French language films and television
- Thread starter AnnO'Neemus
- Start date
Skim
Well-Known Member
What is the show called? I love First Dates and would be interested to see what the French do with it…
ETA: I found it: Premier rendez-vous et plus si affinités. Catchy.
Always thought Chapeau Melon et Bottes de Cuir tripped off the tongue.
(Bowler Hat and Leather Boots aka The Avengers.)
Auto-generated French subtitles aren’t perfect, but enough to get by on. 
I was disappointed that the maître d' wasn't British, and instead of greeting the women with "ooh la la!", said to them, "phwoar!".
Skim
Well-Known Member
Was thinking the same… they missed a trick there!
La Belle Époque, about a misanthropic cartoonist who escapes into a staged recreation of the 1970s.
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
Bumpety bump.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
A very thought-provoking documentary about the place I'm hoping to make my home ...
The title sounds shit to English ears, but translating non-verbatim it's more like "First Dates... and Maybe More".
Skim
Well-Known Member
My AI translation app says “First date and more if you like”
You're right, it should be "date" singular.My AI translation app says “First date and more if you like”
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
Don't think these shows have been mentioned, they're all on the normal services...
Gangland AKA Braqueurs
A retooling of a movie of the same name from the same writer/director Julien Leclercq and main actor Sami Bouajila, which stretches the material out somewhat, and adds some sub-plots. A highly proficient crew of armed robbers are compromised on their latest job and are forced to improvise when some heavy drug dealers get involved. Very watchable.
Notre-Dame
The fire at Paris's mediaeval cathedral is the backdrop for a bunch of soapy threads involving all manner of characters, including sketchy bistro owner Simon Abkarian, fire chief Roschdy Zem, guilt-stricken firefighter Megan Northam, estranged daughter Marie Zabukovec etc. Jumps around in perspective and time, better than it initially felt it might be.
Dealer AKA Caïd
A brisk little movie but split into bite-size chunks, about a gangster trying to go legit as a rapper, trying to make a music video in le banlieu when a turf war breaks out around them. Strong performances fromAbderamane Diakhite and Sébastien Houbani in particular.
Gangland AKA Braqueurs
A retooling of a movie of the same name from the same writer/director Julien Leclercq and main actor Sami Bouajila, which stretches the material out somewhat, and adds some sub-plots. A highly proficient crew of armed robbers are compromised on their latest job and are forced to improvise when some heavy drug dealers get involved. Very watchable.
Notre-Dame
The fire at Paris's mediaeval cathedral is the backdrop for a bunch of soapy threads involving all manner of characters, including sketchy bistro owner Simon Abkarian, fire chief Roschdy Zem, guilt-stricken firefighter Megan Northam, estranged daughter Marie Zabukovec etc. Jumps around in perspective and time, better than it initially felt it might be.
Dealer AKA Caïd
A brisk little movie but split into bite-size chunks, about a gangster trying to go legit as a rapper, trying to make a music video in le banlieu when a turf war breaks out around them. Strong performances fromAbderamane Diakhite and Sébastien Houbani in particular.
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
The last few French films I watched have mostly been pretty decent:
L'Armée Des Ombres AKA Army Of Shadows
Melville's classic, grey, wet film about the grim business of résistance to the Nazi occupation of France, complete with sudden moments of violence and little that you would normally call heroic. Lino Ventura is perfectly cast as the principal character.
Athena
Breathtaking, visceral film about the different values and expectations placed on modern French citizens based on race, class and sex, boiled down into a punchy, tightly-paced, sometimes dream-like film about a housing estate exploding in violence. Beautifully filmed by Matias Boucard, written and directed by Romain Gavras (M.I.A's ‘Born Free’ video), with a positively Shakespearean performance by Sami Slimane as an angry young brother weighed down by his conflicting responsibilities.
BAC Nord AKA The Stronghold
Crime drama from Cédric Jimenez (La French, HHhH), with Gilles Lellouche (À Bout Portant, Gibraltar, La French), Karim Leklou and François Civil as a trio of street cops jaded by the unwinnable war on drugs in urban Marseille and by the half-hearted support given them by mediocre bosses and compromised politicians. They make a bad decision, from which point there is no going back. Not the most imaginative film in plot or execution, but well executed with solid performances.
Balle Perdue AKA Lost Bullet
Grindhousey, pulpy action, with Alban Lenoir as a pistonhead who crosses the law and ends up in gaol before being recruited to an elite police interdiction squad as a mechanic of day release. Mayhem ensues. Some pretty decent action scenes, plus massive plot holes. Directed by Guillaume Pierret from a script by himself, Lenoir and Kamel Guemra.
