1. The Valet (La Doublure)
Caught by tabloid paparazzi with his mistress Elena, a famous and beautiful fashion model, billionaire Pierre Levasseur tries to avoid a divorce by inventing a preposterous lie. He uses the presence of a passerby in the photo to claim to his wife that it's not him Elena is seeing but the other man, one François Pignon. Pignon is a modest little man who works as a parking valet. To make the story convincing, Elena has to move in with Pignon.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
2. Sarah's Key (Elle s'appelait Sarah)
On the night of 16 July 1942, ten year old Sarah and her parents are being arrested and transported to the Velodrome d'Hiver in Paris where thousands of other jews are being sent to get deported. Sarah however managed to lock her little brother in a closet just before the police entered their apartment. Sixty years later, Julia Jarmond, an American journalist in Paris, gets the assignment to write an article about this raid, a black page in the history of France. She starts digging archives and through Sarah's file discovers a well kept secret about her own in-laws.
It has an average vote of 7.293 on TMDB.
3. A Bag of Marbles (Un sac de billes)
At the beginning of the 1940s, in a France occupied by Nazi forces, lived the Jewish Joffo family. Happy and tight-knit, she sees her future darken when all members of the family are forced to wear the yellow star. Fearing the worst, the parents organized their family to flee to the free zone in the south of the country. Maurice, twelve years old, and Joseph, ten years old, will therefore leave alone in order to maximize their chances of finding their older brothers already settled in Nice. The brothers left to their own devices demonstrate an incredible amount of cleverness, courage, and ingenuity to escape the enemy invasion and to try to reunite their family once again.
It has an average vote of 7.824 on TMDB.
4. Jappeloup (Jappeloup)
A true sports story that utterly defies the odds, Duguay’s film captures the wild ups and downs of the Olympics-bound career of legendary equine star Jappeloup and his troubled rider, locked in a tense relationship with his horseman father and forever uncertain of his own skills as an equestrian
It has an average vote of 7.06 on TMDB.
5. Au Revoir les Enfants (Au revoir les enfants)
Au revoir les enfants tells a heartbreaking story of friendship and devastating loss concerning two boys living in Nazi-occupied France. At a provincial Catholic boarding school, the precocious youths enjoy true camaraderie—until a secret is revealed. Based on events from writer-director Malle’s own childhood, the film is a subtle, precisely observed tale of courage, cowardice, and tragic awakening.
It has an average vote of 7.514 on TMDB.
6. Anita B.
After World War II, Anita, a young survivor of Auschwitz, becomes involved in an intense and passionate affair that almost shatters her until she gains the strength to start a new life.
It has an average vote of 5.5 on TMDB.
7. Red Like the Sky (Rosso come il cielo)
A nearly sightless boy is sent to a school for blind children, where he secretly discovers the possibilities of the recorded sound.
It has an average vote of 7.6 on TMDB.
8. Now or Never (Maintenant ou jamais)
As a mother, in principle, you do not rob banks. But these days, it can be a solution for the future of your home, and not to give up on your dreams. Playing the thieves can quickly become dangerous and bad encounters can turn into a love story ...
It has an average vote of 6.1 on TMDB.
9. Goodbye to Language (Adieu au langage)
A silent, surreal parallel between a couple and a dog.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
10. Into the Storm
This powerful follow-up to “The Gathering Storm” follows Churchill from 1940 to 1945 as he guided his beleaguered nation through the crucible of the war years--even as his marriage was encountering its own struggles.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
11. Comme les 5 doigts de la main (Comme les 5 doigts de la main)
Five brothers similar yet different, raised by a mother widowed too early. One of them had left the family when he returns, pursued by a gang of smugglers, he find shelter in his family while reveling them a dark secret. The five brothers, together, will find the energy to defend themself and the means to avenge the memory of their murdered father...
It has an average vote of 6.051 on TMDB.
12. The Wisdom of Crocodiles
A vampire in London is searching for the ideal woman to 'redeem' him.
It has an average vote of 5.8 on TMDB.
13. Paris 36 (Faubourg 36)
A star is born in a time of both celebration and instability in this historical drama with music from director Christophe Barratier. In the spring of 1936, Paris is in a state of uncertainty; while the rise of the Third Reich in Germany worries many, a leftist union-oriented candidate, Léon Blum, has been voted into power, and organized labor is feeling its new power by standing up to management.
It has an average vote of 6.1 on TMDB.
14. Mississippi Mermaid (La Sirène du Mississipi)
A tobacco planter on Réunion island in the Indian Ocean becomes engaged through correspondence to a woman he does not know. The woman that comes does not look like the picture he got, but he marries her anyway.
It has an average vote of 6.6 on TMDB.
15. Army of Crime (L'Armée du crime)
This gripping historical drama recounts the story of Armenian-born Missak Manouchian, a woodworker and political activist who led an immigrant laborer division of the Parisian Resistance on 30 operations against the Nazis in 1943. The Nazis branded the group an Army of Crime, an anti-immigrant propaganda stunt that backfired as the team's members became martyrs for the Resistance.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
16. Eva (Eva)
A playwright encounters a mysterious woman when he takes shelter in a chalet during a violent snowstorm and becomes obsessed with her.
It has an average vote of 4.4 on TMDB.
17. The Thirst for Gold (La Soif de l'or)
Urbain Donnadieu's first love is money. It's also his second, third and fourth love. The only reason he married - a tax inspector named Fleurette - was to avoid a fine for tax evasion. For several years, he has been stealing money from his construction company and buying gold bars with his ill-gotten gains. His plan is to deposit all this wealth in a Swiss Bank, where neither his wife - whom he is about to divorce - nor the French State can get at it. Accompanied by his money-grabbing Granny Zézette, Urbain heads off for Switzerland, with his gold concealed in the walls of a model house on the back of a trailer. Unfortunately, his scheme is threatened by his wife and his embittered ex-chauffeur, who are determined to get his money at any cost...
It has an average vote of 5.5 on TMDB.
18. Black Panthers (Black Panthers)
A film shot during the summer of 1968 in Oakland, California around the meetings organised by the Black Panthers Party to free Huey Newton, one of their leaders, and to turn his trial into a political debate. They tried and succeeded in catching America’s attention.
It has an average vote of 7.109 on TMDB.
19. Margaret
A young woman witnesses a bus accident, and is caught up in the aftermath, where the question of whether or not it was intentional affects many people's lives.
It has an average vote of 6.342 on TMDB.
20. Fateless (Sorstalanság)
An Hungarian youth comes of age at Buchenwald during World War II. György Köves is 14, the son of a merchant who's sent to a forced labor camp. After his father's departure, György gets a job at a brickyard; his bus is stopped and its Jewish occupants sent to camps. There, György find camaraderie, suffering, cruelty, illness, and death. He hears advice on preserving one's dignity and self-esteem. He discovers hatred. If he does survive and returns to Budapest, what will he find? What is natural; what is it to be a Jew? Sepia, black and white, and color alternate to shade the mood.
It has an average vote of 6.9 on TMDB.
