'Incompris, is a 2020 British–French documentary sports film directed by Éric Hannezo.
It features interviews with Nicolas Anelka, Frank Nataf, Omar Sy, Arsène Wenger, Thierry Henry, Didier Drogba, and Emmanuel Petit.
Anelka: Misunderstood was released on Netflix on August 5th, 2020.
Petite Maman (“Little Mother”) is a 2021 French fantasy drama film written and directed by Céline Sciamma.
The film follows a young girl coping with the death of her maternal grandmother by bonding with her mother.
It had its world premiere at the 71st Berlin International Film Festival on March 3rd, 2021 and was released in France on June 2nd, 2021 by Pyramid Distribution.
The film received widespread critical acclaim.
Paris, 13th District, French, Les Olympiades, is a 2021 French drama film directed by Jacques Audiard and loosely based on the short comic stories Amber Sweet and Killing and Dying from the book of the latter’s name and Hawaiian Getaway from the book Summer Blonde, all by American cartoonist Adrian Tomine.
Paris, 13th District had its world premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival on July 14th.
Titane is a 2021 body horror psychological drama film written and directed by Julia Ducournau.
It follows Alexia, a woman who, after being injured in a car crash as a child, has a titanium plate fitted into her head.
In adulthood, Alexia becomes a murderous car model with an erotic fascination with automobiles, leading to a bizarre sexual encounter that sets off an increasingly outlandish series of events.
The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on July 13th, 2021 where Ducournau became the second female director to win the Palme d'Or, and the first female filmmaker to win the prize solo.
Friendzone is a 2021 French romantic comedy film.
It follows Thibault, a sweet but unlucky-in-love guy who keeps getting “friendzoned” by the women he falls for, until his friends decide to help him change his approach to romance.
Athena is a 2022 French tragedy action film directed by Romain Gavras.
The film opens with a tense long-take confrontation and follows three brothers in a French banlieue whose lives spiral into chaos after the death of their youngest sibling allegedly at the hands of police, triggering an urban uprising.
Anatomy of a Fall, French, Anatomie d’une Chute, is a 2023 French courtroom drama thriller film directed by Justine Triet.
It centers on a German writer who becomes the prime suspect after her husband dies in mysterious circumstances at their isolated home in the French Alps, with their visually impaired son caught between conflicting accounts.
The Taste of Things, French, La Passion de Dodin Bouffant, is a 2023 French historical romantic drama film directed by Trần Anh Hùng.
Set in 19th‑century France, it follows a renowned gourmet and his long‑time cook and partner in the kitchen, whose deep connection is expressed through elaborate culinary creations as they slowly confront the question of marriage and legacy.
The Animal Kingdom, French, Le Règne Animal, is a 2023 French science‑fiction adventure drama film.
In a near future where some humans are mutating into hybrid creatures, a father and his teenage son search for their missing wife and mother while society struggles with fear, otherness, and the ethics of containment.
The Beast, French, La Bête, is a 2023 French science‑fiction romantic drama film directed by Bertrand Bonello and loosely inspired by Henry James’s The Beast in the Jungle.
It follows a woman who undergoes a procedure to purge deep emotions in a near‑future society, reliving past lives and doomed love stories across different timelines as she confronts fate, fear, and desire.
On the Adamant, French, Sur l’Adamant, is a 2023 French documentary film directed by Nicolas Philibert.
It is set on the Adamant, a floating day‑care center for adults with mental health issues on the Seine in Paris, observing patients and caregivers as they create a warm, collaborative community through art, conversation, and everyday rituals.
Last Summer, French, L’Été Dernier, is a 2023 French drama film directed by Catherine Breillat.
It focuses on a successful lawyer and stepmother who embarks on a transgressive affair with her teenage stepson, leading to escalating moral, emotional, and legal complications.
Solo is a 2023 French‑language drama film.
It follows a drag artist whose life on and off stage begins to unravel as new love, artistic ambition, and family tensions collide, forcing them to reassess identity, vulnerability, and performance.
Just the Two of Us, French, L’Amour et les Forêts, is a 2023 French psychological drama film.
The film traces a seemingly passionate romance that turns into a suffocating, coercive relationship, depicting how emotional and psychological abuse gradually isolates and endangers a woman.
The Nature of Love, French, Simple Comme Sylvain, is a 2023 French‑language romantic drama comedy film.
An intellectual philosophy professor in a stable but passionless relationship falls for a down‑to‑earth construction worker, and their affair probes class differences, desire, and what it really means to love.
Banel & Adama is a 2023 French‑Senegalese romantic drama film written and directed by Ramata‑Toulaye Sy.
Set in a rural village in northern Senegal, it follows a young married couple whose intense, defiant love clashes with community expectations, tradition, and an encroaching environmental catastrophe.
It Ends with Us is listed in your audio as a 2024 title, but it is actually an American romantic drama film based on Colleen Hoover’s novel and not a French production.
In this context it appears as an outlier in an otherwise French‑focused list, centering on a woman entangled in a cycle of domestic abuse and confronting painful choices about love and self‑protection.
A Little Something Extra, French, Un P’tit Truc en Plus, is a 2024 French comedy film.
A father and son on the run hide in a summer camp for people with disabilities, pretending to be residents and a caregiver, leading to humorous situations that become a lesson in empathy, connection, and acceptance.
These films show the range, ambition, and global influence of French cinema, from beloved mainstream hits to challenging festival masterpieces. Many of the titles in this list earned major recognition at Cannes, the Academy Awards, the César Awards, the BAFTAs, and international critics’ groups, confirming their lasting importance in world cinema.
Save this list as your French movie watchlist, revisit it whenever you want to explore essential international cinema, and follow Cinema Awards Archive for more award-focused movie lists, rankings, retrospectives, and film history features.
