Subgenre Sampler

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One Fine Morning (Un Beau Matin) (2022): Dir. Mia Hansen-Love
Feat. Léa Seydoux, Pascal Greggory, Melvil Poupaud…; Lea Seydoux is French movie star royalty but she keeps it real in this sublime film from Mia Hansen–Løve (Bergman Island), one of Europe’s…
Worst Person in the World, The (2021): Dir. Joachim Trier
Feat. Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Herbert Nordrum; Gloriously provocative and richly perceptive comedy drama from talented Norwegian director Joachim Trier (THELMA), which follows an unpredictable,…
An Unexpected Love (El amor menos pensado) (2019): Dir. Juan Vera
Feat. Ricardo Darín, Mercedes Morán; Argentinian romantic comedy exploring the lives of a couple who, after 25 years of marriage, decide to explore being single, with hilarious and…
Berlin, I Love You (2019): Dir. Peter Chelsom, Fernando Eimbcke, Claus Clausen
Feat. Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke…; Anthology film continuing the "Cities of Love" franchise (PARIS, JE T'AIME, NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU) set in the German capital where ten sugary stories…
In the Name Of The Land (2019): Dir. Edouard Bergeon
Feat. Guillaume Canet, Veerle Baetens, Anthony Bajon…; Following the life of a stoic farmer across four decades, this bittersweet and deeply moving drama marks the directorial debut of French…
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019): Dir. Céline Sciamma
Feat. Noémie Merlant, Adele Haenel; Céline Sciamma (GIRLHOOD) directs this devastatingly good, exquisitely executed lesbian period drama. Set in France in the 18th century, where a…
Room 212 (Chambre 212, On a Magical Night) (2019): Dir. Christophe Honore
Feat. Chiara Mastroianni, Vincent Lacoste, Camille Cottin…; Playful French rom–com from acclaimed writer–director Christophe Honore (MA MERE, DAN PARIS). Set over the course of one night, where…
Weathering with You (2019): Dir. Makoto Shinkai; Touching Japanese animated romance doubling as an eco–fable, about a high school boy who befriends a girl who can manipulate the weather. From…
A Faithful Man (L'homme fidèle) (2018): Dir. Louis Garrel
Feat. Louis Garrel, Laetitia Casta, Lily-Rose Depp; Romantic farce with a whimsical, French new–wave sensibility directed by and starring Louis Garrel. A dashing journalist finds his life…
Border (Gräns) (2018): Dir. Ali Abbasi
Feat. Eva Melander, Eero Milonoff, Jörgen Thorsson; Remarkable Swedish black comedy about a customs officer with an extraordinary sense of smell who sniffs out a suspicious–looking traveller with…
Cold War (2018): Dir. Pawel Pawlikowski
Feat. Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot; The director of 'Ida' (2013) follows up with a deeply romantic, immaculately composed tale of a Polish concert pianist and a charismatic singer who…
In The Aisles (In den Gängen) (2018): Dir. Thomas Stuber
Feat. Franz Rogowski, Sandra Huller; A German wholesale supermarket is the setting for this gentle romantic drama following a reclusive blue–collar shelf stacker (Andreas Leupold,…
Photograph (2018): Dir. Ritesh Batra
Feat. Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra; A charming romance from the director of THE LUNCHBOX set in Mumbai, where a struggling street photographer convinces a shy stranger to pose as his…
Sorry Angel (2018): Dir. Christophe Honore
Feat. Pierre Deladonchamps, Vincent Lacoste, Denis Podalydes; Articulate and powerful love story set in Paris in the 90's, where a worldly writer falls for a younger, carefree university student.
Aurore (I Got Life!) (2017): Dir. Blandine Lenoir
Feat. Agnes Jaoui, Thibault de Montalembert, Pascale Arbillot; Actress and co–writer Jaoui is the heart and soul of this witty if overly–familiar rom–com as the eponymous 50–year–old…
Fireworks (Fireworks: Should We See It from the Side or The Bottom?) (2017): Dir. Nobuyuki Takeuchi; Beautifully romantic Japanese anime set during a school summer vacation, based on Shunji Iwai’s 1993 TV series, “Fireworks”. Refreshingly…
Mr. Stein Goes Online (Un profil pour deux) (2017): Dir. Stéphane Robelin
Feat. Pierre Richard; Old–fashioned French farce where a reclusive widower enters the world of online dating, using the profile photo of his young computer tutor to…
A Silent Voice (Koe no katachi) (2016): Dir. Naoko Yamada
Feat. Miyu Irino; Unique Japanese anime following a deaf girl called Shoko, who is bullied at school by a boy who grows up to be tormented by his past behavior, and…
Rosalie Blum (2016): Dir. Julien Rappeneau
Feat. Noemie Lvovsky, Alice Isaaz, Kyan Khojandi; An intriguing and relatable French rom–com that tells the same story of romantic serendipity from three different points of view. Based on a…
Up For Love (Un homme à la hauteur) (2016): Dir. Laurent Tirard
Feat. Jean Dujardin, Virginie Efira; Warm hearted French rom–com about a lawyer who unexpectedly falls for a man with short stature (Jean Dujardin, star of THE ARTIST and the OSS…
Your Name (Kimi no na wa) (2016): Dir. Makoto Shinkai; Another exquisite animated drama from Makoto Shinkai, an increasingly beloved and notable voice in the world of Japanese anime. The story is based on…
In the Shadow of Women (L'ombre des femmes) (2015): Dir. Philippe Garrel
Feat. Clotilde Courau, Stanislas Merhar, Lena Paugam; Romantic drama from Philippe Garrel, a prolific French auteur whose work is rarely available outside of France and often deal with the subject of…
La Belle Saison (Summertime) (2015): Dir. Catherine Corsini
Feat. Cecile De France, Izia Higelin, Noemie Lvovsky; Two women strike up a passionate affair against a backdrop of the feminist movement in early–1970's France, but struggle to reconcile of…
A Chance Encounter (Quantum Love) (2014): Dir. Lisa Azuelos
Feat. Sophie Marceau, Francois Cluzet, Lisa Azuelos…; High–concept romantic comedy which blends fantasy with reality as a a married man's encounter with another woman develops into a mutual…
Hidden Away (A escondidas) (2014): Dir. Mikel Rueda
Feat. German Alcarazu, Adil Koukouh, Joseba Ugalde; Spanish romantic drama filmed in neighbourhoods throughout Bilbao, exploring themes of sexual awakening, racism and deportation through the story of…
I Am Happiness on Earth (2014): Dir. Julien Hernandez
Feat. Hugo Catalan, Gabino Rodriguez, Andrea Portal; Gay–themed Mexican film about the infatuation a commitment–phobic film director has for a talented dancer. Director Julian Hernandez…
Broken Circle Breakdown, The (2013): Dir. Felix Van Groeningen
Feat. Veerle Baetens, Johan Heldenbergh, Nell Cattrysse; Dynamic and sexy musical romance set in the Flemish region of Belgium over seven years of poignant love and loss, and featuring a magnificent…
Chinese Puzzle (2013): Dir. Cedric Klapisch
Feat. Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Cecile De France…; Cédric Klapisch's cosmopolitan trilogy wraps up with this breezy reunion of the characters first introduced in THE SPANISH APARTMENT, now…
Garden of Words, The (2013): Dir. Makoto Shinkai
Feat. Miyu Irino, Kana Hanazawa; Another gorgeous animated romance from the director of 5 CENTIMETRES PER SECOND, centred on the poignant relationship between a sensitive teenager…
Just a Sigh (2013): Dir. Jérôme Bonnell
Feat. Emmanuelle Devos, Gabriel Byrne; Emmanuelle Devos and Gabriel Byrne experience a brief encounter as an actress and a professor who trade glances on a Paris–bound train. A…
Mood Indigo (2013): Dir. Michel Gondry
Feat. Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh…; Audrey Tautou and Romain Duris star in this wild interpretation of Boris Vian’s cult novel 'Froth on the Daydream' from dir. Michel Gondry.
