Cahiers du Cinema's Twenty Years of French Cinema: the Best French Films since the Liberation
by mymovieslists | created - 23 May 2012 | updated - 23 May 2012 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Pickpocket (1959)
Not Rated | 76 min | Crime, Drama
Michel passes the time by picking pockets, careful to never be caught despite being watched by the police. His friend Jacques may suspect, while both men may have their eyes on Jeanne, the pretty neighbor of Michel's ailing mother.
Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: Martin LaSalle, Marika Green, Jean Pélégri, Dolly Scal
Votes: 25,320
2. Lola Montès (1955)
Not Rated | 116 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
When she is reduced to appearing in a circus, a notorious beauty thinks back on her past loves.
Director: Max Ophüls | Stars: Martine Carol, Peter Ustinov, Anton Walbrook, Henri Guisol
Votes: 6,042 | Gross: $0.11M
3. The Golden Coach (1952)
Not Rated | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, History
Three men of varying social standing - a viceroy, a bullfighter, and a soldier - vie for the affections of an actress in 18th-century Peru.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Anna Magnani, Odoardo Spadaro, Nada Fiorelli, Duncan Lamont
Votes: 3,439
4. Testament of Orpheus (1960)
Not Rated | 79 min | Biography, Fantasy
The Poet looks back over his life and work, recalling his inspirations and obsessions.
Director: Jean Cocteau | Stars: Jean Cocteau, Françoise Arnoul, Claudine Auger, Charles Aznavour
Votes: 3,734
5. Experiment in Evil (1959 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 95 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Mr. Joly, doctor Cordelier's lawyer, is amazed to discover that his client and friend leaves his possessions to a stranger, Opale, a sadistic criminal. He needs this man to prove that people's behavior can be adjusted at will...
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Jean-Louis Barrault, Teddy Bilis, Sylviane Margollé, Jean Bertho
Votes: 1,245
6. The Carabineers (1963)
80 min | Comedy, Drama, War
During a war in an imaginary country, unscrupulous soldiers recruit poor farmers with promises of an easy and happy life. Two of these farmers write to their wives of their exploits.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Patrice Moullet, Marino Masé, Geneviève Galéa, Catherine Ribeiro
Votes: 3,610
7. Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Romance
A French actress filming an anti-war film in Hiroshima has an affair with a married Japanese architect as they share their differing perspectives on war.
Director: Alain Resnais | Stars: Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada, Stella Dassas, Pierre Barbaud
Votes: 35,853 | Gross: $0.09M
8. Le Plaisir (1952)
Not Rated | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Three separate stories about the same thing: le plaisir (pleasure).
Director: Max Ophüls | Stars: Jean Gabin, Danielle Darrieux, Simone Simon, Claude Dauphin
Votes: 5,369
9. Muriel (1963)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama
In the seaside town of Boulogne, no one seems to be able to cope with their past, least of all Hélène, an antique furniture saleswoman, her stepson Bernard, and her former lover Alphonse.
Director: Alain Resnais | Stars: Delphine Seyrig, Jean-Pierre Kérien, Nita Klein, Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée
Votes: 3,718
10. Adieu Philippine (1962)
106 min | Drama, Romance
Paris, summer 1960. Michel is about to leave for Algeria for military service. He meets Liliane and Juliette, two inseparable friends. Michel goes on vacation to Corsica, where the two girls decide to join him
Director: Jacques Rozier | Stars: Jean-Claude Aimini, Daniel Descamps, Stefania Sabatini, Yveline Céry
Votes: 1,013
11. Breathless (1960)
Not Rated | 90 min | Crime, Drama
A small-time crook, hunted by the authorities for a car theft and the murder a police officer, attempts to persuade a hip American journalism student to run away with him to Italy.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Van Doude, Jean-Luc Godard
Votes: 87,856 | Gross: $0.34M
12. La pyramide humaine (1961)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama
The arrival of Nadine, a new student, at a school in Abidjan is the starting point for a discussion about interracial relationships.
