31 French Movies to Watch (and Practice your French) this August
A list of 31 French movies which will not just provide daily fun but will also help you learn French and improve your listening & speaking skills.
On this page
Day 1: Sauve qui peut (la vie) (Every Man for Himself)Day 2: AliyahDay 3: MéloDay 4: Le Cinquième Élément (The Fifth Element)Day 5: Vénus noire (Black Venus)Day 6: Kirikou et la SorcièreDay 7: Couleur de peau: miel (Approved for Adoption)Day 8: Astérix et Obélix : Mission Cléopâtre (Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra)Day 9: Au Galop (In Rush)Day 10: One Night (38 témoins)Day 11: Parlez-moi de vous (On Air)Day 12: Un conte de Noël (A Christmas Tale)Day 13: Notre Musique (Our Music)Day 14: Hors Satan (Outside Satan)Day 15: L’Heure d’été (Summer Hours)Day 16: Va Savoir (Who Knows?)Day 17: Ce jour-là (That Day)Day 18: Je ne suis pas là pour être aimé (Not Here to be Loved)Day 19: Les Herbes Folles (Wild Grass)Day 20: L’Anglaise et le Duc (The Lady and the Duke)Day 21: Le Fils (The Son)Day 22: La Chambre des Officiers (The Officers’ Ward)Day 23: Éloge de l’amour (In Praise of Love)Day 24: Être et avoir (To Be and To Have)Day 25: Se souvenir des belles choses (Beautiful Memories)Day 26: Stupeur et tremblements (Fear and Trembling)Day 27: Le Mystère de la chambre jaune (The Mystery of the Yellow Chamber)Day 28: L’Emploi du tempsDay 29: The Widow of Saint-Pierre (La Veuve de Saint-Pierre)Day 30: Une Histoire Immortelle (The Immortal Story)Day 31: La Grande Illusion (Grand Illusion)ConclusionAugust means summer! And summer means hot days that will make you want to sip a lemonade (une limonade) with your loved ones, while lying back in comfort in front of your TV.
Once again, as part of my monthly ritual, I will give you another list of movies to watch for the month of August. Most are inspirational films created to convey deep and meaningful perceptions about life, war or happiness.
I hope you will like the films in my list for the second month of summer.
Day 1: Sauve qui peut (la vie) (Every Man for Himself)
Year: 1980
Directed by: Jean-Luc Godard
Written by: Jean-Claude Carrière; Jean-Luc Godard; Anne-Marie Miéville
Another movie list beginning with a Godard movie, Every Man for Himself stars Jacques Dutronc (as Paul Godard), Isabelle Huppert (Isabelle Rivière) and Nathalie Baye (Denise Rimbaud). It is a powerful, dark and surreal film examining different sexual relationships through the interactions of the three protagonists.
But the film is not without a comedic touch: balancing the combination of early experimental cinematic forms, such as its various slow motion scenes, with its pessimistic ideology about life, perversity, love and work.
Day 2: Aliyah
Year: 2012
Directed by: Elie Wajeman
Written by: Gaëlle Macé, Elie Wajeman
With a troublesome brother and a dream to pursue, Alex, a 27-year-old Jewish drug dealer living in a working-class Paris neighbourhood is working hard to pursue his Aliyah: a Jewish term for immigrating to Israel. In order to achieve his dream however, he must leave his home, his former love, his best friend Mathias, Jeanne, the woman he’s having a relationship with, and his stubborn brother.
He is being torn between his Aliyah, his drug business, complicated love life and his love for his brother. This movie received praise from many critics due to its representation of different social classes in Paris and its focus on the culture of the Jewish community in France.
Day 3: Mélo
Year: 1986
Directed by: Alain Resnais
Written by: Alain Resnais, based on Henri Bernstein’s play
The plot of Mélo is simple and quite predictable: two best friends fighting over the love of a woman. The difference in comparison to most such dramas is its beautifully crafted story of a woman dealing with a complex ménage à trois and its painful consequences.
You will find a story of undying love, faith, friendship, adultery and lies; skilfully blended with Resnais’ directorial magic in this wonderful movie. Watch how Romaine, Marcel and Pierre fight for their love, sacrifice life and happiness, and treasure friendship and dignity till the end.
Day 4: Le Cinquième Élément (The Fifth Element)
Year: 1997
Directed by: Luc Besson
Written by: Luc Besson , Robert Mark Kamen
Set during the twenty-third century, The Fifth Element is an English-language French science fiction film starring Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, and Milla Jovovich. For French listening practice, choose a French-dubbed version. The film’s plot revolves around an alien invasion, a cynical reluctant hero, and a beautiful and enigmatic woman with mysterious powers.