Say Yes! (2013): Dir. Leste Chen
Feat. Godfrey Gao, Hailu Qin, Bo Huang; A Mainland spin on popular Japanese television series “101st Proposal”, about an eternally unsuccessful blind dater who finally meets the girl of…
Another Woman's Life (2012): Dir. Sylvie Testud
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Mathieu Kassovitz, Aure Atika…; Juliette Binoche is typically radiant in this otherwise slight variation on the time–leap genre. She plays a well–to–do woman who…
Fly Me to the Moon (Un plan parfait) (2012): Dir. Pascal Chaumeil
Feat. Diane Kruger, Dany Boon, Alice Pol; The French churn out another dispensable yet dishy rom–com, this time centred on a woman (Diane Kruger, she of the supermodel looks) who…
Happiness Never Comes Alone (2012): Dir. James Huth
Feat. Gad Elmaleh, Sophie Marceau; French romantic fodder, with Gad Elmaleh as a commitment–phobic playboy who, against his constitution, falls head over heels for a divorced…
Paris-Manhattan (2012): Dir. Sophie Lellouche
Feat. Alice Taglioni, Patrick Bruel; A Woody Allen–obsessed pharmacist employs the philosophies of her nebbish movie hero in life and in love. Typically, inconsequentially French,…
Populaire (2012): Dir. Régis Roinsard
Feat. Romain Duris, Deborah Francois, Bérénice Bejo; Full of colour and quick–witted style, this French period comedy plays up the vintage appeal of the 1950s through rose tinted glasses. Deborah…
Red Eagle (2012): Dir. Jose Ramon Ayerra Diaz
Feat. David Janer; Based on a popular Spanish TV show about a dashing teacher, who by night is a sort of Ninja–Zorro, fighting injustice and saving King and…
Renoir (2012): Dir. Gilles Bourdos
Feat. Michel Bouquet, Christa Theret, Vincent Rottiers…; Sumptuous, sun–kissed art biopic based on the last years of impressionist painter Auguste Renoir (Bouquet) during World War I, and the…
Silent Youth (2012): Dir. Diemo Kemmesies
Feat. Martin Bruchmann, Josef Mattes, Linda Schule; Low key German indie drama offering a story of gay first love, replete with palpable sexual tension and interesting, honest performances. Like so…
Teddy Bear (10 Timer til Paradis) (2012): Dir. Mads Matthiesen
Feat. Kim Kold; Real life body–builder Kim Kold stars as a shy and awkward 38 year–old Danish bodybuilder who still lives with his mum, but decides to…
Art of Love, The (2011): Dir. Emmanuel Mouret
Feat. Emmanuel Mouret, Pascale Arbillot, Ariane Ascaride…; The French try their hand at the ensemble romantic comedy with this episodic insight into the dramas, dilemmas, and delights of love between a cast…
Café de Flore (2011): Dir. Jean-Marc Vallée
Feat. Vanessa Paradis, Kevin Parent; Two parallel stories of love and hope transcend their time difference in this fantastical juggling act from French–Canadian filmmaker…
Delicacy (2011): Dir. David Foenkinos, Stéphane Foenkinos
Feat. Audrey Tautou, François Damiens; Audrey Tautou breezes through yet another whimsical French souffle, here playing a widowed gamine beauty who rediscovers love in the form of a…
Goodbye, First Love (2011): Dir. Mia Hansen-Love
Feat. Lola Créton, Sebastian Urzendowsky; The director of FATHER OF MY CHILDREN turns her nuanced lens on the passionate but slow–maturing romance between a couple who break up in their…
Harvest (Stadt Land Fluss) (2011): Dir. Benjamin Cantu
Feat. Lukas Steltner, Kai Michael Müller; Muted romance set against a documentary esque background, that tracks the tentative relationship between two young apprentices training on a farm…
Kiss Me (Kyss mig, aka With Every Heartbeat) (2011): Dir. Alexandra-Therese Keining
Feat. Ruth Vega Fernandez, Liv Mjönes, Krister Henriksson; Heartfelt romantic drama about a woman who is engaged to be married when she finds herself falling for her soon–to–be stepmother's…
Medianeras (Sidewalls) (2011): Dir. Gustavo Taretto
Feat. Javier Drolas, Pilar López de Ayala; Two mournful souls destined for each other conspire to never cross paths despite living directly across from one another in this inventive modern…
My Piece of the Pie (2011): Dir. Cedric Klapisch
Feat. Karin Viard, Gilles Lellouche; A Capra–esque satire shot in the mode of a French romantic comedy, replete with clunky political statements and glossy Euro visuals. Karin…
3 (Three) (2010): Dir. Tom Tykwer
Feat. Sophie Rois, Sebastian Schipper, Devid Striesow; Dir. Tom Tykwer energises this simple love story of a forty–something couple who fall for the same man with the frenetic visual and narrative…
Age of Reason, The (With Love... from the Age of Reason) (2010): Dir. Yann Samuell
Feat. Sophie Marceau, Marton Csokas, Michel Duchaussoy; A frazzled career woman at breaking point reconnects with her childhood in this soul–searching romantic comedy. More melodramatic, and less…
Angele and Tony (2010): Dir. Alix Delaporte
Feat. Clotilde Hesme, Gregory Gadebois, Evelyne Didi; This quality, character–driven courtship between a prostitute with a past and a plainspoken fisherman successfully plays down obvious emotion…
Beautiful Lies (2010): Dir. Pierre Salvadori
Feat. Audrey Tautou, Nathalie Baye, Sami Bouajila; Sweet and scenic Audrey Tautou confection, about a mother and daughter competing for the same secret admirer.
Heartbreaker (L'arnacoeur) (2010): Dir. Pascal Chaumeil
Feat. Romain Duris, Vanessa Paradis; Romain Duris exploits his handsome charms as a professional heartbreaker hired to ruin relationships – that is, until he strikes upon a woman…
Kiss Me Again (Baciami ancora) (2010): Dir. Gabriel Muccino
Feat. Stefano Accorsi, Vittoria Puccini, Pierfrancesco Favino…; The lives of young Italians struggling with issues of marriage, parenthood, and relationships are revisited in this pleasant sequel to THE LAST KISS.…
Kites (2010): Dir. Anurag Basu
Feat. Hrithik Roshan, Bárbara Mori; Overheated even by Bollywood standards, this outlandish Las Vegas–set border romp pits a lovelorn hunk (Roshan) against police, bounty hunters,…
Loose Cannons (2010): Dir. Ferzan Ozpetek
Feat. Riccardo Scamarcio; An cheerfully overstuffed family comedy of a gay young man who attempts to come out to his ultra traditionalist parents in the south of Italy.
Marriage and Other Disasters (Weddings and Other Disasters) (2010): Dir. Nina Di Majo
Feat. Fabio Volo, Margherita Buy, Luciana Littizzetto…; Likeable rom–com with romantically disillusioned woman finds herself organising her sister's wedding. Cue romantic mismatching and shenanigans.
My Name is Khan (2010): Dir. Karan Johar
Feat. Shahrukh Khan, Kajol , Christopher B. Duncan; Well–meaning plea for racial tolerance with an Aspergers–afflicted Muslim detained in the U.S. as a terrorist and undertaking a journey…
Norwegian Wood (2010): Dir. Tran Anh Hung
Feat. Rinko Kikuchi, Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Kiko Mizuhara; Yearning, visually rapturous adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s widely read novel, about a devoted college student in the 60s whose relationships are…
Perfect Date, The (L'amour, c'est mieux à deux) (2010): Dir. Dominique Farrugia, Arnaud Lemort
Feat. Clovis Cornillac, Virginie Efira, Manu Payet; A derivative French rom–com nonetheless delivered in good spirits, this focuses on the ingrained patterns of two male friends whose wildly…
Raavan (2010): Dir. Mani Ratnam
Feat. Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan; Bullish, jungle–set spectacular, based on the Indian legend of 'The Ramayan', is both a vanity project for glamour couple Abhishek Bachchan and…
Romantics Anonymous (2010): Dir. Jean-Pierre Améris
Feat. Benoit Poelvoorde, Isabelle Carré; Two would–be lovers must overcome their timidness via a mutual passion for chocolate in this sweet–toothed romantic comedy.
Room in Rome (Habitación en Roma) (2010): Dir. Julio Medem
Feat. Elena Anaya, Natasha Yarovenko, Enrico Lo Verso…; Erotic chronicle of a brief encounter between two women set almost entirely within the confines of a hotel room. More porno–profundity from…
Simple Simon (2010): Dir. Andreas Öhman
Feat. Bill Skarsgård, Martin Wallström; Sensitive feel–good romantic–comedy of an Asperger's sufferer whose brother sets out to find him a new girlfriend. Eccentric Swedish…
Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (Coco & Igor) (2009): Dir. Jan Kounen
Feat. Anna Mouglalis, Mads Mikkelsen; Fashion icon Coco Chanel and composer Igor Stravinsky share a passionate, illicit love affair in this lavish period romance, which more or less takes…
From Beginning to End (Do Começo ao Fim) (2009): Dir. Aluizio Abranches
Feat. João Gabriel Vasconcellos, Rafael Cardoso, Júlia Lemmertz; Controversial Brazilian ode to incestuous half–brothers that's evocatively shot and titillatingly steamy but strangely coy on the consequences.
