The 40 most popular 1980s french movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Exploits of a Young Don Juan
1986 · 1h 40m
country: France
In 1914, sixteen year old Roger returned home from boarding school during vacation to find his puberty hit hard in a house filled with beautiful women. These women have previous engagements with other men who are away, and during this time, Roger impregnates them all, including his aunt and sister, then devises plans to cuckold the men.


L'été en pente douce
1987 · 1h 42m
country: France
When he inherits the family house and property after his mother's death, aspiring novelist Fane returns home with his bimbo girlfriend Lilas. He must care for his idiot brother Mo and contend with a greedy garage owner who covets Fane's property to expand his business. When efforts to buy the property are fruitless, the mechanic incites the townsfolk against the strange trio.


The Name of the Rose
1986 · 2h 10m
country: France
14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence; which is considerable.


Possession
1981 · 2h 4m
country: France
A young woman left her family for an unspecified reason. The husband determines to find out the truth and starts following his wife. At first, he suspects that a man is involved. But gradually, he finds out more and more strange behaviors and bizarre incidents that indicate something more than a possessed love affair.


The Big Blue
1988 · 2h 48m
country: France
Childhood friends Jacques and Enzo share a passion for the danger of free diving. Jacques, following in the footsteps of his father, who died at sea when Jacques was a boy, harbors a remarkable ability to adjust his heart rate and breathing patterns in the water, with his vital signs more closely resembling those of dolphins than men.


The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
1989 · 2h 4m
country: France
When churlish mobster Albert Spica acquires an upscale French restaurant in London, he dines there nightly, effectively scaring off the clientele with his bad manners. His wife, Georgina, is especially disgusted by him, and soon begins an affair with regular guest Michael. Despite their best efforts to keep it secret, Spica learns about their trysts, and he plots a terrible revenge.


Quest for Fire
1981 · 1h 40m
country: Canada
In the prehistoric world, a Cro-Magnon tribe depends on an ever-burning source of fire, which eventually extinguishes. Lacking the knowledge to start a new fire, the tribe sends three warriors on a quest for more. With the tribe's future at stake, the warriors make their way across a treacherous landscape full of hostile tribes and monstrous beasts. On their journey, they encounter Ika, a woman who has the knowledge they seek.


Nuit d'ivresse
1986 · 1h 27m
country: France
Jacques Belin, presenter of a silly TV show, gets drunk after receiving an award and misses the train bringing his TV-soap-star fiancée. He meets up with Frède, just out of prison after a three year sentence and, in between numerous arguments and Jacques' break-up with his girlfriend, the two of them get drunker together, going across Paris in search of more alcohol and adventure.


Fanny and Alexander
1982 · 3h 8m
country: Sweden
As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie, marries a stern bishop. The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.


Caligula and Messalina
1981 · 1h 41m
country: Italy
When the deranged emperor Caligula falls for an insatiable gladiatrix, their reign launches a mind-bending bacchanal of torture, sodomy, incest, castration, and aroused livestock.


Beau Pere
1981 · 2h 3m
country: France
Rémi is a man trapped in a deteriorating marriage. When his wife is unexpectedly killed in a car accident, Rémi is left with his stepdaughter, Marion, who chooses to stay with him rather than live with her birth father. After the initial shock passes, Rémi is caught off-guard when Marion begins expressing her attraction to him. Initially repulsed, Marion's mature beauty wears him down as he finally caves to her seductions.


Betty Blue
1986 · 2h
country: France
A lackadaisical handyman and aspiring novelist tries to support his younger girlfriend as she slowly succumbs to madness.


Manon of the Spring
1986 · 1h 55m
country: France
In this, the sequel to Jean de Florette, Manon has grown into a beautiful young shepherdess living in the idyllic Provencal countryside. She plots vengeance on the men who greedily conspired to acquire her father's land years earlier.


The Party
1980 · 1h 50m
country: France
A thirteen-year-old French girl deals with moving to a new city and school in Paris, while at the same time her parents are getting a divorce.


