Best Of...
French cinema: History
Les Misérables (1958)
Jean-Paul Le Chanois
France, 1815. Sentenced to five years' hard labour for stealing a loaf of bread, Jean Valjean escapes from prison in Toulon and goes on the run...
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Jean-Paul Le Chanois
Les Misérables (1982)
Robert Hossein
Sent to jail for stealing a loaf of bread, Jean Valjean has every reason for hating humanity and embarking on a life of crime when he is released twenty years later...
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Robert Hossein
Molière (1909)
Léonce Perret
Paris, 1642. In his father's upholstery shop, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin is reading his first comic verses to his brothers and sisters...
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Léonce Perret
Monsieur Klein (1976)
Joseph Losey
Paris, January 1942. Robert Klein is an art dealer who has grown rich by trading in valuable art treasures sold by Jews who are desperate to raise cash to escape deportation to Nazi Germany...
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Joseph Losey
Monsieur Vincent (1947)
Maurice Cloche
In the early 1600s, during the reign of King Louis XIII, Vincent de Paul gives up his privileged position as a private tutor to the aristocratic Gondy family, so that he can devote himself to the needs of the poor and infirm...
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Maurice Cloche
Monte Cristo (1929)
Henri Fescourt
On the day of his marriage to Mercèdes, the navigator Edmond Dantès is arrested, wrongly accused of being a Bonapartist conspirator... [More...]
Henri Fescourt
On the day of his marriage to Mercèdes, the navigator Edmond Dantès is arrested, wrongly accused of being a Bonapartist conspirator... [More...]
Nana (1926)
Jean Renoir
A proud but talentless young actress, Nana, dreams of a better life for herself, away from the tawdry slums of Paris. She gets her chance when a government official, Count Muffat, falls under her spell having watched her performance at the theatre... [More...]
Jean Renoir
A proud but talentless young actress, Nana, dreams of a better life for herself, away from the tawdry slums of Paris. She gets her chance when a government official, Count Muffat, falls under her spell having watched her performance at the theatre... [More...]
Nannerl, la soeur de Mozart (2010)
René Féret
In a rickety carriage, a family of musicians are making their way across a wintry landscape, snuggled together for comfort as they await their arrival at the next palace on their itinerary... [More...]
René Féret
In a rickety carriage, a family of musicians are making their way across a wintry landscape, snuggled together for comfort as they await their arrival at the next palace on their itinerary... [More...]
Napoléon (1927)
Abel Gance
Napoleon Bonaparte is just 14 years old when his potential as a great military commander first becomes apparent. In the winter of 1783, whilst attending an elite military school, Brienne College, he gets into a fierce snowball fight with his enemies and scores a prodigious victory... [More...]
Abel Gance
Napoleon Bonaparte is just 14 years old when his potential as a great military commander first becomes apparent. In the winter of 1783, whilst attending an elite military school, Brienne College, he gets into a fierce snowball fight with his enemies and scores a prodigious victory... [More...]
Napoléon Bonaparte (1935)
Abel Gance
France, 1815. On the eve of Napoléon Bonaparte's escape from Elba and his triumphant return to Paris, the writer Stendhal reflects on the heroic life of the Emperor with those who were personally acquainted with him... [More...]
Abel Gance
France, 1815. On the eve of Napoléon Bonaparte's escape from Elba and his triumphant return to Paris, the writer Stendhal reflects on the heroic life of the Emperor with those who were personally acquainted with him... [More...]
Ne touchez pas la hache (2007)
Jacques Rivette
General Armand de Montriveau arrives on a Spanish island as part of a French expedition to re-establish the rule of Ferdinand VII... [More...]
Jacques Rivette
General Armand de Montriveau arrives on a Spanish island as part of a French expedition to re-establish the rule of Ferdinand VII... [More...]
La Nuit de Varennes (1982)
Ettore Scola
June 1791. When the controversial writer and printer Restif de la Bretonne sees Queen Marie-Antoinette's lady-in-waiting secretly leaving Paris one evening, he concludes that King Louis XVI and his family have already fled the capital... [More...]
Ettore Scola
June 1791. When the controversial writer and printer Restif de la Bretonne sees Queen Marie-Antoinette's lady-in-waiting secretly leaving Paris one evening, he concludes that King Louis XVI and his family have already fled the capital... [More...]
