But not just any movies! Here’s the catch: I’m trying to put together a list of must-have and hard to find French films. In other words, DVD’s worth shipping over the pond. Most of the titles I could think of are available either at Amazon or Barnes&Noble. Can anyone recommend me some “hidden gems” that are not available in the US?
I assume you’re fluent in French? Because DVDs of French movies tend to come without English subtitles.
Ainsi finit la nuit (1949) a.k.a. L’affaire
Amants, Les (1958) a.k.a. The Lovers
Ape regina, L’ (1963) a.k.a. The Conjugal Bed
L’argent (1929)
Au hasard Balthazar (1966)
Au-delà des grilles (1948)
Aveu, L’ (1970) a.k.a. The Confession
Belle noiseuse, La (1991)
Cage aux rossignols, La (1945) a.k.a. A Cage of Nightingales
Cas du docteur Laurent, Le (1957) a.k.a. The Case of Dr. Laurent
Casque d’or (1952) a.k.a. Golden Marie
Celui qui doit mourir (1957) a.k.a. He Who Must Die
Chinoise, La (1967)
Compartiment tueurs (1965) a.k.a. The Sleeping Car Murders
Crèvecoeur (1955) a.k.a. Heartbreak Ridge
Deuxième souffle, Le (1966) a.k.a. Second Breath
Dieu a besoin des hommes (1950) a.k.a. Isle of Sinners
Enfance nue, L’ (1970) a.k.a. Me
Enfant secret, L’ (1982)
Fantôme de la liberté, Le (1974) a.k.a. The Phantom of Liberty
Farrebique (1946)
Fin du jour, La (1939) a.k.a. The End of a Day
Fruit défendu, Le (1952) a.k.a. Forbidden Fruit
Fête à Henriette, La (1952) a.k.a. Holiday for Henrietta
Garçon sauvage, Le (1951) a.k.a. Savage Triangle
Golgotha (1935)
Goupi mains rouges (1943) a.k.a. It Happened at the Inn
Guerre des gosses, La (1936) a.k.a. Generals Without Buttons
Hoa-Binh (1970)
Homme sur les quais, L’ (1993) a.k.a. The Man on the Shore
Hôtel du Nord (1938)
Il est charmant (1932)
Ingénue libertine, L’ (1950) a.k.a. Minne
Jean de la Lune (1932)
Jour de fête (1948)
Justice est faite (1950) a.k.a. Justice Is Done
Lacombe Lucien (1974)
- . . . more later*
Is that generally true? With the EU and cross europe sales don’t most european DVDs come with four or five subtitle languages? I don’t know of many films (as opposed to TV programmes) you can get in UK without french subtitles.
You got to get the classics… “Jean de Florette” and the follow up “Manon des sources”. Great movies.
If you are not scared of violence, try “doberman”, weird one. Hard to find I think.
It is never easy following Walloon in these threads, so I apologise in advance for any duplicates. Also, not living in the US, I have no idea whether or not these films are easily available. Regardless, here are some French films which are definitely worth seeing:
La Grande Illusion ( Jean Renoir, 1937)
La Règle du Jeu ( Jean Renoir, 1939)
La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc ( Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928)
Les Enfants du Paradis ( Marcel Carné, 1945)
Les Jeux Interdits ( René Clément, 1952)
L’Argent ( Robert Bresson, 1983)
Pickpocket ( Robert Bresson, 1959)
Un condamné à mort s’est échappé ( Robert Bresson, 1956)
- Le Procès de Jeanne d’Arc* ( Robert Bresson, 1962) ( as you may be able to guess, I’m a Bresson fan).
I knew I’d remember some more as soon as I pressed submit. I think you can lose your film buff card for forgetting Max Ophüls
La Ronde ( Max Ophüls, 1950)
Madame De… ( Max Opüls, 1953)
La Belle et La Bête ( Jean Cocteau, 1946)
Orphée ( Jean Cocteau, 1949)
Au Revoir Les Enfants ( Louis Malle, 1987)
I’ve heard and read great things about “La Jetée”. More of a movie “short” - about 30 minutes I think. Also, it is a series of movie “stills”. Here’s the IMDB link for it:
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0056119
Maybe it can be obtained in the USA but just thought I’d throw my 2¢ in.
Jabba, all those titles are available on DVD and/or VHS in the United States. A good way to check is to look the title up in the Internet Movie Database. A table in the upper right of the film’s title page will tell you the availability of the title on home video in the U.S., Britain, and Germany.
A reminder for the lurkers: don’t forget the difference between NTSC (US) and PAL (Europe) video formats. Trying to play a regular European DVD in a generic US DVD/TV setup will probably not work. You either need a DVD player that converts PAL to NTSC, or a PAL/NTSC converter box.
If you can fin dit (and it’s damn hard) there is a collection of French avant-garde films that includes La Jetée, the film that inspired 12 Monkeys. It’s only about 10-15 mintues and is done all in stills (except one very brief shot).
It’s actually quite an amazing little piece. As far as I kow the video (dunno if it’s on DVD but you can look) is only called “French Avant Garde” or some equally helpful title.
My favourite French film is Betty Blue*. It’s out of print in the U.S. You can get a Director’s Cut DVD in NTSC format from South Korea, but they blur out the naught bits (which is very distracting). There is an uncensored version of the Director’s Cut (I’ve seen it for sale on Australian websites, but I assume it’s available elsewhere), but it’s in PAL format.
Vagabond was hard to find, but it’s now available in the U.S. on NTSC DVD.
Further to Wumpus’ comments about the PAL/NTSC difference, you also have to take into account DVD region coding. North America is Region 1 and Europe is Region 2. In order to play a French released DVD you need a multi-region player capable of converting a PAL signal to NTSC. These are few and hard to come by in North America. Another option is to invest in a DVD-ROM for your computer. These can play PAL/NTSC/SECAM with no problem and most of them can be made region-free with a firmware upgrade.
Well, all French DVD’s in the comany library here (and they are pretty uptodate) do not have subtitles or English dubbing.
I like the movie “Horseman on the roof” starring by Juliette Binoche and Olivier Martinez…who knows it?
How do I get a firmware upgrade?
Thanks for the info Dragon Phoenix, I had been assuming that since nearly all English language films (that I know of) released in Europe have French subtitles, that the French DVDs would be released with similar courtesy to English speakers.
Actually, I bough two French DVD’s of French movies last month in the Paris FNAC, and both had English subtitles and/or dubbing (as well as subtitels for lots of other languages). I didn’t check all of the zillions of others, but I don’t think it was just a lucky pick. Strange that the DVD’s in a French library would all be exclusively French. OTOH you say it is a company library. What kind of DVD’s would that be, or: what company is that?
Maybe the library copies are rentals (which may be different from the ones for buying)? Or possibly French DVD-producers have wisened up.
I suggest Claire Denis’ Chocolat, (NOT the recent fluff piece with Johnny Depp in it), if you want a good movie on the tired (for some reason) theme of little European girl growing up in Africa.
Is La Haine, starring Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, and Saïd Taghmaoui any good? I’ve heard some positive things and it sounds interesting.