Giulia Doesn't Go Out at Night (2009): Dir. Giuseppe Piccioni
Feat. Valerio Mastandrea, Valeria Golino, Sonia Bergamasco; Understated romantic drama with an enigmatic Golina as the titular character, a swimming instructor with a dark secret who embarks on a romance with…
Leaving (Partir) (2009): Dir. Catherine Corsini
Feat. Kristin Scott Thomas, Sergi Lopez, Yvan Attal; Doctor's wife and mother–of–two Kristin Scott Thomas falls unrelentingly for a blue–collar ex–con in this steamy, captivating…
Many Kisses Later (Ex) (2009): Dir. Fausto Brizzi
Feat. Claudia Gerini, Flavio Insinna, Silvio Orlando; Breezy rom–com –a smash hit in Italy– follows six couples from Chistmas to Valetine's Day and their various entanglements.…
Sea Purple, The (2009): Dir. Donatella Maiorca
Feat. Valeria Solarino, Isabella Ragonese, Ennio Fantastichini; Solid lesbian bodice–ripper centres on the eternal romance between two 19th century Sicilian women, destined to suffer for their forbidden…
Someone I Loved (2009): Dir. Zabou Breitman
Feat. Daniel Auteuil, Marie-Josee Croze, Florence Loiret Caille…; Nuanced romantic drama with Auteuil reflecting on his great lost love while attempting to console his jilted daughter–in–law.
Bride Flight (2008): Dir. Ben Sombogaart
Feat. Karina Smulders, Waldemar Torenstra, Anna Drijver…; New Zealand in the 1950's from a Dutch perspective makes this melodrama an intriguing, unique experience for Kiwi audiences, which also has the…
Butterfly Lovers (2008): Dir. Jingle Ma
Feat. Charlene Choi, Chun Wu, Ge Hu…; Martial arts 'M Butterfly' charts the afflictions that befall two lovers destined to always be parted. Gaudy, gender–bending romance from Hong…
Cloud 9 (Wolke 9) (2008): Dir. Andreas Dresen
Feat. Ursula Werner, Horst Rehberg, Horst Westphal; A frank yet sensitive depiction of a passionate love affair between a man and a married woman in their autumn years. Using a methodology similar…
My Friends My Loves (Mes amis, mes amours) (2008): Dir. Lorraine Levy
Feat. Vincent Lindon, Pascal Elbé, Virginie Ledoyen; A buddy movie for middle–aged divorcees, this lightweight odd–coupling follows two Parisian single dads who decide to raise their…
Our Beloved Month of August (Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto) (2008): Dir. Miguel Gomes
Feat. Sonia Bandeira, Fabio Oliveira; Beautifully idiosyncratic film blending documentary with drama, from distinctive Portuguese director Miguel Gomes (TABU). A summery and romantic…
Palermo Shooting (2008): Dir. Wim Wenders
Feat. Campino , Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Dennis Hopper; A wild–living, world renowned German photographer travels to Sicily seeking a break from his past and encounters a beautiful woman and Dennis…
Paris (2008): Dir. Cedric Klapisch
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Romain Duris, Mélanie Laurent…; A sweet–natured, if rather slight romantic dramedy, weaving in and out of the lives of a diverse set of heart–worn and heart–won…
Red Baron, The (Der rote Baron) (2008): Dir. Nikolai Müllerschön
Feat. Maxim Mehmet, Til Schweiger, Joseph Fiennes…; Biographical melodrama focused around Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the celebrated showboating WW1 pilot. Thrilling airborne set–pieces make up…
Sorry If I Want to Marry You (2008): Dir. Federico Moccia
Feat. Raoul Bova, Michela Quattrociocche, Francesco Apolloni; Supremely frothy comedy about with a man's increasing insecurity about his relationship leads him to propose marriage setting off a comic chain of…
Speak To Me of Love (Parlami d'amore ) (2008): Dir. Silvio Muccino
Feat. Silvio Muccino, Carolina Crescentini, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón…; Sasha is a boy in his twenties, deeply loving the beautiful Benedetta, who doesn't seem to recognize his existence. Nicole is a French woman in her…
Tears for Sale (Charleston and Vendetta) (2008): Dir. Uros Stojanovic
Feat. Katarina Radivojevic, Sonja Kolacaric; The sombre title belies what is in fact a joyously bawdy Balkan fairytale that blends fantastical folklore, striking burlesque visuals and ample…
An Old Mistress (Une vieille maîtresse/The Last Mistress) (2007): Dir. Catherine Breillat
Feat. Asia Argento, Fu’ad Ait Aattou, Caroline Ducey…; Fervent, visually opulent costume drama finds feminist firebrand Catherine Breillat tempering her sexually explicit tendencies to present a…
Angel (2007): Dir. Francois Ozon
Feat. Charlotte Rampling, Sam Neill, Lucy Russell…; Pretty costume drama follows the fortunes of an aspiring lady writer in Edwardian England. Based on the novel by Elizabeth Taylor (MRS PALFREY AT…
Caramel (Sukkar banat) (2007): Dir. Nadine Labaki
Feat. Nadine Labaki; Charming Lebanese soap opera with a social conscience, the latest in an emerging wave of dissenting Middle Eastern dramas divulges the stifled lives…
Get Together Dinner, The (La Ceno per Farli Conoscere) (2007): Dir. Pupi Avati
Feat. Vanessa Incontrada, Diego Abatanthono, Violante Placido…; Diverting comedy about three stepsisters playing cupid for their father, a jaded TV star whose career has seen better days. As lacerating as it is…
Guru (2007): Dir. Mani Ratnam
Feat. Aishwarya Rai, Mithun Chakraborty, Abhishek Bachchan; Rewarding rags–to–riches drama relates the story of an entrepreneurial young boy from a village in Gujarat who became the biggest…
Hunting and Gathering (2007): Dir. Claude Berri
Feat. Audrey Tautou, Guillaume Canet, Laurent Stocker…; A waif–thin artist/cleaner (Tautou) gains a new lease on life after a chance encounter with a dignified stutterer in this heartwarming lost…
Kaidan (2007): Dir. Hideo Nakata
Feat. Kumiko Aso; Period J–horror from the director of THE RING relays the ghostly tale of a samurai’s son attempting to escape an ancient curse laid on his…
Manual of Love 2 (Capitoli successivi) (2007): Dir. Giovanni Veronesi
Feat. Carlo Verdone, Monica Bellucci, Riccardo Scamarcio; Monica Bellucci climbs abroad in this wry sequel. Director Giovanni Veronesi delves once again into the mysterious recesses of the human heart and…
Metro (2007): Dir. Anurag Basu
Feat. Shilpa Shetty, Irfan Khan; Talk–of–the–town Shilpa Shetty (of Big Brother and Richard Gere controversy) plays a dissatisfied housewife in this collective of…
Moliere (2007): Dir. Laurent Tirard
Feat. Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini, Laura Morante…; Jaunty period rom–com in the spirit of SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE speculates on the creative catalysts for the comic masterpieces of famed French…
Om Shanti Om (2007): Dir. Farah Khan
Feat. Shahrukh Khan, Deepika Padukone; From the dir. of MAIN HOON NA, this super–lush, mega–lavish Bollywood spectacular tells the story of a love that overcomes death (through…
Romance Of Astrea and Ceadon, The (2007): Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Stéphanie Crayencour, Andy Gillet, Cécile Cassel…; Eric Rohmer, master of the seasonal romantic tryst, steps out with this playful adaptation of a 17th century French novel, in which a handsome…
Saawariya (Beloved) (2007): Dir. Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Feat. Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor; Notable for being the first mainstream Hindi movie to be funded by a U.S. studio, this stylistically decadent romance of unrequited love and desire…
Shall We Kiss? (Un baiser s'il vous plaît) (2007): Dir. Emmanuel Mouret
Feat. Virginie Ledoyen, Emmanuel Mouret, Julie Gayet; Delicate French comedy focused on two strangers who share a romantic evening but stop short of a kiss on her opinion that there is no such thing 'as…
Tonight, I'll Sleep At Yours (Ce Soir, Je Dors Chez Toi) (2007): Dir. Olivier Baroux
Feat. Jean-Paul Rouve, Mélanie Doutey, Kad Merad; Feather–light French comedy scripted around a stubborn commitment–phobe who goes to desperate extremes to retain both his freedom and…
Twice Upon a Time (Désaccord parfait) (2007): Dir. Antoine de Caunes
Feat. Jean Rochefort, Charlotte Rampling, Isabelle Nanty…; Agreeable Pan–Euro comedy recounting what happens when a former showbiz couple – a director and his actress muse – reunite thirty years…
Two Days in Paris (2 Days in Paris) (2007): Dir. Julie Delpy
Feat. Julie Delpy, Adam Goldberg; Delightful, self–starring directorial debut from Julie Delpy about an angsty Franco–American couple who drop in to visit her very…
Coeurs (Private Fears in Public Places) (2006): Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Sabine Azema, Laura Morante, Pierre Arditi…; Romantic French drama with a vulnerable edge explores the modern dilemmas of loneliness and adoration through the lives of six alienated Parisians…