Made on a huge European budget, The Fifth Element became one of French cinema’s biggest international box-office successes. So, if you are asking yourself what the fifth element is, find out by watching and enjoy the performance of the blue diva, the search for the mystical stones, and the impending battle between humans and aliens from the dark and mysterious outer space.
Day 5: Vénus noire (Black Venus)
Year: 2010
Directed by: Abdellatif Kechiche
Written by: Abdellatif Kechiche, Ghalya Lacroix
Vénus noire is a special and one-of-a-kind true story movie about Sarah Baartman (Yahima Torrès), a Khoikhoi woman who was exhibited in Europe under the name “Hottentot Venus” in the early 19th century. Vénus noire (Black Venus) shows a life of a young woman from the ’dark continent’ of Africa brought to Europe.
In the film, she is treated as a sideshow attraction and viewed as part human and part animal by most people. Hendrick Caezar (André Jacobs) exhibits Sarah under the name ’Hottentot Venus‘. The film explores Sarah’s hope of becoming a performer alongside the coercion and degrading exploitation that constrain her choices.
Venus Noire explores important questions about life, immigration, racism and exploitation.
Day 6: Kirikou et la Sorcière
Year: 1998
Directed and written by: Michel Ocelot
Now, let’s turn to a happier story that also concerns Africa. Kirikou et la Sorcière is a cartoon drawn from the different elements of West African folk tales. The story takes place in a little village somewhere in West Africa, which is plagued by the wrath of an evil sorceress. The villagers blame the witch for their dried-up spring and the disappearance of all the men of the village except for one—the uncle of a brave little boy called Kirikou.
Unfortunately, his uncle must pay a visit to the evil sorceress, and this will be the beginning of Kirikou’s use of wit and cunning to save his people from the hands of the sorceress.
Ocelot has described objections to the depiction of female nudity in Kirikou, which portrays everyday dress in his imagined village rather than a universal rule about pre-colonial Africa. Nevertheless, the movie was successful and was followed by two sequels, and a stage musical.
Day 7: Couleur de peau: miel (Approved for Adoption)
Year: 2012
Directed by: Jung and Laurent Boileau
Written by: Jung and Laurent Boileau
The second animated film will bring you back to your childhood dreams and imagination. The artist Jung Henin has adapted his popular graphic novels about his life as an adopted child. Born in South Korea in 1965, he was adopted by a Belgian family in 1971, as part of the Korean adoption story that continued long after the war.
The story revolves around the life and struggles of an adopted child, his period of identity crisis at being stranded in between two very different types of culture, and his success in finding himself. The film is a combination of witty humour and inspiring snippets which will capture those soft spots of yours.
Day 8: Astérix et Obélix : Mission Cléopâtre (Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra)
Year: 2002
Directed by: Alain Chabat
Written by: Alain Chabat, based on the comic by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra is a movie based on a French comic book written by René Goscinny. Queen Cleopatra (Monica Bellucci) tells Julius Caesar that her people can build a palace in three months. She chooses architect Numerobis (Jamel Debbouze) to manage the project on time or be fed to the crocodiles.
To do this, Numerobis will need the help of the warriors: Asterix (Christian Clavier) and Obelix (Gérard Depardieu), with the powerful Panoramix (Claude Rich) along with their pet Dogmatix. How will these unlikely warriors help Numerobis to finish the palace project in time? For an amusing evening, watch Astérix et Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre.
Day 9: Au Galop (In Rush)
Year: 2012
Directed and written by: Louis-Do de Lencquesaing
Paul (Louis-Do de Lencquesaing) meets Ada, a beautiful mother of one, who is about to get married to a businessman. Paul is an accomplished author who lives with his daughter and has a domineering mother. When he meets Ada (Valentina Cervi), his world is changed forever.
He admires her beauty, while she adores his wit and intelligence. The two begin their forbidden love, and face the consequences attached to it. The movie dramatically depicts the torment of a novelist, his gorgeous mistress, a dying patriarch, love, children and an insight into Parisian archetypes.
Day 10: One Night (38 témoins)
Year: 2012
Directed by: Lucas Belvaux
Written by: Lucas Belvaux, based on Didier Decoin’s novel
What will you do if, after returning from a business trip, you discover a murder committed in your hometown, but no one is interested in solving the case? Will you keep out of trouble, or will you be like Louise Morvand and give your all to ensure that the local police will investigate the case?
38 témoins means 38 witnesses in French, but is ironic in that, in the film, only one of the thirty-eight people living in the area is willing to speak of the event, deciding to break his silence and provide some truths that the town doesn’t want to hear.
