The Best French Language Films of the Decade 2000-2009

Hommage
Eric Rohmer vient de disparaître: After nearly five decades of wonderful filmmaking, Eric Rohmer is dead, January 11, 2010, at the age of 89, two months short of his 90th birthday. The NYTimes obit is by Dave Kehr.
One of the key figures of the post-war New Wave cinema movement and an articulate and literate devotee of purism in movie making, Rohmer made 24 films over a period of 50 years. His main works include his cycle of films Six Moral Tales: shot in 1969, the third in the series, Ma Nuit Chez Maud, brought him international recognition. He also was a former editor of influential French film journal Cahiers du Cinéma.


ERIC ROHMER (1920-2010)

[Listed alphabetically by year]

This list is subject to revision. It includes a couple I don't like or have not seen that are widely admired (Esther Kahn, Amelie)

2000
Code Unknown/ Code inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages (Michael Haneke)
Esther Kahn (Arnaud Desplechin)
Human Resources/Resources humaines (Laurent Cantet)
Taste of Others, The/Le goût des autres (Agnès Jaoui) César, Best Film
With a Friend Like Harry/Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien (Dominik Moll)

2001
Amelie/Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Jean-Pierre Jeunet) César, Best Film
Piano Teacher, The/Pianiste, La (Michael Haneke) Grand Prix, Cannes
Read My Lips/sur mes lèvres (Jacques Audiard)

2002
Man on the Train/L'homme du train (Patrice Lecomte)
Son, The/Le fils (Jean-Luc and Pierre Dardenne)
To Be and to Have/Être et avoir(Nicolas Philibert)

2003
Adieu (Arnaud des Pallières)
Games of Love and chance/L'esquive (Abdel Kechche) César, Best Film 2005
Barbarian Invasions/Les invasions barbares (Denys Arcand) César, Best Film 2004
Son Frère (Patrice Chéreau)
Strayed/Les Egarés (André Téchiné)
Triplets of Bellville, The/Les triplettes de Belleville (Sylvain Chomet)

2004
Intruder, The/L'intrus (Claire Denis)
Kings and Queen/Rois et reine (Arnaud Desplechin)

2005
Beat My Heart Skipped, The/De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté (Jacques Audiard) César, Best Film
Child, The/L'enfant (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne) Palme d'Or, Cannes
Gabrielle (Patrice Chéreau)
Hidden/Caché (Michael Haneke)
Petit lieutenant, Le (Xavier Beauvois)
Regular Lovers/Les amants réguliers (Philippe Garrel)
Zim & Co. (Pierre Jolivet)

2006
Dans Paris (Christophe Honoré)
Flanders/Flandres (Bruno Dumont) Grand Prix, Cannes
Lady Chatterley (Pascale Ferran) César, Best Film
Singer, The/Quand j'étais chanteur (Xavier Giannoli)
Tell No One/Ne le dis à personne (Guillaume Canet)

2007
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The/Le scaphandre et le papillon (Julian Schnabel)
Last Mistress, The/Une vieille maîtresse (Catherine Breillat)
Love Songs/Les chansons d'amour (Christophe Honoré)
Secret of the Grain, The/La graine et le mulet (Abdel Kechche) César, Best Film
Vie en Rose, La/La môme (Olivier Dahan)

2008
35 Shots of Rum/35 rhums (Claire Denis)
Christmas Tale, A/Un conte de Noël (Arnaud Desplechin)
Class, The/Entre les murs (Laurent Cantet) (Palme d'Or, Cannes)
I've Loved You So Long/Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (Philippe Claudel)
Mesrine (two films, L'Instinct de mort and L'Ennemi public no. 1, Jean-François Richet)
Séraphine (Martin Provost) César, Best Film
Silence of Lorna, The/Le silence de Lorna (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
Summer Hours/L'heure d'été (Olivier Assayas)

2009
Prophet, A/Un prophète (Jacques Audiard) Grand Prix, Cannes

_________________
©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.