Don't Worry, I'm Fine (Je Vais Bien, Ne T'en Fais Pas) (2006): Dir. Philippe Lioret
Feat. Mélanie Laurent; Understated French drama centres on a distraught young woman's search for her twin brother after being told he has run away from the family…
Eden (2006): Dir. Michael Hofmann
Feat. Josef Ostendorf, Charlotte Roche; Charming romance revolves around an eccentric chef, and a random encounter with a mother trapped in a monotonous relationship. Fans of…
Golden Door, The (Nuovomondo) (2006): Dir. Emanuele Crialese
Feat. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Vincenzo Amato; Award–winning Italian drama from the dir. of RESPIRO follows the fortunes of a family of dirt–poor Sicilian peasants, from their homeland…
Hey Good Looking! (Comme t'y es belle!) (2006): Dir. Lisa Azuelos
Feat. Aure Atika; Frank French chick flick centred around a SEX AND THE CITYish cast of four gal pals who share with each other the trials of finding (and keeping) the…
I Do: Or How to Get Married and Stay Single (Prete-moi ta main) (2006): Dir. Eric Lartigau
Feat. Alain Chabat, Charlotte Gainsbourg; Under pressure from his nearest and dearest to wed, committed bachelor Alain Chabat solicits the gorgeous Charlotte Gainsbourg to become his faux…
I Served the King of England (2006): Dir. Jiri Menzel
Feat. Julia Jentsch, Oldrich Kaiser, Ivan Barnev; Whimsical yet biting Czech farce centres on the exploits of an endearingly opportunistic waiter, whose thrifty wiles propel him into all manner of…
Lady Chatterley (2006): Dir. Pascale Ferran
Feat. Hippolyte Girardot, Marina Hands, Jean-Louise Coulloc'h; Sensuous, heartrendingly tender French/Belgian adaptation of an alternate version of D.H. Lawrence's once notorious novel 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'…
Paris, Je T'aime (Paris, I Love You) (2006): Dir. Olivier Assayas, Gurinder Chadha, Sylvain Chomet
Feat. Fanny Ardant, Juliette Binoche, Steve Buscemi…; A prestige line–up of actors and filmmakers converge in this grand anthology of love letters to the city of romance. With each vignette…
Priceless (2006): Dir. Pierre Salvadori
Feat. Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh; Ultra–glamorous French romantic comedy, in which one can gorge on (or gawp at) Riviera culture at its most opulent – the clothes, the…
Science of Sleep, The (2006): Dir. Michel Gondry
Feat. Gael Garcia Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Emma de Caunes…; A delightfully self–conscious, self–indulged fantasy for cine–wizard Michel Gondry, the director's follow–up to ETERNAL…
Singer, The (Quand j'étais chanteur) (2006): Dir. Xavier Giannoli
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Cecile De France, Mathieu Amalric; Gerard Depardieu works his rotund charm as a journeyman lounge singer, crooning his way through half–empty nightclubs while forging an unlikely…
Tiger and the Snow, The (2006): Dir. Roberto Benigni
Feat. Roberto Benigni, Jean Reno, Nicoletta Braschi…; Italian jester Roberto Benigni unites comedy and tragedy within the throws of the Iraq war, playing a poet who follows his true love (real life…
Angel-A (2005): Dir. Luc Besson
Feat. Jamel Debbouze, Rie Rasmussen; This sleek, stylized departure for dir. Luc Besson dabbles in an unlikely romance between a statuesque blonde (Rassmusen), and a nebbish, diminutive…
Elsa and Fred (2005): Dir. Marcos Carnevale
Feat. Manuel Alexandre, China Zorrilla; Exquisitely acted romance between a pair of senior citizens expresses enough tenderness and fragility to overcome its rather prosaic storyline.…
Gabrielle (2005): Dir. Patrice Chereau
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Pascal Greggory; Absorbing adaptation of a Joseph Conrad short story coolly dissects the disintegrating marriage of a bourgeois French couple. Gorgeously framed…
Koi Aap Sa (2005): Dir. Partho Mitra
Feat. Aftab Shivdasani; Fruity Bollywood number with Aftab Shivdasani as a hunky football captain torn between his spunky girlfriend and coltish childhood sweetheart.
Manual of Love, The (Manuale d'amore) (2005): Dir. Giovanni Veronesi
Feat. Jasmine Trinca, Sergio Rubini, Silvio Muccino; Four couples experience the agony and ecstasy of modern love in this appealing romance of intertwining relationships. An agreeable, attractive…
One Stays, One Leaves (L' un reste, l'autre part) (2005): Dir. Claude Berri
Feat. Daniel Auteuil, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Nathalie Baye…; Witty French comedy with an undercurrent of angst in which two philandering middle–aged husbands do their utmost to juggle fresh–faced…
Princess Raccoon (Operetta tanuki goten) (2005): Dir. Seijun Suzuki
Feat. Zhang Ziyi, Joe Odagiri; Wacky musical rumpus stars Zhang Ziyi as a 'raccoon dog' who falls in love with a prince banished to her enchanted forest. A fanciful swansong for…
Russian Dolls (Les Poupées russes) (2005): Dir. Cedric Klapisch
Feat. Audrey Tautou, Romain Duris, Cecile De France…; A sequel of substance to the pan–Euro comedy THE SPANISH APARTMENT, which will again strike an entertaining chord with the young globetrotting,…
Three Times (2005): Dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Feat. Chen Chang, Shu Qi; Taiwanese great Hou Hsiao–Hsien rekindles the memory of three of his finest films, linking a trio of elegant, erstwhile love stories (across…
Valley of Flowers (2005): Dir. Pan Nalin
Feat. Milind Soman, Mylène Jampanoï, Naseeruddin Shah; Visually gorgeous, sprawling love story from the director of SAMSARA revises an epic Himalayan legend of a mischievous couple whose immortal love…
3-Iron (Bin-jip) (2004): Dir. Kim Ki-Duk
Feat. Seung-yeon Lee, Hee Song Jae; Odd, elliptical love story from the dir. SPRING, SUMMER concerns the blossoming romance between a domestic abuse victim and her savior, a…
Bride and Prejudice (2004): Dir. Gurinder Chadha
Feat. Martin Henderson, Naveen Andrews, Aishwarya Rai; Bollywood meets Hollywood in this rather original Jane Austen adaptation, with ex–pat Kiwi Henderson playing a blueblood American who falls…
Brides (Nyfes) (2004): Dir. Pantelis Voulgaris
Feat. Damian Lewis, Victoria Haralabidou, Steven Berkoff; Through the passages of unrequited love, this bittersweet tale set on board a ship en route to the United States evokes a universal story of…
Fida (2004): Dir. Ken Ghosh
Feat. Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Fardeen Khan; Typically likeable Bollywood item that intercrosses two love stories with the tale of an online bank heist. Treading lightly through the genre…
Head-On (Gegen die Wand) (2004): Dir. Fatih Akin
Feat. Birol Unel, Sibel Kekilli; Set in scungy working–class Hamburg, this constructs an unusual love story around two Turkish immigrants – a drunken janitor (Unel) and a…
Italian Romance, An (L'amore Ritrovato) (2004): Dir. Carlo Mazzacurati
Feat. Stefano Accorsi, Maya Sansa, Marco Messeri; Languid Italian melodrama set in 1936, where a pair of young ex–lovers rediscover one another and have a passionate fling, despite an…
Life I Want, The (Vita che vorrei, La) (2004): Dir. Giuseppe Piccioni
Feat. Luigi Lo Cascio, Sandra Ceccarelli; Intriguing Italian romantic drama about two avid actors cast as lovers who begin to cross over the boundaries of stage–life and reality with an…
Raincoat (2004): Dir. Rituparno Ghosh
Feat. Ajay Devgan, Aishwarya Rai; Dramatically–ambitious dir. Ghosh here creates an understated chamber piece from the usual Bollywood melodramatics, staging a rainy–day…
Shadows Of Time (Scatten der Zeit) (2004): Dir. Florian Gallenberger
Feat. Prushant Narayanan, Tanishta Chaterjee; Sumptuous romantic melodrama of a high order, following the bittersweet relations between two abandoned children, who graduate from working in a…
Story of My Life, The (Mensonges et trahisons et plus si affinités) (2004): Dir. Laurent Tirard
Feat. Edouard Baer, Marie-Josee Croze, Clovis Cornillac…; A ghostwriter’s charmed life is thrown into tailspin when he’s assigned the autobiography of a notoriously egotistical soccer star. Further…
Three Dancing Slaves (2004): Dir. Gaël Morel
Feat. Nicolas Cazalé, Stephane Rideau, Thomas Dumerchez…; French romantic drama set in a working class Annecy neighbourhood where three brothers are in and out of the criminal world after their mother dies,…
Twenty Thirty Forty (20 30 40) (2004): Dir. Sylvia Chang
Feat. Sylvia Chang, Rene Liu, Lee Sinji; The destinies of three women in contemporary urban Taiwan – aged 20, 30 and 40 – evolve in parallel as each feels their way through the…
