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Really intellectual French films....?

Che!

11

Any great, classic, philosophical french films that any respectable French student MUST watch??

Reply 1

Starsailor

1

I can't think of any philosophical films off the top of my head, but perhaps Jean de Florette, Manon des Sources or Cyrano de Bergarac. They're certainly classics :smile:

Reply 2

Che!

OP

11

Merci! Je les regarderai aussi tot que possible...

Reply 3

gringalet

12

Les 400 Coups is certainly interesting...bit of a classic I'd say too.

Reply 4

Starsailor

1

che_guevara

Merci! Je les regarderai aussi tot que possible...

It's spelt aussitôt, there's no space. :smile:

Reply 5

leannemarie

11

Yeah Les 400 Coups is good. Any of Truffaut's stuff is good. I'm in the process of sending my written work in and I'm sending an essay on realism in the film <<Le Dernier Metro>>. The question was 'how can a director portayal an authentic portayal of society' which was good because then you can discuss what 'realistic' means and the difference between 'real' and 'realistic'. Particularly interesting is comparing Les 400 Coups to Dernier Metro and studying Truffaut's movement away from the ideas of the Nouvelle Vague back to the ideas of quality.

Reply 6

Che!

OP

11

leannemann

Yeah Les 400 Coups is good. Any of Truffaut's stuff is good. I'm in the process of sending my written work in and I'm sending an essay on realism in the film <<Le Dernier Metro>>. The question was 'how can a director portayal an authentic portayal of society' which was good because then you can discuss what 'realistic' means and the difference between 'real' and 'realistic'. Particularly interesting is comparing Les 400 Coups to Dernier Metro and studying Truffaut's movement away from the ideas of the Nouvelle Vague back to the ideas of quality.

Tell me more about Truffaut...and the Nouvelle Vague. My French teacher wasnt any help whatsoever!

Reply 7

Cunning Linguist

3

Starsailor

I can't think of any philosophical films off the top of my head, but perhaps Jean de Florette, Manon des Sources or Cyrano de Bergarac. They're certainly classics :smile:

"Au revoir, les enfants" by Jean de Florette is really quite good (it's actually a film, but i read it as a film script) and it's about occupied France during the second world war. it explores a lot of themes..

Reply 8

leannemarie

11

che_guevara

Tell me more about Truffaut...and the Nouvelle Vague. My French teacher wasnt any help whatsoever!

What would you like to know?!

Reply 9

Objet trouvé

1

Go and see "Les amants reguliers" which won a prize at Venice and was so intellectual and philisophical that no one in the cinema, including all the French people, understood it.

Personally I thought it was 3 hours of existentialist turd but go and see it just so that you can tell people you can.

Reply 10

Cunning Linguist

3

lisn people...i have an interview in oxford next week. and the thing is, i haven't read ANY french books, apart from Bonjour Tristesse (by Francoise Sagan). so what i am going to do is, order some books now (about two?) in the english version, and read them on the w/end. so any1 got any suggestions for good books?? (preferably short ones, like Bonjour Tristesse!). and ones which "oxford swotty-pants interviewers" would like to discuss..!

Reply 11

Objet trouvé

1

Le nausée by Sartre. L'étranger by Camus. Both really pretentious but should do the trick. Throw in some Balzac and Voltaire for good measure.

Bon Weekend!

Reply 12

Allyria

I've watched a few French films, but I don't know that any of them was very intellectual. La Haine would be good to watch now, given what's been happenning in the banlieue recently and how now there's so much publicity and debate about it. Le Dernier Metro was good, about Paris during the Nazi occupation. I also watched the two that came free with the Independent - Indochine and Le Retour de Martin Guerre. Both were a bit weird - Indochine was good, if melodramatic (and it annoyed me at the end when they completely ignore the fact that the Vietnam war is just about start, for the sake of a happy ending).

Reply 13

Cunning Linguist

3

Objet trouvé

Le nausée by Sartre. L'étranger by Camus. Both really pretentious but should do the trick. Throw in some Balzac and Voltaire for good measure.

Bon Weekend!

now this "Voltaire" guy - ive tried to find him. but whats his first name?!

Reply 14

Che!

OP

11

His pen name is Voltaire...real name Francois-Marie Arouet - but you're unlikely to find any of his books under that name.

Check out Candide. I read that - it's hilarious!

Reply 15

ceepee

Sorry, a bit off-topic, but it has to be said: the title of this thread makes me giggle every time I see it. There's something about the juxtaposition of "intellectual" and "really" that cracks me up.

Carry on. :smile:

Reply 16

Cunning Linguist

3

che_guevara

His pen name is Voltaire...real name Francois-Marie Arouet - but you're unlikely to find any of his books under that name.

Check out Candide. I read that - it's hilarious!

thanks for that. i'm just in the process of ordering this "candide" book u recommended..and maybe a few others..

Reply 17

Happy1

14

the francois trauffaut films are a must i think. Les 400 coups is a great film and its the opitomy of "la nouvelle vague".

The new wave is the french film industry's proudest achievement, and so any of those directors' films are pretty good for watching.

I'd also reccommend "les choristes"... i just liked that film lol

Reply 18

jenny_gray

No one ever saw "le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain" ? by jean-pierre Jeunet.
I really liked this movie, very interesting and funny, with interesting visual effect.
Naive too, but I liked it.

If you want to see a movie with "l'humour français" in, try to have a look at "La cité de la peur" by Les Nuls, it's hilarious :smile:

Reply 19

Madelyn

13

I adore Les Choristes and Amelie, both fantastic. Someone mentioned La Haine, another one in a similar vein is La Squale, which I don't think is as technically brilliant as La Haine, but is still interesting and again looks at the kids in la banlieue. I think it also uses real local schoolkids instead of actors and was made by a teacher in a local school.

Really intellectual French films....?

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