Balle Perdue 2 AKA Lost Bullet: Back For More
Sequel which turns the implausibilities up to 11, but somehow manages to still be moderately diverting, and with even more action.
Braqueurs AKA The Crew
Taut crime drama about a seasoned team of blaggers led by Sami Bouajila (Indigènes, Nid De Guêpes) who get drawn into a dangerous conflict with a drug gang. Writer-director Julien Leclercq moves this along at a decent lick.
Bronx AKA Rogue City
Maverick/bent cops living out their Miami Vice fantasies in a Marseille gangbuster unit find themselves out of their depths as they are caught in the crossfire between criminal clans, anti-corruption investigators, their own bosses and each other. Glossily empty, but such a stupendous cast, fully committed:
Lannick Gautry, Stanislas Merhar, rapper Kaaris, parkour co-creator David Belle (Banlieu 13), Patrick Catalifo (Les Lyonnais), Jean Reno (Leon, Mission: Impossible), Claudia Cardinale (Once Upon A Time In The West, Fitzcarraldo), Gérard Lanvin (À Bout Portant, Les Lyonnais, Mesrine)... Another Marchal joint.
Burn Out
François Civil as a motorcycle racer trapped by someone else's drug debt into ever more reckless behaviour. (Later remade in Spanish as Centauro.) Directed by Yann Gozlan.
Carbone AKA Carbon
Ex-cop turned movie director Olivier Marchal (36 Quai Des Orfèvres, Truands, Les Lyonnais) turns the less-than-thrilling subject of carbon emission trading VAT fraud into an absorbing drama. Desperate failed businessman Benoît Magimel (Déjà Mort, Truands) quickly gets drawn in well out of his depth.
L’Ennemi Intime AKA Intimate Enemies
Naïve young officer Benoît Magimel quickly learns that war is hell as hardened sergeant Albert Dupontel (Irréversible, Le Convoyeur) schools him in brutality during France's colonial war against Algerian independent fighters. Directed by Florent-Emilio Siri (Nid De Guêpes, Hostage).
L'Intervention AKA 15 Minutes Of War
A based-on-real-events action thriller, about a GIGN counter-terrorist team that was sent out to Djibouti in 1976 when a busful of schoolkids is taken hostage. Proficiently-made by Fred Grivois, with a cast packed with familiar faces like Alban Lenoir (Balle Perdue), Olga Kurylenko (Le Serpent, Quantum Of Solace, Seven Psychopaths) and Michaël Abiteboul (Sans Répit, BAC Nord).
Loin Du Périph AKA The Takedown
Very silly but amusing chalk-and-cheese buddy-cop action comedy sequel, with extrovert banlieue cop Omar Sy (Intouchables, Jurassic World) teamed up with pompous bourgeois detective Laurent Lafitte (Narco) to investigate a big case. Directed by Transporter helmsman Louis Leterrier.
Paradise Beach
Angry robber Sami Bouajila is released from prison and travels to a picturesque Thai beach town to reunite with his old colleagues and demand his share of their last job together, from which they all escaped. Nothing especially great, but some good performances sustain this drama by Xavier Durringer. Also features Hubert Koundé (La Haine, Diên Biên Phu, The Constant Gardener).
La Prochaine Fois Je Viserai Le Cœur AKA Next Time I’ll Aim For The Heart
Chilling tale of a gendarme in 1970s provincial France who stalked and attacked women, and was also part of police efforts to catch him. Note perfect portrait of a misogynist hiding in plain sight, with Guillaume Canet (Narco, The Siege Of Jadotville, The Beach) in the lead. Terrifyingly directed with an eye on period detail by Cédric Anger.
Sans Répit AKA Restless
Exploitation fare initially disguised in art-house garb - bent cop Franck Gastambide must postpone grief for his recently-died mother when a mysterious blackmailer threatens him. Top tier support from the likes of Michaël Abiteboul (Le Bureau Des Légendes, L'Intervention), Simon Abkarian (L'Armée De Crime, Notre-Dame) and Tracy Gotoas (Braqueurs TV series), thoroughly competent direction from first-timer Régis Blondeau.
Sentinelle
Julien Leclercq again, here placing Olga Kurylenko centre-stage as a PTSD-stricken French soldier redeployed back to Nice on homeland security duties, who has to dig deep when her sister is victimised by a dangerous man. With some decent action sequences.