Unconscious (Inconscientes) (2004): Dir. Joaquin Oristrell; Boisterous 'Freudian farce' set amidst the extravagent architecture of Barcelona in 1913, where a disturbed psychiatrist suddenly adandons his…
Very Long Engagement, A (Long dimanche de fiançailles, Un) (2004): Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Feat. Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Clovis Cornillac…; Another crowd–pleasing favourite from the dir. of AMELIE, which uses the Great War as setting for the fairytale search by Audrey Tatou for her…
3 is a Crowd (I'm Staying) (2003): Dir. Diane Kurys
Feat. Sophie Marceau, Vincent Perez, Charles Berling; Farcical French romantic comedy about a wife, fed up with her stubborn husband's cycling obsession, who invites another man to move in. Unfortunately…
A Heart Elsewhere (Il Cuore Altrove) (2003): Dir. Pupi Avati
Feat. Giancarlo Giannini, Neri Marcore, Vanessa Incontrada; Seemingly a soft–centred drama set in 1930s Italy, this curious tale of blind love carries its own insinuating mood of melancholy. Marcore…
Armaan (2003): Dir. Honey Irani
Feat. Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Gracey Singh; A hospital soap–opera, Bollywood–style, centering around a doctor and his neurosurgeon son who dream of turning a private hospital into a…
Bon Voyage (2003): Dir. Jean-Paul Rappeneau
Feat. Isabelle Adjani, Gerard Depardieu, Virginie Ledoyen…; A plushly–mounted, grander–than–life romantic farce from director of "Cyrano De Bergerac". It's June 1940, when a group of…
Chalte Chalte (2003): Dir. Aziz Mirza
Feat. Shahrukh Khan; Glossy Bollywood comic–romance that runs a typical gamut of emotions about a chalk–and–cheese yet glamourous couple, who against…
Dot The I (El Punto sobre la I) (2003): Dir. Matthew Parkhill
Feat. Gael Garcia Bernal, James D'Arcy, Natalia Verbeke; A skillfully moody London romance, in which the relationship of an engaged couple is disturbed by a pre–wedding ritual in which Verbeke must…
Kal Ho Naa Ho (Tomorrow May Never Come) (2003): Dir. Nikhil Advani
Feat. Shahrukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta; Sporting a string of hit songs and featuring a troika of India's most popular stars, this giddy swirl of romantic comedy, musical, family melodrama…
Kiss Me First (Prima dammi un bacio) (2003): Dir. Ambrogio Lo Giudice
Feat. Stefania Rocca, Marco Cocci; Endearing Italian comedy following the fate of two separated lovers whose lives cannot help but intersect. The events of WW2 inevitably drive these…
Love Me If You Dare (Jeux d'enfants) (2003): Dir. Yann Samuell
Feat. Marion Cotillard, Guillaume Canet; Two French kids develop an intense relationship through escalating games of "dare" that bond and haunt them through a turbulent teenage and…
Story of Marie and Julien, The (Histoire de Marie et Julien) (2003): Dir. Jacques Rivette
Feat. Emmanuelle Beart, Jerzy Radziwilowicz; Meandering and hypnotic tale of the supernatural from French master Jacques Rivette, which begins in the apparently nondescript world of a Parisian…
Zhou Yu's Train (2003): Dir. Sun Zhou
Feat. Tony Leung (Kar-fai), Gong Li, Honglei Sun; Gong Li shimmers as a gorgeous ceramic artisan in rural China, who is torn between two men – a reclusive poet (Leung) and an affable vetenarian…
And Now Ladies and Gentlemen (2002): Dir. Claude Lelouch
Feat. Jeremy Irons, Patricia Kaas, Thierry Lhermitte…; A smooth exercise in self–satire from dir. Lelouch, with Jeremy Irons playing a shifty jewel–thief who hooks up with lounge–singer…
Bollywood Hollywood (2002): Dir. Deepa Mehta
Feat. Rahul Khanna, Lisa Ray; The dir. of the 'elements trilogy' (FIRE, EARTH, WATER) conceived this less artful, but rather clever insider's take on the Bollywood musical…
Housekeeper, The (Une Femme de Menage) (2002): Dir. Claude Berri
Feat. Jean-Pierre Bacri, Emilie Dequenne, Catherine Breillat; Charming "French souffle" about a forlorn divorcee who hires a housekeeper to clean up his slovenly act. However, it turns out she's never done a…
Inner Senses (Yee do hung gaan) (2002): Dir. Chi-Leung Law
Feat. Leslie Cheung, Karena Lam, Maggie Poon; A loner psychologist (Cheung) falls for a suicidal woman he is treating for her constant, gloomy visions of the dead, in this stylish Asian riff on…
Jet Lag (2002): Dir. Daniele Thompson
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Jean Reno, Sergi Lopez; Euro–comedy with supermodel Binoche and insomniac Reno forced into each's others' company by an airline strike and soon, opposites begin to…
L'Idole (2002): Dir. Samantha Lang
Feat. Leelee Sobieski, James Hong; Playing a troubled Australian actress, Sobieski arrives in Paris and befriends her elderly Chinese neighbour in this melancholy…
Marie-Jo and her Two Loves (2002): Dir. Robert Guediguian
Feat. Ariane Ascaride, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Gerard Meylan; A dreamy, perceptive romance gently steered under the Mediterranean sun by dir. Guédiguian, who again uses the vibrant setting of his native…
Mostly Martha (Bella Martha) (2002): Dir. Sandra Nettelbeck
Feat. Martina Gedeck, Sergio Castellitto; Light and satisfying dish, concerning the frissions in a Hamburg restaurant between a chef, her eight year old neice and a talented…
Oasis (2002): Dir. Chang-Dong Lee
Feat. Kyung-gu Sol, So-ri Moon; Tough and emotionally powerful drama, highlighted by fearless performances, which charts the romance between a recent parolee and a cerebral…
Spanish Apartment, The (L'Auberge Espagnole) (2002): Dir. Cedric Klapisch
Feat. Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Judith Godreche…; Summery comedy set in a Barcelona apartment, where six international exchange students variously mingle, cavort and fall messily in love. Although…
Summer Things (Embrassez qui vous voudrez) (2002): Dir. Michel Blanc
Feat. Charlotte Rampling, Jacques Dutronc, Carole Bouquet…; Rom–com with an ensemble cast led by Charlotte Rampling as an unhappily married woman who is off to stay at a seaside resort, where she…
Amelie (2001): Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Feat. Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz; A charming romantic comedy stamped with the purely cinematic style of dir. Jean–Pierre Juenet, who here remixes intricate set pieces, editing…
God is Great, I'm Not (Dieu est grand, je suis toute petite) (2001): Dir. Pascale Bailly
Feat. Audrey Tautou, Edouard Baer, Julie Depardieu; Slim Audrey Tautou vehicle has the AMELIE–ingénue unable to settle on a religion, eventually converting to Judaism in order to win over a…
In Praise of Love (Eloge de L'amour) (2001): Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Bruno Putzulu, Cecile Camp, Jean Davy…; Dir. Godard’s first major film in over a decade presents intellect and filmmaking in full–flight, while stubbornly refusing to provide a…
Italian For Beginners (2001): Dir. Lone Scherfig
Feat. Anders W Berthelsen; A likeable ensemble comedy in which six vulnerable characters orbit a drab Copenhagen suburb, each seeking some form of solace, romance or…
Last Kiss, The (L'Ultimo Bacio) (2001): Dir. Gabriel Muccino
Feat. Stefano Accorsi, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Stefania Sandrelli; Award–winning Italian melodrama investigates the anxieties of a young unmarried couple on the verge of parenthood. Stefano Accorsi is torn…
My Wife is an Actress (Ma Femme est une Actrice) (2001): Dir. Yvan Attal
Feat. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Yvan Attal, Terence Stamp; Obviously modelled on his own life, first time writer/director Yvan Attal tailors a project for his real–life wife, Charlotte Gainsbourg, who…
Bread and Tulips (2000): Dir. Silvio Soldini
Feat. Licia Maglietta, Bruno Ganz, Marina Massironi…; When 40–something housewife Licia Maglietta is deserted by her family during vacation, she seizes on a chance to roll the romantic dice once…
In the Mood for Love (2000): Dir. Wong Kar-Wai
Feat. Tony Leung (Chiu-wai), Maggie Cheung; As in DAYS OF BEING WILD, dir. Wong Kar–Wai portrays the languor of a 1960s Hong Kong in which two neighbours discover their respective spouses…
Me You Them (Eu Tu Eles) (2000): Dir. Andrucha Waddington
Feat. Regina Case, Lima Duarte, Stenio Garcia; Set in the arid hinterlands of Brazil, this serio–comic study of rural polyandry has Regina Case (Brazil’s Oprah Winfrey) hitch up three…
East / West (Est / Ouest) (1999): Dir. Regis Wargnier
