French Language Films

Click to watch "The Matrix" in French

French language films are guaranteed to help you enrich your French vocabulary, increase your French comprehension, and improve your French-speaking skills. In fact, the experts say that watching movies in French or English movies with French subtitles is a great way to speed up your French learning. Any medium which is entertaining or fun will increase your retention and motivation, so French cartoons, French newspapers, and French radio and TV are also great language-learning boosters.

To get the most out of French language films, here are some more tips from the experts:

• Begin by watching children's movies in French, where the language is simpler and the pictures are more animated, making the movies easier to understand
• Watch classics and favorite movies in French; since you already know the plot and are familiar with the characters, you will be able to pick up the dialogue more easily
• Jot down or keep a list of new French phrases or vocabulary that you've learnt from the movies. And as always, practice, practice, practice!
• Try out your new-found French language skills on friends, family, neighbors, or anyone who will listen. Better yet, get together with a native French-speaking person who can give you feedback and help you correct pronunciation errors
• After watching French language films, record yourself role-playing one of the movie characters and then listen to the playback to hear how your voice sounds in French
• Take any sentence from the movie, and with the help of your French grammar textbook or online French lessons, conjugate the same sentence in a few different tenses; you can also convert a sentence from masculine to feminine or from singular to plural and vice versa
• Host a weekly or monthly French Movie Night with your friends, choosing award-wining and acclaimed French films, as well as French films from all the different genres. Many English movies are now available in DVD or online with French audio and subtitles

To find out which French language films have been released most recently, look for a list of the foreign films showcased at the current year's Cannes Film Festival, which takes place every May at the Palais des Festivals in the city of Cannes, situated in southern France. The film festival, which attracts the top directors, produces, and actors in the film industry, as well as millions of film enthusiasts, is France's pride and joy and a "must-attend" event if you are visiting France in the spring.

Check out these best French movies