The Visitors (1993)
Aug 29, 1999Time-Travel Comedy
Hilarious French comedy where a filthy Mediaeval knight and his servant are transported into the present-day
France 3 Cinema
I Can’t Sleep (1994)
Feb 2, 2003French Serial Killer
Claire Denis makes a film loosely based on the activities of a true-life drag performer/serial killer. However, she seems uninterested in developing plot or suspense
The City of Lost Children (1995)
Oct 19, 2002Mad Scientist/Clones/Gonzo Comedy
The almost indescribable second film from Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet of Delicatessen fame, a Dicekensian street urchin fantasy that takes place in a stunningly designed almost-familiar world filled with eccentric characters
Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998)
Apr 3, 2009Animation/African Folk Tales
The debut film from French animator Michel Ocelot, a beautifully simple series of African folk tales about a young boy whose plain-speaking truths outwit a witch
The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
Jul 29, 2004Gonzo Animation
Splendidly original and completely off the wall work of stylised animation from Sylvain Chomet
Time of the Wolf (2003)
Apr 2, 2015Social Collapse
Michael Haneke has risen to great acclaim in recent years; this is one of his earlier works – a slow Tarkovsky-esque work that seems set in a future that is collapsing at the edges. Haneke is a fascinating talent but this is a bit too vague and well free of anything actually happening for me
Saint Ange (2004)
Jun 22, 2006French Ghost Story
The first film from Pascal Laugier who has emerged as a leading French horror director since, a ghost story set at a girl's boarding school, Laugier does produce some eerie jumps but the script is a frustrating tangle of narrative loose ends
They Came Back (2004)
Apr 19, 2009The Dead Return to Life
A French zombie film that is about as far removed from a zombie film as it possible to get – the dead inexplicably return to life not to eat the flesh of the living but calm and detached where society’s problem is how to let them return to their previous lives
Lemming (2005)
Mar 20, 2009Surreal Identity Exchange
A surreal very Lynchian French film in which a deranged Charlotte Rampling shoots herself and then afterwards appears to possess Laurent Lucas's wife Charlotte Gainsbourg
Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005)
Jul 24, 2007Animation/African Folk Tales
Michel Ocelot returns to make a sequel to Kirikou and the Sorceress. This expands the quality of animation and is slightly the lesser than its predecessor but not without its charms
The Science of Sleep (2006)
Jul 24, 2006Dreams and Wacky Surrealism
A Michel Gondry film that blurs the line between dream and reality with hilariously offbeat regard. Gondry indulges his eccentricities to the maximum with quite sublime results
U (2006)
Jul 29, 2007Animation/Talking Animal Frolics
A likeable and colourful French animated film
Azur and Asmar (2006)
Jul 1, 2024Animation/Arabian Fairytale
Next to Hayao Miyazaki, Michel Ocelot is the greatest animators of all time but one of the least widely recognised. Here he conducts a beautifully made Arabian fairytale
Princess of the Sun (2007)
Mar 8, 2008Ancient Egypt Adventure/Animation
Very nicely made French animated film based around the daughter of the pharaoh Akhenaton
Mr. Nobody (2009)
Jul 3, 2010Alternate Life Pathways
Jaco Van Dormael film that reaches for epic ideas in a story about multiple life pathways and a babble of ideas taken from physics but fails to assemble them in a way that makes much sense
The Monk (2011)
Apr 15, 2014Monk's Temptation by the Devil
The Monk is a sordid classic of 18th Century Gothic literature, filled with crazed lusts and Catholic guilt and damnation. However, in the hands of French director Dominik Moll, all the tortured sexuality has been watered down and the story stuffed as a costume drama
A Monster in Paris (2011)
Jun 16, 2012Animation/Genteel Singing Monster
A charming French-made animated film about a genteel singing monster. Nothing profound but this is beautifully animated and sweetly appealing in all the right places
The Fairy (2011)
Oct 18, 2011Woman Claims to Be a Fairy Comedy
Entirely charming film about a woman who claims to be a fairy. In the best tradition of Jacques Tati, this consists of a series of deliriously nonsensical sight gags that become an utter delight
Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia (2012)
Apr 13, 2013Comic-Book Character
Fourth of the live-action films adapted from the Asterix comic-books with Gerard Depardieu as Obelix. This replicates the absurdist historical wit of the originals while poking fun at the foibles of the British
The Suicide Shop (2012)
Mar 10, 2013Animation/Black Comedy
French animated film that is about as far from children's entertainment as it is possible to get – a mordantly dark comedy that operates in similar territory to The Addams Family in its tale of a family that operates a shop selling items of despatch to the suicidally minded
Ernest and Celestine (2012)
Oct 17, 2012Animation/Talking Animals
Entirely charming French animated film from the directors of A Town Called Panic. This is a children's film that comes with a beautiful simplicity, a duo of winning characters and some side-splitting visual gags
Kirikou and the Men and Women (2012)
Jan 5, 2017Animation/African Folk Tales
The third of Michel Ocelot's Kirikou films, delightful tales about the ingenuity and plain-speaking wisdom of a young boy winning out over adult pomposity and foolishness. Animated with a simplicity that is magical
Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (2013)
Dec 21, 2014Animation/Boy With a Cuckoo-Clock Heart on a Quest
A French animated film where a boy with a cuckoo-clock for a heart goes on a quest for love through a surreal quasi-Steampunk world. With cameos from Georges Melies and Jack the Ripper
Dofus – Book 1: Julith (2015)
Nov 1, 2016Animation/Fantasy Computer Game Adaptation
Animated film spun off from a popular French online gameworld, which had also previously spawned an animated tv series. The results are amiably engaging with a sense of humour that makes the show
Where is Anne Frank (2021)
Aug 6, 2022Animation/Anne Frank’s Imaginary Companion Comes to Life
Beautifully affecting animated film from Ari Folman in which the imaginary companion in Anne Frank’s diary comes to life in the present day
Acid (2023)
May 4, 2025Deadly Acid Rain
A harsh and urgent French-made catastrophe film about a family trying to survive and get to safety with the appearance of a sudden cloud of deadly acid rain
Mars Express (2023)
Oct 26, 2025Animation/Mars Action/Cyberpunk
A French animated film, SF noir set on a future Mars with detectives fighting against someone who is jailbreaking robots. This deploys a strong and confident use of Cyberpunk tropes