Feat. Sandrine Bonnaire, Oleg Menshikov, Sergei Bodrov Jr…; A 'woman's picture' in the proudest sense of the term, this lush historical melodrama from the dir. of INDOCHINE again finds a French woman in a…
Girl on the Bridge, The (1999): Dir. Patrice Leconte
Feat. Daniel Auteuil, Vanessa Paradis; This glossy slice of modern 'poetic realism' has an attractive visual component but its arch–Romanticism won't be everyone's glass of Chablis.…
Gloomy Sunday (Ein Lied Von Liebe Und Tod) (1999): Dir. Rolf Schubel
Feat. Joachim Krol, Erika Marozsan, Ben Becker…; Captivating drama which pivots around the apocryphal origins of the classic melancholy song 'Gloomy Sunday' in pre–WW2 Budapest. An amiably…
Harmonium in my Memory, The (1999): Dir. Young-jae Lee
Feat. Do-yeon Chun, Min-hie Kim, Byung-hun Lee; Sweet, soft–spoken melodrama of jittery first love, recalling the innocent love triangle that forms between a handsome, fresh–faced…
Pornographic Affair, A (An Affair Of Love) (1999): Dir. Frederic Fonteyne
Feat. Nathalie Baye, Sergi Lopez; A decidedly unpornographic meditation upon the mutability of human desires and emotions, with Nathalie Baye and Sergi Lopez as a nameless couple who…
Alice Et Martin (1998): Dir. Andre Techine
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Carmen Maura, Mathieu Amalric; A maladjusted young drifter (Alexis Loret) has success as a Paris fashion model and a torrid love affair with his half–brother's…
An Autumn Tale (1998): Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Marie Riviere, Beatrice Romand, Alain Libolt; Completing his suite of films based on the four seasons, dir. Rohmer provides another mellow, seemingly unplotted comedy, in which Rhone valley…
Besieged (1998): Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
Feat. Thandiwe Newton, David Thewlis; Returning to a 'chamber–piece' setting reminiscent of LAST TANGO IN PARIS, dir. Bertolucci unfolds an enigmatic relationship in a Rome…
Life Is Beautiful (La vita e bella) (1998): Dir. Roberto Benigni
Feat. Roberto Benigni; Winner of both Best Foreign Film and Best Actor Oscars (a first for an actor speaking a foreign tongue) as well as the top prize at Cannes, Roberto…
Love Etc. (1998): Dir. Marion Vernoux
Feat. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Charles Berling, Yvan Attal; Depicts an infernal love–triangle between three friends – taken from the novel ‘Talking It Over’ by Julian Barnes. Charming comedy…
Lovers of the Arctic Circle (1998): Dir. Julio Medem
Feat. Najwa Nimri, Fele Martinez, Nancho Novo; Artful but humourless slice of 'magic realism' that follows the near–metaphysical long–term relationship between two childhood…
Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (1998): Dir. Patrice Chereau
Feat. Pascal Greggory, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Charles Berling…; Friends and associates of a deceased painter make a procession, via train, to the artist’s burial in this superb French drama. A highly nuanced…
Gadjo Dilo (1997): Dir. Tony Gatlif
Feat. Romain Duris, Rona Harther, Izidor Serban; Re–casting a spotlight onto the poor and downtrodden yet spiritually rich gypsy culture, film–maker/musician Toni Gatlif grafts a…
Kitchen (1997): Dir. Yim Ho
Feat. Jordan Chan, Yasuko Tomita; Treading the same grungy Hong Kong streets as the films of Wong Kar–Wai, this adaptation of a novel by Banana Yoshimoto concerns a love affair…
Marius et Jeannette (1997): Dir. Robert Guediguian
Feat. Ariane Ascaride, Gerard Meylan; A laidback yet buoyant slice–of–ordinary–life set on the low–rent side of Marseille, where two wounded fortysomethings strike…
Wintersleepers (1997): Dir. Tom Tykwer
Feat. Ulrich Matthes, Marie-lou Sellem, Floriane Daniel; The paths of five people on the German skifield of Berchtesgaden intersect following a car accident, resulting in a precise, chilly thriller from RUN…
A Summer's Tale (1996): Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Melvil Poupaud, Amanda Langlet; Once more exploring the fickleness of love, dir. Rohmer involves holidaying student Melvil Poupard in a love–quadrangle of romantic options. In…
Autumn Sun (Sol de otoño) (1996): Dir. Eduardo Mignogna
Feat. Frederico Luppi, Norma Aleandro; Argentine drama following a Jewish woman who pretends to be in a relationship with a Jewish man from Uruguay (Frederico Luppi, CRONOS) to appease her…
Fire (1996): Dir. Deepa Mehta
Feat. Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das; Blazing melodrama defiantly targets Indian sexual hypocrisy and tradition, not to mention trangressing 'Bollywood' taboo, in portraying two women…
Guantanamera (1996): Dir. Tomas Gutierrez Alea, Juan Carlos Tabio
Feat. Carlos Cruz, Mirta Ibarra, Jorge Perugorria…; A quirky mix of low–speed road movie and romantic comedy following the unsteady progress of a funeral procession across the length of Cuba…
Nelly and Mr. Anaud (1996): Dir. Claude Sautet
Feat. Emmanuelle Beart, Michel Serrault; Emmanuelle Beart gets caught up in a May–to–December romance with Michel Serrault in another elegant and subtle drama from the director…
Temptress Moon (1996): Dir. Chen Kaige
Feat. Gong Li, Leslie Cheung; Chen Kaige elevates the sumptuous Chinese epoch of FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE with this visually rapturous, though far less coherent saga of epic…
Tierra (Earth) (1996): Dir. Julio Medem
Feat. Carmelo Gómez, Emma Suarez, Karra Elejalde; Intimate portrait of Angel (Gomez), an exterminator who travels to a remote wine–making town to rid them of a plague of woodlice, and gradually…
When the Cat's Away (1996): Dir. Cedric Klapisch
Feat. Garance Clavel, Zinedine Soualem; A movie for cat lovers and young romantics alike, this Latino–tinged, funky, yet alluringly modest French film follows the dowdy–cute…
All Things Fair (1995): Dir. Bo Widerberg
Feat. Johan Widerberg, Marika Lagercrantz; The late Bo Widerberg's swansong records a bittersweet memoir of his love affair with a teacher 22 years his senior. The casting of his young son in…
Beyond the Clouds (Al di là delle nuvole) (1995): Dir. Michelangelo Antonioni
Feat. Fanny Ardant, Chiara Caselli, Irene Jacob…; Michelangelo Antonioni's final film weaves together four stories of discontented love in his characteristic cinematic style. Featuring a huge…
French Woman, A (Une Femme Francaise) (1995): Dir. Regis Wargnier
Feat. Emmanuelle Beart, Daniel Auteuil; Emmanuelle Beart stars in this period tale of idyllic romance compromised by the reality of war. The director of INDOCHINE again embraces the…
Rendezvous in Paris (1995): Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Clara Bellar, Mathias Mégard, Antoine Basler; A delicately poised triptych framed around three lighthearted tales of philandering men and women. Minor, though quintessential Rohmer dalliance…
Belle Epoque (1994): Dir. Fernando Trueba
Feat. Penelope Cruz, Jorge Sanz; Oscar–winning comedy set in thirties Spain will have you grinning from ear to ear as its young army deserter finds the ultimate sanctuary at…
Il Postino (Postman, The) (1994): Dir. Michael Radford
Feat. Massimo Troisi, Philippe Noiret; The biggest international foreign language hit since LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE stars the late Massimo Troisi as a simple postie who learns the value…
Especially On a Sunday (1993): Dir. Giuseppe Tornatore, Giuseppe Bertolucci, Marco Tul
Feat. Jean-Hugues Anglade, Patricia Arquette, Nicoletta Braschi…; Three stories of love and loss from the pen of Tonino Guerra brought to screen life by three directing talents. Sublime fare in the finest European…
Like Water for Chocolate (1993): Dir. Alfonso Arau
Feat. Marco Leonardi, Lumi Cavazos, Regina Torne; Certifiable foreign–language block–buster blends the irresisistible ingrediants of primal female desire with old–fashioned…
Conte D'hiver (A Winter's Tale) (1992): Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Charlotte Very, Frederic Van Den Driessche; A whirlwind romance ends abruptly for a young woman when she accidentally gives her lover a wrong address. Four years pass and she remains possessed…
La Vie De Boheme (1992): Dir. Aki Kaurismaki
Feat. Matti Pellonpaa, Evelyne Didi, Andre Wilms; An achingly deadpan treatment of the book that served as the basis for Puccini's opera. Ironically romantic portrait of deadbeat, impoverished…
Station, The (1992): Dir. Sergio Rubini
Feat. Sergio Rubini, Margherita Buy, Ennio Fantastichini; Beguiling film about a disillusioned society woman who becomes drawn to a humble station–master while waiting for the first available train.
