Modern era and in no particular order:
1. La Haine (Hate) (1995)
2. Indochine (Indochina) (1992)
3. Intouchables (Untouchable) (2011)
4. Un long dimanche de fiançailles (A Very Long Engagement) (2004)
5. L’ Appartement (The Apartment) (1996)
6. Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (Amélie) (2001)
7. Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) (2007)
8. Les Choristes (The Chorus) (2004)
9. 37°2 le Matin (Betty Blue) (1986)
10. Monsieur Lazhar (2011)
Hey, nice write up. It’s funny, I’m finishing up a similar list. We shall have a tiny bit if overlap me thinks!
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Good list. I’d recommend Cache, Certified Copy, along with the Dardenne Brother’s filmography, particularly Rosetta.
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Nice list! I absolutely love Amelie and A Very Long Engagement (maybe it’s an Audrey Tatou thing!). I also like Tell No-One and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Also, for a bit of harmless nonsense, District 13 isn’t bad. There’s plenty here I haven’t seen that I’ll look into though.
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Thanks. I don’t think I’ve seen ‘Tell No-One’ and am intrigued by it. I also heard about District 13, but haven’t watched it yet. The other two new films I think I would have considered including are ‘The Kid with a Bike’ and ‘Amour’, the latest ‘masterpiece’ from Michael Haneke. I should really get them on my list of ‘must-watch’.
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Yeah those are both pretty high on my list too, especially Amour which I’ve heard is amazing. I’ve also got the Three Colours Trilogy to watch which I’m very much looking forward to.
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No Baise Moi?
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So many films, so little time!
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Interesting top 10. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Untouchable so I’m looking forward to checking that out very soon. Can’t argue with La Haine at the top of the list.
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Great to see Monsieur Lazhar on that list.
It could have been terribly mawkish but it’s handled so well it becomes almost overwhelmingly sad.
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I had heard great things about The Chorus. French-language films? Ooh, I certainly like a few and not all of them are from France, too. Some of my favorites would be (in no particular order) My Life as a Zucchini, Black Girl, and Felicite to name a few.
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Great recommendations, thanks a lot! I guess these foreign-language film lists need serious updates. I cannot believe I made them 8 years ago. It feels like yesterday. Time flies 🙂
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No problem. I didn’t realize the lists have been around this long. Wow! Yeah, some updates could work if you’ve seen great movies after making those lists.
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Yeah, I guess my list now would look slightly different and would include more older films because I have seen some great old French films in that period of time.
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Is that so now? I could believe that especially when you get exposed to older works that you didn’t see at first. I’m like that, too.
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