Greatest French Film of All Time?

Obviously I left some good ones out, like

Beauty and the Beast (1946)

Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)

L'Atalante (1934)

Lift to the scaffold and le feu follet are in my top ten.

Amélie

I Surrender ( 1940)

This list is useless without The 400 Blows or Breathless.

L'homme di Rio

La nuit americaine (Day for Night)

The Young Girls of Rochefort

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Lola

Also Le Mepris is from 1963, but it's not as good as other Godard works of the period like Breathless, Vivre Sa Vie, and Pierrot le Fou. I'd rank no 4 of Godard with A Woman is a Woman.....

I notice you do not have any starring moi

LE CORBEAU (42).

A village full of secretive Dataloungers is plagued with vicious poison pen letters. Who are the cunty culprits?

The 400 Blows? Possibly the pinnacle of the French New Wave movement.

La Femme Nikita

Forbidden Games (1952) belongs on any list of top 10 films.

Elevator to the Gallows (Ascenseur pour l'Echafaud). Noir, AND, Miles Davis' famous improvised soundtrack.

Two more Rene Clement greats: PLEIN SOLEIL (59) and LES MAUDITS (47).

Replete with perverse malefactors.

I love French movies because they don't feel the need to have "likable" character or happy endings.

Le million

A nous la liberte

Did the French make no films between 1971-2000, OP?

400 Blows.

Regles de jeux

is possibly one of the top ten films of all time

Some personal favourites not on OP's list

Les Diaboliques (1955)

Le Rayon Vert (1986)

Diva (1981)

Un Coeur En Hiver (1992)

The Beat My Heart Skipped (2006)

Jean de Florette and Manson of the Springs may not be groundbreaking but they are so well executed. A great introduction for people who don’t like foreign films.

Marius

The Baker's Wife

[italic]Breathless[/italic] is the sexiest movie ever.

Vagabond (1985), my favorite by Agnès Varda

You only get ten slots. It is kind of hard to pick some over the others.

Are we all in concurment that The Rules of the Game, Le Grande Illusion, and Children of Paradise should be on this list?

Another vote for "Les Quatre Cents Coups."

Banlieu 13

Okay, it's the Rules of the Game, but I did enjoy the former.

La règle du jeu 1939

Le corbeau 1942

Truffaut.

Day for Night

The Last Metro

Small Change

Jules and Jim

R23 He was the hottest and sexiest French guy ever. Yes, hotter than Delon, who may be beautiful but has the sex appeal of a Greek statue.

Belmondo had such a great body, especially for the 1960s when gym and fitness culture wasn't a thing........

Anyways, some more French films I consider masterworks that aren't listed or haven't been mentioned it (FWIW op, I agree strongly with Le Grand Illusion, The Rules of the Game, Children of Paradise, Eyes Without a Face, and Playtime):

- Orpheus + Testament of Orpheus - dir. Jean Cocteau

- Leon Morin, Priest - dir. Jean-Pierre Melville

- My Night at Maud's - dir. Eric Rohmer

- The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie - dir. Luis Bunuel

- Celine and Julie Go Boating - dir. Jacques Rivette

- La Haine - dir. Matthieu Kassovitz

- Beau Travail - dir. Claire Denis

- The Piano Teacher - dir. Michael Haneke

My favorite is Leon Morin, Priest, starring the most beautiful Jean Paul Belmondo who plays a priest during Occupied France.

The Earrings of Madame De, The Last Metro, Au Revoir les Enfants

Débbie Fait Dunkerque

Coup de torchon (1981)

La vie et rien d'autre (1989)

by Bertrand Tavernier who left us last year.

Last Year at Marienbad in my book.

Emmanuelle

[quote] This list is useless without The 400 Blows or Breathless.

This list is useless without criteria.

From the list - Joan of Arc

Off the top of my head - 400 Blows

That said, France for me has the prettiest actor, Alain Delon

Gerard Philipe was French cinema's cutest actor (40s and early 50s).

The Rules of the Game vs Children of Paradise

Querelle

Thanks R32! Au Revoir Les Enfants was my first French film, from like 8th grade. What memories!

Au hasard Balthasar Une Aussi Longue Absence are favorites of mine.

Sacrilege but I'm extremely fond of the French-language films of German genius Max Ophüls

I enjoyed lusting after twinky Gaël Morel in Wild Reeds.

Leon Morin, Priest starring the very hunky Jean Paul Belmondo.

Betty Blue (37.2 le matin)

Tatie Danielle

^^^ I forgot to mention this film SHOULD be the favorite French film of all DLers

My favourite Godard is "Pierrot le fou", and my favourite (French) Haneke is"Cache". Tbh I don't really think of "The Passion of Jeanne d'Arc" as a French film, as it was made by a Dane (of course Haneke is Austrian too, but I feel it's different with silent movies).

R20 loves films about musicians.

Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie

Le Souffle au Coeur

Ok, the thread has moved to Film in French?

Le Roi de coeur.

Le Grande Illusion