# The best French films of all time

The films that come up most in SensCritique's top 100, AlloCiné's ranking and critics' lists: great classics, the New Wave and popular hits.

- 19 votes · 26 items
- Jun 21, 2024 · Laura Clement
- https://even.best/en/l/100/the-best-french-films-of-all-time

## Top 25

1. **Army of Shadows** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969. Lino Ventura and the Resistance, based on Joseph Kessel.
2. **Breathless** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Jean-Luc Godard, 1960. Belmondo, Jean Seberg and the jump cuts that changed film editing.
3. **Anatomy of a Fall** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Justine Triet, 2023. Sandra Hüller on trial for her husband's death; Palme d'Or and Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
4. **Amélie** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001. Audrey Tautou in Montmartre; one of French cinema's biggest hits abroad.
5. **The Rules of the Game** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Jean Renoir, 1939. A hunting party in the Sologne that turns to tragedy; top of many critics' rankings.
6. **The Wages of Fear** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953. Yves Montand drives a truck of nitroglycerine; Grand Prix at Cannes and Golden Bear.
7. **A Prophet** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Jacques Audiard, 2009. Tahar Rahim, from petty inmate to crime boss; Grand Prix at Cannes and nine Césars.
8. **Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At!** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Gérard Oury, 1966. Bourvil and Louis de Funès under the Occupation; the French box-office record for 30 years.
9. **Contempt** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Jean-Luc Godard, 1963. Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli and Fritz Lang in Capri, scored by Georges Delerue.
10. **Jules and Jim** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — François Truffaut, 1962. Jeanne Moreau between two friends, from the Belle Époque to the inter-war years.
11. **Beauty and the Beast** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Jean Cocteau, 1946. Jean Marais and Josette Day in a fairy tale of unique visual poetry.
12. **La Haine (Hate)** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995. Twenty-four hours in the banlieue with Vinz, Saïd and Hubert; Best Director at Cannes.
13. **Children of Paradise** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — Marcel Carné, 1945. Arletty and Jean-Louis Barrault on the Boulevard du Crime, written by Jacques Prévert.
14. **The 400 Blows** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — François Truffaut, 1959. Antoine Doinel, the first great film of the French New Wave.
15. **The Intouchables** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano, 2011. Omar Sy and François Cluzet; over 19 million admissions in France.
16. **The Dinner Game** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Francis Veber, 1998. Jacques Villeret as François Pignon in the cult comedy.
17. **Monsieur Gangster** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Georges Lautner, 1963. Lino Ventura and Michel Audiard's dialogue, quoted all over France.
18. **Le Cercle rouge** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Jean-Pierre Melville, 1970. Alain Delon, Bourvil and Yves Montand in a heist on Place Vendôme.
19. **Diabolique** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955. Simone Signoret and Véra Clouzot, a murder at a boarding school and a famous twist.
20. **The Hole** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Jacques Becker, 1960. Five inmates dig their way out of La Santé prison, with non-professional actors.
21. **Portrait of a Lady on Fire** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Céline Sciamma, 2019. A painter and her subject in 18th-century Brittany; Best Screenplay at Cannes.
22. **Pierrot le Fou** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Jean-Luc Godard, 1965. Belmondo and Anna Karina on the run to the Mediterranean.
23. **The Visitors** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Jean-Marie Poiré, 1993. Jean Reno and Christian Clavier as medieval knights thrown into 1992.
24. **Le Bonheur** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Agnès Varda, 1965. A happy husband, two women and the colours of summer; Silver Bear in Berlin.
25. **The Umbrellas of Cherbourg** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Musical comedy by Jacques Demy (1964), entirely sung to music by Michel Legrand, Palme d'Or at Cannes.
26. **Léon: The Professional** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — Luc Besson, 1994. Jean Reno as a hitman and 12-year-old Natalie Portman in New York.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.