Beginner’s Guide to Classic French Cinema

La règle du jeu

Also known as: The Rules of the Game
Year: 1939
Directed by:  Jean Renoir

Before I talk about this film I feel I must mention that it is essential that you watch Renoir’s 1937 film La grande illusion as well, but I could only fit on Renoir film on this list.

I went with La règle du jeu for this list because as much as I love La grande illusion, I cannot deny how influential The Rules of the Game is. It has been either the #2 or #3 film on Sight & Sound’s poll of the greatest films of all time (which comes out every ten years) for nearly fifty years. Countless directors claim it as one of their most favorite films of all time.

Greeted with derision in Paris when it was first released for its satirical take on the French upper class, the French government eventually went so far as to ban it from exhibition .

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La belle et la bête

Also Known As: Beauty and the Beast
Year: 1946
Directed by: Jean Cocteau

One of the greatest fantasy films ever made, Jean Cocteau’s take on the classic tale is also painfully romantic and full of the most beautiful cinematic imagery.

While it does depart a bit from the original story, the film more than makes up for it with its stunning special effects, costumes, art direction and heartfelt performances from Jean Marais and Josette Day.

This is truly a spectacle that takes advantage of the medium of film to create a living work of art.

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Madame de…

Also Known As: The Earrings of Madame de…
Year: 1953
Directed by: Max Ophüls

While this film may have been one of the films that caused the French New Wave neorealist style to erupt in response to its focus on upperclass opulence, I have read an essay by François Truffaut wherein he says the urgent need of Madame de. . . to find her lost earring is just as dire as Antonio’s need to find his bicycle in Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neorealist film Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle Thieves). That essay changed my whole outlook on cinema, really.

Anyways, this is a beautifully made film, filled with luscious imagery, costumes, sets and plenty of hopeless romance. It’s a real treat to see Charles Boyer acting in his native tongue and Danielle Darrieux gives a heart-wrenching performance as the titular Madame de. . . Oh, and Vittorio De Sica takes a break from directing to return to his matinee idol roots, playing the other man in Darrieux’s life.

Few directors bring such delicious melancholy to their films the way Max Ophüls does and this is one of his greatest efforts.

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Les diaboliques

Also Known As: Diabolique
Year: 1955
Directed by: Henri-Georges Clouzot

Simone Signoret is probably best known for her Oscar-nominated roles in Room At Top (she won the award for Best Actress for this one) and Ship of Fools, but here we get to see her in her native tongue. She is definitely at the top of her game in this thriller about adultery, desire, desperation and murder.

This is an excellently paced thriller with a pretty great — and completely unexpected — twist, with some chilling noir-eque lighting.

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Pickpocket

Year: 1959
Directed by: Robert Bresson

Bresson is kind of a love him or hate him type director due to his extreme minimalist style. I happen to love him, though so far all I’ve seen is this film and 1956’s Un condamné à mort s’est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (A Man Escaped). Both films feature men who are essentially prisoners — one a prisoner of war, the other of society.

Godard once said, “Robert Bresson is French cinema, as Dostoevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is the German music.” Bresson’s influence can be seen in the work of Andrei Tarkovsky, Michael Haneke, Jim Jarmusch and Paul Schrader.

Specifically with Schrader, I recommend watching his film American Gigolo right after you watch Pickpocket. If ever two films take part in a conversation with each other, it is those films.

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2 Responses

  1. September 5, 2014

    […] is, without a doubt, the love for classic films. In particular, the works of George Méliès [1], highlighted throughout the film. If Midnight in Paris reminded the world of how lovely literature […]

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