French
Articles and Essays on French Films
Weekend (1967)
Jean-Luc Godard’s cathartically political and infuriating masterpiece Weekend is one of the key films of the late 1960’s. It is on one hand a chaotically brilliant black comedy and on the other hand a surrealistically acid disdain on the nihilistic bourgeoisie consumer society. Weekend is less like a film and more like a abstract angry political collage, as its pop art […]
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A Man Escaped (1956)
Robert Bresson’s A Man Escaped is generally looked at as one of the greatest prison-break movies ever made. The story was inspired by Andre Devigny, a decorated French lieutenant in World War II who escaped from Fort Montlue prison in German-occupied Lyon in 1943. Besides the beginning and final shots of the film, the entire story is […]
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Vanishing, The (1988)
What makes George Sluizer’s The Vanishing absolutely brilliant is the way it builds an unrelenting amount of suspense, and at the same time gives the audience all the information we need to know. The Vanishing opens as a Dutch couple drive down the expressway for a cycling holiday in France. After the vehicle runs out of diesel […]
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Le Boucher (1970)
She is a strong and sophisticated school mistress from Paris, he is a unusured small town butcher, both of their everyday lives obscure great loneliness, and their sexual tension is peculiarly skewed. They should never have met each other, and yet fate has brought together these two completely different individuals. When they do start to spend time together, […]
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Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (1953)
Jacques Tati’s Mr. Hulot’s Holiday is one of the most charming and original comedies ever made. Critic Roger Ebert states, “It is not a comedy of hilarity but a comedy of memory, nostalgia, fondness and good cheer.” They’re some real funny moments in the film, but Mr. Hulot’s Holiday brings us much more than just […]
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