Indeed, the country that birthed theLumiere brothershas never stopped innovating.

It’s the landing.

Vinz finds a lost police gun and vows revenge.

Amelie smiling under an umbrella

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Hubert dreams of getting out.

Said plays the middleman.

These characters embody different responses to a broken social system: anger, resignation, and deflection.

Vinz looking and pointing at the camera while biting his lip in ‘La Haine’

Image via MKL Distribution

Its vision of social divides and culture clash in contemporary France continues to resonate, makingLa Hainea modern classic.

On the other end of the spectrum isAmelie.

WhereLa Haineis harsh and real, thisJean-Pierre Jeunetmovie is light and whimsical.

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Tautou is luminous here, embodying innocence without naivety, the ultimate introvert-as-hero.

It adds up toa pure delight of a movie that revels in the fun and possibilities of the medium.

Watching it feels like a secret being whispered in your ear tender, surprising, and oddly vital.

Amelie at the cinema

Image via UGC

Despite the darkness surrounding its creation,Les Efants du Paradisradiates nothing but light.

Binoche is brilliant, as one would expect, and the music is stellar throughout.

“Playtimeis perhapsthe defining film byJacques Tati, France’s answer to the great silent clowns likeCharlie ChaplinandBuster Keaton.

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It sees Tati’s beloved Monsieur Hulot character journeying through a sterile, hyper-modern Paris.

On release, audiences were lukewarm toward the film, but it’s since been recognized as a masterpiece.

I’ve done everything I could to make you love me.

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Their relationship suffuses the whole movie with a kind of romantic melancholy.

What sets the film apart isits total commitment to style as substance.

InA Man Escaped, the drama plays out almost entirely within four walls.

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Leaud’s performance is impressive, way beyond his years, and helps to ground the whole movie.

Everything is raw, unpolished, and boundary-pushing.

All told, while not flawless,Breathlessis creative and bold, somehow still feeling fresh 65 years later.

A still from Derek Jarman’s 1993 movie Blue

Image via Channel 4

But beneath the elegance lies rot.

Marriages are hollow, loyalties are transactional, and class divides run deep.

The satire here is precise and merciless, making for a barbed portrait of 1930s France.

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The social critique was prescient, hinting at the collaborationist Vichy regime to come.

NEXT:The 10 Best Woody Harrelson Movies, Ranked

A man looking at a group of employees in cubicules in Playtime

Image via Unidis

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Catherine Denueve and Nino Castelnuovo cry in cafe in ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’

Image via 20th Century Studios

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Two men looking down from a roof in A Man Escaped

Image via Criterion

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Jean-Pierre Léaud as Antoine Donel standing on a beach in The 400 Blows.

Image via Cocinor

Jean Seberg kissing Jean-Paul Belmondo on the cheek in Breathless

Image via StudioCanal

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Nora Gregor and Jean Renoir in ‘The Rules of the Game’

Image via Gaumont Film Company

Rules of the Game 1939 Movie Poster

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