MC Consensus: We Come From France

[Spinal]

Submit your TEN favorite French films and in a week I will give you a top TWENTY FIVE. Films should have France listed as a country of origin in IMDb. French language films from other countries should not be considered. Hopefully, I won't have to make a ruling on this and it will be self-policing. But the purpose of the thread is to specifically address films that are from France.

The point system is as follows

1st Place- 10 points
2nd Place - 8 points
3rd Place - 7 points
4th Place - 6 points
5th Place - 5 points
6th Place - 4.5 points
7th Place - 4 points
8th Place - 3.5 points
9th Place - 3 points
10th Place - 2.5 points

(Point system is weighted to give your top film a boost and to minimize the discrepancy between the films in the bottom half of your list.)

There will be no restrictions on short films. A list must have ten films to be eligible. If you list more than ten films, I will assume that the top ten films are the ones you want to receive points. If you do not list your films 1-10, I will assign the points from the top on down.

If you decide to edit your ballot, please make a new post indicating the changes. I will give at least 24 hours warning before tallying votes.

If, for some reason, you would like to like to submit your ballot via private message, I will accept those as well. However, your ballot will be revealed after the final results are posted.

You may begin now.

[Melville]

1. Diary of a Country Priest
2. Blood of the Beasts
3. Pierrot le fou
4. Van Gogh
5. Army of Shadows
6. Napoleon
7. Au hasard Balthazar
8. Masculine-Feminine
9. Winged Migration
10. Lovers on the Bridge

I'd vote for Passion of Joan of Arc, but it doesn't seem French enough to include.

[Pop Trash]

1. The 400 Blows
2. La Jetee
3. Pierrot le fou
4. Sans Soleil
5. Hiroshima Mon Amor
6. Holy Motors
7. Eyes Without a Face
8. A Trip to the Moon
9. Forbidden Games
10. The Wages of Fear

Passed on Dreyer, Bunuel, Haneke and the Dardennes as 'French'

[Stay Puft]

Gonna have to think about that for a bit. Otherwise, I'd just be listing my ten favorite Chris Marker films haha.

[Ezee E]

1. Amelie
2. Playtime
3. Irreversible
4. A Man Escaped
5. Passion of Joan of Arc
6. Band of Outsiders
7. Le Samouraï
8. La Haine
9. Rififi
10. Blue is the Warmest Color

[Grouchy]

1. Beauty and the Beast (1946)
2. Hiroshima Mon Amour
3. Three Colors: Blue
4. The Piano Teacher
5. Holy Motors
6. RififÃ*
7. La Grand Illusion
8. Pickpocket
9. Belle de Jour
10. Diabolique

[Peng]

1. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
2. The 400 Blows
3. The Passion of Joan of Arc
4. Eyes Without a Face
5. Army of Shadows
6. A Day in the Country
7. Beau Travail
8. Diabolique
9. Wild Reeds
10. The Lovers on the Bridge

[Mysterious Dude]

I'd vote for Passion of Joan of Arc, but it doesn't seem French enough to include.


Passed on Dreyer, Bunuel, Haneke and the Dardennes as 'French'

Is the director's origin the only deciding factor here? Is Sunset Boulevard not an American movie because the director is Austrian?

The Passion of Joan of Arc had French producers, was filmed in France, and had an all-French cast. It's French as hell.

[Mysterious Dude]

I feel like we should have more than ten choices.

1. The 400 Blows (1959)
2. Breathless (1960)
3. Napoleon (1927)
4. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
5. The Children of Paradise (1945)
6. Poil de carotte (1932)
7. A Trip to the Moon (1902)
8. The Fire Within (1963)
9. Ménilmontant (1926)
10. Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)

[Spinal]

Well, I have it narrowed down to 18. Ugh, tooooo hard.

[Spinal]

1. Kirikou and the Sorceress
2. Fat Girl
3. Enter the Void
4. The Passion of Joan of Arc
5. Diabolique
6. Night and Fog
7. The 400 Blows
8. Un Chien Andalou
9. The Illusionist
10. Queen Margot

[Spinal]

I feel like we should have more than ten choices.


Depending on how the data shakes out, I may be willing to add more.

Also, if the poll produces interesting results, I'd be happy to repeat it with other countries.

