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The following list was originally printed here: http://babybilingual.blogspot.ca/2008/08/french-films-that-arent-freaky.html
Comédies: Amélie (a whimsical and touching people-pleaser) Mon meilleur ami (genuinely funny and touching, restrained instead of over-the-top) Le dîner des cons (funny and farcical with a touch of cruelty) Le placard (funny and farcical, a little sad, a little predictable) Paris, je t'aime (twenty short films, one set in each arrondissement, by twenty different filmmakers, including some American directors and actors) Trois hommes et un couffin (the inspiration for Three Men and a Baby) Les visiteurs (broad comedy about a medieval knight and his servant who arrive in the 20th century) L'auberge espagnole (mildy funny comedy about a group of foreign students sharing an apartment in Spain; very popular among the college students I knew, but I didn't think it was that great) Les poupées russes (the sequel to L'auberge espagnole; it takes place quite a few years later; I liked it better than the first film) Classiques: La gloire de mon père (beautiful depiction of Marcel Pagnol's Provence in the early 20th century and the people who live there) Le château de ma mère (sequel to La gloire de mon père--almost as good) Jean de Florette (also set in Pagnol's Provence, but less idealized when it comes to human nature--a great story) Manon des sources (sequel to Jean de Florette--just as good) La belle et la bête (1946 black and white version of Beauty and the Beast) Argent de poche (story of children in 1976) Drames: Train de vie (a feel-good--until the end--movie about an entire eastern European Jewish village escaping deportation to a WWII concentration camp; surprisingly funny) Les choristes (people-pleasing story about the music teacher at a boys' school) Au revoir, les enfants (beautiful autobiographical story about friendship and growth at a Catholic boys' boarding school during WWII. I taught the script of this movie in my second-year French classes for a couple of years; despite reading it and watching the film repeatedly, I still love it and cry at the ending. It's that good.) La môme (English title: La vie en rose--the recent biopic about Edith Piaf; fascinating in a depressing way) Le festin de Babette (tale of a brilliant French chef in a dour small Danish town) Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran (story of an unusual friendship in Paris; very good despite a disappointing ending) Le gone du chaaba (based on the autobiographical novel by Azouz Begag, now a minister in the French government; it's about growing up in the immigrant slums in the 1960s) Films historiques: Cyrano de Bergerac (1990 version with Gerard Depardieu--well acted and swashbuckling) Camille Claudel (based on the life of artist Rodin's long-time lover who was a sculptor in her own right) La veuve de St. Pierre (love story set on a French-speaking island off Canada about a prisoner condemned to the guillotine) Le hussard sur le toit (very swashbuckling) Documentaires: Les glaneurs et la glaneuse (about gleaners, people who scavenge in fields after the harvest, those who go dumpster diving, etc., with very interesting narration) Entre les murs (be a fly on the wall in a middle school French classroom with scenes improvised by students and inspired by a young teacher's autobiography) Folk As a student, I remember going to Festival du Bois and having the best time! Not only was the food delicious. but I mainly remember people dancing, jumping and singing to live French music and I was immediately hooked. In celebrating French culture in Canada, which can be incorporated in any class, I've attatched a live musical performance of Traditional French Fiddle as well as a the Family Lavallee Modern |
