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The five most romantic French films of all time

No one makes romantic films like the French do - here are five of the best. (And no Amélie is not one of them.)

Published: 14 February 2017 09:08 CET
Updated: 12 October 2022 15:13 CEST
The five most romantic French films of all time
A scene from Heartbreaker. Photo: YouTube/Screengrab

Ukraine’s Defence Ministry referenced France’s reputation as the country of romance when it unveiled a ‘romantic’ film asking the French government to send them more weapons to help defeat the Russian invaders.

 
 

And it’s true, the French really are the masters when it comes to truly romantic films – here are some suggestions from the masters of French film, Lost in Frenchlation. 

1. Peau d’Âne (Once Upon a Time) by Jacques Demy, 1970

A musical fairy tale, starring Catherine Deneuve (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) who is at her most beautiful in this film, and Jean Marais (Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast). Peau d’Âne is about a widowed king who insists that his second wife be as beautiful as his first.

As with all good fairytales, the film has its dark side… incest being its main theme. Yet somehow, it still manages to maintain its charm through its genius artistic design, use of colour, and memorable songs. You will either hate it or love it, but you won’t be able to get the haunting main theme song (from the great film score composer Michel Legrand) out of your head.

2. La Boum (Ready for Love) by Claude Pinoteau, 1980

A drama/teen flick about 13-year-old Vic who is trying to fit in at her new school, but is roadblocked by her parents who won’t let her go to the “boum” (big party). With some help from her grandma, she manages to get there anyway and meets the love of her life, Matthieu.

The film captures the mood of teenage love while avoiding the sentimentality that takes over in American films with similar story lines. Its honesty and depiction of first love, friendship, and family troubles make it something that everyone can relate to. It’s a “classic” for those who grew up in the eighties, and equally loved by people from all generations.

3. L’Arnacoeur (Heartbreaker) by Pascal Chaumeil, 2010

A romantic comedy starring Romain Duris (The Beat That My Heart Skipped) who runs a business designed to break up relationships. The immoral firm is hired to break up the wedding of a rich client’s daughter (Vanessa Paradis), a strong-minded businesswoman about to marry a charming English man (Andrew Lincoln).

Look out for the darkly funny and brilliant prologue at the beginning of the film which sets the story’s tone, as well as the Dirty Dancing scene which is another must-see. It’s the kind of thing Hollywood loves to copy but never manages to do with the required French lightness and elegance.

4. 20 ans d’écart (It Boy) by David Moreau, 2013

Another romantic comedy about an under-40 fashionista (Virginie Efira) who falls for an appealing yet clumsy student (Pierre Niney).

Despite the 20-year age difference (as suggested by the French title), the chemistry between them is perfect. The movie is filled with hilarious scenes about the mismatches in all kinds of life experiences (especially the scene of the couple’s first, quite awkward sexual encounter) and plays to the French stereotype that cougars are both sexy and cool.

5. 3 coeurs (3 hearts) by Benoît Jacquot, 2014 

A drama about how a tax inspector (Benoît Poelvoorde), his new bride (Chiara Mastroianni) and her sister (Charlotte Gainsbourg) become caught up in a love triangle (a not-so-uncommon experience in France… according to another stereotype).

Featuring amazing performances from the actors, it’s a strong film about love, passion, and chance. This sentimental thriller’s cruelness and tenderness will pull you in two directions at once, making it a movie that needs to be on your list of things to watch.

By Manon Kerjean and Matt Bryan, co-founders of Lost in Frenchlation

Lost in Frenchlation hosts screenings of French films with English subtitles at cinemas throughout Paris.

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FOOD AND DRINK

Paris bakers attempt world’s longest baguette

A dozen French bakers have set their minds to beating the world record for the world's longest baguette - hoping to join a long list of French records from stretchiest aligot to biggest tarte tatin.

Published: 3 May 2024 13:36 CEST
Paris bakers attempt world's longest baguette

On Sunday, 12 Paris bakers will attempt to beat the world record for the longest baguette, as part of the Suresnes Baguette Show, which was organised by the French confederation of bakers and pastry chefs. 

The current record is held by Italian bakers, who in 2019 baked a 132.6 m long baguette – roughly the height of the Great Pyramid at Giza (which is now about 138.5 metres tall). 

By contrast, the standard French baguette is between 60 and 70 centimetres long, and roughly 5-7cm in diametre.

The French boulangers will have some challenges – they’ll need to knead all of the dough and then put it together on site. The only ingredients allowed are flour, water, yeast and salt. In order to count, the bread will have to be at least 5cm thick across its entire length.

According to the press release for the event, cooking the giant baguette will take at least eight hours.

Once it’s prepared, it will be up to the judges from the Guinness Book of World Records to determine if the record was beaten or not.

Then, the baguette will be cut up and Nutella will be spread across it, with part of it shared with the public and the other part handed out to homeless people.

What about other French world records?

There are official competitions every year to mark the best croissant and baguette, plus plenty of bizarre festivals in towns across France.

The French also like to try their hand at world records. 

Stretchiest aligot – If you haven’t come across aligot before, it’s basically a superior form of cheesy mash – it’s made by mixing mashed potato with butter, garlic, cream and cheese.

The traditional cheese used is Laguiole but you can also use tomme or any cheese that goes stringy when stretched. That stretchiness is very important – it makes aligot is a popular dish for world records. 

In 2020, three brothers managed to stretch the aligot 6.2m, and apparently in 2021 they broke that record too (though unofficially), by adding an extra metre.

READ MORE: 5 things to know about aligot – France’s cheesy winter dish

And in 2023, in Albi in southern France, local media reported that a man had made the world’s largest aligot (not the stretchiest). He reportedly used 200kg of potatoes and 100kg of Aubrac tomme cheese. 

Cheesy pizza – A Lyon-based pizza maker, Benoît Bruel, won a spot in the 2023 Guinness Book of World Records for creating a pizza with 1,001 cheeses on top of it. 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Déliss Pizza (@delisspizza)

Biggest raclette – In March, the city of Saint-Etienne in France claimed the world record for the ‘largest raclette’.

There were 2,236 people who participated, and the raclette involved 620 kg of cheese, 350 kg of cold meat and one tonne of potatoes. 

Largest omelette – Unfortunately, France does not hold this title anymore, though it did in 1994, when the town of Montourtier in the département of Mayenne cooked up an omelette on a giant pan with a 13.11m diameter. 

Currently, the title is held by Portugal, according to Guinness. In 2012, the town of Santarém cooked an omelette weighing 7.466 tonnes.

Still, France cooks giant omelettes all the time. Every Easter, the ‘Brotherhood of the Giant Omelette’ cooks up one, cracking thousands of eggs and passing out portions to the people in the town of Bessières.

Largest tarte tatin – The French town of Lamotte-Beuvron also beat a world record in 2019 for making the largest tarte tatin, which weighed 308kg. 

This isn’t the first time the French have experimented with gigantic apple pies. In 2000, the country made history (and the Guinness Book of World Records) for creating an apple pie that measured 15.2m in diameter. It used 13,500 apples and required a crane to be lifted (as shown below).

(Photo by MICHEL HERMANS / AFP)
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