[Mr. McGibblets]

Children of Paradise
A Man Escaped
The Dinner Game
The Rules of the Game
Diabolique
Daybreak
La Chevre
The 400 Blows
A Christmas Tale
One Deadly Summer

[Russ]

1. Playtime
2. The Rules of the Game
3. Children of Paradise
4. La Grande Illusion
5. Au Hasard Balthazar
6. Celine and Julie Go Boating
7. They Were Five
8. The Wages of Fear
9. Poil de carotte
10. Diabolique

[Ivan Drago]

1. Contempt
2. The Passion of Joan of Arc
3. Irreversible
4. Breathless
5. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
6. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
7. Amelie
8. Holy Motors
9. Blue Is The Warmest Color
10. The Triplets of Belleville

[transmogrifier]

1. La Haine
2. Les Miserables (1995)
3. Les Diaboliques
4. Three Colors: White
5. Le Trou
6. Army of Shadows
7. Cache
8. Code Unknown
9. Irreversible
10. Three Colors: Blue

[Watashi]

I am lacking on my French films.

1. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
2. The 400 Blows
3. The Passion of Joan of Arc
4. Au hasard Balthazar
5. The Wages of Fear
6. Le Grande Illusion
7. Three Colors: Red
8. The Illusionist
9. Three Colors: Blue
10. The Rules of the Game

[Yxklyx]

1. Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)
2. Playtime (1967)
3. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
4. Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
5. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
6. Amélie (2001)
7. Beauty and the Beast (1946)
8. Three Colors: Red (1994)
9. The Wages of Fear (1953)
10. Elevator to the Gallows (1958)

[baby doll]

Les Vampires (Louis Feuillade, 1915)
La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928)
La Règle du jeu (Jean Renoir, 1939)
Les Enfants du Paradis (Marcel Carné, 1945)
L'Année dernière Ã* Marienbad (Alain Resnais, 1961)
Lola (Jacques Demy, 1961)
Au hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966)
Play Time (Jacques Tati, 1967)
Sans soleil (Chris Marker, 1983)
Histoire(s) du cinéma (Jean-Luc Godard, 1988-98)

[baby doll]

By the way, here's my ballot for the inevitable "We Come From Mali" consensus:

Bamako (Abderrahmane Sisako, 2006)

(I didn't include Heremakano as I felt it was more Mauritanian than Malian.)

[ContinentalOp]

1. Playtime
2. A Man Escaped
3. Army of Shadows
4. The 400 Blows
5. L'Atalante
6. Bob the Gambler
7. My Life to Live
8. Stolen Kisses
9. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
10. Winged Migration

[Gizmo]

I am lacking on my French films.


Yeah, if I have seen 10, it's only many, haven't even considered trying to compile a list because of it.

[Russ]

Hey baby doll, not a big fan of Duvivier?

[baby doll]

Hey baby doll, not a big fan of Duvivier?I've only seen Pépé le Moko, which is a masterpiece but not one of my ten favourites. I also didn't have room for Assayas, Carax, Denis, Garrel, Melville, Rivette, Rohmer, Téchiné, Truffaut, or Varda (to name the first ten that come to mind), so he's in good company.

[Spinal]

In early polling, 24 films have risen above the 10 point mark. Good to see the votes being spread around.

[Thirdmango]

I know there are more on my list but this is just the first go. I'll add more, just wanna place this here just in case.

1. Jean De Florette
2. Le Million (1931)
3. Amalie
4. The Intouchables
5. Triplets of Bellville
6. Breathless
7. Contempt
8. A Woman is a Woman

[Melville]

Is the director's origin the only deciding factor here? Is Sunset Boulevard not an American movie because the director is Austrian?

The Passion of Joan of Arc had French producers, was filmed in France, and had an all-French cast. It's French as hell.
Good point. Anything by Dreyer or the Dardennes just doesn't feel French to me. But since they appear to be fair game, I'll throw them in:

1. The Son
2. Diary of a Country Priest
3. Blood of the Beasts
4. Pierrot le fou
5. Van Gogh
6. The Passion of Joan of Arc
7. Army of Shadows
8. Napoleon
9. Au hasard Balthazar
10. Masculine-Feminine

Dropped Winged Migration and Lovers on the Bridge.

