Decade
The best French films of the 1980s
Heritage films, the glossy "cinéma du look", bittersweet comedies and a few masterpieces.
By Eleanor Hale
In the 1980s, French cinema found large audiences again with lavish heritage films, adapting Pagnol, Zola and Hugo, and with popular comedies. A group of young directors, Jean-Jacques Beineix, Luc Besson and Leos Carax, made stylish, colourful films that critics labelled the cinéma du look. Older masters such as Truffaut, Resnais and Rohmer were still working, and Maurice Pialat and Agnès Varda made some of their best films.
L'Avare (Jean Girault and Louis de Funès, 1980)
Louis de Funès as Molière's miser, close to the original play. One of his last films.
Le Dernier Métro (François Truffaut, 1980)
A Paris theatre under the Occupation, run by an actress whose Jewish husband hides in the cellar. Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu. It won ten Césars.
Diva (Jean-Jacques Beineix, 1981)
A young postman secretly records an opera singer who refuses to make records, and is chased by two sets of crooks. The first film of the cinéma du look.
La Chèvre (Francis Veber, 1981)
The unluckiest man in France is sent to Mexico to find a kidnapped heiress who is just as unlucky. The first comedy with Pierre Richard and Depardieu.
Le Retour de Martin Guerre (Daniel Vigne, 1982)
In a 16th-century village, a man returns after years away and claims to be Martin Guerre. Based on a real case, with Depardieu and Nathalie Baye.
Le Père Noël est une ordure (Jean-Marie Poiré, 1982)
Christmas Eve at a telephone helpline, where everything goes wrong. A cult comedy from the Splendid troupe.
À nos amours (Maurice Pialat, 1983)
A fifteen-year-old girl, played by Sandrine Bonnaire, and her violent, loving family. Raw and unforgettable.
Sans toit ni loi (Agnès Varda, 1985)
A young woman is found frozen in a ditch, and the film retraces her last weeks of wandering through the people who met her. Golden Lion in Venice.
Trois hommes et un couffin (Coline Serreau, 1985)
Three bachelors find a baby on their doorstep. A huge hit, remade in Hollywood as Three Men and a Baby.
Jean de Florette and Manon des sources (Claude Berri, 1986)
Pagnol's Provençal tragedy in two parts: a hunchback from the city, a hidden spring, two greedy neighbours and a revenge. With Yves Montand, Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil and Emmanuelle Béart.
Au revoir les enfants (Louis Malle, 1987)
A Catholic boarding school in 1944 hides Jewish boys. Based on Malle's own memory. Golden Lion.
Le Grand Bleu (Luc Besson, 1988)
Two free divers compete to go deeper than anyone else. Mocked by critics, adored by a generation of young viewers.
Where to go next
Continue with the best French films of the 1990s, or go back to the 1970s.