In the world of cinema, US centric viewpoints rarely look outside their own borders, unfortunately. And even more unfortunately, when people look, it’s usually a British romcom or a Japanese anime first. I would argue that France should be equally considered in that top tier. The French have been instrumental in movie history, pushing boundaries in storytelling and direction. You don’t get the amazing American 70’s, or Quentin Tarantino, Damien Chazelle, and a million famous directors without their amazing French pioneers who influenced them with Liberty Egality, and Fraternity, as the country’s motto says.
Below are 6 films displaying one of those themes ingrained in the French culture since the French revolution. Vive la France! Allez-y….
Liberté
| Titre Du Film | Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) |
| Évaluation Du Film | |
| Le Crochet | A pop star awaits results from a medical test in real time. |
| Pourquoi ce film est-il bon? | Agnes Varda is one of the more prolific filimmakers during the French New Wave of the late 50s – the 60s. This is one of her best, and probably her best known film. I know you might roll your eyes at the premise, because I totally did. Being subjected to other New Wave films, the directors can be pretty full of themselves sometimes. Not so with this gem. The pop star profession for Cléo was a stroke of genius from Varda, as the self obsession means her agony over her diagnosis is overly melodramatic, and shuts out the world around her. Varda then, also smartly, decides to shoot the movie in real time, with handheld camera, making you agonize with Cleo, in real, time, waiting for these results after a bad omen. What results is a stressful but engrossing look into the life of a person when awaiting some big news that will define their life going forward: nothing too special happens, but because of our endpoint, every action takes on added weight and suspense, as we hope Cléo frees herself from her prison of stress. |
| Titre Du Film | Belle De Jour (1967) |
| Évaluation Du Film | |
| Le Crochet | A repressed housewife seeks to satisfy her desires through, um, a new profession. |
| Pourquoi ce film est-il bon? | There are plenty of erotic thrillers out there. And certainly, Luis Bruñel’s tale gets a lot of viewing because the gorgeous Catherine Deneuve is going through a mid life sexual awakening. Standard erotic thrillers lead to some sort of gigantic climax at the end, usually involving a killing of some kind, and they can be fun, but usually they end up forgettable. This film? There’s some of those elements yes, but the story takes a more interesting route, exploring the differences between what one desires outside of the bedroom versus the primal ones that arise inside of it. How do you create boundaries? Can the two worlds co exist, freeing you to be fully yourself? That’s some high brow stuff for a movie sold on its T&A. I enjoyed watching Belle De Jour, but its power is the way it stays with you after its over, giving you lots of complicated adult questions to ponder. |
Égalité
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Fraternité
| Titre Du Film | The Rules of the Game (1939) |
| Évaluation Du Film | |
| Le Crochet | A group of French people from multiple classes escape to a French Villa for a weekend getaway. |
| Pourquoi ce film est-il bon? | For you Downton Abbey stans, this is your French version of that story! Jean Renoir’s tale has some of that “keeping secrets” energy that powers the famous British tale, but the French are more open about their feelings on the whole than the British are, at least in movies and such. So Renior’s film let’s the romantic entanglements he sets up between the friends/lovers in the early going untangle themselves at the weekend retreat. The movie is messy and complicated by the class issues, with every person having some dimension given to them over the weekend sojurn. Renoir’s template, as you can see, has been updated and recycled ad nauseum because of how easily it mines drama from its small enclosed setting of bottled up feelings. |
| Titre Du Film | The Wages of Fear (1953) |
| Évaluation Du Film | |
| Le Crochet | A corporation enlists a group of men in need to drive a truck containing explosives on a very bumpy road to an energy facility. |
| Pourquoi ce film est-il bon? | What a premise! Every person is probably like you had me at “truck containing explosives.” Once the men hit the road in the truck (the movie’s big flaw: it takes too long to get going), Henri Georges Cluzot ratches up the tension, minute by minute, scene by scene. This is one of those films that has you either moving forward on your couch or receding into your body, covering your eyes. Part of the reason the movie is so tense is because of the friendship between the drivers, who need to trust each other to keep the explosives from going BOOM! You know that something is going to blow up, you just wonder when, and who’s going to be affected, while you have several heart attacks along the way. |