Asterix in Britain
1986 · 1h 19m
country: Denmark
One little ancient British village still holds out against the Roman invaders. Asterix and Obelix are invited to help. They must face fog, rain, warm beer and boiled boar with mint sauce, but they soon have Governor Encyclopaedius Britannicus's Romans declining and falling. Until a wild race for a barrel of magic potion lands them in the drink.


Querelle
1982 · 1h 49m
country: Germany
French sailor Querelle arrives in Brest and starts frequenting a strange whorehouse. He discovers that his brother Robert is the lover of the lady owner, Lysiane. Here, you can play dice with Nono, Lysiane's husband: if you win, you are allowed to make love with Lysiane; if you lose, you have to make love with Nono... Querelle loses on purpose.


The Bear
1988 · 1h 37m
country: France
An orphan bear cub hooks up with an adult male as they try to dodge human hunters.


The Professional
1981 · 1h 48m
country: France
Josselin Beaumont, a French secret agent, is tasked with assassinating Njala, the president for life of Malawi in Africa. A shift in French policy means that assassinating Njala is no longer an option. But instead of recalling their agent, high-ranking officials deliberately sacrifice Beaumont by handing him over to the Malawian authorities. Arrested, tried, and imprisoned, he nevertheless manages to escape. Back in Paris after a two-year absence, he informs his superiors through Colonel Martin that he will fulfill his contract during Njala’s upcoming official visit to Paris between the 12th and 15th of this month, and that he has a few scores to settle with the D.G.S.E. The question is, should Beaumont be stopped or not?


My Dearest
1980 · 1h 27m
country: France
Jeanne has been divorced for seven years now and her life is centered around Sarah, her fifteen year-old daughter. They appear to have a perfectly harmonious life together, a relationship based on deep mutual understanding and trust. So when Sarah needs a contraceptive, it's her mother who goes alone to the drugstore with her. However, under this idyllic surface there are tensions at work. Jeanne's on and off affair with Pierre does not save her from feeling lonely, and Sarah is bored by school. Both of them dream of an independent life, though neither will admit it.


Le Guignolo
1980 · 1h 48m
country: France
After the failure of his recent criminal exploits, international con artist Alexandre Dupré sets off for Venice to try to dupe some Japanese business men into buying a fake copy of a stolen Caneletto. On the aeroplane, a stranger asks him to look after his briefcase until after they have landed. Alexandre agrees, but the stranger is shot dead soon after and Alexandre himself becomes the target of enemy agents who are keen to recover the briefcase...


Emmanuelle 4
1984 · 1h 29m
country: France
In order to escape from her former lover Marc, Sylvia goes to Brazil where Dr. Santamo transforms her into the beautiful Emmanuelle...


Tender Cousins
1980 · 1h 32m
country: Germany
Teenage Julien loves his teenage cousin Julia among flowers in summer of '39 France.


Gwendoline
1984 · 1h 28m
country: France
A beautiful woman hires an intrepid adventurer to help find her father, who has disappeared in the jungle while searching for a rare and priceless butterfly. Along the way they run into cannibals, a race of Amazon warriors and all the usual attractions one would expect to find in a lost jungle.


Asterix and the Big Fight
1989 · 1h 21m
country: France
Due to an unfortunate accident involving Obelix throwing a menhir, Getafix the druid not only loses his memory, but goes completely mad. Now deprived of the wisdom of their beloved druid and the protection provided by his magic potion, the Armorican village falls prey to a proclaimed soothsayer who comes with ominous predictions and overweening ambitions. It's up to Asterix to keep his villager friends within reason and hopefully get Getafix to remember the magic potion's recipe before the impending Roman attack.


The Story of O Part 2
1984 · 1h 47m
country: France
James Pembroke, a powerful industrialist, has become a nuisance to his rivals. That is the reason why they have decided to neutralize him. To this end they call on O, who has turned from victim to dominatrix. Her mission is to compromise not only James in person but his whole family as well. And to tell the truth, O does not find much resistance on her way...


