French cinema always had an international prestige. So today, let’s talk about the best French movies to watch on Netflix now!
Wedding Unplanned
Genre: Romantic comedy
Our rating: 3/5
During a party, Mathias cheats on his girlfriend Alexia with Juliette. The next day, Alexia finds Juliette’s business card in Mathias’ jacket. Since Juliette is a wedding planner, Alexia thinks Mathias wants to propose. Before he can understand anything, Mathias is planning his wedding with his girlfriend and his lover.
Wedding Unplanned is a classic and entertaining romantic comedy but has nothing new to offer. However, the three main actors were praised for their performance.
He even has your eyes
Genre: Comedy
Our rating: 5/5
Paul and Sali are married and trying to have a baby, but they can’t. They decide to adopt. One day, they get a call telling them they can adopt Benjamin, a four-month-old baby. They are surprised when they see him for the first time. This baby is white whereas they are black (Paul is from Martinique and Sali from Senegal). Despite this surprise, they are happy to welcome Benjamin and consider him their son right away. Unfortunately, not everyone is open-minded.
This touching movie reverses the stereotypes and plays with them to criticize them. A French mini-series aired on TV and follows the life of Paul, Seli and Benjamin a few years later.
I’m not an easy man
Genre: Comedy
Our rating: 4/5
Damien is a misogynist braggart who believes he is superior to women. One day, after he got hit on the head, he wakes up in a world similar to ours but reversed. Women are in power. They are the ones catcalling men, etc. In this new world, he doesn’t understand, Damien meets Alexandra and falls for her. She is a powerful woman who plays with men, just like he used to do with women.
How I became a superhero
Genre: SF
Our rating: 5/5
In Paris, superheroes are living amongst regular people. One day, a new drug is found on several crime scenes involving superpowers. It seems this drug gives power to people who don’t have them. Lieutenant Moreau and new officer Cécile Shaltzmann have to work together to discover what this new drug is.
Arès
Genre: Dystopia
Our rating: 3/5
In the future, France knows a higher than ever unemployment rate and is now considered a poor country. A new television game is created to distract people. It’s very violent and doping is allowed. Arès, a former boxer, has to save his sister who was arrested. A corrupt judge is asking for 100 000€ to free her. Arès will participate in the new game while testing a new doping drug for a lab since he is the only one compatible.
Madame Claude
Genre: Biographical
Our rating: 3/5
Madame Claude was the most powerful woman in Paris, and probably in France, in the 1960s. She managed about 200 prostitutes and their clients were all part of the Parisian upper sphere: actors, politicians, criminals, etc… They all came to Madame Claude’s, giving her access to many secrets. In the movie, she just recruited Sidonie, but she’s already getting attached to her, but her empire seems about to collapse.
Oxygène
Genre: SF
Our rating: 4/5
A woman wakes up, alone, in a cryogenic unit, without any memory. Who is she? Why is she there? She can only talk to the artificial intelligence of the unit, MILO, who has stressful news for her. Her unit is defective and the oxygen level is decreasing. She has 90 minutes left to remember who she is and how to get out of the unit before the oxygen runs out.
The Assault
Genre: Thriller
Our rating: 3/5
December 1994. A group of armed terrorists hijacked an airplane from Alger to Paris. After a long negotiation and the death of three hostages, the plane is allowed to leave Alger. The GIGN (the French SWAT) has to get ready to assault the plane.
There are three characters whose stories intertwine: one of the terrorists, a French government official and a member of the GIGN. This movie is based on real events.
Girls with balls
Genre: Horror
Our rating: 3/5
The Falcons, a girls volleyball team, are on their way home after a game and they have to stop in a small, secluded, village. When their van breaks down, they have no way to escape. A group of hunters is after them and wants to kill them all. The girls have to be united and work as a team if they want to survive.
Sentinelle
Genre: Thriller
Our rating: 3/5
Klara is an interpreter for the French Army. After a traumatizing mission, she is sent back to Nice, where her mother and sister Tania live. She tries to heal from her PTSD by spending time with her family. One night, she goes out with her sister in a club. Tania is found on the beach the next day after she was raped and left for dead. Klara decides to seek revenge for her sister, using her special skills.
