French Cinema
The influence of France on the world screen is undeniable. From early inventors and pioneers such as the Lumiere Brothers, George Melies and Alice Guy Blache, the birth of cinema can virtually be traced back to French shores. Cinematic innovators such as Jean Renoir and Michael Carne followed. By the 1960s New Wave directors like Truffaut, Godard and Chabrol had an indelible impact on fledgling American film makers such as Scorsese, Coppola and Bogdanovich who revolutionised the way films were made in the US; studios fell, auteurs ruled. With the advent of television, French film budgets shrank but thanks to government intervention and a good deal of imagination, French cinema is still going strong with contemporary talents like Jean-Jaques Beineix, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Luc Besson and the controversial Gaspar Noe.
At Alice we're very proud of our extensive French collection, covering all genres from French farce to period drama, magical realism to mystery and suspense. Viva la France!
Between Two Worlds (2021)
6.9/10
Starring: Juliette Binoche
It is based on French journalist Florence Aubenas's bestselling non-fiction work Le Quai de Ouistreham, investigating rising precarity in French socie... Read more
Black Moon (1975)
6.3/10
Director: Louis Malle
Starring: Therese Giehse, Cathryn Harrison, Joe Dallesandro, Alexandra Stewart
A bizarre apocalyptic Alice in Wonderland from Louis Malle. When Lily has a road accident, she finds she has landed up in some kind of civil war and... Read more
Blame It on Fidel! (2006)
7.6/10
Director: Julie Gavras
Starring: Nina Kervel-Bey, Julie Depardieu, Stefano Accorsi, Benjamin Feuillet, Martine Ch...
It's 1970 in Paris, Charles de Gaulle is dead, the socialist Salvador Allende has come to power in Chile, and French women are demanding their rights.... Read more
Blind Date (2015)
6.6/10
Director: Clovis Cornillac
Starring: Clovis Cornillac, Melanie Bernier, Lilou Fogli, Philippe Duquesne
Aka "Un peu, beaucoup, aveuglément!" When a young pianist moves in to a new apartment, she discovers that the walls are so thin, she and her neighbour... Read more
Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013)
Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
Starring: Lea Seydoux, Aurelien Recoing, Adele Exarchopoulos, Salim Kechiouche, Alma Jodor...
A.k.a. "La vie d'Adèle - Chapitres 1 et 2". Adele's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover... Read more
Bob the Gambler ( Bob le Flambeur ) (1955)
7.8/10
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Starring: Isabelle Corey, Roger Duchesne, Daniel Cauchy
Suffused with wry humour, Jean-Pierre Melville's 'Bob le Flambeur' melds the toughness of American gangster films with Gallic sophistication to lay th... Read more
Bon Voyage (2003)
6.9/10
Director: Jean-Paul Rappeneau
Starring: Isabelle Adjani, Gerard Depardieu, Virginie Ledoyen, Yvan Attal, Gregori Derange...
It is June 1940 and everyone who is anyone is hightailing it out of Paris to avoid the imminent Nazi occupation. Heading south, a motley group that in... Read more
Boomerang (2015)
6.7/10
Director: Francois Favrat
Starring: Melanie Laurent, Audrey Dana, Laurent Lafitte
Forty-year old Antoine feels like hes losing it. His growing obsession with his mothers unexplained death, thirty years back, is taking a heavy tol... Read more
Both Sides Of The Blade (2022)
Director: Claire Denis
Starring: Juliette Binoche, Vincent Lindon, Gregoire Colin, Bulle Ogier, Alice Houri
A love triangle story about a woman caught between two men, her long-time partner and his best friend, her former lover. Read more
Boudu Saved from Drowning (1931)
7.5/10
Director: Jean Renoir
Starring: Michel Simon, Charles Granval, Marcelle Hainia
A light comedy as well as a satire on bourgeois lifestyle in France. Michel Simon is Boudu, a scruffy tramp who is saved from his suicide attempt by a... Read more