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!
Amelie (2001)
8.3/10
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Jamel Debbouze, Isabelle Nanty, Domini...
Amélie is an innocent and naive girl in Paris with her own sense of justice. She decides to help those around her and, along the way, discovers love. Read more
Children of Paradise ( Les Enfants du Paradis ) (1945)
8.3/10
Director: Marcel Carne
Starring: Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur
Poetic realism reaches sublime heights with "Children of Paradise" ("Les Enfants du Paradis"), the ineffably witty tale of a woman loved by four diffe... Read more
Harry, He Is Here To Help (2000)
Director: Dominik Moll
Starring: Sergi Lopez, Laurent Lucas, Mathilde Seigner, Sophie Guillemin
Aka "With a Friend Like Harry..." A nail-biting and blackly comic thriller that has been compared to the work of Alfred Hitchcock and the Coen Brother... Read more
Mon Oncle (1958)
7.9/10
Director: Jacques Tati
Starring: Jacques Tati, Jean-Pierre Zola, Adrienne Servantie
A masterpiece by the great French comic Jacques Tati which concentrates on young Gerard Arpel and his Uncle Hulot (Jacques Tati) in a house where gadg... Read more
A Very Long Engagement (2004)
7.7/10
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Jean-Pierre Becker, Dominique Bettenfeld, Clovis...
In 1919, Mathilde (Audrey Tautou) was 19 years old. Two years earlier, her fiance Manech (Gaspard Ulliel) left for the front at the Somme. Like millio... Read more
The Intouchables (2011)
8.5/10
Director: Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache
Starring: Francois Cluzet, Omar Sy, Anne Le Ny, Audrey Fleurot, Clotilde Mollet
A.k.a. "Intouchables", "Untouchable". Philippe (Francois Cluzet) is a wealthy Parisian left paralyzed from the neck down after a paragliding accident.... Read more
The Girl on the Bridge (1998)
7.6/10
Director: Patrice Leconte
Starring: Vanessa Paradis, Daniel Auteuil, Demetre Georgalas
A mysterious knife-thrower (Daniel Auteuil) saves a young woman (Vanessa Paradis) from jumping off a bridge, and recruits her for his death defying ac... Read more
Of Gods and Men (2010)
7.2/10
Director: Xavier Beauvois
Starring: Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale
Trappist monks living in Algeria find their Catholic faith tested to the limit after a revolution takes place and the government urges them to abandon... Read more
The Wages of Fear (1953)
8.1/10
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Starring: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter Van Eyck
A thriller with surprisingly little violence which is, nevertheless, a hair-raising, hold-onto-the-edge-of-your-seat masterpiece of suspense. A young... Read more
Hiroshima, Mon Amour (1959)
8/10
Director: Alain Resnais
Starring: Emmanuele Riva, Eiji Okuda, Stella Dassas
Alain Resnais has created a magnificent mood piece in his telling of the unique love story of a French cinema actress and a Japanese architect who mee... Read more