[dreamdead]

1. My Night at Maud's
2. The Passion of Joan of Arc
3. La Jetee
4. Cleo from 5 to 7
5. Three Colors: Red
6. Children of Paradise
7. The Illusionist
8. A Trip to the Moon
9. Hiroshima mon Amour
10. Summer Hours

[Stay Puft]

1. La Jetée
2. Sans Soleil
3. Vivre Sa Vie
4. Le fond de l'air est rouge / Grin Without a Cat
5. Three Colors: Red
6. Three Colors: Blue
7. Loin du Vietnam
8. Summer Hours
9. The Wages of Fear
10. Le samouraï

Hmmm this was harder than I thought. Put a lot of Marker on it anyways because he's probably my favorite filmmaker and I gotta be true to my heart.

[Spinal]

I will count up the most recent lists in a little bit and see where we're at.

[Spinal]

Let's give it one more day to see if we can get a few more. Thirdmango, your ballot is not eligible yet.

At this point, the data favors a Top 20, as opposed to 25.

[Spinal]

#20

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/la-grande-illusion-french-poster-bernard-lancy_zps4vusgukv.jpg
For me it's simple. A golf course is for golf. A tennis court is for tennis. A prison camp is for escaping.

Grand Illusion

Director: Jean Renoir

Year: 1937

During the first World War, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are sent to a seemingly impenetrable fortress.

The first foreign film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.
Won Best Foreign Film from The National Board of Review.
Won Best Foreign Film from The New York Film Critics Circle.
Won Best Overall Artistic Contribution at the Venice Film Festival.

Banned by Nazi Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels. The Germans destroyed prints of the film save one negative, unearthed by American troops in Munich in 1945.

"Everyone who believes in democracy should see this film." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

[Spinal]

#19

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/hiroshimamonamourpostercafleur ebon_zpsmrxfqwly.jpg
Sometimes we have to avoid thinking about the problems life presents. Otherwise we'd suffocate.

Hiroshima Mon Amour

Director: Alain Resnais

Year: 1959

A French actress filming an anti-war film in Hiroshima has an affair with a married Japanese architect as they share their differing perspectives on war.

Nominated for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen at the Academy Awards.
Nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
Won Best Foreign Film from The National Board of Review.
Won Best Foreign Film from The New York Film Critics Circle.
Won the UN Award at the BAFTA Awards.

The film started life as a documentary about the nuclear bomb drop on Hiroshima until Resnais decided to include fictional elements.

"I think that in a few years, in ten, in twenty, or thirty years, we shall know whether Hiroshima mon amour was the most important film since the war, the first modern film of sound cinema ... [It] has a very strong sense of the future, particularly the anguish of the future.� -- Eric Rohmer, 1959

[Spinal]

#17 (tie)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/sans-soleil_zpstcawetg9.jpg
Who said that time heals all wounds? It would be better to say that time heals everything - except wounds.

Sans Soleil

Director: Chris Marker

Year: 1983

A woman narrates the thoughts of a world traveler, meditations on time and memory expressed in words and images from places as far-flung as Japan, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, and San Francisco.

Won OCIC Award - Honorable Mention at the Berlin International Film Festival
Won Sutherland Trophy at the British Film Institute Awards.

The film was assembled largely in the 1970s, a period when Marker was part of a political commune and preferred to downplay his authorial signature, which may partly explain why he is represented in the film by Sandor Krasna's letters. The title "Conception and editing: Chris Marker," at the end of the credits, is the only indication that Sans Soleil is his film

"What makes the treatment of memory in Sans Soleil so compelling ... is that it is never merely the dry object of the essayist’s inquiry but the very impassioned dynamo of the film’s structure and unfolding. The film flits from one idea or visual association to another, and in it we can trace the habits of our own inner processes of recollection, which condense, displace, plunge us abruptly into forgotten recesses of our past.� -- Catherine Lupton

[Spinal]

#17 (tie)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/media_zpsjtge4ep7.jpg
You want me to say it? Time destroys everything.

Irreversible

Director: Gaspar Noé

Year: 2002

Events over the course of one traumatic night in Paris unfold in reverse-chronological order as the beautiful Alex is brutally raped and beaten by a stranger in the underpass.

Nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
Won Best Foreign Language Film at the San Diego Film Critics Society Awards.

