French
Articles and Essays on French Films
Forbidden Games (1952)
Forbidden Games is one of the most heartbreaking films that portray wartime and death through the eyes of an adolescence. Directed by the French director Rene Clement, this film tells the story on how children escape into fantasy and denial to deal with the horrors around them. Most films would soften the story and not portray the horrors of […]
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Pickpocket (1959)
“The style of this film is not that of a thriller. Using image and sound, the filmmaker strives to express the nightmare of a young man whose weaknesses lead him to commit acts of theft for which nothing destined him.” I find these opening credits a curious irony because Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket ‘is’ a thriller; just not the […]
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Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The (1972)
All characters that are in a Luis Bunuel film are psychologically trapped. They are trapped in his universe of utter hell, and for are entertainment we watch as they desperately try to break free, with us knowing they cannot. Luis Bunuel has been one of the most cynical directors ever since he created his radical surreal […]
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Grand Illusion (1937)
Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion is not only the greatest of all prison escape movies but it is regarded by critics and film historians as one of the greatest films in the world. Apart from its other extraordinary achievements Grand Illusion influenced three later movie sequences that became classics of their own. The digging of the escape […]
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