L'Occitanienne (2008)
Jean Périssé
Who was L'Occitanienne, the mysterious woman that preoccupied the celebrated French writer René de Chateaubriand in his later years... [More...]
Jean Périssé
Who was L'Occitanienne, the mysterious woman that preoccupied the celebrated French writer René de Chateaubriand in his later years... [More...]
La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928)
Carl Theodor Dreyer
In 1431, Joan of Arc is arrested and brought before a court of ecclesiastical judges on a charge of treason and heresy. The Church believes that Joan's visions are manifestations of the Devil, but she maintains they are messages from God and his saints... [More...]
Carl Theodor Dreyer
In 1431, Joan of Arc is arrested and brought before a court of ecclesiastical judges on a charge of treason and heresy. The Church believes that Joan's visions are manifestations of the Devil, but she maintains they are messages from God and his saints... [More...]
Patrie (1946)
Louis Daquin
Flanders in the late 16th century. With his country under occupation by the armies of the King of Spain, the nobleman Count Rysoor enters into a pact with William of Orange to lead a revolt that will free his people from Spanish rule... [More...]
Louis Daquin
Flanders in the late 16th century. With his country under occupation by the armies of the King of Spain, the nobleman Count Rysoor enters into a pact with William of Orange to lead a revolt that will free his people from Spanish rule... [More...]
Persepolis (2007)
Vincent Paronnaud
Teheran, 1978. The dreams of 8-year-old Marjane are fractured but not crushed when the Shah is deposed and the Islamic Revolution begins... [More...]
Vincent Paronnaud
Teheran, 1978. The dreams of 8-year-old Marjane are fractured but not crushed when the Shah is deposed and the Islamic Revolution begins... [More...]
La Princesse de Montpensier (2010)
Bertrand Tavernier
1562. Under the reign of Charles IX, religious wars continue to rage across France. From an early age, Marie de Mézières has been in love with Henri, Duc de Guise, but her father compels her to marry the Prince de Montpensier... [More...]
Bertrand Tavernier
1562. Under the reign of Charles IX, religious wars continue to rage across France. From an early age, Marie de Mézières has been in love with Henri, Duc de Guise, but her father compels her to marry the Prince de Montpensier... [More...]
La Prise de pouvoir par Louis XIV (1966)
Roberto Rossellini
France, 1661. As the once powerful Cardinal Mazarin lies dying in his bedroom at Vincennes, the young Louis XIV readies himself to take over the reins of power and guide his country's destiny like his fathers before him... [More...]
Roberto Rossellini
France, 1661. As the once powerful Cardinal Mazarin lies dying in his bedroom at Vincennes, the young Louis XIV readies himself to take over the reins of power and guide his country's destiny like his fathers before him... [More...]
Procès de Jeanne d'Arc (1962)
Robert Bresson
Rouen, 1431. After falling into the hands of her English enemies, Jeanne, the young peasant girl who became a figurehead of the French army during the Hundred Years War, is placed on trial for heresy... [More...]
Robert Bresson
Rouen, 1431. After falling into the hands of her English enemies, Jeanne, the young peasant girl who became a figurehead of the French army during the Hundred Years War, is placed on trial for heresy... [More...]
Quatre-vingt-treize (1921)
Albert Capellani
France, 1793. The French Revolution has entered its bloodiest phase with the Republican Army authorised by the Committee of Public Safety to crush opposition to the new régime wherever it shows itself, and with utter ruthlessness... [More...]
Albert Capellani
France, 1793. The French Revolution has entered its bloodiest phase with the Republican Army authorised by the Committee of Public Safety to crush opposition to the new régime wherever it shows itself, and with utter ruthlessness... [More...]
La Question (1977)
Laurent Heynemann
Algiers, 1957. Henri Charlegue is the editor of a newspaper that is sympathetic to the cause of the FLN (Algerian National Liberation Front)... [More...]
Laurent Heynemann
Algiers, 1957. Henri Charlegue is the editor of a newspaper that is sympathetic to the cause of the FLN (Algerian National Liberation Front)... [More...]
