5 Must-Watch Movies From French May Cinema Programme 2024

Produced by the artist JR, who owns the world's largest art gallery and creates profound, humanistic works of art every time. JR has already blessed us with the unforgettable Agnès Varda with the delightful film "Visages Villages". Now he is back with a new documentary "Tehachapi", named after the town where it is taking place.

Tehachapi is more than just art, it's an understanding of how men are forgotten and lost in the American prison system. It is both a voice and a platform for inmates who have spent their most prolific years in a state of confinement, becoming addicted to a world of violence and brutality, and JR offers them the priceless gift of self-respect through the therapeutic properties of art. This film sheds valuable light on the individual stories behind the statistics.

In our lives, we have had choices and options that the men in Tehachapi have never had. This is a magnificent, touching, gut-wrenching and engaging work of art that must be shared and watched. It was a daring idea from JR to create this work of a group of 40 prisoners in the courtyard, and it shows impressive results both in terms of the artwork and the impact it had on the participants.

The film takes an elegant look at freedom and love, two passionate feelings that have great difficulty living together. However, the stakes of this film go beyond the complex exploration of the relationship between mother and daughter. It's much more than a biopic; it's a modern take on contemporary issues.

Indeed, it highlights the condition of women in the 17th century and their emancipation. It makes viewers think philosophically and sentimentally, about life in general and human relationships. It sheds light on how to understand our lives in the difficult relationships we all experience at one time or another with our parents, partners or friends.

And the performances of Karine Viard (Madame de Sévigné) and Ana Girardot (her daughter) are full of strength and nuance, lending power to the script, which generally uses Madame de Sévigné's own words - the ones that conquered us. Relevant settings, served by excellent secondary roles, help us to understand the financial, social, economic and political stakes underlying this story, which was crushed by the royal and dictatorial authority of Louis XIV.

Finally, the film perfectly captures the codes of the period, offering us a visual spectacle thanks to the sets, costumes and nature shots of the French countryside. Nothing is trivial, everything has been worked with brilliant simplicity. 

There's something timeless about this film, like Madame de Sévigné's correspondence.

Love is beautiful... in the light of painting, in the grace of the period, in the difficulty of everyday life... that's what the film Bonnard, Pierre and Marthe promises.

This graceful film, which plunges us into the intimacy of the Bonnard couple, was directed by Martin Provst, who has already proved that he knows how to make excellent films about artists. In 2008, his film "Séraphine'' accumulated awards. His new biopic on Bonnard will not disappoint. Especially when the art of painting merges with the art of cinema, you can't help but be delighted.

Over a period of forty years, the film follows the romantic and artistic journeys of an unusual and endearing couple. From the outset, the tone is set by the eroticism of the fiery passion between a painter and his muse. It is a touching, visually fetching and educational look at the intertwining of art and stubborn romance. The sublime performance of the actors and the work of the make-up artists contribute to the success of this story, in which we come across a number of names from the period, such as Monet.

For the experienced cinephiles, this is the film for you: it will surprise and overwhelm you with a cinematic masterpiece in a stylish theatrical version.

Director Olivier Py's work is visually stunning and breathtaking. Camera movements are the central elements showing Molière's tragic last two hours. It's a form of filmic vertigo, from backstage to the stage, via the bleachers. Sequence shots take us into the underbelly of the theatre, where power plays, glory-seeking, inheritance-seeking and hypocrisy all come together.

This film showcases an imaginary, fictionalised Molière, freeing himself from the shackles of self-fiction by allowing audiences to discover the character of Molière as imagined by his director. He wanted to evoke both the man and the author, the artificiality of the theatre, and the paradoxes and constraints of the actor's life. With very few documents left to inform us 350 years after Molière's death, this is above all a cinematic fantasy about the last two hours of his life.

The film has also been widely acclaimed for its breathtaking visuals, lit entirely by candlelight and in a single sequence shot, interwoven with a highly baroque environment. Then there's the impressive acting: we're transported into an effervescent theatre, inhabited by characters who can be both disturbing and bewitching.

Jim Capobianco approached this animation with the same level of passion that he brought to Ratatouille and even The Lion King, classics of our childhood that he wrote and produced. So don’t overlook this innovative masterpiece with Marion Cotillard who lends her voice to a character that complements and contrasts with Da Vinci in a beautiful dance of words and emotion.

The narrative emphasises quite engagingly the visionary nature of a man who quite literally walked a fine line between science, religion and a bonfire. It serves as an educational tool for children, particularly shedding light on the Renaissance period through its blend of stop-motion and 2D animation, making history fun and engaging for young audiences. The special heart of the film lies in its visuals allowing viewers to embark on a journey with Da Vinci and showcasing stop-motion as an art.

Beyond just recounting da Vinci’s story, the film also challenges us to look inward and ask ourselves about our own passions and our quest for understanding. It is a lovely mixture of humour, coupled to an authentic look at one of the most important stories in our scientific evolution, whose work still influences us today.