The Best French Film Made in the Past 30 Years?

[colinr0380]

SPOILERS

I thought this was a very good film and it was great to see Charlotte Rampling (I will have to track down Francois Ozon's Swimming Pool now!). The plot is extremely simple, as a husband leaves his wife on a beach to go off swimming and disappears. While the search is on for the husband the wife refuses to accept that he may be dead and continues to talk about him in the first person, buys things for him and imagines he is still with her.

I thought it was an excellent film about how difficult it is to say goodbye to a loved one and how even though the person is not there, it is still incredibly difficult psychologically to let them go. It also shows well how the absence of a person can still have a powerful effect on the lives of those left behind, and how the little details of life like paying bills or someone mentioning their name can remind them. It was amazing the way that the mixed emotions of wanting to keep the husband as alive as possible, and of feeling the need (and pressure from the more down to earth friends) to start another relationship were portrayed. I like the way that you feel both sorry for and a little creeped out by Charlotte Rampling's character who becomes more actively involved in preventing herself from knowing the truth as people try to contact her with news of her husband. It does seem that the only thing that can get her to confront the truth is the meeting with her mother-in-law who other theories about her husbands disappearance.

I do not know how this would affect those people who have been bereaved. I found it very powerful and I have not yet lost anyone close to me, so I don't know whether I'd find this film a cathartic experience or a too harrowing one if I was in a similar position.

But I think the final shot is one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking things I have seen.

[inri222]

[Martha]

Just a reminder that we don't want this to become a dreaded List Thread. People are actually interested in why you've chosen the films you have, so please offer more than titles when you post.

[ellipsis7]

THREE COLOURS: RED WHITE & BLUE refers to the colours of the french flag, and I think 'Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite'... They were produced and financed by Marin Kartmitz of France's MK2, and obviously directed by Polish auteur Kieslowsky... They are also set in France and neighbouring countries, as opposed to say Abbas Kiarostami's films (also of late financed by Karmitz) which are clearly made and set in his native Iran...

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Um, The Piano is an Australian film. Where's the argument?

[peerpee]

<grumpily>

Perhaps when Bresson's L'ARGENT and THE DEVIL, PROBABLY are out on DVD they will get some votes in a thread like this.

</grumpily>

[tristan]

I think most of the people that would choose a Bresson are too austere or cynical about life to post in a pointless list thread.

[Martha]

I think most of the people that would choose a Bresson are too austere or cynical about life to post in a pointless list thread.

Best post by anyone in at least 2 weeks.

[filmghost]

I just noticed this thread and I couldn’t resist making my own suggestions. I have to say though that I find it too difficult to chose the best films from the last 30 years of a film production as big as France’s, so I will only pick the three more interesting French films of the last five years, which instantly took a place among my favorites. I don’t think I have to say anything more about “Amélie”, but I would like to suggest two titles that went almost unnoticed at the time of their release and no one else mentioned: “Time Out” (“L’ Emploi du Temps”, Laurent Cantet, 2001) and “Read my Lips” (“Sur Mes Lèvres”, Jacques Audiard, 2001). And I can say that the region 2 releaases that I own are quite decent.
The first is a rare political film whose human drama feels so tensed that you almost think you watch a horror film. The second features not only a very clever script – a combination between a postmodern film noir and a social drama with a twisted love story – but also one of the most brilliant female performances of the last years; Emmanuelle Devos creates a persona which could become classic for modern cinema as the almost deaf and almost unattractive femme fatale Carla. The chemistry between her and the crook played by Vincent Cassel is incredible and their relationship is described like something between mutual sympathy, desire and use.
And if I had to chose my favorite Haneke film that would be the underrated “Unknown Code”, for its unique cinematique…ehm…code.
And sorry for my poor English…

[Michael]

I couldn't figure out the love and praise for Les Amant du Pont Neuf. Surely it has a couple of stunning, mind-boggling sequences (water skiing among fireworks) but the film itself is a very frustrating experience. It always makes me feel like I'm missing something.

Wouldn't it be more difficult to answer to "what is the best Italian film made in the past 30 years?" Or at least since the death of Visconti. The Italian cinema was monstrously kinetic during the 40s, 50s, 60s and early 70s. What happened? Did it burn itself out?

[Andre Jurieu]

Ok, seriously, someone has to explain to me why Dreamlife of Angels is perceived to be such an excellent film. I remember watching it in my university film class, and being rather bored during the screening and pretty unimpressed with the film in general. It struck me as the type of contemporary foreign film I become frustrated with - a few alluring actions, ideas, and plot elements, without any central binding thought or coherent conceit. However, I was younger when I initially saw it, so I'm wondering if I missed something.

My prof wasn't able to elaborate on why he found it so significant, or why it was a good example of filmmaking, because we had to finish his lectures on The Celebration and Dead Ringers, and the discussion took much longer than he expected (probably because those films were better able to hold the attention of the audience, but that's just my theory).

It didn't help that the film featured the one foreign actor I actually detest, Grégoire Colin (what's even worse is that he shares my birthday, but luckily so does Julian McMahon from Nip/Tuck and Donnie Yen, which slightly evens things out). Oddly, I really enjoyed Olivier, Olivier, which Colin is also in, but I also thought that it was a much stronger film.

I'll keep my thoughts on Amelie to myself, since it's much loved on the forum.

[backstreetsbackalright]

I'll also keep my thoughts on Amelie to myself. Haven't sat and thought on this one yet, but its probably best that I don't. Inevitably I'll find it impossible to think of a qualifying film I admire more or consider more monumental than Sans Soleil, mentioned earlier in this thread.