La Rafle (2010)
Rose Bosch
In 1942, Joseph is 11. A Jew, he must go to school with a yellow star sewn onto his chest. Although he is mocked by some, others treat him kindly and he feels that he and his family have found a safe refuge in Paris... [More...]
Rose Bosch
In 1942, Joseph is 11. A Jew, he must go to school with a yellow star sewn onto his chest. Although he is mocked by some, others treat him kindly and he feels that he and his family have found a safe refuge in Paris... [More...]
La Reine Margot (1994)
Patrice Chéreau
Paris, August, 1572 - a troubled time in the history of France, a country scarred by interminable religious wars. To appease the Protestants, the Catholic queen mother Catherine de Medici arranges a marriage between her daughter, Margot, and the King of Navarre, Henri... [More...]
Patrice Chéreau
Paris, August, 1572 - a troubled time in the history of France, a country scarred by interminable religious wars. To appease the Protestants, the Catholic queen mother Catherine de Medici arranges a marriage between her daughter, Margot, and the King of Navarre, Henri... [More...]
Le Retour de Martin Guerre (1982)
Daniel Vigne
Early in the 1500s, there is a mood of celebration in the small village of Artigat in the Ariège region of southwest France... [More...]
Daniel Vigne
Early in the 1500s, there is a mood of celebration in the small village of Artigat in the Ariège region of southwest France... [More...]
Ridicule (1996)
Patrice Leconte
France, 1780. Grégoire Ponceludon de Malavoy is a country aristocrat and engineer who has committed himself to a drainage project that will vastly improve the lives of the poor people of his region... [More...]
Patrice Leconte
France, 1780. Grégoire Ponceludon de Malavoy is a country aristocrat and engineer who has committed himself to a drainage project that will vastly improve the lives of the poor people of his region... [More...]
Le Secret de Mayerling (1949)
Jean Delannoy
In the early hours of 30th January 1889, the Archduke Rudolph, crown prince of Austria, is found dead in his hunting lodge at Mayerling, lying on his bed beside his 17-year-old lover Marie Vetsera... [More...]
Jean Delannoy
In the early hours of 30th January 1889, the Archduke Rudolph, crown prince of Austria, is found dead in his hunting lodge at Mayerling, lying on his bed beside his 17-year-old lover Marie Vetsera... [More...]
Sous les yeux d'occident (1936)
Marc Allégret
In Russia during the early 1900s, Razumov is a brilliant student with a dazzling career ahead of him. He has no interest in politics and is unmoved when he learns that the Prime Minister has just been shot dead... [More...]
Marc Allégret
In Russia during the early 1900s, Razumov is a brilliant student with a dazzling career ahead of him. He has no interest in politics and is unmoved when he learns that the Prime Minister has just been shot dead... [More...]
Stavisky (1974)
Alain Resnais
France, 1933. Serge Alexandre is a high-flying businessman who seems to have the Midas touch when it comes to making money... [More...]
Alain Resnais
France, 1933. Serge Alexandre is a high-flying businessman who seems to have the Midas touch when it comes to making money... [More...]
La Symphonie fantastique (1942)
Christian-Jaque
In Paris circa 1825, Hector Berlioz is a reluctant medical student who shows more interest in music than human anatomy. Convinced that his future lies as a composer, the young Berlioz abandons his studies and devotes himself to his musical compositions, encouraged by his friend Antoine Charbonnel... [More...]
Christian-Jaque
In Paris circa 1825, Hector Berlioz is a reluctant medical student who shows more interest in music than human anatomy. Convinced that his future lies as a composer, the young Berlioz abandons his studies and devotes himself to his musical compositions, encouraged by his friend Antoine Charbonnel... [More...]
Les Trois mousquetaires [TV] (1959)
Claude Barma
France, 1625. King Louis XIII reigns but it is the Cardinal de Richelieu who governs. As he is reprimanding Athos, Porthos and Aramis after being thrashed by the cardinal's men, Monsieur de Tréville is visited by the young Charles D'Artagnan, who is keen to serve as a musketeer... [More...]
Claude Barma
France, 1625. King Louis XIII reigns but it is the Cardinal de Richelieu who governs. As he is reprimanding Athos, Porthos and Aramis after being thrashed by the cardinal's men, Monsieur de Tréville is visited by the young Charles D'Artagnan, who is keen to serve as a musketeer... [More...]