A Heart in Winter (Un Coeur en Hiver) (1991): Dir. Claude Sautet
Feat. Emmanuelle Beart, Andre Dussollier; Impeccable romantic tragedy examines a love triangle between a virtuoso violinist, her violin–making boyfriend and his emotionally crippled…
Amants Du Pont Neuf, Les (1991): Dir. Leos Carax
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Denis Lavant; Extravagant production breathes fire into this unusual epic love story of two young Paris street punks. Through the ebbs and the flows, Carax adjusts…
Days of Being Wild (1991): Dir. Wong Kar-Wai
Feat. Leslie Cheung; An excellent example of the other side of Hong Kong movie–making. Set in 1960, Leslie Cheung plays a disillusioned, spoiled youth who…
Hairdresser's Husband, The (1991): Dir. Patrice Leconte
Feat. Jean Rochefort, Anna Galiena; Everything you may love or loathe about French movies is taken to an (intentional?) extreme in this whimsical venture into the one–track mind…
Mediterraneo (1991): Dir. Gabriele Salvatores
Feat. Claudio Bigagli, Diego Abatanthono, Giuseppe Cederna; Oscar–winning tale of eight Italian soldiers who find themselves stranded on a remote Greek isle during WW2. An affecting and surprising…
Cyrano De Bergerac (1990): Dir. Jean-Paul Rappeneau
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Anne Brochet, Vincent Perez…; Rostand's classic play filmed in its native tongue, with the man born to play the poet with the outsized hooter, Gerard Depardieu. Little expense has…
Romuald et Juliette (1989): Dir. Coline Serreau
Feat. Daniel Auteuil, Firmine Richard, Pierre Vernier; French comedy at its very best contrasts the lives of a yoghurt company director and a black mother–of–five cleaning lady who through…
Dark Eyes (1987): Dir. Nikita Mikhalkov
Feat. Marcello Mastroianni; The Soviet director ventures to Italy for this exquisite Chekhovian romantic tragedy in which Marcello Mastroianni abandons rationale for the allure…
Betty Blue (1986): Dir. Jean-Jacques Beineix
Feat. Beatrice Dalle, Jean-Hugues Anglade; Beatrice Dalle stars as the ultra crazy and ultra sexy Betty in this lusty, over–the–top drama as only the French aspire to create.…
Man and A Woman: 20 Years Later, A (1986): Dir. Claude Lelouch
Feat. Anouk Aimee, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Richard Berry; Worthy follow–up to Lelouch's seminal 60's romantic drama benefits from appealing performances by it's two leads.
Mauvais Sang (The Night Is Young) (1986): Dir. Leos Carax
Feat. Michel Piccoli, Denis Lavant, Juliette Binoche; A street–punk joins a gang of hoods intent on stealing a top–secret serum, but complications prevail. Romantic thriller contains…
Melo (1986): Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Sabine Azema, Fanny Ardant, Pierre Arditi…; New Wave dir. Resnais explores unusually restrained, linear territory in this bittersweet melodrama centered around a love triangle between longtime…
Shadows in Paradise (Varjoja paratiisissa) (1986): Dir. Aki Kaurismaki
Feat. Matti Pellonpaa, Kati Outinen, Sakari Kuosmanen; The first film in Kaurismäki's Proletariat Trilogy follows a lonely garbage collector who finds romance with a check–out clerk (Kaurismäki…
Tampopo (1986): Dir. Juzo Itami
Feat. Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Ken Watanabe…; A crazy, satirical comedy in which heroine Tampopo and her cronies strive to create the perfect noodle. A wonderful movie full of hilarious madness…
Police (1985): Dir. Maurice Pialat
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Sophie Marceau, Richard Anconina; Brilliantly idiosyncratic crime thriller co–written by French auteurs Maurice Pialat (who also directs) and Catherine Breillat (A MA SOEUR!),…
Full Moon in Paris (1984): Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Pascale Ogier, Fabrice Luchini, Christian Vadim…; From Rohmer's 'Comedies and Proverbs' series, wit and subtlety is derived from the simplest of plots. This time a headstrong woman's plans backfire…
First Name: Carmen (Prenom Carmen) (1983): Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Maruschka Detmers, Jacques Bonnaffe; Late Godard standout is a markedly nostalgic throwback to his New Wavy years, combining an ad hoc terrorist, ill–fated romance, a…
Hong Kong 1941 (Dang doi lai ming) (1983): Dir. Po-Chi Leong
Feat. Chow Yun-Fat, Alex Man, Kien Shih…; One of Chow Yun–Fat's early classics, this portrays the disturbing invasion of Hong Kong by the Japanese in 1941, which disrupts the dreams and…
Life Is A Bed Of Roses (1983): Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Ruggero Raimondi, Fanny Ardant, Geraldine Chaplin; Ambitious fantastical oddity from dir. Resnais was made as a tribute to era–defining French directors Melies, L'Herbier and Rohmer, weaving…
Moon in the Gutter (1983): Dir. Jean-Jacques Beineix
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Nastassja Kinski, Victoria Abril…; Dockworker Gerard Depardieu befriends Nastassja Kinski as he hunts for the killer of his sister. Pompous or excellent? Watch and decide for yourself.…
A Good Marriage (Le Beau Marriage) (1982): Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Beatrice Romand, Andre Dussollier, Féodor Atkine; An art history student is growing tired of being the mistress of a married painter, then meets a handsome and wealthy younger man whom she vows to…
Diva (1982): Dir. Jean-Jacques Beineix
Feat. Frederic Andrei, Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, Richard Bohringer…; Stylish romantic thriller in which an opera–intoxicated youth bootlegs a concert of an unrecorded opera star which leads to trouble with shady…
Aviator's Wife, The (La femme de l'aviateur) (1981): Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Philippe Marlaud, Marie Riviere; A young student is devastated when he finds that his girlfriend is cheating on him. In order to find out why she did it, he decides to spy on her and…
Woman Next Door, The (1981): Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Fanny Ardant; Emotional chaos ensues for a happily married man when his old flame, now also married, becomes his immediate neighbour. Taut, intimate melodrama…
Last Metro, The (1980): Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu; Elegant war story in occupied France, Catherine Deneuve struggles to keep her Jewish husband's theatre operating while concealing his whereabouts.