Day 11: Parlez-moi de vous (On Air)
Year: 2012
Directed and written by: Pierre Pinaud
Mélina is a famous agony aunt in France. Many people listen to her giving advice and solving emotional and sexual problems with her customary cheek and humour. Behind the image is a faceless diva and an introvert living like an old maid uptown. One day, however, she decides to search for her mother whom she never knew.
In her search, she discovers more about her past and regains her heart. “Parlez-moi de vous” is a light comedy drama which makes perfect watching after a day of work.
Day 12: Un conte de Noël (A Christmas Tale)
Year: 2008
Directed by: Arnaud Desplechin
Written by: Arnaud Desplechin, Emmanuel Bourdieu
Just before Christmas, the Vuillard family is forced to reunite to deal with negative news about their mother’s need for a transplant. Elizabeth, Ivan and Henri, are the children of Junon and Abel, but, six years ago, Elizabeth banished Henri from their lives. The circumstances of this banishment have become unclear, and the reunion brings the old dispute back into focus.
In this French comedy-drama film, you will confront issues with family relationships, conflict, and resolution so common in the run-up to Christmas.
Day 13: Notre Musique (Our Music)
Year: 2004
Directed and written by: Jean-Luc Godard
Notre Musique is Jean-Luc Godard’s 3-part film that touches on issues of violence, morality and its representation in filmmaking. This film has a particular focus on colonialism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some have called it poetic, some journalistic, but the unique thing about this film is its philosophical analysis of the war and its representation from the lens.
Notable for its adaptation of Dante’s tripartite style, it is divided into three segments: “Hell”, “Purgatory”, and “Heaven”. He examines how he can broaden understanding of social-political issues from the context of filmmaking. Godard stars as himself in this mixture of documentary, fiction and montage. This is ideal for those looking for a deep and provocative movie.
Day 14: Hors Satan (Outside Satan)
Year: 2011
Directed and written by: Bruno Dumont
This next movie is as deep and dark as Notre Musique, but more abstract in terms of its focus and ideals. Dumont attempts to explore the issues of good and evil and their symbiosis-as well as the transformation of one from the other.
The movie is about a drifter’s relationship with a young woman who suffered abuse. Though it could be extremely slow in pace, it serves to highlight the striking use of the French countryside, and the underlying themes.
Day 15: L’Heure d’été (Summer Hours)
Year: 2008
Directed and written by: Olivier Assayas
L’Heure d’été (Summer Hours) will make you think about the profound struggles between culture and modernity, tradition and change. The plot revolves around the three siblings’ decisions about the family’s antique collection after their elderly mother’s death. For the three siblings in the movie, parting with the collection is equivalent to the disappearance of their childhood memories- as they must abandon the house and all the art inside as they return to their thoroughly modern lives.
The movie received great praise because of its detail-oriented approach and its portrayal of how objects of value lose their context when taken from their original setting, yet regain it, when placed in one in which they become part of a greater heritage.
Day 16: Va Savoir (Who Knows?)
Year: 2001
Directed by: Jacques Rivette
Written by: Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent, Jacques Rivette
Camille is the lead actress of an Italian theatre company touring Europe. Ugo, the director of the play and the manager of the company, is her boyfriend. He brings the company to Paris in the hope of verifying the existence of an unpublished Goldoni manuscript.
Unknown to both of them, their return to Paris will bring one back to a past lover, and the other to a new, seductive one, at the risk of their relationship. With the theatre used as both a backdrop and a metaphor for the film’s themes, this is a skilful dissection of the short, and long-term effects of romantic love.
Day 17: Ce jour-là (That Day)
Year: 2003
Directed and written by: Raúl Ruiz
A dark comedy with a slightly unhinged feel, Ce jour-là or That Day is a story of wealth, greed and unconventional love.
Livia (Elsa Zylberstein) and Pointpoirot (Bernard Giraudeau) are a perfect match, yet one made in hell. Livia is deeply delusional, yet the sole inheritor of vast family wealth. Pointpoirot is a psychopathic serial killer hired to kill her. Her father wants her money to the point that he wants her dead to gain access to her inheritance; however, his evil plan is turned upside down when the two meet.
A deliciously dark and twisted modern morality tale that’s not for the faint of heart!
Day 18: Je ne suis pas là pour être aimé (Not Here to be Loved)
Year: 2005
Directed by: Stéphane Brizé. Written by: Stéphane Brizé and Juliette Sales.