La Terre Et Le Sang AKA Earth And Blood
Ageing sawmill owner Sami Bouajila faces his own mortality and tries to secure peace with the world (and his family), only for bad men to come knocking. Sofia Lesaffre (Braqueurs TV series) plays his resourceful daughter, Samy Seghir (the Neuilly Sa Mère! comedies) is a rough diamond young employee, Eriq Ebouaney (Lumumba, Femme Fatale) a fearsome crime boss. Whilst still in and around the sawmill things remain claustrophobic and taut, but when the action drifts further outward everything rather falls apart. Not Julien Leclercq's best, but at just 80 minutes it's a low-risk investment in your time.
L'Armée Des Ombres AKA Army Of Shadows
Melville's classic, grey, wet film about the grim business of résistance to the Nazi occupation of France, complete with sudden moments of violence and little that you would normally call heroic. Lino Ventura is perfectly cast as the principal character.
Athena
Breathtaking, visceral film about the different values and expectations placed on modern French citizens based on race, class and sex, boiled down into a punchy, tightly-paced, sometimes dream-like film about a housing estate exploding in violence. Beautifully filmed by Matias Boucard, written and directed by Romain Gavras (M.I.A's ‘Born Free’ video), with a positively Shakespearean performance by Sami Slimane as an angry young brother weighed down by his conflicting responsibilities.
BAC Nord AKA The Stronghold
Crime drama from Cédric Jimenez (La French, HHhH), with Gilles Lellouche (À Bout Portant, Gibraltar, La French), Karim Leklou and François Civil as a trio of street cops jaded by the unwinnable war on drugs in urban Marseille and by the half-hearted support given them by mediocre bosses and compromised politicians. They make a bad decision, from which point there is no going back. Not the most imaginative film in plot or execution, but well executed with solid performances.
Balle Perdue AKA Lost Bullet
Grindhousey, pulpy action, with Alban Lenoir as a pistonhead who crosses the law and ends up in gaol before being recruited to an elite police interdiction squad as a mechanic of day release. Mayhem ensues. Some pretty decent action scenes, plus massive plot holes. Directed by Guillaume Pierret from a script by himself, Lenoir and Kamel Guemra.
Balle Perdue 2 AKA Lost Bullet: Back For More
Sequel which turns the implausibilities up to 11, but somehow manages to still be moderately diverting, and with even more action.
Braqueurs AKA The Crew
Taut crime drama about a seasoned team of blaggers led by Sami Bouajila (Indigènes, Nid De Guêpes) who get drawn into a dangerous conflict with a drug gang. Writer-director Julien Leclercq moves this along at a decent lick.
Bronx AKA Rogue City
Maverick/bent cops living out their Miami Vice fantasies in a Marseille gangbuster unit find themselves out of their depths as they are caught in the crossfire between criminal clans, anti-corruption investigators, their own bosses and each other. Glossily empty, but such a stupendous cast, fully committed:
Lannick Gautry, Stanislas Merhar, rapper Kaaris, parkour co-creator David Belle (Banlieu 13), Patrick Catalifo (Les Lyonnais), Jean Reno (Leon, Mission: Impossible), Claudia Cardinale (Once Upon A Time In The West, Fitzcarraldo), Gérard Lanvin (À Bout Portant, Les Lyonnais, Mesrine)... Another Marchal joint.
Burn Out
François Civil as a motorcycle racer trapped by someone else's drug debt into ever more reckless behaviour. (Later remade in Spanish as Centauro.) Directed by Yann Gozlan.
Carbone AKA Carbon
Ex-cop turned movie director Olivier Marchal (36 Quai Des Orfèvres, Truands, Les Lyonnais) turns the less-than-thrilling subject of carbon emission trading VAT fraud into an absorbing drama. Desperate failed businessman Benoît Magimel (Déjà Mort, Truands) quickly gets drawn in well out of his depth.
L’Ennemi Intime AKA Intimate Enemies
Naïve young officer Benoît Magimel quickly learns that war is hell as hardened sergeant Albert Dupontel (Irréversible, Le Convoyeur) schools him in brutality during France's colonial war against Algerian independent fighters. Directed by Florent-Emilio Siri (Nid De Guêpes, Hostage).
L'Intervention AKA 15 Minutes Of War
A based-on-real-events action thriller, about a GIGN counter-terrorist team that was sent out to Djibouti in 1976 when a busful of schoolkids is taken hostage. Proficiently-made by Fred Grivois, with a cast packed with familiar faces like Alban Lenoir (Balle Perdue), Olga Kurylenko (Le Serpent, Quantum Of Solace, Seven Psychopaths) and Michaël Abiteboul (Sans Répit, BAC Nord).
