Kathleen, Queen of the Desert

There are many movies set–or partially set–in Paris. From my own memory and various Web sites, I’ve compiled the following list. I have seen only a handful of these myself and relied on Rotten Tomatoes for dates and other comments. You’ll notice that some French-to-English title translations aren’t literal. Double-check content, reviews, and language (in French only,  subtitled, or dubbed?), before adding these to your Netflix queue. 

Alice et Martin (Alice and Martin). 1998. Juliette Binoche in this mystery- character study.

Amelie (also known as Amélie from Montmartre and Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amelie Poulain). 2001. Audrey Tatou in a whimsical romance.

An American in Paris. 1951. Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, and lots of dancing.

An American Werewolf in Paris. 1995. Tom Everett Scott and Julie Delpy star in this horror-suspense movie that Rotten Tomatoes’ critics gave a miserable 9% on their Tomatometer.

Anastasia. 1956. Yul Brynner and Ingrid Bergman in a romantic drama set in 1920s Paris.

L’auberge Espagnole (The Spanish Apartment). 2003. Audrey Tatou in a romantic comedy.

La Balance (The Narc). 1982. A French drug drama.

Bande a Part (Band of Outsiders). 1964. Jean-Luc Godard’s heist film features a 9-minute dash through the Louvre.

Before Sunrise. 1995. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy meet on a train to Paris.

Before Sunset. 2004. Hawke and Delpy (from Before Sunrise) meet again nine years later in a Parisian bookstore.

Belle de Jour. 1967. Catherine Deneuve in an erotic satire.

Boudu sauve des eaux (Boudu Saved from Drowning). 1943. A social comedy directed by Jean Renoir.

The Bourne Identity. 2002. Matt Damon seeks his own story in this spy thriller.

A Bout de Souffle (Breathless). 1959. Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg on the run. There’s also a 1983 remake with Richard Gere and Valerie Kaprisky.

Casablanca. 1942. In this classic, Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart do a flashback to their time in Paris. 

Chacun Cherche Son Chat (When the Cat’s Away). 1996. Lost cat helps connect a neighborhood.

Charade. 1963. Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant in a comedy-thriller-romance. There’s another Charade, a 1953 drama, starring James Mason and Pamela Mason.

Children of Paradise. 1945. Made during the Nazi occupation and set in the French theater world, this film is sometimes called the French Gone with the Wind.

Cleo from 5 to 7 (also known in French as Cleo de 5 a 7). 1962. Two hours in the life of a woman waiting for her cancer test results: about a woman (Cleo), starring a woman (Corinne Marchand), and directed by a woman (Agnes Varda).

The Da Vinci Code. 2006. Tom Hanks and Audrey Tatou in a theological thriller. The critics at Rotten Tomatoes gave this a 25% on their Tomatometer. And Paul Bethany is way too good-looking to play Silas.

Dans Paris (Inside Paris). 2007. Family drama starring Romain Duras and Louis Garrel.

Le Dames de Bois du Bologne (The Ladies of Bois du Bologne). 1944. A romantic melodrama.

The Day of the Jackal. 1973. Edward Fox as an assassin hunting Charles de Gaulle in a fictional thriller (meaning, this was not based on an actual plot to kill de Gaulle). There’s also a 1997 remake with Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, and Sidney Poitier.

Design for Living. 1933. A comedy with Gary Cooper, Fredric March, and Miriam Hopkins.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeois. 1972. A comedy of manners. I saw it when it first came out. It’s brilliant.

Diva. 1981. A slick French thriller.

The Dreamers. 2002. A look at making it in the film industry.

Everyone Says I Love You. 1992. Woody Allen looks at romantic love with music.

Le Femme Nikita. 1990. Thriller with Jeanne Moreau and Anne Parillaud.

Forget Paris. 1995. Billy Chrystal and Debra Winger in a romantic comedy.

Frantic. 1987. Roman Polanski directs Harrison Ford and Emmanuelle Seigner in this kidnapping thriller. There’s an earlier 1958 noir Frantic with Jeanne Moreau, but I can’t tell if it’s the same story.

French Cancan (or French Can-Can). 1954. The birth of the Moulin Rouge.

French Kiss. 1995. Kevin Kline as a French thief, Meg Ryan as a bumbling American, Timothy Hutton as the cheating fiance.

Funny Face. 1957. A musical with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire.

Gigi. 1958. Vincent Minnelli directs Maurice Chevaier and Leslie Caron in this cleaned-up musical based on Collete’s book.

Gigot. 1962. Gene Kelly directs Jackie Gleason as a mute janitor who befriends a streetwalker.

The Girl from Paris (also known as Une Hirondelle a fait le printemps). 2002. An unlikely friendship starring Mathilde Seigner and Michel Serrault.

La Haine (Hate). 1995. A disturbing urban study.

How to Steal a Million Dollars. Peter O’Toole and Audrey Hepburn.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 1939. Maureen O’Hara and Charles Laughton star in this black-and-white classic.  Or try the 1996 animated version, with an unusually dark tone for Disney.

Irma Vep. 1996. A comedy starring Maggie Cheung.

Is Paris Burning? 1966. Jean-Paul Belmondo and Charles Boyer in an action-adventure flick.

Jules et Jim (Jules and Jim). 1961. Francois Truffault directs this love triangle starring Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Warner, and Henri Serre.

Last Tango in Paris. 1972. Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider in an erotic, emotional movie of relationships.

The Last Time I Saw Paris. 1954. Elizabeth Taylor and Van Johnson as lovers in post-WWII Paris. Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book Babylon Revisited.

Late August, Early September (also known Fin aout, debut septembre). 1998. A talky movie about male relationships.

A Little Romance. 1979. A schmaltzy story of adolescent love with Laurence Olivier, Thelonius Bernard, and Diane Lane.

Love in the Afternoon. 1957. Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, and Maurice Chevalier in a romantic comedy.

Lovers on the Bridge. 1991. Romance set on the Pont Neuf with Juliette Binoche and Denis Lavant.

See next post for more films set in Paris: movie titles M-Z.