#french-cinema

#french-cinema

Jean Vigo's L'Atalante, his poetic and surreal 1934 romance about a young couple living on a canal barge, is one of the most beautiful, sensual films of all time. Dita Parlo and Jean Daste play the newlyweds getting awkwardly accustomed to married life in close quarters, and their love story shapes the film. But it's their bargemate, the uncouth Pere Jules, played by Michel Simon, who steals the show:

An auctioneer is like a plastic surgeon. You have to trust them," she says. "So I trust you." She entrusts her piece to André Masson (played by the actor Alex Lutz)-a character named for the French Surrealist painter-who explains to his new assistant: "The fantastic part of the job is turning up a real rarity. You're Indiana Jones. But 99% of the time is soliciting. Like a whore.

In her breakout film, modern great Marion Cotillard supplies annoying-girlfriend comic relief for Samy Naceri's gallivanting Marseille taxi driver. The spunkiness and sultriness she gives out in every scene is small beer for her but you've got to start somewhere. There are worse places than in this French box office ram-raider, which spawned a franchise. Beguiling Innocence. Photograph: Collection Christophel/Alamy

The French translation of 'Groundhog Day' as 'un jour sans fin' encapsulates the film's essence, illustrating how some cultural concepts become untranslatable. It reflects countless repetitiveness.

Lost in Frenchlation is a cinema club in Paris that screens French films with English subtitles, enhancing appreciation for French cinema among language learners.