Loin Du Périph AKA The Takedown
Very silly but amusing chalk-and-cheese buddy-cop action comedy sequel, with extrovert banlieue cop Omar Sy (Intouchables, Jurassic World) teamed up with pompous bourgeois detective Laurent Lafitte (Narco) to investigate a big case. Directed by Transporter helmsman Louis Leterrier.
Paradise Beach
Angry robber Sami Bouajila is released from prison and travels to a picturesque Thai beach town to reunite with his old colleagues and demand his share of their last job together, from which they all escaped. Nothing especially great, but some good performances sustain this drama by Xavier Durringer. Also features Hubert Koundé (La Haine, Diên Biên Phu, The Constant Gardener).
La Prochaine Fois Je Viserai Le Cœur AKA Next Time I’ll Aim For The Heart
Chilling tale of a gendarme in 1970s provincial France who stalked and attacked women, and was also part of police efforts to catch him. Note perfect portrait of a misogynist hiding in plain sight, with Guillaume Canet (Narco, The Siege Of Jadotville, The Beach) in the lead. Terrifyingly directed with an eye on period detail by Cédric Anger.
Sans Répit AKA Restless
Exploitation fare initially disguised in art-house garb - bent cop Franck Gastambide must postpone grief for his recently-died mother when a mysterious blackmailer threatens him. Top tier support from the likes of Michaël Abiteboul (Le Bureau Des Légendes, L'Intervention), Simon Abkarian (L'Armée De Crime, Notre-Dame) and Tracy Gotoas (Braqueurs TV series), thoroughly competent direction from first-timer Régis Blondeau.
Sentinelle
Julien Leclercq again, here placing Olga Kurylenko centre-stage as a PTSD-stricken French soldier redeployed back to Nice on homeland security duties, who has to dig deep when her sister is victimised by a dangerous man. With some decent action sequences.
La Terre Et Le Sang AKA Earth And Blood
Ageing sawmill owner Sami Bouajila faces his own mortality and tries to secure peace with the world (and his family), only for bad men to come knocking. Sofia Lesaffre (Braqueurs TV series) plays his resourceful daughter, Samy Seghir (the Neuilly Sa Mère! comedies) is a rough diamond young employee, Eriq Ebouaney (Lumumba, Femme Fatale) a fearsome crime boss. Whilst still in and around the sawmill things remain claustrophobic and taut, but when the action drifts further outward everything rather falls apart. Not Julien Leclercq's best, but at just 80 minutes it's a low-risk investment in your time.
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DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
I too enjoyed it (it's basically desperate people trying to get transit papers to leave Marseille on the last boat out following the capitulation of France to invading German forces, but set in modern times, with no exposition), but as you say it's half in German, as well as written by a German, directed by a German, and featuring mostly German actorstransit (film) is the last good thing I watched in french but half of it,s in german
Chz
Stark Raving Sane
The Wolf's Call
Is very, very silly. Still, there aren't too many submarine films out there and it's far from being the worst one out there. Found it entertaining enough if you can switch your brain off for the duration. Falls apart completely if you try and think about it. And hey, Omar Sy is in it so it can't be entirely bad. (though he's kinda wasted in the role)
Is very, very silly. Still, there aren't too many submarine films out there and it's far from being the worst one out there. Found it entertaining enough if you can switch your brain off for the duration. Falls apart completely if you try and think about it. And hey, Omar Sy is in it so it can't be entirely bad. (though he's kinda wasted in the role)
RedRedRose
Well-Known Member
Came here to recommend this film. It's excellent.
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
This article just popped up in my FB feed.
"Women At War: Les Combattantes is trending on Netflix, and for good reason
Set in and around the town of Saint-Paulin in 1914, which finds itself perilously close to the front line, the drama unflinchingly brings to life the stories of four women as they find their worlds upended by all of the horrors that war brings. There’s Marguerite, a mysterious Parisian sex worker, and Caroline, who has unexpectedly become the head of her family’s factory.
Elsewhere, we have Agnes, Mother Superior of a requisitioned convent, and Suzanne, a fiercely feminist nurse."
Women At War is trending on Netflix, and for good reason
Here’s what you need to know about the addictive French drama.
www.stylist.co.uk
I note Audrey Fleurot's in it, who played lawyer Josephine in Spiral/Engrenages
I've started watching Un Si Grand Soleil, a daily soap, which has Fred "Tintin" Bianconi in.
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
Season two now on Netflix (UK)
redsquirrel
This Machine Kills Progressives
One of Melvilles three masterpieces
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
Women at War/Les Combattantes is brilliant, I love shows with strong female characters.
