These 15 Award-Winning Francophone Films are Well Worth the Watch

This Franco-Italo-Brazillo film is technically Portuguese since the actors speak Portuguese throughout the film but since it was directed by a French director (Marcel Camus), we decided to include it on the list. The film is an adaption of Orpheus and Eurydice, a beautiful but tragic Greek legend. The film is set in a favela Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in modern times during the famous Carnaval. Eurydice played by Marpessa Dawn is new to Rio and rides the trolley which is driven by Orfeu (Breno Mello). Orfeu is engaged to another woman, Mira, but isn’t really in love with her. Eurydice ends up living next door to him and tells Orfeu that a strange man wants to kill her (Death). They fall in love but unfortunately, their love can’t keep fate from happening. The film won Best Foreign Language Film at the 1960 Oscars.

Now for something a little lighter. Il a déjà tes yeux (He Even Has Your Eyes) is a French comedy directed by Lucien Jean-Baptiste. The film stars Lucien Jean-Baptiste and Aïssa Maïga who play a married black couple who aren’t able to have a biological child. They are struggling with the adoption process also. Finally, the adoption papers get approved and the family can adopt a 4-month old white baby named Benjamin. The parents are ecstatic and think nothing can go wrong but, unfortunately, some people aren’t too happy with this match. Even though there are some serious themes in this film, you will still enjoy some laughs.

Sous le soleil de Satan, a French drama starring Gérard Depardieu and directed by Maurice Pialat, based on the novel of the same name written in 1926 by Georges Bernanos. The movie tells the story of a zealous Catholic Church priest in a small village in the North of France. The dean of the church keeps an eye on him because he has doubts about his vocation. At the same time, a sixteen-year-old pregnant girl named Mouchette kills her older lover by accident. The priest tries to lead her back to God but is unable. The film won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1987.