You picked all good ones. There are 3 sometimes 4 French films in my all time 13 favorite films. Sometimes it's The Rules of the Game but sometimes its The Grand Illusion and sometimes it's The River. All by Renoir, I go back and forth. between these three. The others in my 13 all time favorites are Demy's Lola, Shoot the Piano Player and Contempt.
Great list and recap of the movies- completely agree about "Umbrellas," and Christmastime is an appropriate time to watch it, too. Just finished watching all the Tati films from the Criterion box set. "Playtime" ranked high on the most recent Sight and Sound poll of greatest films (#23), but my favorite Tati is still the also-original "Mr. Hulot's Holiday," with its identifiable characters and lovely score. Another classic French film worth seeing is "Children of Paradise." For Alain Deloin, "Rocco and His Brothers" and "The Leopard" are two other great films of his to see.
Honorable Mentions:
Pickpocket (1959)
Pierrot Le Fou (1965)
Hiroshima Mon Amor (1959)
Antoine & Collette (1962)
You picked all good ones. There are 3 sometimes 4 French films in my all time 13 favorite films. Sometimes it's The Rules of the Game but sometimes its The Grand Illusion and sometimes it's The River. All by Renoir, I go back and forth. between these three. The others in my 13 all time favorites are Demy's Lola, Shoot the Piano Player and Contempt.
Great list and recap of the movies- completely agree about "Umbrellas," and Christmastime is an appropriate time to watch it, too. Just finished watching all the Tati films from the Criterion box set. "Playtime" ranked high on the most recent Sight and Sound poll of greatest films (#23), but my favorite Tati is still the also-original "Mr. Hulot's Holiday," with its identifiable characters and lovely score. Another classic French film worth seeing is "Children of Paradise." For Alain Deloin, "Rocco and His Brothers" and "The Leopard" are two other great films of his to see.