FrenchCulture2013 - Movie Culture

Table of Contents
First French Movie Ever Made

Most Awarded French Movie

Most Awarded Actors/Actresses In France

Most Popular French Movie in the United States

Famous French Directors

Our Interpretation
American movies aren't truly 100% American, no sir. We have a lot of great films from Hollywood but where did we get our inspiration? You can thank the French movie culture. Many French movies have won awards, and become very popular along with the actors and actresses in them. Now, French movies are becoming popular in the United States also.

First French Movie Ever Made

The first French movie to become popular in the U.S. was "L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat" (The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station) in 1895 directed and produced by Auguste and Louis Lumière. Most historians consider this movie to be the birthplace of movies. It was a silent documentary in black and white with a running time of only 50 seconds. The first public showing took place January 1896.

El Artista (The Artist) has won more awards than any other French movie in history. Directed by Michel Hazanavicius, it made over 44 million dollars. At the 65th British Academy Film Awards, the film won seven awards, including Best Film, Best Actor for Dujardin, Best Original Screenplay for Hazanavicius, Cinematography for Schiffman, Costume Design for Bridges and Original Score for Ludovic Bource. At the 69th Golden Globe Awards, the film was nominated for six Golden Globes to win three of them; Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Dujardin and Best Musical Score for Bource. At the 84th Academy Awards, The Artist received ten nominations, winning five awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Hazanavicius, Best Actor for Dujardin, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score.

One of the most famous french actors is Gerard Depardieu, he has also been in multiple american movies, like “Life Of Pi” and others. He was also nominated for an Oscar in the USA for the movie “Cyrano de Bergerac” in 1990, and he was nominated and won the Golden Globe award for the movie “Green Card” in 1990. Gerard has been nominated and won many awards in France and in America. He is a very known actor in France, he was one of the top actors in France in the 80's and 90's, and known here as well in the USA. Another known actor would be Jean Reno who has also been in a variety of american films. One that is very famous is “French Kiss” who stars Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline. Also has been in “Mission: Impossible” movies that stars the well known Tom Cruise, and was in the movie “Godzilla”, “Ronin” played along with Robert De Niro, as well as multiple others. He has been nominated for multiple awards he won the award “Outstanding European Achievement In World Cinema” in 2000. One of the famous french actresses is Audrey Tautou who has also starred in american movies, one of her most famous would be “The Da Vinci Code” who she starred along with Tom Hanks. She has been nominated for very many films and has won multiple of them. She is very know for the movie she starred in called “Amelie”, she was nominated and won awards for this movie.

"Dinner for Schmucks" is a great example for French movies that were remade by Hollywood into American films. In fact it’s the most popular. “Dinner for Schmucks,' based on the very funny 1998 French farce 'The Dinner Game' ('Le dîner de cons'). It is a movie about friends getting together for a dinner party. Each friend must bring an appropriate guest. Appropriate meaning someone of low intelligence, funny looking, socially awkward, and of course falls under the category of a schmuck. The point of this gathering is to see who can bring a person that most qualifies in all these categories and so all the friend can just sit around and enjoy the stupidity of their guests. Cheap entertainment. ‘The Dinner Game’ was written and directed by Francis Veber in. this film has won many awards. “The categories where it won were Best Actor for Jacques Villeret, Best Supporting Actor for Daniel Prévost and Best Screenplay for Francis Veber. It was nominated but did not win for Best Film, Veber as Best Director and Catherine Frot as Best Supporting Actress.

Without the amazing work of the incredible people behind the movies making sure everything is always running smoothly, the director, it is easy to say that there would no need for actors, actresses, awards, or Hollywood. Directors have a huge roll in the making of film in every culture including the french culture. One of the most famous directors in France is François Truffaut. François Truffaut was born on February 6, 1932 in Paris, France. By the age of 7, he was going to the movies on a regular basis. At the age of 14 he dropped out of school and got a job. When he was 15, he became part of a film club where he met a French critic André Bazin. Bazin became his protector. Later on in life, his friend bailed him out of jail when he deserted the army. He wrote his first review in 1953. A year later, he directed his first short film. In 1957, François Truffaut married the daughter of a film director, Madeleine Morgenstern. He started his first film industry Les Films du Carrosse the same year. The start of his movie making career was with the movie The Kids in 1957. In 1959, he directed The 400 Blows, a movie that began the 'New Wave' movement in France. That same year, his first daughter, Laura, was born. He had 2 other daughters, Eva and Fanny. Many of his movies have won awards including Day for Night (Oscar), The 400 Blows (Oscar), and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (BAFTA Film Award).