French movies
 

Hey guys!

So when I first came to the US, I didn't speak a lick of English. And yes, I did the basics, such as learn the alphabet, which was taught to me by my grandfather who served as a translator between South Korean and US forces in Vietnam. But I think that biggest thing that really helped me learn the language was watching movies. For me, that movie was The Lion King. As well as a whopping ton of Power Rangers. :p

I figured if at the age of 5 watching movies in English can help, watching French movies at the age of 20 should have some positive impact. :D

SO!! If you know any good French movies please let me know! I don't mean like awesome French action movies or anything, but something that's just.. well.. rich in French culture. I'm always trying to find new French movies to watch, but so far have been limited(not in a bad way!) to Audrey Tautou movies (I friggen LOVE Amelie). I've also been obessed with Anthony Bourdain's No Reservation on the Travel Channel ever since I saw the France episode, but I would like to expand. :D

French movies
 

Great idea. I too would like to know if anybody knows any. I've been learning Spanish watching tv, but they speak soo fast, it hard.

Lord of the Rings in FRENCH!!!

With about 4 hours of French Talking how can you go wrong!

Hahaa, I'm sure it would be amazing, but I meant something with more culture-y depth to it.

I mean, if someone wanted to learn English or just something with more "Americaness" to it, I wouldn't suggest movies like The Transporter or Man on Fire. I'd suggest movies like Pretty Woman, Catch Me if You Can, Saving Private Ryan, or Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Not saying that The Transporter or Man On Fire are bad movies, just not what I'm looking for.

oh my lawdy!

whatever you do, don't watch English movies with French subtitles, as teachers like to do. It doesn't do dick.

French cinema is very interesting and different from the summer action flicks we're used to. They're artsy. What I've noticed, in French movies it seems more preferable to have a somewhat slow story but strong characters rather than explosions and flying cars, you can easily go 45 minutes without any dialogue, the endings aren't really the "good guy saves the day" type of predictable endings- they're more realistic (according to the story), nudity isn't treated as a way to intrigue male viewers- it's art, and finally and more importantly it seems like most French movies were made for the pure purpose of creating the film as a work of art rather than trying to be the next box-office hit
Here are all the French movies I've seen, and I've generally enjoyed all of them
(I do not have an affinity for Audrey Tautou. It's just really easy to look her up on netflix, and just go down the list of instant play movies she's been in)
- Hors de Prix (I think my favorite French movie)
- Happenstance
- Un long dimanche des fiançailles
- Amélie
- L'iceberg (I think there's only like 14 lines in the whole movie... you can afford to skip this one)
- Baby Blues
- L'auberge Espagnole
- Les Poupées Russes (also ^ one of my favorite movies)
- Coco Avant Chanel
- He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
- Molière
- La Vie Promise
- Delicatessen (another one of those 'weird' movies that smart people like to pretend to completely understand)
- La Vie en Rose
- Le placard (not necessarily my favorite, but I'd snuggle up to watch it with a bottle of Martinelli's any day)
- Au Revoir, Les Enfants

those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head

- NO SUBTITLES
- WATCH OVER AND OVER
- PUT ON IN THE BACKGROUND AND LISTEN TO IT WHILE MULTITASKING
- repeat until fluency

I've been meaning to watch La Femme Nikita. It's a film by Luc Besson that's supposedly pretty good. I watched one scene of it because Jean Reno was in it, playing a hitman similar to his character in Léon.

Bande à part is another one I've been meaning to see. I don't even know what it's about. Some kind of crime drama, I think.

That's pretty much how I feel as well. I actually had a bit of a hard time trying to think up of any American movie equivalents of what I was looking for. The best I could come up with were the older movies. Before the current trend of summer hits came around. The first French movie I saw was Amelie, and that was the most artsy movie I've ever seen. It's a very stark contrast with the usual artistically bland blockbuster hits I'm used to.

Another thing is that movies nowadays have gotten way too predictable. All movies follow the exact same recipe. I'm hoping for some French movies that go a least a little beyond that.

One French movie that I've been meaning to watch, and that I've heard people raving about, is Irréversible. I haven't watched it, so I can't give you my take on it, and from what I understand, is not for everyone.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290673/

I've actually heard of this one as well. It was on BBC about a week ago. They had some program on showing sexual violence/sex in movies and about how the French are particularly comfortable with it. I think they were talking about how the actors were actually have sex on screen at times, and whether or not the crosses the line into pornography.

May I say that Irreversible is a very violent and sexual explicit movie.
As French I don't feel particulary comfortable with it.
This movie is a reflexion about violence and create a lot of uneasiness for the audience...