Why do you choose to watch French films rather than just US/UK prod.?

French films first of all have very good action. Although many films are not superior to Hollywood in action they definitely have some of the best action films. District B-13 for example. French know their action. Not to mention they have a lot of originality, diversity, and skill in movie making: High Tension, and City of Lost Children. I watch quite a few French films because quite a few French films are very impressive. I think Hollywood produces good stuff as well but that doesn't mean other nations are not producing films of equal or greater value. The UK produces some stuff I like but once again they are just A producer not THE producer.

Why do the alleged students who keep posting questions like these to IMDb never come back and say thank you?

I also dislike the implicit attitude in the first question. Why on earth wouldn't I watch an interesting film just because of where it comes from? That word 'choose' as though there is something wrong with me wanting to watch French films borders on offensive.

Well I speak French almost fluently, so I enjoy watching French movies. The problem here is that most French films are more "slice-of-life" or grounded in reality. They don't make many sci-fi movies, or fantasy, or action. What we get most of the time are romantic comedies because most people assume the only reason anyone would want to watch a French movie is to watch a romantic comedy. Just like the assumption is that no-one wants to watch a Chinese movie unless it's a crazy martial arts film.

So I hope that answers questions one and three. But anything I expect French films to have? That'd be better production values even with a tight budget. They have retained the art of making a movie look good no mater what the budget that it seems Hollywood has lost. But this goes the same for British films as well. They generally seem to have a better quality about them, and let's not forget how European productions in general use different cinematography than most American films.

All-in-all I look for a movie that looks like it would appeal to me, whether it's in French or any other language.

1. I don't care the origin of the film. If it's a film worth watching, I'm interested to see it.

2. A distinctly continental sensibility!

3. I saw the ads for it at the time, and it looked great. I was sold on the visuals, and was happy to find there was an intriguing story to go along with it.

4. I enjoyed the mysterious aspect, as we are led along through the main character's investigation. The conspiratorial subtext, layered in throughout the movie in ways for us to figure out as we watch the events unfold. And the witty, cutting dialog makes it all an enjoyable process.

5. Genuine. Each had his/her own motivations and perspectives, and was believable as being who that character was supposed to be, and each contributing accordingly to the story.

"Why do you choose to watch French films rather than just US/UK prod.?"

I dont understand. Why do people have to chooses genres/types? Cant we just watch good movies of every language? Mind boggles.
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I measure intelligence on the basis of a species compatibility to live in harmony with nature.

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I'm French and I live in Ireland. I honestly think French cinema isn't what it used to be. We got lost in our own pride and the way the industry is supported isn't quite conducive to creativity. As far as I'm concerned the last great French movie was La Haine in 1994. After that we've had sporadic success with a few films every few years or so. La Môme (La Vie en Rose) would be the last one to have brought back this success. Our best actors (Marion Cotillard or Juliette Binoche for example) tend to go and do American films, probably because good productions are difficult to find in France. There is a law in France that says cinema have to show a minimum percentage of French movies before American ones. Another allows productions to receive advance payments on sales from the State to make their films. I believe that while this certainly does help to support an industry that -let's face it - doesn't have the money to make Hollywood style movies, it also means directors and producers can lie back and expect their movies to be sold regardless of quality. There just isn't enough competition for them to just try harder. On the other hand, French cinema used to be great and the French do have quite a pride in their "exception culturelle". We actually often call American movies "dumb American sh*t" as if that was necessarily what every American movie was. They tend to think the likes of American Pie, Superbad and dumb slasher films basically represent American cinema. While French cinema is based on culture and intellect. That's the legend of our cinema. In reality you will not find a French person who will refuse to recognize Scorcese and Clint Eastwood are certainly among the best directors in the world and that the best movies they have seen are probably American movies, both technically and artistically. But that's when you actually ask them and make them think about it. At the same time, if you go to French theaters regularly enough, you've probably seen tons of dumb boring French films. Two major things plague our movies: the desire to imitate American movies for their entertainment value (which usually means bad comedies since that's the legend we made around American cinema) and the desire to retain the great tradition of our cinema, which often means long boring tedious films that spend too much time engrossed in their own sense of self-worth.
That doesn't mean there isn't a great French cinema. There certainly is. But it is becoming rarer. So the answer to your question is. People in other countries like French movies because the ones we do manage to export are usually the best of the best. The rare exceptions. Go to an American cinema and you'll have to look for the good movies and distinguish them from the bad ones. But if they happen to show a French movie, it's a rather safe bet that it's going to be a good one, simply because someone made the selection already. We had plenty of bad films out the year La Vie en Rose was released. But La Vie en Rose was sent out as a representative. Kind of like thinking all French women are beautiful simply by judging the one who was sent to compete in Miss Universe.

Eibhlinn Savage

[insert movie quote]

To me it's because US/UK is mainly *beep* productions, in the past decades