The middle-aged misanthrope Jean-Claude (Patrick Chesnais) lives a lonely and cheerless life. As a bailiff, his work involves serving notices and carrying out seizures, bringing him into other people’s unhappy lives. While taking tango lessons after a doctor told him to get more exercise, he meets Françoise, a forty-something woman taking dance classes to prepare for her wedding day. The meeting changes both their lives forever.
Day 19: Les Herbes Folles (Wild Grass)
Year: 2009
Directed by:Alain Resnais
Written by: Alex Réval, Laurent Herbiet
Who can imagine a wallet could open doors to romance? When Georges, an unhappy married and unemployed man in his 50s, finds the purse of Marguerite, a dentist and weekend pilot in her 40s, he thinks that it might lead to something near to romance. However, this is far from Marguerite’s view.
So Georges hands the wallet to the police station to give it back to Marguerite. However, with Marguerite wishing to show her gratitude, she contacts him, only to be greeted with his own rude behaviour. After the incident he feels guilty about his gruff manners, so he tries to apologize in return-leading to an increasingly complicated series of events. The difficulties of human emotions, and how they impact on others are subtly examined in this perceptive film.
Day 20: L’Anglaise et le Duc (The Lady and the Duke)
Year: 2001
Directed and written by: Éric Rohmer
Our next film is inspired by the memoirs of Grace Elliott, a Scottish royalist who lived and fought during the French Revolution. L’Anglaise et le Duc (The Lady and the Duke) aroused strong condemnation from many French citizens due to its perceived monarchist sympathies.
Eric Rohmer created the film at the age of 81 and he proves that age does not matter, nor does age necessarily make a person rusty and ineffective. The active negative response of so many certainly proved that! Moreover, Rohmer brings 18th-century Paris to the modern period through adapting the style of paintings during the era. The actors look like a part of a pop-up book, and the effect is strange and animated.
Day 21: Le Fils (The Son)
Year: 2002
Directed and written by: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Olivier, a woodwork teacher at a vocational school becomes obsessed with Francis, the boy who killed his son. Tormented by his son’s death and his separation from his wife, he starts to stalk Francis, even taking him as an apprentice to be closer to him.
In the midst of all this, he starts to know more about Francis and his past. Francis, unaware of his connection with Olivier, looks up to him as a father figure. Because of this, Olivier is torn between his desire to avenge his son’s death and his paternal instinct to care for this broken youth.
The film explores male communication, and parental instincts against emotional dilemmas.
Day 22: La Chambre des Officiers (The Officers’ Ward)
Year: 2001
Directed by: François Dupeyron
Written by: François Dupeyron, based on Marc Dugain’s novel
World War I—a time of loss and death. A period when many men sacrificed their chance of a happy life with their loved ones for the sake of fighting for their country. Adrien is one of these soldiers- left injured after a shell explodes in his face.
Dupeyron adds ambiguity to La Chambre des Officiers by creatively conveying the extent of Adrien’s injury, and the war as a whole, through minimalism and lighting. La Chambre des Officiers presents the inherent paradox of a period when machines and science aided the war greatly, but still lacked the ability to revive the ripped and shredded bodies of the dead and injured soldiers.
Day 23: Éloge de l’amour (In Praise of Love)
Year: 2001
Directed and written by: Jean-Luc Godard
Edgar (Bruno Putzulu) is looking for the right leading lady for his next artistic project without much success when he encounters Elle (Cécile Camp). Elle fascinates him and he is somewhat certain that he has already met her somewhere before, but cannot tell exactly when, where and how.
Just as everything seems perfect to start the project, Edgar receives the news that Elle has died. Lacking a conventional narrative of linear chronology, In Praise of Love is Godard’s contemplation of how we perceive the past, and the effects of culture and subjectivity on memory and history. Be warned, this film is not for American patriots–as you might find some aspects of the film offensive.
Day 24: Être et avoir (To Be and To Have)
Year: 2002
Directed and written by: Nicolas Philibert
How can a person utterly devote their life to a vocation that helps others? Être et avoir is a beautiful documentary portraying a one-room school in Auvergne where students (ranging from 3 to 11 at the start of filming) are educated by one dedicated teacher, Georges Lopez. A timely and important look at the efforts and rewards of helping others to learn.
Day 25: Se souvenir des belles choses (Beautiful Memories)
Year: 2001
Directed by: Zabou Breitman
Written by: Zabou Breitman, Jean-Claude Deret
In an institution for people with memory disorders, two people looking for solutions find love along the way to their recovery. Claire Poussin, a young woman in her early 30s whose mother has died from Alzheimer’s disease has been having memory problems since being struck by lightning.