Director: Jean Rouch | Stars: Nadine Ballot, Denise, Elola, Jean-Claude
Votes: 366
13. Elena and Her Men (1956)
Not Rated | 98 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Polish countess Elena falls in love with a French radical party's candidate - a general - in pre-World War I Paris, but another officer pines for her. Starring Ingrid Bergman, with Mel ... See full summary »
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Jean Marais, Mel Ferrer, Jean Richard
Votes: 2,158
14. The Good Time Girls (1960)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
Four Parisian women navigate the world of romance and daily life looking to fulfill their dreams but often find real-life to be inescapable.
Director: Claude Chabrol | Stars: Bernadette Lafont, Clotilde Joano, Stéphane Audran, Lucile Saint-Simon
Votes: 3,177 | Gross: $0.01M
15. Casque d'Or (1952)
Not Rated | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Three gangsters and an ex-con carpenter all fall for the same beautiful golden-haired woman in Belle Époque France.
Director: Jacques Becker | Stars: Simone Signoret, Serge Reggiani, Claude Dauphin, Raymond Bussières
Votes: 6,209
16. La Poison (1951)
Not Rated | 85 min | Comedy, Crime
Through a series of circumstances and plot twists an enterprising man manages to get away with murdering his wife, even though he cheerfully admits his guilt in court.
Director: Sacha Guitry | Stars: Michel Simon, Jean Debucourt, Jacques Varennes, Jeanne Fusier-Gir
Votes: 1,617
17. Lola (1961)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Romance
A bored young man meets with his former girlfriend, now a cabaret dancer and single mother, and soon finds himself falling back in love with her.
Director: Jacques Demy | Stars: Anouk Aimée, Marc Michel, Jacques Harden, Alan Scott
Votes: 7,522
18. The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962)
64 min | Biography, Drama, History
A Joan of Arc's trial reconstruction concerning her imprisonment, interrogation and final execution at the hands of the English. Filmed in a spare, low-key fashion.
Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: Florence Delay, Jean-Claude Fourneau, Roger Honorat, Marc Jacquier
Votes: 5,950
19. A Woman Is a Woman (1961)
Not Rated | 84 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
An exotic dancer is desperate to become a mother and accepts her reluctant boyfriend's suggestion that she be impregnated by his best friend.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Anna Karina, Jean-Claude Brialy, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Henri Attal
Votes: 19,180 | Gross: $0.10M
20. The Little Soldier (1963)
Not Rated | 88 min | Drama, War
During the Algerian War, a man and woman from opposing sides fall in love with one another.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Anna Karina, Michel Subor, Henri-Jacques Huet, Paul Beauvais
Votes: 8,148 | Gross: $0.02M
21. Orpheus (1950)
Not Rated | 112 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A poet in love with Death follows his unhappy wife into the underworld.
Director: Jean Cocteau | Stars: Jean Marais, François Périer, María Casares, Marie Déa
Votes: 13,390
22. Contempt (1963)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, Romance
A French writer's marriage deteriorates while working on Fritz Lang's version of "The Odyssey", as his wife accuses him of using her to court favor with the film's brash American producer.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Brigitte Bardot, Jack Palance, Michel Piccoli, Giorgia Moll
Votes: 36,004 | Gross: $0.04M
23. The Elusive Corporal (1962)
TV-PG | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, War
An upper-class corporal from Paris is captured by the Germans when they invade France in 1940. Assisted and accompanied by characters as diverse as a morose dairy farmer, a waiter, a myopic... See full summary »
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Jean-Pierre Cassel, Claude Brasseur, O.E. Hasse, Claude Rich
Votes: 1,039
24. The Virtuous Scoundrel (1953)
85 min | Comedy, Drama
A mean bourgeois meets up with his twin brother again .
Director: Sacha Guitry | Stars: Michel Simon, Marguerite Pierry, Laurence Badie, François Guérin
Votes: 257
25. Children of Paradise (1945)
Not Rated | 189 min | Drama, Romance
The theatrical life of a beautiful courtesan in 1830s Paris and the four men who love her.
