It’s Bastille Day! What better way to celebrate the national French holiday (it commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison) than to watch some French cinema?! The list below is comprised of 10 of my favorite French films, it’s in no way a definitive list, but each and every film is not only great, but is also filled with all that makes France a one of a kind place.
Also, takepart to learn about how we can “storm” prisons here. Or in other words how The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights is promoting positive alternatives to violence and incarceration.
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10) Beauty and the Beast - Beautiful and for the entire family, Jean Cocteau creates a haunting world that everyone should visit.
A disturbing and eeery portrait of a California housewife and step-mom that suddenly turns sick from the chemicals in the air is in part an attack of suburban culture and in part a more general metaphor for the AIDS epidemic. But these social critiques aside, Julianne Moore’s turn as Carol White is a fascinating look at a woman who wants more that to run a house. The scene of Carol at a pals baby shower, when a young child is sitting on her lap as she starts to experience an attack will sit with you for some time… As will the last moment of the film. It’s a true testament to the side our mother’s keep to themselves…
She is definitely one of cinemas worst moms (in a conventional sense) but the scene where Antione Doinel tells his teacher that his mother is dead is without a doubt one of the most memorable in cinema history. The 400 Blows wouldn’t be the same without it’s antagonist and if you’re a Truffaut and French New Wave lover, you probably can’t help but think that if Truffaut’s mother (who he based Gilbrete Doinel on) wasn’t so awful, that he might not have needed to escape into the cinema.. And that would have been a terrible thing.