Man Who Loved Women, The (1977): Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Charles Denner, Leslie Caron, Brigitte Fossey…; Charles Denner plays a dedicated skirt–chaser, who falls in love with women so constantly he is brought to the point of…
Story Of Adele H.,The (1975): Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Isabelle Adjani, Bruce Robinson, Sylvia Marriott; A towering performance by Isabelle Adjani anchors this moody, but somewhat turgid romance. Based on the diaries of Victor Hugo's daughter that…
Love in the Rain (Un amour de pluie) (1974): Dir. Jean-Claude Brialy
Feat. Romy Schneider, Nino Castelnuovo, Suzanne Flon; More pomp and circumstance from Romy Schneider, here playing a well–to–do French woman indulging in various love affairs while holidaying…
Fear Eats the Soul (1973): Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Brigitte Mira, El Hedi ben Salem; A sort of remake of Douglas Sirk's older woman–younger man melodrama "All That Heaven Allows", with added plot weirds countered by typical…
Cesar & Rosalie (1972): Dir. Claude Sautet
Feat. Yves Montand, Romy Schneider, Sami Frey…; French romantic drama with Yves Montand and Sami Frey playing contrasting romantic rivals to divorced single mum Romy Schneider. Montand is a coarse…
We Won't Grow Old Together (Nous Ne Vieillirons Pas Ensemble) (1972): Dir. Maurice Pialat
Feat. Marlène Jobert, Jean Yanne, Christine Fabréga…; A uniquely disquieting film covering the dissolution of an affair between an aged filmmaker and a much younger secretary, based on French director…
Death in Venice (1971): Dir. Luchino Visconti
Feat. Dirk Bogarde; Dirk Bogarde plays a gay composer whose unspoken obssesion with a young boy detains him in Venice during a cholera epidemic. This soft–focus,…
Max and the Junkmen (Max Et Les Ferrailleurs) (1971): Dir. Claude Sautet
Feat. Romy Schneider; French crime drama set in the noir shaded streets of Paris follows a frustrated detective getting tangled up in a love triangle after commissioning a…
Two English Girls (Anne and Muriel) (1971): Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Jean-Pierre Leaud, Kika Markham, Stacey Tendeter; A French writer encounters the delicate dilemma of falling in love with both English sisters at a Welsh coastal cottage. Tantalising romance is…
A Swedish Love Story (1970): Dir. Roy Andersson
Feat. Ann-Sofie Kylin, Rolf Sohlman; The debut feature film from director Roy Andersson (YOU, THE LIVING) is an unforgettably beautiful coming–of–age tale inspired by the…
Katzelmacher (1969): Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Hanna Schygulla; Daring Fassbinder drama focused on a group of Munich friends indulging in the banality of their ordered lives until the arrival of a Greek immigrant…
La Chamade (Heartbeat) (1968): Dir. Alain Cavalier
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Michel Piccoli; Catherine Deneuve flitters between youthful passion and the comfort of an older, wealthy lover in this elegant menage a trios, lessened only by an…
Young Girls of Rochefort, The (Les Demoiselles de Rochefort) (1967): Dir. Jacques Demy
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Francois Dorleac, Gene Kelly; The carrot of love is dangled in Jacques Demy's positively radiant follow–up to UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG: an unbridled, colour–saturated…
Man and a Woman, A (1966): Dir. Claude Lelouch
Feat. Anouk Aimee, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Pierre Barouh; Classic love story is one of the most popular foreign films of all time. Intelligent, sensitive script is ignited with exotic locations and Francis…
Le Bonheur (Happiness) (1964): Dir. Agnes Varda
Feat. Jean-Claude Drouot, Claire Drouot, Marie-France Boyer; Agnes Varda's sly subversion of romantic norms courted controversy with its frank depiction of the infidelity of a happily married man and the…
Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The (1964): Dir. Jacques Demy
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo; Gorgeous French musical with Catherine Deneuve, in her acting debut, one of its many pleasures. A bittersweet romantic story is allied to a lush…
Jules and Jim (Jules et Jim) (1961): Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner, Henri Serre…; Jeanne Moreau stars in this famous New Wave melodrama caught up in the spirit of its swinging times. A twenty–year love triangle, lightening…
Les Bonnes Femmes (1960): Dir. Claude Chabrol
Feat. Bernadette Lafont, Clotilde Joano, Stephane Audran; An early comedy from French new wave director Claude Chabrol (LE BOUCHER), following four single Parisian women as they encounter the romantic…
Lola (1960): Dir. Jacques Demy
Feat. Anouk Aimee, Marc Michel; Irresistible 'New Wave' confection breezily spins its romantic tale around the alluring presence of Anouk Aimee, here a cheery cabaret–dancer…
Black Orpheus (1959): Dir. Marcel Camus
Feat. Breno Mello, Marpessa Dawn, Lourdes De Oliveira; Get caught up in the rhythms and colour of Rio De Janiero at Carnival time for an exotic, utterly unique spin on the Greek legend of doomed lovers…
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959): Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada; Romance between a French actress and a Japanese architect rekindles their traumatic wartime experiences. The twin threads of despair and sensual love…
Samurai Saga (Aru kengo no shogai) (1959): Dir. Hiroshi Inagaki
Feat. Toshiro Mifune, Yoko Tsukasa; Feudal Japanese retelling of Rostand's 'Cyrano de Bergerac', with the charismatic Toshiro Mifune as the shogun–poet with a…
Cranes are Flying, The (Letyat Zhuravli) (1957): Dir. Mikhail Kalatozov
Feat. Tatyana Samojlova, Aleksei Batalov, Vasili Merkuryev; A Russian classic which conveys homefront anxieties during WW2 for a young bride whose original fiance has gone to the front. Pursued by his…
Sissi - The Fateful Years of an Empress (1957): Dir. Ernst Marischka
Feat. Romy Schneider; Concluding film in the Sissi trilogy ends on a somber note with Romy Schneider struggling with Viennese court life as she moves towards a tragic end.
Wide Blue Road, The (La grande strada azzurra) (1957): Dir. Gillo Pontecorvo
Feat. Yves Montand, Alida Valli, Francisco Rabal…; Italian neorealist melodrama drama which marks the feature debut of Gillo Pontecorvo (THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS). Set on a small rugged island off the…
Elena and Her Men (Paris Does Strange Things) (1956): Dir. Jean Renoir
Feat. Ingrid Bergman, Jean Marais, Mel Ferrer; Ingrid Bergman plays a Polish princess torn between marrying for love, or wealth, in this slinky, sweet–natured comic romance. Mel Ferrer, Jean…
Her Bridal Night (Mariée est trop belle, La) (1956): Dir. Pierre Gaspard-Huit
Feat. Brigitte Bardot, Micheline Presle, Louis Jourdan; Light comedy dating from Brigette Bardot's early years in which she plays a country girl who gets 'discovered' by the Parisian fashion industry and…
Naughty Girl (Cette Sacree Gamine) (1956): Dir. Michel Boisrond
Feat. Brigitte Bardot, Francoise Fabian; A con–artist father leaves his devious minx of a daughter in the hands of a performer who discovers the girl is bent on disrupting his life the…
Sissi - The Young Empress (1956): Dir. Ernst Marischka
Feat. Romy Schneider; Royal life is not quite the bed of roses for Princess Sissi, now married to her beloved Franz but under the constant gaze of her meddling…
Grandes Manoeuvres, Les (1955): Dir. Rene Clair
Feat. Michele Morgan, Gerard Philipe, Brigitte Bardot; Sophisticated French fare is a battle of the sexes between a notorious womanizer, and the divorcee he’s convinced he’ll be able to seduce and…
Sissi (1955): Dir. Ernst Marischka
Feat. Romy Schneider; Regal saga finds 16–year–old princess Sissi fall in love with husband–to–be Franz Josef in the first of an ongoing series of…
Smiles of a Summer Night (Sommarnattens Leende) (1955): Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Ulla Jacobsson, Eva Dahlbeck, Harriet Andersson…; An enjoyable, ultimately serious comedy of deception set among the Swedish gentry of the early 20th century who are engaged in a poetic dance of…
Senso (1954): Dir. Luchino Visconti
Feat. Alida Valli, Farley Granger, Christian Marquand; A period love story set in the tumultuous 1860's in Italy, when it was occupied by invading Austrians. Dir. Visconti turns his eye on a love…
Victoria in Dover (The Story of Vickie) (1954): Dir. Ernst Marischka
Feat. Romy Schneider, Adrian Hoven; A prequel of sorts to the SISSI trilogy lovingly details the formative romance between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Romy Schneider features…
Gate of Hell (Jigokumon) (1953): Dir. Teinosuke Kinugasa
Feat. Machiko Kyo, Kazuo Hasegawa, Isao Yamagata; Tragic story of unrequited love set during the Heiji Rebellion in 1159, where a samurai warrior falls in love with a married…
Madame De... (Earrings Of Madame De..., The) (1953): Dir. Max Ophuls
Feat. Danielle Darrieux, Vittorio De Sica, Charles Boyer; Widely considered one of the dir.'s peak achievements, this gracefully and ironically traces a doomed menage–a–trois in 18th century…
Casque d'Or (Golden Marie) (1952): Dir. Jacques Becker
Feat. Simone Signoret, Serge Reggiani, Claude Dauphin; A gangster’s moll falls in love with a reformed criminal, igniting underworld violence, in this lush, overwhelming tragi–romance set in Paris…
La Ronde (1950): Dir. Max Ophuls
Feat. Anton Walbrook, Simone Signoret, Serge Reggiani…; A witty chronicle of circular love–affairs and seductions in 19th century Vienna. Lavish sets and extravagent spiralling camerawork complement…
Orpheus (Orphee) (1949): Dir. Jean Cocteau
Feat. Jean Marais, Maria Casares, Marie Dea…; Cocteau's surrealist retelling of the classical tragedy stars Jean Marais as Orphee, the writer who retrieves his wife Eurydice from the dead. A…
It Rains On Our Love (1946): Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Barbro Kollberg, Birger Malmsten; Bergman experiments with this awkward combination of romance and misery, in which a couple's happiness is dogged by their criminal and vagrant past.…
Eternel Retour, L' (1942): Dir. Jean Delannoy
Feat. Jean Marais, Madeleine Sologney, Yvonne de Bray…; (Love Eternal) A contemporary take on the legend of Tristan and Isolde, lovers united after death. Jean Cocteau's script is realised with the…
Jour Se Leve, Le (Daybreak) (1939): Dir. Marcel Carne
Feat. Jean Gabin, Arletty; A renowned example of 'poetic realism', Jean Gabin gives another consummate performance as a doomed anti–hero. His tragic story is told in…
L'Atalante (1934): Dir. Jean Vigo
Feat. Michel Simon, Jean Daste; A recently restored master work from the French film archive combines lyrical romance with inspired touches of fantasy.
Liebelei (1933): Dir. Max Ophuls
Feat. Arthur Schnitzler; An early work from the German maestro of the tracking shot, whose tale of doomed romance between a young soldier and fraulein (taken from a play by…
Le Million (1931): Dir. Rene Clair
Feat. Annabella, Rene Lefevre, Louis Allibert; An early French musical, so delightful it was to inspire the likes of the Marx Brothers and Charlie Chaplin and even the American Musical as a…

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