Director: Marcel Carné | Stars: Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, Pierre Renoir
Votes: 21,155
26. Wise Guys (1961)
99 min | Drama
Roland, an idler living on the Left Bank in Paris, is determined to inflict a terrible revenge on his friend Arthur, after the latter subjected him to a harmless joke. He engages the ... See full summary »
Director: Claude Chabrol | Stars: Jean-Claude Brialy, Bernadette Lafont, Jean Tissier, Sacha Briquet
Votes: 353
27. Jules and Jim (1962)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, Romance
Decades of a love triangle concerning two friends and an impulsive woman.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner, Henri Serre, Vanna Urbino
Votes: 44,377
28. Paris Belongs to Us (1961)
Not Rated | 120 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Anne Goupil is a literature student in Paris in 1957. Her elder brother, Pierre, takes her to a friend's party where the guests include Philip Kaufman, an expatriate American escaping ... See full summary »
Director: Jacques Rivette | Stars: Betty Schneider, Giani Esposito, Françoise Prévost, Daniel Crohem
Votes: 2,713
29. Vivre sa vie (1962)
Not Rated | 85 min | Drama
Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Anna Karina, Sady Rebbot, André S. Labarthe, Guylaine Schlumberger
Votes: 34,958
30. The Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne (1945)
Not Rated | 86 min | Drama, Romance
A society lady engineers a marriage between her lover and a cabaret dancer who is essentially a prostitute.
Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: Paul Bernard, María Casares, Elina Labourdette, Lucienne Bogaert
Votes: 4,826
31. Moi, un noir (1958)
Not Rated | 70 min | Drama
"I, a Negro" depicts young Nigerien immigrants who left their country to find work in the Ivory Coast, in the Treichville quarter of Abidjan, the capital. These immigrants live in squalor ... See full summary »
Director: Jean Rouch | Stars: Oumarou Ganda, Gambi, Petit Touré, Alassane Maiga
Votes: 1,096
32. Band of Outsiders (1964)
Not Rated | 95 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Two crooks with a fondness for old Hollywood B-movies convince a languages student to help them commit a robbery.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Anna Karina, Claude Brasseur, Danièle Girard, Louisa Colpeyn
Votes: 27,032 | Gross: $0.04M
33. Sign of the Lion (1962)
103 min | Drama
A French-American in Paris lives by sponging off his working friends, and throws a party using borrowed money when his rich American aunt dies, believing firmly in his horoscope.
Director: Éric Rohmer | Stars: Jess Hahn, Michèle Girardon, Van Doude, Paul Bisciglia
Votes: 2,341
34. Diary of a Country Priest (1951)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama
A young priest taking over the parish at Ambricourt tries to fulfill his duties even as he fights a mysterious stomach ailment.
Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: Claude Laydu, Nicole Ladmiral, Jean Riveyre, Adrien Borel
Votes: 12,702
35. The Terrible Children (1950)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
The dangerously obsessive relationship between a psychologically manipulative brother and sister who isolate themselves and draw others into their mind games.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Nicole Stéphane, Edouard Dermithe, Renée Cosima, Jacques Bernard
Votes: 4,323
36. The 400 Blows (1959)
Not Rated | 99 min | Crime, Drama
A young boy, left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, Claire Maurier, Guy Decomble
Votes: 127,978
37. Shoot the Piano Player (1960)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A pianist helps his brother escape from two gangsters, who retaliate by abducting their kid brother.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Charles Aznavour, Marie Dubois, Nicole Berger, Michèle Mercier
Votes: 20,617
38. The Last Vacation (1948)
95 min | Drama, Romance
A schoolboy remembers his last holiday in the big house of his family in the country, before it was sold.
Director: Roger Leenhardt | Stars: Odile Versois, Michel François, Jean Lara, Renée Devillers
Votes: 180
39. Night and Fog (1956)
TV-14 | 32 min | Documentary, Short, History
The history of Nazi Germany's death camps of the Final Solution and the hellish world of dehumanization and death contained inside.
Director: Alain Resnais | Stars: Michel Bouquet, Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler, Adolf Hitler
Votes: 21,432
40. Picnic on the Grass (1959)
91 min | Comedy, Romance
Etienne Alexis, a candidate for president of the new Europe, is a scientist promoting artificial insemination for social betterment and therapy to eliminate passion. His wealthy household (... See full summary »
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Paul Meurisse, Charles Blavette, André Brunot, Régine Blaess
Votes: 1,382
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