France has a long history of moviemaking, and outside of the United States, it has one of the bigger movie cultures of any other country. For many decades now, American movies have been a major inspiration for French movie makers, so the method of moviemaking and the plots share similar styles and concerns as their American counterparts, being familiar to a North American audience.
The 2010s was an impressive decade for French movies, many of which reached international shores and earned nominations and awards at movie festivals outside of France. Many of them deal with social issues that range from immigration, mental health, and LGBTQ+ relationships. Genre is also popular with French audiences, so there are also notable thriller and horror movies.
2010 - Incendies (8.3)
A French-Canadian production by none other than Denis Villeneuve, Incendies brings to light the circumstances of Middle Eastern immigrants that seek refuge in the west to escape their war-torn homelands.
After the death of their Arab mother, a brother and sister discover through her will that they have a previously unknown brother. In the mother's will, she tasks her children with traveling to an unidentified city in the Middle East in the grips of civil war to recover their lost brother, fulfilling their mother's dying wish.
2011 - The Intouchables (8.5)
The biggest movie sensation to come out of France in the 2010s is The Intouchables. The movie was so popular that Hollywood adapted it as The Upside starring Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart. Phillipe is a wealthy paraplegic that hires Driss, an African immigrant, as an in-house caretaker.
An unusual friendship forms between the two men who come from opposing social spheres, transcending the rigid class differences that would usually keep them apart. When circumstances arise that separate them, the two struggle to go on without the consolation of their friendship.
2012 - Amour (7.9)
A difficult reality that most movies shy away from, the theme of old age receives full treatment in this heartrending drama. An elderly couple both in their 80s confronts and resist their mortality when Anne suffers a stroke. At the discontent of her husband Georges, Anne initially refuses to seek medical attention until her condition worsens.
Rather than move into a long-term care facility, Georges hires in-home care workers in a desperate effort to keep Anne and him together despite her worsening condition, protests from their daughter, and the nurses' mistreatment of Anne. The movie's realism and its performances earn the audience's empathy no matter their age.
2013 - Blue Is The Warmest Color (7.7)
Adele is a high school student that fears her friends will be prejudiced and exclude her if she is transparent about her sexuality. When she secretly attends a gay bar, she meets a college art student Valentin with whom she enters into a relationship, finally able to express herself. At school, Adele's friends hear rumors about her relationship with Valentin, and everything Adele fears would happen becomes true.
Now a social outsider, she finds solace in her relationship with Valentin, which becomes sexually intense and a form of self-discovery. For this reason, Valentin becomes skeptical that Adele is only using her, erupting into a visceral confrontation of heartbreak and lost identity.
2014 - Two Days, One Night (7.3)
Featuring the always spellbinding Marion Cotillard of Inception fame, this Belgian entry grapples with issues of mental health among the working class. Returning to work after taking a leave for depression and anxiety, Sandra realizes that her employer has been incentivizing her co-workers to work a small amount of overtime to eliminate her job as redundant.
In addition to these difficulties, only two of her sixteen co-workers cast a ballot wanting Sandra to stay. As she struggles to adapt to the strain this event places on her mental health, Sandra's employer gives her a week to convince her colleagues to let her keep her job. The movie criticizes the incompatibility of economic and social interests in big corporate business, and the trickle-down effect that has on its employees.
2015 - My King (7.1)
Beginning as a love triangle between a married couple and a former lover, then descending into an examination of gaslighting that blights so many toxic relationships, My King is a melodrama about the difference between love and monogamy.
Tony describes the ups and downs of their relationship in flashbacks, covering the long periods of jealousy and deceit with intermittent moments of happiness, but that drives Tony to attempt suicide. As Georgio's career flounders and Tony ascends as a lawyer, a bitter divorce battle ensues. Despite everything, the inexplicable mutual attraction that initiates their relationship survives.
2016 - Elle (7.1)
A thriller that focuses on the CEO of a video game development company who becomes the victim of a home invasion and rape. As a highly motivated and successful businesswoman, Michèle doesn't want news of her calamity to become public, so she cleans up the crime scene and takes the investigation into her own hands.
Featuring the decorated and revered French actress Isabelle Huppert, who earned universal applause and accolades for her performance, this melodrama about a disillusioned middle-aged woman blurs the lines and enters into controversial territory.
2017 - Custody (7.5)
Turning its attention to the psychological damage that divorces place on the children caught in the middle of the turmoil, this traumatic movie may be too hard for some. To Miriam's dismay, her violent ex-husband Antoine earns joint custody of their pre-teen son despite the child's wish to live full time with his mother. To gain leverage over Miriam, Antoine threatens violence and uses intimidation tactics against his son Julien.
Trapped between his embattled parents, Julien develops similar volatile behavior. For those who endured similar experiences when they were younger, this movie will be a powerful but difficult one to watch.
2018 - Climax (7.1)
Combine the burlesque with horror and this psychedelic murder mystery is the monster that takes shape. The basic premise is that a dance troupe gather at a rehearsal party where someone spikes their sangria with LSD. Their carnivalesque party deteriorates into surreal dimensions that pit the previously free-spirited dancers against each other.
The movie is notable for its glossy cinematography and its cast of colorful characters, most of which are professional dancers that add to the authenticity of the movie's impressive choreography. An uncanny techno soundtrack also captures the movie's strange disillusioning atmosphere.
2019 - Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (8.1)
An LGBTQ+ romance drama that stands out among others of its kind, it imagines what a closeted lesbian relationship may have looked like in the patriarchal society of 18th century France. The movie is set on an island off the beautiful coastline of Brittany, portraying the doomed romance between an unwilling fiance Héloïse and her portrait artist Mariane. As a period piece, the scenario embellishes how the risks of coming out bind people, removing their freedom to choose.
In reoccurring scenes of striking beauty, Héloïse stands on the shoreline gazing at the seaspray, trapped on the island the same way her fate as a housewife imprisons her. Rather than portray explicit sexual content as other comparable movies do, Portrait focuses on subtler details that bring into focus the agonizing repression of its characters.