With so many French TV shows and films at our fingertips, it can be difficult to know where to start.
Delving into French cinema is a great – and relatively easy – way to perfect your French skills and overall understanding of French as a language and culture.
The nuances of French culture is not something you can learn in the classroom, and is only possible by immersing yourself in the French way of life.
Whether you are in France or elsewhere, TV shows and films are easy access points to help develop your listening and comprehension skills as well as learn about French culture.
The language used on TV is usually representative of what you will hear in real spoken French, and it often gives you the opportunity to see how idioms and turns of phrase that you might have learned are applied in actual conversation.
For pronunciation, listening to dialogue is one of the best ways to improve, as the more you hear words spoken the easier it will be to eventually reproduce these sounds yourself.
As always, listening in French with French subtitles is recommended, although if you are not that confident you can start with English subtitles and then slowly transition.
Below are five picks for winter watching.
Des Vivants
Des Vivants was released in November, marking 10 years since the infamous attacks in Paris.
The fictionalised series is based on the true stories of seven people who were taken hostage by terrorists in the Bataclan during the attacks.
The series follows these people, nicknamed les potages – a portmanteau of pote (friend) and otage (hostage) – in the days, months and years after the attacks until the trials in 2021 and 2022, demonstrating the unbreakable bond the group formed in the face of trauma.
The production team first reached out to David Fritz Goeppinger, one of the potages, in 2021 with the idea for the series.
The team then met frequently with the different members of the group, who gave their permission for the series to be made.
The decision to film in the Bataclan itself was controversial however.
Some victims and members of Paris for Life, the support group for people impacted by terrorist attacks, felt it was indecent to film in the venue.
However, it was les potages themselves who eventually convinced the management of the Bataclan to allow filming to go ahead.
The production team sent out 8,000 letters to people who had been directly affected by the events of that night to inform them of the decision, and prepared for psychologists to be on call to support those who had been involved.
The eight-episode series is available on Canal+.
Loups Garous
Loups Garous is an iconic French boardgame in which players are split into teams and must either ‘kill off’ other characters or discover the murderers.
As night falls in the game, a ‘villager’ is killed by the ‘werewolves’, with the rest of the surviving villagers forced to look for clues in each other's behaviour in the hope of solving the mystery.
Rife with tension and intrigue, it is a favourite for get-togethers with friends and family, and with its cult status and memorable character profiles, was an easy choice to convert into its own TV show.
The setting of the game is similar to hit TV show The Traitors, so if you are a fan of the French or UK version of that show you will be sure to enjoy Loups Garous.
Note it is not related to the Netflix film of the same name released last year, which uses the board game as inspiration but is an adventure-comedy as opposed to a reality game show.
The second series is set to be released on December 5, while the first season is available to watch on Canal+.
You can watch the first episode of season one for free on YouTube, to see if the show is to your liking.
Joyeux Noël
Joyeux Noël is a fictionalised version of the 1914 ‘Christmas truce’ when soldiers stopped fighting and fraternised across trenches along the Western Front.
Originally nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars, the story is told from the perspective of French, Scottish and German soldiers, and documents a German Opera singer’s visit to the front lines, sent to perform by The German authorities to boost troops morale.
The film sheds light on the experience of the troops during the truce of Christmas 1914, which the French army viewed as an act of disobedience and thus suppressed the details.
Joyeux Noël is available to rent on various streaming platforms, and celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
Parts of the multilingual film are in English and German.
À Bicyclette!
After actor and director Mathias Mlekuz lost his son to suicide in 2022, he decided to pay hommage to him by retracing his final steps on a bicycle tour through Europe.
Accompanied by his friend, Philippe, the pair embark on their trip from Les Rochelles to Istanbul, the city where Youri died.
The film can be described as docu-fiction, with Mathias taking on the role of autobiographical protagonist.
Along the way, they meet people from around Europe, and try to find people who might have met Youri during his own travels.
The film is sad, touching and heartwarming all at the same time, and what stays with you is the strength of this pair’s friendship, even amongst the difficulties.
It is available to stream on Canal+ or rent online from several sites such as Amazon Prime Video and YouTube.
Une année difficile
Une année difficile is a 2023 comedy film that follows two friends drawn into environmental activism due to the promise of free food and beer rather than any political motivation.
Despite their selfish motivations for originally joining the group, the main characters eventually become invigorated by their new friends.
Starring Jonathan Cohen – who seems to have appeared in every French comedy of the last decade – the film has good reviews and is a somewhat lighter watch to end the year with than some of the other entries above.