The first 30 minutes of the film has a background noise with a frequency of 28 Hz (low frequency, almost inaudible), similar to the noise produced by an earthquake. In humans, it causes nausea, sickness and vertigo.

"By placing the ugliness at the beginning, Gaspar Noe forces us to think seriously about the sexual violence involved. The movie does not end with rape as its climax and send us out of the theater as if something had been communicated. It starts with it, and asks us to sit there for another hour and process our thoughts. It is therefore moral - at a structural level." - Roger Ebert

[Spinal]

#16

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/3coloursbluefilmpostertroiscou leursbleu_zpsxwttoqla.jpg
I don't want any belongings, any memories. No friends, no love. Those are all traps.

Three Colors: Blue

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski

Year: 1993

A woman struggles to find a way to live her life after the death of her husband and child.

Won Best Film at the Venice Film Festival
Won Best European Film at the Goya Awards.
Won Best Actress (Juliette Binoche) at the César Awards.
Nominated for three Golden Globes including Best Foreign Film, Best Actress - Drama and Best Original Score.

For the shot where Julie scrapes her hand along a stone wall, Juliette Binoche was originally supposed to wear a prosthetic to protect her hand, but it looked too obvious on camera. Binoche felt the scene was important enough that she actually dragged her unprotected hand along the wall, drawing real blood.

"Blue is a film that engages the mind, challenges the senses, implores a resolution, and tells, with aesthetic grace and formal elegance, a good story and a political allegory." - Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle

[Spinal]

#15

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/756c5391958562d60edff9fd5fb63c e9_zpsfwmmbh2p.jpg
You don't know what fear is. But you'll see. It's catching, it's catching like small pox! And once you get it, it's for life!

The Wages of Fear

Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot

Year: 1953

In a decrepit South American village, men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.

Won Grand Prize of the Festival at Cannes. Charles Vanel also received a special mention for his acting performance.
Won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Won Best Film at the BAFTA Awards.

Due to the negative portrayal of the American oil company SOC, the film was accused of anti-Americanism and several scenes were cut for the U.S. release.

"When you can be blown up at any moment only a fool believes that character determines fate. In this situation, courage and caution are almost irrelevant, and ordinary human responses are futile and archaic--yet nothing else is left. If this isn't a parable of man's position in the modern world, it's at least an illustration of it." - Pauline Kael

[Ezee E]

"By placing the ugliness at the beginning, Gaspar Noe forces us to think seriously about the sexual violence involved. The movie does not end with rape as its climax and send us out of the theater as if something had been communicated. It starts with it, and asks us to sit there for another hour and process our thoughts. It is therefore moral - at a structural level." - Roger Ebert

I think Noe has been working hard to get this type of quote in his movies, and he hasn't come close since.

[Spinal]

#14

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/trois-couleurs-rouge_zpsxbc0s4gg.jpg
Given their lives, I would steal, I'd kill, I'd lie. Of course I would. All that because I wasn't in their shoes, but mine.

Three Colors: Red

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski

Year: 1994

A model discovers her neighbor is keen on invading people's privacy.

Nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography.
Nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes.
Nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
Won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film.
Won the César Award for Best Music.
Won Best Foreign Language Film from the National Board of Review.
Won Best Foreign Language Film from the New York Film Critics Circle.
Nominated for Best Actress (Irène Jacob) at the BAFTA Awards.

In all three parts of the trilogy, an elderly person can be seen trying to throw an empty bottle into a recycling bin. In this final entry, Valentine helps her, while in the other two parts the main character just watches.

"It's a film about destiny and chance, solitude and communication, cynicism and faith, doubt and desire; about lives affected by forces beyond rationalization. The assured direction avoids woolly mysticism by using material resources—actors, color, movement, composition, sound—to illuminate abstract concepts. Stunningly beautiful, powerfully scored and immaculately performed, the film is virtually flawless, and one of the very greatest cinematic achievements of the last few decades." - Geoff Andrew, Time Out

[Spinal]

#12 (tie)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/Cleo-De-5-A-7_zpsaqoxdspn.jpg
Ugliness is a kind of death... As long as I'm beautiful, I'm alive more than others.

Cleo from 5 to 7

Director: Agnès Varda

Year: 1962

Cléo, a French singer, is afraid of getting the result of a test from her doctor. She believes that she has cancer and will die of the disease. We follow her for two hours while she cruises through the streets of Paris.

Nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
Named Best Film by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics.

Jean-Luc Godard, Anna Karina, and Jean-Claude Brialy all make uncredited cameo appearances as the actors in the silent film shown to Cléo and her friend.

"One of the few films directed by a woman in which the viewer can sense a difference." - Pauline Kael

[Spinal]

#12 (tie)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/tumblr_lfxy249qms1qca4ajo1_500 _zpsai1ebx4o.jpg
We pass the time of day to forget how time passes.

Amélie

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Year: 2001

Amelie is an innocent and naive girl in Paris with her own sense of justice. She decides to help those around her and, along the way, discovers love.

Nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Foreign Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Sound and Best Cinematography.
Won Best Original Screenplay and Best Production Design at the BAFTA Awards.
Won Best Film, Best Director, Best Music and Best Production Design at the César Awards.
Won Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematographer at the European Film Awards.
Won Best Foreign Film at the Independent Spirit Awards.
Won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Won Best Original Soundtrack at the World Soundtrack Awards.

The part of Amélie was written specifically for Emily Watson. She wanted the part but had to decline because she didn't speak French and had already agreed to be in Gosford Park.

"Anyone who loves movies, anyone who is interested in how they're put together, and anyone who craves seeing something new and special should see this movie. Amelie is a safe bet, rich in humor, invention and beautiful compositions, with camera shots that are flashy but grounded in emotion and a wonderful leading lady who is 90 percent lovely and 10 percent freak." - Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

[Spinal]

#11

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/l-armee-des-ombres_zpsunufo848.jpg
See you later, Comrade ...You're a communist? ... No. But I can still have comrades.

Army of Shadows

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville

Year: 1969

An account of underground resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied France.

Won Best Foreign Language Film from the New York Film Critics Circle.
Won a special citation from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
Won a special award from the National Society of Film Critics.
ALL AWARDS WERE GIVEN FOLLOWING THE FILM'S BELATED 2006 RELEASE IN THE U.S.
Named top film of 2006 by David Ansen, Newsweek, Ella Taylor, LA Weekly, Glenn Kenny, Premiere, Manohla Dargis, The New York Times, Scott Foundas, LA Weekly, Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.

For the shot depicting German soldiers marching down the Champs Elysees, Jean-Pierre Melville thought that it would be impossible to get regular Frenchmen to provide the proper marching movements. He ended up casting dancers to correctly provide the march steps he wanted from the soldiers.

"The existentialists accepted the necessity of making difficult choices, and that necessity is what makes this evocation of the Holocaust vastly superior to Schindler’s List, which comforts rather than disturbs. That necessity also explains why so much of the suspense in Army of Shadows, as in the best movies of Hitchcock, is inflected by moral conflict." - Jonathan Rosenbaum

[Spinal]

#10

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/a2Bman2Bescaped_poster_french2 B01_zpskdvb8eee.jpg
I think my courage abandoned me for a moment and I cried.

A Man Escaped

Director: Robert Bresson

Year: 1956

Captured French Resistance fighter Andre Devigny awaits a certain death sentence for espionage in a stark Nazi prison. Facing malnourishment and paralyzing fear, he must engineer an extraordinary escape.

Won Best Director at Cannes.
Won Best Film from the French Syndicate of Film Critics.
Nominated for Best Film at the BAFTA Awards.

Original author Andre Devigny served as adviser on the film, which was actually shot in the same Montluc prison where he was incarcerated. Devigny also loaned Bresson the ropes and hooks he had used in his escape.

" to French cinema what Mozart is to German music and Dostoevsky is to Russian literature." - Jean-Luc Godard, after seeing [B]A Man Escaped

[Spinal]

#9

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/rules_zpso4oi0srg.jpg
You have to understand, its the plight of all heroes today. In the air, they're terrific. But when they come back to earth, they're weak, poor, and helpless.

The Rules of the Game

Director: Jean Renoir

Year: 1939

A bourgeois life in France at the onset of World War II, as the rich and their poor servants meet up at a French chateau.

Despite mixed reviews, commercial failure and no major awards upon its original release, The Rules of the Game has appeared in the Top 10 for every decennial Sight and Sound poll of international critics conducted since 1952, the only film to hold that distinction.

