Kind and lovable comedies, family stories shrouded in mystery, dramas so damn current… Here are the titles we loved most from French cinema
From the Mexico of drug trafficking and redemption to the Jura of exceptional cheeses to the Japan of lights and shadows. Transalpine films dare, explore and often seduce. Among those released in Italy in 2025, here are the 10 most beautiful French films.
Emilia Pérez by Jacques Audiard
Enthralling from the beginning to the last sequence, in the final so solemn and irreverent, Emilia Pérez it is absolutely the best film of 2025, beyond its French origins (despite being set in Mexico and acted in Spanish and English).
A musical about drug traffickers, gender transition and redemption story, with overwhelming rhythm and choreography. The Zoe Saldana’s sharp dance on notes and verses of El Mal? It’s still in the eyes.
The colors of time by Cédric Klapischì
The colors of time it’s one gentle and lovable comedywhich is good for the heart. It moves fluidly between contemporaneity and the Paris of the Belle Époque and Impressionism, on the trail of a mysterious ancestor played with grace by Suzanne Lindon. His legacy, historical and emotional, has precious effects on the present.
Under the leaves by François Ozon
With his usual light touch, of unsaid and hinted colours, the French director orchestrates an unusual story, off the conventional track. Following the days of the grandmother played by Hélène Vincent, it mixes family drama, mystery and traces of crime. Time with Ozon is never wasted, even if it is not always gained.
Us and them by Muriel and Delphine Coulin
An intense and damn timely family drama, with a parent who witnesses helplessly the extremist and racist turn taken by his son. Opposite, so tenderly close and so violently distant, a young talent and a solid certainty of French cinema, Benjamin Voisin and Vincent Lindonawarded with the Coppa Volpi in Venice.
Alpha by Julia Ducournau
A film of growth and acceptance, of epidemic and loss, from the director Palme d’Or with Titan. With Tahar Rahim and Golshifteh Farahani. Less extreme than previous films, Alpha has acaptivating aestheticseven if on a narrative level it turns out to be out of focus.
All in one summer! by Louise Courvoisier
Adorable French coming-of-age storymoves in the rural environment of the Jura, where the director grew up, in the land of Comté cheese. Wrapped in a warm summer light, which makes everything so sweet and hard, death like love, is played entirely by non-professional actors. Yes, among these also Clément Faveau, who embodies the young protagonist: he normally works on a poultry farm.
Monsieur Aznavour by Mehdi Idir and Grand Corps Malade
Musical biopic that tells the life and career of Charles Aznavour, “the Frank Sinatra of France”, played by Tahar Rahim, has a fairly classic structure, although just enough engaging. It is interesting to see the construction of a myth, between intuitions, marketing ideas and phrasing with Edith Piaf.
A brilliant girl by Agathe Riedinger
First work that frames the hypersexualization and fragility of a generation, A brilliant girl he almost never moves the room from his combative anti-heroineconstantly in favor of social media and followers, looking for easy success. Brazen and nineteen year old profoundly tragicwhich moves between thefts, selfies, glitter nails and buttocks, is played by Malou Khebizi.
Three friends by Emmanuel Mouret
Not so funny, nor so subtle, yet in competition at the 2024 Venice Film Festival. A comedy that tells the story of three women, it nevertheless relies on three actresses in great shape, India Hair, Camille Cottin and Sara Forestier. Explore human relationships and emotions with humorous tone, at times cruel.
Finding yourself in Tokyo by Guillaume Senez
Even if the narrative development is sometimes a bit simplistic, Finding yourself in Tokyo has the great merit of describing today’s Japan from an unusual point of view, in which light and shadow coexist. It doesn’t exist in the Land of the Rising Sun joint custody and the non-custodial parent risks being erased from the child’s life. The father played by knows something about it Romain Duris…
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