(Two superficial things irked me, though: there were four lead character women, and one of them had dyed blonde hair, which I thought was a bit weird for something set in 1914. I Googled the actress, and I think she's a natural brunette.
[A neighbour of mine a couple of years ago was a filmmaker and he made a short set in war time Poland, and he'd cast a woman as the lead who had a modern day balayage hair colouring and modern day groomed eyebrows, both of which were... whatever that word is... incongruous?]
Anyway, back to Les Combattantes, of the four leads, Audrey Fleurot has red hair, and the other three are brunettes, so I'm wondering if it was a director's and/or make-up/costume designers' decision for her character to be blonde for a bit of variety? Or whether the actress happened to be blonde at the casting or when she turned up on set?
Seemed a bit weird when they seemed to have gone to such lengths to get other period details right.
Also, one of the supporting actresses, who played a relatively big support rôle as the mother-in-law of one of the leads, she looked like she'd had fillers or fucked about with her upper lip in some way.
Again, that was really jarring for a period drama.
Other than those visual annoyances, it was brilliant overall.)
(Two superficial things irked me, though: there were four lead character women, and one of them had dyed blonde hair, which I thought was a bit weird for something set in 1914. I Googled the actress, and I think she's a natural brunette.
[A neighbour of mine a couple of years ago was a filmmaker and he made a short set in war time Poland, and he'd cast a woman as the lead who had a modern day balayage hair colouring and modern day groomed eyebrows, both of which were... whatever that word is... incongruous?]
Anyway, back to Les Combattantes, of the four leads, Audrey Fleurot has red hair, and the other three are brunettes, so I'm wondering if it was a director's and/or make-up/costume designers' decision for her character to be blonde for a bit of variety? Or whether the actress happened to be blonde at the casting or when she turned up on set?
Seemed a bit weird when they seemed to have gone to such lengths to get other period details right.
Also, one of the supporting actresses, who played a relatively big support rôle as the mother-in-law of one of the leads, she looked like she'd had fillers or fucked about with her upper lip in some way.
Again, that was really jarring for a period drama.
Other than those visual annoyances, it was brilliant overall.)
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
I received an email notification saying it's just dropped so I was planning to check it out. Haven't seen season one yet through, but it looks good.Season two now on Netflix (UK)
The Wall: Cover Your Tracks, on All4.
Set in a bleak mining town in northern Quebec, the body of a dead stripper is found and a headstrong detective from Quebec City is brought in. I'm two episodes in and I'm quite liking it. It's got a little bit of Les Revenants about it, without, so far, the sci-fi element, or the Mogwai soundtrack.
The Canadians also slip into English more than the French, I think. One character says "fuck you" at one point.
Set in a bleak mining town in northern Quebec, the body of a dead stripper is found and a headstrong detective from Quebec City is brought in. I'm two episodes in and I'm quite liking it. It's got a little bit of Les Revenants about it, without, so far, the sci-fi element, or the Mogwai soundtrack.
The Canadians also slip into English more than the French, I think. One character says "fuck you" at one point.
marty21
One on one? You're crazy.
We have binge watched 4 episodes today , it is excellent.
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
Just read about a new series on Apple that sounds good, haven't seen it yet though.
"If you're looking for the plot that's the surest to suck people in, you could do worse than centering on a contest. Be it Rocky, Pitch Perfect or Squid Game, such stories possess a built-in suspense and drama. They make us ask, "Who's going to win?"
This question comes luxuriously bottled in Drops of God, a pleasurable new Apple TV+ mini-series about a contest set in the world of upmarket wine with its connoisseur vintages, voluminous snobberies and undercurrents of business chicanery. Although the basic idea is taken from a hit Japanese manga, the show is a French-made production that changes the story in huge ways. Where this comic ran a seemingly endless 44 volumes, the series clocks in at eight episodes and — amazingly — it actually ends there. More importantly, the series changes the lead character from a Japanese man to a French woman..."
"If you're looking for the plot that's the surest to suck people in, you could do worse than centering on a contest. Be it Rocky, Pitch Perfect or Squid Game, such stories possess a built-in suspense and drama. They make us ask, "Who's going to win?"
This question comes luxuriously bottled in Drops of God, a pleasurable new Apple TV+ mini-series about a contest set in the world of upmarket wine with its connoisseur vintages, voluminous snobberies and undercurrents of business chicanery. Although the basic idea is taken from a hit Japanese manga, the show is a French-made production that changes the story in huge ways. Where this comic ran a seemingly endless 44 volumes, the series clocks in at eight episodes and — amazingly — it actually ends there. More importantly, the series changes the lead character from a Japanese man to a French woman..."
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