Divines
Genre: Drama
Our rating: 4/5
Dounia lives in a Romani Camp with her mom and goes to a technical high school where she is training to become a receptionist. But she dreams of a better life, of money and of success. With the help of her best friend, Maimouna, she decides to leave school and starts working for Rebecca, a respected drug dealer. She manages to become a member of Rebecca’s gang. When she meets Djigui, a dancer, she sees another path she could have chosen, but it might already be too late.
Wonderboy
Genre: Documentary
Our rating: 4/5
Olivier Rousteing is the director of French fashion house Balmain. He is one of the most successful creators in the world and he’s friends with the most famous people. But he is also a lonely man, who hurts a lot. When he was one month old, he was adopted and doesn’t know anything about his origins. In this documentary, we follow him in his journey to discover who his birth mother was and who he is.
Blind date
Genre: Romantic comedy
Our rating: 4/5
A young pianist moves in her first apartment, alone. She has to practice piano before an important competition. Her first night is a nightmare as weird noises keep her awake. The next day, she discovers that her neighbor, a lonely inventor, is trying to get rid of her. He hates people who make noise. But the pianist will not go without a fight. They start to get to know each other through the thin wall that separates them.
The Climb
Genre: Romantic comedy
Our rating: 4/5
Samy is a jobless young man who lives in the Parisian suburbs. He is in love with Nadia who works at the supermarket, but she doesn’t want to be with him. One day, Samy tells her he would “climb Mount Everest for her”. Jokingly, she dares him to. To prove he is serious about her, he decides to go to Nepal and to climb Mount Everest without any training or preparation.
Street Flow
Genre: Drama
Our rating: 4/5
Noumouké, a 15-year-old boy, lives in the Parisian suburbs and has to choose the future he wants. His two older brothers are his models. Demba, the oldest, is involved in illegal business, while Soulaymaan is a brilliant student. Soulaymaan is studying law and he is about to enter a rhetoric contest. It’s time for Noumouké to make his own choice.
In the Shadow of Iris
Genre: Thriller
Our rating: 4/5
Iris, the wife of a rich Parisian banker, is missing. While she was waiting for her husband outside a restaurant where they had lunch, she mysteriously disappeared. Max, a car mechanic with massive debts and a client of Iris’ husband, seems to be the perfect suspect. But the police have no idea of what is truly going on.
Rogue City
Genre: Crime movie
Our rating: 3/5
In Marseille, a Corsican clan kills everyone in a beach bar. Two rival policemen are in charge of the investigation: Richard Vronski from the Anti-Gang Brigade and major Costa from the Banditry Repression Brigade. Quickly, things go South and Vronski has to make hard decisions.
The African Doctor
Genre: Comedy drama
Our rating: 4/5
The African Doctor is based on the childhood of French Singer Kamini. In 1975, his father, a doctor born in Congo, settled in a small village of Picardie, a region in the North of France, because they desperately needed a doctor there. As they had never seen any black person before, the villagers reject the doctor and his family.
The most assassinated woman in the world
Genre: Thriller
Our rating: 3/5
Paula Maxa is a famous actress who works in the Grand Guignol theater. She titled herself “the most assassinated woman in the world” since she acts the part of the victim of horrible crimes, directed by Paul, director of special effects. Jean, a journalist, attends one of her shows and starts to worry about her when there is a murderer nearby.
The price of success
Genre: Drama
Our rating: 4/5
Brahim is a comedian at the beginning of his career. Since he’s becoming successful, he decides to hire a professional agent. The new agent doesn’t want to work with Brahim’s brother who is unstable. For the first time in his life, Brahim defies his family. If he wants to be independent, he will have to pay the price of success.
GIMS on the record
Genre: Documentary
Our rating: 4/5
This documentary follows rap-singer Maître Gims the year before his performance in the Stade de France. We discover more about his origins (he was born in Congo), his family, his friends, and his projects. Gims’ family and friends uncover a bit more about the singer who is always hiding behind sunglasses.
Not available on Netflix US:
Le Magnifique (The Man from Acapulco)
Genre: Comedy
Our rating: 4/5
Bob Saint-Clair is a fearless, attractive, superspy. But more importantly, he is the idealized alter-ego of François Merlin, an author, who uses his real-life to write his novels. Slowly, the lives of Bob and François seem to get mixed up.
Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (The Young Girls of Rochefort)
Genre: Musical
Our rating: 4/5
Delphine and Solange are twin sisters. Delphine is a dance teacher, while Solange is a music teacher. They are both looking for their one true love. When a fair comes to town, they start meeting a lot of new people. Could one of them be the man they want?
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