[skuhn8]

Amelie--beautiful sound, lavishly color-enhanced view of Montmarte, a lovely gal I'd love to hang out with for hour upon hour, a great romantic quest, fascinating characters, all spun with a thread of childish naivete and dyed with a hint of world-weary patina that only slightly bears forth. Sad when this film is tossed aside as "too precious" (as I suspect Kael would say) or too obvious a selection as it is so popular with those who wouldn't otherwise view "subtitled foreign stuff".

After that I'd go with the Three Colors Trilogy--but that's a shoe-in: so much great cinema lumped under one title.

[rlendog]

I'd vote for Jean de Florette, with or without Manon of the Spring. I sure hope these will get a proper DVD release (as opposed to the old vanilla MGM ones) in the near future.

[Gary Tooze]

I don't know about the last 30 years (too much to chose), but in the last 10 years I really enjoyed L'Appartement. Still without a North American DVD release... here is our comparison (and my review) of the existing versions...

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompar ... tement.htm

Best,
Gary

[Michael]

Gary, thanks for turning my attention to L' Appartement. I have never heard of it and I'm now very eager to check it out. This film sounds like it would make a perfect double bill with Almodovar's Bad Education which in my mind is the best Hitchcock-inspired film to date.

[tavernier]

Tavernier's Le juge et l'assassin (1976), Bresson's L'argent (1983) or Resnais' L'amour a mort (1984)

[swimminghorses]

Claire Denis' "Beau Travail" (and perhaps "I Can't Sleep" too) - both filmed by the second best dp currently working Agnes Godard (umm first place would go to Chris Doyle).

Olivier Assayas' "Irma Vep" (with a very amusing Maggie Chung speaking English proving that she is an actress that has not been given her fair chance in western cinema except for Assayas who wrote/directed "Clean" just for her because she gets awful America scripts).

and the very best since the French heyday of the sixties:
Carax's "L'amont du pont neuf" (and just for something even odder, his heavily panned last film "Pola X" scored by Scott Walker). And for best single scene Denis Lavant running/dancing down the street to David Bowie's "Modern Love" in "Mauvais Sang".

I would agree that people are much to hard on "Amalie" - given what it attempted (to lightly entertain) I found it quite amusing. Not in the league of the above mentioned films but it holds it own in its quirky little world.

[Gary Tooze]

Wow... those are excellent choices swimminghorses!

I agree with all of them... I am especially fond of The Lover's on the Bridge...

and Beau Travail also has Denis Lavant

Bravo !

Best,
Gary

[Steven H]

There are a few favorites (Le rayon vert, Rosetta, Mon oncle d'amerique, Fantastic Planet, That obscure object of desire), but the one that really sticks out in my head is L'argent. I daydream about the exchanges of the forged bill, the gas pump, and the hands gripping the axe. It's like the world stops for this film and while I'm watching it my mouth hangs open in disbelief that someone could have created this. I've never seen this in a cinema, only on crackly VHS, and I can only imagine what that would be like. Maybe someday.

It's funny, I lent a friend of mine the VHS a few months ago and he returned it with an edition of Girls Gone Wild in the box instead of the Bresson classic. He tells me he doesn't know where the tape is. I say "oh well", it's coming out on DVD in three countries this year anyway. Girls Gone Wild though... who'd have ever thought?

[Arcadean]

My pick would be Chris Marker's Sans soleil (Sunless). I was mesmerized while watching it. It was 4am when I finished it (I'm nocturnal) and I stayed up until 8am just getting info about it. Sunless appears to be a documentary but I think that's an easy out for it. It seems like it came from another world of existence and in that sense it can be creepy (in a good way). I'm very interested in watching more Marker films but sadly he is underappreciated in the U.S.

[kieslowski_67]

"Trois couleurs" is the obvious choice. Heck, it's my third favorite movie(s) of all time after "once upon a time in America" and Kieslowski's own masterwork "dekalog".

If "Trois couleurs" is not eligible because its director is Polish, it will be a tie between Bertrand Tavernier's "Un dimanche à la campagne" (sunday in the country) and Techine's "les Roseaux sauvages" (wild reeds).

There are not lots of movies that features sequences after sequences that remind the audience of the works by Monet and Renoir. Tarvernier was able to turn a simple plot into series of poetic reflections of life and art, and the hiddent currents in a family. Featuring outstanding lead performances from Louis Ducreux and Sabine Azéma, and gorgeous camera work from Bruno de Keyzer. "Sunday in the country" is not to be missed by serious art movie fans.

"Wild reeds" is the one of the most tender and beautiful coming of age stories ever filmed. Élodie Bouchez might be better in 'dreamlife of angles', but she has never been more charming than in this Techine masterpiece.

Studio Canal's release of these two movies on DVD has done justice to these masterworks. Both transfers are anamorphic, and "Sunday in the country" also has removable English subtitles:
http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00008A8R8
http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/tg/det ... B000266W0Y

[J M Powell]

Look, I usually try not to post in these kinds of discussions (though I do enjoy reading them, at least more than some of our admins do). But I'm really surprised that, as far as I can tell, no one's mentioned Chabrol yet. Sure, he's a classicist in his structures, but, at his best, he's an astonishingly good one. I would have thought Violette Nozière, Un affaire des femmes, and La cérémonie would all be contenders for this title. Or maybe I just like Huppert too much. (Hell, I loved I Heart Huckabees.) Criterion surprised me last year by presumably passing on two of these films, allowing HVE to release them. Am I wrong about the worth of the best of Chabrol's late output? Enlighten me.

[David Ehrenstein]

Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train. Not only the best French film of the last twenty years, but the greatest film ever made.

[Michael]

Never heard of Those Who Love Me Can Take The Train. Can you tell me a bit more about it? And what makes it the greatest film ever made? I'm intrigued.