I am a movie freak and I love crime, thrillers, true story based movies, horror, and also sometimes watch romance/love stories.
I have watched almost every movie that is good in English (just exaggerating lol), but now I am learning French and looking for good movies to watch without subtitles, that are also interesting :)
Plus no genre restrictions for this!
La femme Nikita
One of my favorite movies! I was going to suggest that one.
This question begins and ends with Nikita!
Rififi, Breathless, Le Samouri, Diabolique
Watching Le Samourai for the first time felt like a religious experience
Certainly not horror, but have you seen Amelie?
A charmer of a movie.
Throw in Delicatessen and City of Lost Children from the same director. Both of those are fantastic
My youngest recommends “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”.
A work of art ☝🏼
Martyrs
Taxi (1998)
Taxi Taxi (2000)
Taxi 3 (2003)
Trois couleurs: Bleu (1994)
Trois couleurs: Blanc (1994)
Trois couleurs: Rouge (1994)
La Vie en Rose (2007)
C'était un rendez-vous (1976)
Portrait De La Jeune Fille En Feu (2019)
Le Ballon Rouge (1956)
Summer Hours (L'Heure d'été)
The Young Girls of Rochefort (Les Demoiselles de Rochefort)
The Piano Teacher (La Pianiste)
Morning, I noticed others suggested Lola (1961), you’ve covered The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) …Let’s finish the “ tetralogy” with:
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964: Les Parapluies de Cherbourg)
Cheers
Swimming Pool (2003). In French and English. It is erotic psychological thriller film
Jean de Florette and the sequel Manon des Sources
Yves Montand, Gérard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil
High Tension I s a french movie, I believe. But it's mostly in English
Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001), Alphaville (1965), District B13 (2004), Paris Je T'aime (2006), King of Hearts (1966)
Diabolique 🔪
Cleo from 5-7
The Grand Illusion
The Horde
Cyrano de Bergerac
Le Retour de Martin Guerre
Au Revoir Les Enfants
Pere Noel (aka Deadly Games or 3615 Code Pere Noel) - sort of like Home Alone but closer to horror.
8 Femmes (2002). Eight women are stuck in a mansion in a 1950s setting and they’re trying to solve a mystery and there’s also singing. It’s so campy and I love it. Plus, it’s set in winter during the holidays.
François Ozon wrote and directed another one called Potiche. I really enjoyed it.
Gotta watch that classic, Amelie. I bet you'll also know a certain song from the movie, too. XD
Have you seen Killing Zoe? It is set in France and features the language prominently. Only portions of it were actually filmed in France. It is also fantastic.
I really like some of Eric Rohmer films.
Martyrs and Raw are both excellent horror films.
Also, Eyes without a Face if you want classic horror
King of Hearts
Double Lover
La Fee 2011
I really liked La Fille sur la Pont and Le Pacte de Loups.
Love Me if You Dare
La Grande Vadrouille (1966) i genuinely think is one of the greatest comedies ever. Love that one.
Mandibles is hilarious, short and has a perfect ending.
Irreversible (2002), a cozy film to watch with the family in the Christmas season. Enjoy 🙂
Hard to find, but I loved Tante Danielle. Horrible cranky old lady tries to destroy everyone's life.
I learned a bit of French via subtitles and watching multiple times.
*Tatie 😉
It almost seems like you're requesting:
La Jetée - 1962
I really liked Potiche. It was charming and a bit funny. Pretty lightweight but some good themes.
Check Jean-Pierre Jeunet's movies (maybe not Aliens 3)
Brotherhood of the Wolf
District 13
Taxi
The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec
I liked Astrid on Prime
He Love me…He Loves Me Not ( À la folie... pas du tout) starts as a romance but becomes twisted as it progresses. Highly recommend it! Audrey Tautou stars in it the year after she was in Amelie
Trois Couleurs: Rouge or the title when it was released for American audiences Three Colours: Red
Le Trou (1960), based on a real-life event. What I really love about this film is that it is very intense and gritty yet most of the main characters are played by non-actors, with one of them having been involved in the incident the film is based on. Highly recommended.
Since most people are recommending French Movies,I'm going to suggest the French Police Procedural,Spiral 2005-2020,8 seasons and 88 episodes.
La Reine Margot (1994)
The Horseman on the Roof (1995)
Louis Malle’s first film is Elevator to the Gallows and it is top notch. It’s a thriller with Jeanne Moreau. I think it’s right up there with Reservoir Dogs or Blood Simple in terms of an amazing directorial debut. C’est magnifique!
Hidden (2005) is a great psychological drama and The Closet is a fun comedy - both starring the great Daniel Auteil.
The 2 Mesrine films and La Haine starring Vincent Cassel are gritty and very watchable.
He's an awful man but anything with Gerard Depardieu in from like 1980-2005 is worth a watch cos he's a hell of an actor.
Bro. Listen to me when I tell you to watch NUIT BLANCHE. So few people seem to have seen it but it’s a crime thriller they remade as SLEEPLESS with Jamie Foxx. Takes place over 24 hours, cat and mouse largely in one location. It’s faaaaaantastic.
Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
It's like a french Hitchcock movie.
(By Louis Malle)
Dobermann (1997)
Delicatessen is my favorite French movie and it ticks a few of your boxes like the crime and horror ones.
Le dîner de cons House of tolerance (don't know the French name and am feeling too lazy to look for it soz)
Au Clair de la Lune , André Forcier 1983
Amelie
The Spanish Apartment (L’auberge espanole) Russian Dolls (Les poupées russes) Chinese Puzzle (Casse-tête chinois) [trilogy]
Three Colors: Blue Three Colors: White Three Colors: Red [trilogy]
The Rules of the Game (La règle du jeu)
Swimming Pool
Anatomy of a Fall
The works of Jean-Pierre Melville
If you are in college or your 20’s, try L'Auberge espagnole (The Spanish Apartment.)
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Sleepless Night
The Dreamlife of Angels
Not sure how interesting they will be for you, but here are some good ones in french:
A bit of a weird assortment. But hope some of them are fun for you
Tatie Danielle
Calmos, 1976
The Advent Calendar!
Bande à part (1964)
Cache
Dr Knock (2017), Priceless (2006)
Ponette (1996) …(imo) could be handy to have tissues close by…Not to imply I cried, I most certainly didn’t cry…too many times…
Happy watching.
These are my favorites, all very sentimental and melodramatic, not sure you will like it.
La Boum, coming-of-age romcom from 1980s, there's 2 (or 3?) movies. Sophie Marceau is a miracle. All movies with her worth watching.
La Délicatesse, a modern love story between Swedish guy and his French colleague, played by Audrey Tautou.
Also, there was this series, Les filles de Caleb (based on the book by Arlette Cousture), a story of two families between 1890s-1920s. It's Canadian-French though. I don't know how significant are the differences between the French language in France and that in Canada.
Try Chicken With Plums.
La Piscine
Ooo ANYTHING from Luc Besson. Subway Diva