Films by Language

French

A Cat in Paris

Une vie de chat

Alain Gagnol, Jean-Loup Felicioli

By day Dino the cat lives with his young owner Zoé. By night he accompanies a daring burglar. A droll, action-packed animated adventure for kids of nine or so and up – with a cool hand-drawn style and a retro jazz soundtrack.

The Giants

Les géants

Bouli Lanners

This funny, perceptive tale of teenaged city boys let loose in the countryside imbues Stand by Me with sardonic social realism and shades of the Brothers Grimm. “Unselfconscious, endearing and completely believable.” — Screendaily

Heartbeats

Les amours imaginaires

Xavier Dolan

French Canadian prodigy Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother) took Cannes by storm a second time last year (aged 21) with this sharp, ebulliently stylish tale of two best friends competing for the attention of the same boy.

Incendies

Denis Villeneuve

Searching for the brother they never knew they had, a brother and sister unravel the mystery of their Middle Eastern mother’s war-torn past. “A spectacular experience… a Greek tragedy delivered to modern times.” — Film Threat

The Kid with a Bike

Le Gamin au vélo

Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne

In this gripping Cannes Grand Prix winner from Belgium’s Dardenne brothers, a wild 11-year-old boy rebounds between the judicious care of a kind, single woman (Cécile de France) and the blandishments of a streetwise older boy.

La dolce vita

Federico Fellini

Fellini fans, rejoice. The maestro’s 1960 exposé of Roman society high and low, La dolce vita returns in a stunning new restoration. “Once you’ve caught a glimpse of it, it’s where you want to live.” — NY Times

Le Havre

Aki Kaurismäki

This tender French comedy by Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki was a huge hit at Cannes and winner of the Critics Prize. “Wonderful, big-hearted comedy… What a treat this film is.” — The Guardian

Love Like Poison

Un poison violent

Katell Quillévéré

A teenage girl learns some lessons about sex, death and the love of Jesus in this award-winning French drama. "An auspicious debut... beautiful and unsettling" — Sight and Sound

Mysteries of Lisbon

Mistérios de Lisboa

Raúl Ruiz

A sumptuous immersion in the labyrinthine romantic intrigues and perfidies of 19th-century Portuguese nobility, priests and pirates. “Terrific costumed epic... Storytelling of breathtaking scale and grandeur.” — Empire

Nothing to Declare

Rien à déclarer

Dany Boon

Danny Boon follows up his phenomenally popular Welcome to the Sticks with another hit comedy about parochial prejudice: when the EU dissolves the borders it can’t dissolve the rivalry between French and Belgian customs officers.

Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow

Sophie Fiennes

Sophie Fiennes’ documentary immerses us in the monumental wasteland being created by German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer – and shows us the artist at work. “Ravishingly hypnotic.” — Sight & Sound

Point Blank

À bout portant

Fred Cavayé

This tense, exhilarating chase thriller takes you on a breakneck rush through the streets and subways of Paris. “One hell of an adrenalin rush… it’s something any fan of the genre needs to see.” — Twitch

Romantics Anonymous

Les émotifs anonymes

Jean-Pierre Améris

Chocolate brings a pair of clinically shy people together in this delicious French romantic comedy starring Benoît Poelvoorde (Coco avant Chanel). “Packed with bittersweet humour and genuine charm.” — Screendaily

The Round Up

La rafle

Rose Bosch

Moving, meticulously researched, controversial concentration camp drama. “Hailed as an important step in France’s acknowledgment of its complicity in the crimes of the Occupation.” — The Guardian

The Screen Illusion

L’Illusion comique

Mathieu Amalric

French 17th-century theatre is inventively spirited into the cinematic present in this delightful, thoroughly contemporary adaptation by Mathieu Amalric starring a great Comédie Française cast and set in the luxurious Hôtel de Louvre.

Senna

Asif Kapadia

You don’t have to be a petrolhead to ‘get’ the legend of Formula One racer Ayrton Senna. Ask any Brazilian – or check out the most enthralling big-screen sports documentary since When We Were Kings.

Sleeping Sickness

Schlafkrankheit

Ulrich Köhler

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a springboard for this remarkable drama which sees Africa through the eyes of a white expat doctor addicted to the place, and a black French doctor newly arrived to the continent. Best Director, Berlin Film Festival.

Tomboy

Céline Sciamma

This bold, luminous drama of childhood and gender identity centres on ten-year-old Laure, happily passing for a boy when her family move to a new neighbourhood. Superbly acted by a largely child cast.

Viva Riva!

Djo Tunda Wa Munga

This slick, atmospheric thriller is packed with kinetic enery. "The first major motion picture to come out of Congo in decades happens to be one of the best neonoirs from anywhere in recent memory." — Time Out New York

The Women on the 6th Floor

Les Femmes du 6e étage

Philippe Le Guay

In this breezy comedy an uptight middle-class couple (Fabrice Luchini and Sandrine Kiberlain) are snapped out of their tired routines by their Spanish maid and a houseful of her female relations.