Claiming that it was bad for the morale of the country (due to impending war), the French government banned the film about a month after its original release. When Germany took over France the following year, it was banned by the Nazi party as well, who also burnt many of the prints.

"[The Rules of the Game is] a film that doesn't wear its innovations on its sleeve ... Humanist? Classical? Avant-Garde? Contemporary? I defy anyone to give it a label. This is the kind of innovation that appeals to me." - Satyajit Ray

[Spinal]

#8

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/106830_zpskty3sxkn.jpg
He's worked enough. He's old. He's all I have ... Besides, he's a saint.

Au Hasard Balthazar

Director: Robert Bresson

Year: 1966

The story of a mistreated donkey and the people around him.

Won the New Cinema Award, OCIC Award and the San Giorgio Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
Won Best Film from the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics.

The only scene for which the donkey was trained was the circus math trick.

"Everyone who sees this film will be absolutely astonished ... because this film is really the world in an hour and a half." - Jean-Luc Godard

[Spinal]

#7

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/LaJeteePoster_zpsyogxsylm.jpg
They are without memories, without plans. Time builds itself painlessly around them. Their only landmarks are the flavor of the moment they are living and the markings on the walls.

La Jetée

Director: Chris Marker

Year: 1962

Time travel, still images, a past, present and future and the aftermath of World War III. The tale of a man, a slave, sent back and forth, in and out of time, to find a solution to the world's fate.

Named the #1 Time-Travel Movie of all-time by Time magazine, one time in 2010.

The scene in which the hero and the woman look at a cut-away trunk of a tree is a reference to Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film, Vertigo.

"I've never seen La Jetée." - Terry Gilliam

[Ezee E]

Go donkey, go donkey go!

[Spinal]

#6

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/LES2BDIABOLIQUES2B-2BFrench2BPoster2Bby2BRaymond2 BGid2B2_zpsctnrmq2t.jpg
I can swim ... That don't mean a thing. It's always the ones who know how that get drowned. The ones who can't, don't go near the pool.

Diabolique

Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot

Year: 1955

The wife of a cruel headmaster and his mistress conspire to kill him, but after the murder is committed, his body disappears, and strange events begin to plague the two women.

Won Best Foreign Film from the New York Film Critics Circle.
Won Best Foreign Film from the Edgar Allan Poe Awards.

The film is based on Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac's novel Celle qui n'était plus. Alfred Hitchcock also attempted to buy the rights to this novel; Boileau and Narcejac subsequently wrote D'Entre les Morts especially for Hitchcock, who filmed it as Vertigo.

"Psycho clearly followed Diabolique in a number of ways ... but Hitchcock made a deeper, more troubling film that seems, or must have seemed at the time, to sink into moral chaos after the still-jolting murder of a mostly sympathetic character ... Clouzot, on the other hand, offers a perfectly realized environment in which little is at stake, as all the souls are already long lost. Come to think of it, that might be scarier." - Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine

[Spinal]

#4 (tie)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/21003043_20130503122946122_zps zejncztb.jpg
You think you're in love, but love is something different. You do not just fall in love with a face in the street.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Director: Jacques Demy

Year: 1964

A young girl separated from her lover by war faces a life altering decision.

Nominated for five Academy Awards (over two different ceremonies) including Best Foreign Film and Best Original Screenplay.
Won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
Won Best Film from the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics.
Nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Show.

In Mad Men season 4, episode 3 ("The Good News"), Don Draper and Lane Pryce - who are both in the office on New Year's Day - discuss going to see this movie together.

"Umbrellas is one of those movies in which the material and the execution appear to merge seamlessly to make both a one-of-a-kind film and the sort of stylistic dead-end that demands immediate enclosure in a time capsule. The camera swoops, the music soars, everyone looks stunning, and nobody's outfit ever clashes with the wallpaper." - Keith Phipps, The AV Club

[Spinal]

#4 (tie)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/2d368291-1866-4ca8-b66a-14bd5802e63e_zpsewisntbp.jpg
I'm dying of silence, like others die of hunger and thirst.

Children of Paradise

Director: Marcel Carné

Year: 1945

The theatrical life of a beautiful courtesan and the four men who love her.

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

The film's production involved building the largest studio set in the history of French cinema up to that time - the quarter mile of street frontage, reproduced in scrupulous detail, representing the Boulevard du Crime, the theater district of Paris in the 1830s and 40s.