Believing she is showing the first signs of the disease, she enters the care of Prof. Christian Licht. In the house, Claire meets Philippe, a wine expert who is traumatized by a car accident that killed his wife and child. The two fall in love and decide to move in together, but their conditions make their lives harder. Will they be able to recover the fractured pieces of their memories and live happily together?
Day 26: Stupeur et tremblements (Fear and Trembling)
Year: 2003
Directed by: Alain Corneau
Written by: Alain Corneau, based on Amélie Nothomb’s novel
Have you ever experienced humiliation in the workplace? If yes, you could relate to this next film in our list. Stupeur et tremblements is about the difficulties that Amélie experiences while working in Japan. She wants to work in Japan to be a “real Japanese”, but faces great humiliation from her supervisors. Unfamiliar with the workplace customs, and frequently making errors that anger her superiors, she needs to learn the unstated hierarchies in Japanese society and acknowledge when to bend her firm stance.
The title, Fear and Trembling, refers to the Japanese manner of behaving in front of the emperor. Can Amélie live with her dreams to become a real Japanese or will the intensity of the Japanese working environment prove too much?
Day 27: Le Mystère de la chambre jaune (The Mystery of the Yellow Chamber)
Year: 2003
Directed and written by: Bruno Podalydès
Do you like solving mysteries? One night at the Château du Glandier, somebody attempts to murder Mathilde, the daughter of the famous Professor Stangerson. There is no weapon and there are no suspects, and the room is locked and barred from the inside. This classy update of the classic ‘locked room’ mystery will keep you guessing to the very end.
Day 28: L’Emploi du temps
Year: 2001
Directed by: Laurent Cantet
Written by: Robin Campillo, Laurent Cantet
How could you tell the truth to your loved ones if you are the person they rely on? Will you confess to them that you got fired from work? That will be very hard for you to do, right?
Recently fired from his job, Vincent cannot accept the fact that he is now unemployed, and is unable to confess the truth to his family. As a ‘solution’, he fabricates a new job for himself so his family and friends will not know that he is out of work. As Vincent enters buildings and hallways of busy workers, he starts to yearn for a job and a place in this world.
Day 29: The Widow of Saint-Pierre (La Veuve de Saint-Pierre)
Year: 2000
Directed by: Patrice Leconte
Written by: Claude Faraldo; adaptation by Patrice Leconte
In 1850, on the small isolated island of Saint Pierre, a man murders another and receives a death sentence by guillotine. Since the island is small, the guillotine must be transported there. While waiting, Neel, the prisoner, is put under the surveillance of the island’s army Captain. The Captain’s wife, in turn, lets him do small tasks around the house. Neel also becomes famous in the community after doing simple chores like planting, repairing cottages, etc… which further increases his popularity to the people.
When the guillotine arrives, Neel’s death sentence still stands. The Captain is removed from his post and sent back to France, where he is executed, while Neel is guillotined. A tragic and moving film that explores notions of punishment and duty.
Day 30: Une Histoire Immortelle (The Immortal Story)
Year: 1968
Directed by: Orson Welles
Written by: Karen Blixen (story), Louise de Vilmorin, Orson Welles
There is a story about a rich man who spent five guineas to pay a sailor to father a child with his beautiful young wife… In the Portuguese colony of Macao in the 19th century, a very rich merchant becomes obsessed with making this story true. He asks his assistant / bookkeeper to look for a sailor and beautiful woman to play the characters of the story.
The assistant finds people to do the job, but after the job takes place, the assistant finds the merchant dead. A powerful story of hubris and identity from one of the true masters of cinema.
Day 31: La Grande Illusion (Grand Illusion)
Year: 1937
Directed by: Jean Renoir
Written by: Jean Renoir, Charles Spaak
Our last film in the list is about two French soldiers captured and imprisoned in a German camp in the First World War. They plot an escape plan with other prisoners, but fail and are brought to another location. Aristocratic Captain de Boeldieu and Lieutenant Maréchal are taken by Captain von Rauffenstein who treats them with hospitality. Rauffenstein, who is weak from battle wounds, tries to befriend de Boeldieu, but the latter has other plans in his mind, and is willing to put himself in danger to allow others to escape.
The story concerns class relationships amongst imprisoned French officers during the First World War and their various attempts of escape. It is regarded as a masterpiece by film historians because of its humanistic perspective.
Conclusion
Life is full of mysteries and movies are one way of examining them. So, if you are looking for a way to cool down for the summer, grab a bowl of popcorn then sit and relax while watching each one of the films listed above.
Have a nice, hot and relaxing summer everyone!
P.S: As always sharing is caring 🙂