Des films suggérés Films comiques (some of these are romantic too) -Cyrano de Bergrerac (swords, romance—good 4 Eng. classes) -L’Auberge espagnole (int’l college student roommates) -Queen Margot (sword fighting, romance, etc) -Les poupées russes (sequel) -Les compères (who’s the real father?) Films animés -3 hommes & un couffin (original of 3 Men & a baby) -Persepolis (bio d’une fille iranienne—sensationnel !) -Le placard (The Closet—man pretends to be gay) -Le chat du rabin (The Rabbi’s Cat—très drôle) -La chèvre -Les visiteurs (medieval knights travel to future) Science Fiction/Fantaisie -My Wife is an Actress (husband jealous of wife’s costars) -City of Lost Children -Dîner des cons (Who’s really the jerk?) -Delicatessen -Mon oncle (dry humor, lots of funny visuals) -Saving Dr Lewis (Canadian town recruits a doctor) Films Spirituels -The Chef (chef tries to maintain his star rating) -Of Gods and Men (Cath monks in Algeria in danger--true story) --Les intouchables (dramatic comedy about 2 men’s friendship) -Thérèse
Comédies romantiques Films dramatiques -Après vous (man helps down & out friend) -Sarah’s Key -Maman, il y a un homme dans ton lit! -Camille Claudel (true tragic story of great artist) -Amélie (girl finds amazing ways to right wrongs!) -Toto le héros (man’s whole life consumed by jealousy) -Paper wedding (French version of Green Card) -Jean de Florette* (city man moves to inherited farm w/family) -The Valet (car parker pretends to be girl’s copain) -Manon des sources* (sequel, concentrates on daughter) -A la mode (rags to riches story) -A Self-Made Hero (insecure guy totally invents life & army career) -Romantics Anonymous (2 off the charts shy people…) -Le Huitième Jour (friendship of 2 guys, 1 handicapped, 1 depressed) -Populaire (a hit at the SF Film Festival 2013) -Bleu (woman makes new life after tragic car accident) -Rouge (romantic meetings--coincidence or destiny?) Films about kids/teenagers -Est-Oeust (Stalin traps émigrés into returning to Russia) -les Choristes (music saves troubled kids) -Widow of St. Pierre (murder,romance, guillotine, based on true story) -Etre et avoir (teacher in 1-rm school—10 pupils!) -La vie en rose (bio of Edith Piaf—won ’08 Oscar) -Monsieur Ibrahim (teen boy & mentor) -Séraphine (life of a woman artist) -My Father’s Glory* (true story of Marcel Pagnol) -Coco avant Chanel (life of Coco Chanel) -My Mother’s Castle* (set in Provence, early 1900’s) -Le grand chemin (boy’s summer in country—he grows up!) Films de guerre -Small change (1 summer in the lives of many kids) -Le dernier métro (WW2-theater director hiding from Nazis) -La boum (Parties, 1st love, parents’ divorce) -Au revoir les enfants (Jewish kids hiding in Catholic school) -Peppermint soda (French schoolgirls do schoolgirl things) -Lucie Aubrac (WW2--true story of French resistance fighters) -Ma vie en rose (boy who dresses like a girl) -Bon voyage (WW2--suspense, humor, injustice, justice, romance) -Look at me (body image issues but she triumphs!) -Joyeux noël (WW1-true story of Xmas truce on battlefield) -The First Time I was 20 (girl musician in boy-dominated band) -Very Long Engagement (WWI Audrey Tautou looks 4 her bf) -Le grand voyage (Muslim teen drives dad to Mecca, unwillingly) -Strayed (WW2--mom flees Paris with her 2 kids) -La promesse (teen boy w/criminal dad has difficult decisions) -Days of Glory (WW 2—racisme anti North African solders) -Blame it on Fidel (girl reacts badly to parents’ new life style) L’armée du crime (WW2 Résistance-based on true story) -Accidental Hero (boy teen’s difficult family life) Le colonialisme/Racisme -Ponette (child accepts mother’s death) -Le grand blanc de Lambarène (love/hate of missionary in Africa) -L’enfant sauvage (child raised by wolves-truish story) th -Indochine (epic set in Vietnam: war, romance, etc) -The Class (inner city Paris 8 grade class) -Sugar Cane Alley (poor kids in 1930s colonial Martinique) -400 Blows (garçon avec une vie difficile) -La haine (Hate) (racial profiling & gangs in Paris) -Papillon (neglected little girl’s adventures)
Classiques (if you love old black & white movies!) Films romantiques -L’Atalante (newlyweds honeymoon on river barge) -Children of Paradise -Le jour se lève (romance, despair) -Un homme & une femme (love, kids & race cars) -Quai des brumes (same + lots of fog !) -Un homme & une femme 20 ans déjà (sequel) -La bête humaine (former alcoholic thinks he’s a murderer) -Les parapluies de Cherbourg (singing only) -Marius / César / Fanny trilogy (love, sadness, sweetness, humor) -La belle et la bête (the original Beauty & the Beast) -Orpheus (Surrealist take on Orpheus myth—they walk thru walls…) -anything w/Audrey Tautou -Rules of the Game (war, escape, philosophy, romance)
Suspense/Policier -Pépé le Moko (romance/danger in the Casbah of Algiers) -Diabolique• (very scary boarding school mystery) -Grande Illusion (incredible anti-war film, about WW1 made in 1936) -Diva (opera star/postman mystery) -Les enfants du paradis (super romantic theater film) -With a Friend like Harry (creepy scary!) -Le salaire de la peur (Will OLD truck carrying TNT in mts. make it?) -Rififi (an INCREDIBLE robbery-15 min heist w/out sound!) -Elevator to the gallows (100% suspense + Miles Davis score) -Samouri (great chase scene in métro) -anything with Fernandel (comedies en noir & blanc) -Confidentially yours (mystery,danger,romance,rain) -8 femmes (8 FABULOUS French actresses, 1 dead man!) 1. Ask me if you want to see a film that’s not on this list. -Ne le dis à personne (dead wife emails husband…) 2. Choose your film yourself—you’re the one who’ll watch it! -Roman de gare (edge of your chair suspense every second) 3. Recommend your favorite films to me. -Man on wire (doc on tightrope walker-won an Oscar) 4. Be sure your film comes with subtitles!! Dubbed films aren’t -Love Crime (treachery between women CEO’s) acceptable, and you won’t understand a film WITHOUT subtitles! -Anthony Zimmer (fabulous original of The Tourist) 5. Pay attention to cultural differences if your film takes place in relatively modern times—meals, clothes, where they hang out, how Films historiques / Action they get around, how their houses/apartments look, etc. -La Femme Nikita (l’amour, violence, honor) 6. See a film in a theater if a good one’s playing—très sophistiqué! -Le pacte des loups (sword fighting, martial arts) -Danton (révolution française) 7. If you’re uncertain about a film, in any way, Ask moi!!!
-Les Misérables (many versions, be sure yours is en français!) FRENCH 3/3H: Remember your special assignment this year. -Horseman on the Roof (rooftop chases, cholera, romance)