"I would give up all my films to have directed Children of Paradise" - François Truffaut

[Spinal]

#3

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/163_1_1_zpscjxvplsc.jpg
elevator door opens ... general office chatter ... patter of multiple typewriters

Playtime

Director: Jacques Tati

Year: 1967

Monsieur Hulot curiously wanders around a high-tech Paris, paralleling a trip with a group of American tourists.

Won Best European Film at the Bodil Awards.

To cut production cost cardboard cut-outs were used as extras in the background. To give them life some human extras would interact with the cut-outs.

"Jacques Tati's Playtime ... is one of a kind, complete in itself, a species already extinct at the moment of its birth." - Roger Ebert

[Ezee E]

Guess I should really watch Umbrellas.

[Spinal]

#2

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/400blowsposter04_zpsnnwcrgbe.j pg
Oh, I lie now and then, I suppose. Sometimes I'd tell them the truth and they still wouldn't believe me, so I prefer to lie.

The 400 Blows

Director: François Truffaut

Year: 1959

The story of a young boy who, left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Won Best Director at Cannes.
Won Best Film from the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics.
Won Best Foreign Language Film from the New York Film Critics Circle.

All the young actors who unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of Antoine were used in the classroom scenes.

"[The 400 Blows is] one of the most beautiful films that I have ever seen." - Akira Kurosawa

[Spinal]

#1

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/passion_zpsesrdueng.jpg
You claim that I am sent by the Devil. It's not true. To make me suffer, the Devil has sent you... and you... and you... and you.

The Passion of Joan of Arc

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer

Year: 1928

A chronicle of the trial of Jeanne d'Arc on charges of heresy, and the efforts of her ecclesiastical jurists to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions.

Named one of the top Foreign Films by the National Board of Review.
Ranked #1 on the Toronto International Film Festival's Essential 100 list published in 2009.

After completing the original cut of the film, Dreyer learned that the entire master print had been accidentally destroyed. With no ability to re-shoot, Dreyer re-edited the entire film from footage he had originally rejected.

"It makes worthy pictures of the past look like tinsel shams. It fills one with such intense admiration that other pictures appear but trivial in comparison." - Mordaunt Hall, 1929

[Spinal]

1. The Passion of Joan of Arc (60.5)
2. The 400 Blows (49.5)
3. Playtime (39.5)
4t. Children of Paradise (32.5)
4t. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (32.5)
6. Diabolique (25.5)
7. La Jetee (25)
8. Au Hasard Balthazar (24)
9. The Rules of the Game (23.5)
10. A Man Escaped (22)
11. Army of Shadows (20.5)
12t. Amelie (18.5)
12t. Cleo from 5 to 7 (18.5)
14. Three Colors: Red (17.5)
15. The Wages of Fear (17)
16. Three Colors: Blue (17)
17t. Irreversible (17)
17t. Sans Soleil (17)
19. Hiroshima mon amour (16)
20. Grand Illusion (14.5)

Note: where possible, ties were broken by counting number of votes cast. Films receiving votes from more posters were given priority.

[Ezee E]

Thanks for doing this Spinal!

[Stay Puft]

Thanks, Spinal! This was great.

[Mysterious Dude]

I'm disappointed Breathless didn't make the list. I blame Thirdmango, who couldn't be bothered to add TWO MOVIES to his list.

[Spinal]

I'm disappointed Breathless didn't make the list. I blame Thirdmango, who couldn't be bothered to add TWO MOVIES to his list.

Just noticed there wasn't a single Godard film in the top 20. Huh, weird.

[Irish]

Just noticed there wasn't a single Godard film in the top 20. Huh, weird.

Also no Eric Rohmer, which kinda sorta surprised me.

[Melville]

Yeah, the lack of Godard was the first thing I noticed. Also surprised that Amelie has held onto its popularity for so long.

[Spinal]

Yeah, the lack of Godard was the first thing I noticed. Also surprised that Amelie has held onto its popularity for so long.

I watched it again a couple weeks ago and it holds up pretty well, although I did not include it on my list.

[Ezee E]

Yeah, the lack of Godard was the first thing I noticed. Also surprised that Amelie has held onto its popularity for so long.

Amelie is one of my favorites of all time. It always puts a smile on my face.