Asterix vs. Caesar
1985 · 1h 19m
country: France
Obelix falls for a new arrival in his home village in Gaul, but is heartbroken when her true love arrives to visit her. However, the lovers are kidnapped by Romans; Asterix and Obelix set out to rescue them on a dangerous journey that will involve gladiators, slavers and beauracracy - and a personal encounter with the Emperor himself, Julius Caesar...


Jean de Florette
1986 · 2h 2m
country: France
In a rural French village, an old man and his only remaining relative cast their covetous eyes on an adjoining vacant property. They need its spring water for growing their flowers, and are dismayed to hear that the man who has inherited it is moving in. They block up the spring and watch as their new neighbour tries to keep his crops watered from wells far afield through the hot summer. Though they see his desperate efforts are breaking his health and his wife and daughter's hearts, they think only of getting the water.


Les enragés
1985 · 1h 32m
country: France
Marc and Laurent, two worrying misfits, break into a large isolated property in the middle of the countryside. Marc discovers with amazement that the place belongs to his idol, the movie star Jessica Melrose, of whom he is crazy. After a strange night, in the morning, Jessica meets the two "explorers" who will make her live a day of waking nightmare .


The Party 2
1982 · 1h 49m
country: France
A young French teenage girl after moving to a new city falls in love with a boy and is thinking of having sex with him because her girlfriends have already done it.


The Public Woman
1984 · 1h 53m
country: France
An inexperienced young actress is invited to play a role in a film based on Dostoyevsky's 'The Possessed'. The film director, a Czech immigrant in Paris, takes over her life, and in a short time she is unable to draw the line between acting and reality. She winds up playing a real-life role posing as the dead wife of another Czech immigrant, who is manipulated by the filmmaker into commiting a political assassination.


English Education
1983 · 1h 28m
country: France
After losing both her parents, young Sylvie is enrolled in a strict boarding school of Victorian English education. The school readily and willingly resorts to a very strict regime of correction and corporal punishment to discipline its female pupils and the young girls compensate for the rigors of their education by devoting themselves to all kinds of kinky schoolgirl sexual encounters.


Au Revoir les Enfants
1987 · 1h 45m
country: Germany
Au revoir les enfants tells a heartbreaking story of friendship and devastating loss concerning two boys living in Nazi-occupied France. At a provincial Catholic boarding school, the precocious youths enjoy true camaraderie—until a secret is revealed. Based on events from writer-director Malle’s own childhood, the film is a subtle, precisely observed tale of courage, cowardice, and tragic awakening.


First Desires
1983 · 1h 33m
country: France
Three teenage girls decide to visit a romantic island and find love. They get shipwrecked and end up on different sides of the island. Each girl begins her own romantic adventure either with a man, a boy or even another girl.
Three Moods
Three Moods
1980 · 7m
country: France
The last film made by Alexander Alexeieff and Claire Parker. Trois thèmes was made on the pinscreen, and first shown in Milan, Italy, in March 1980. It was based on three works by Mussorgsky.


The Lady Banker
1980 · 2h 11m
country: France
Ambitious Emma Eckhert successfully makes her way into a world previously reserved for men: that of high finance. She quickly becomes popular with small savers, but leads a scandalous life that will cost her.


Mad Love
1985 · 1h 41m
country: France
After a successful bank robbery, Micky hopes to take back his girlfriend Marie who has been taken from him. On the way to Paris he meets Leon, a neurotic dreamer whom he considers an idiot. Leon can hardly understand what Micky is up to but he follows him everywhere and soon falls in love with Marie.


Les Conquérants de l'impossible - Portrait de René Desmaison
1985 · 52m
country: France
This episode is part of the series "The Conquerors of the Impossible (2/3)". From the 1950s to the 1980s, René Desmaison achieved a large number of "firsts". A specialist in normal routes (west face of Les Drus, Pilier du Freyney, Shroud...), he experienced a tragedy at the Grandes Jorasses, where his exceptional resistance allowed him to survive against all logic. He is the first to claim the practice of the mountain as a high level sport. A man of contrasts, his apparent strength hides great shyness and an unalterable enthusiasm despite the years. Beyond mountaineering, it is the spirit of adventure that has always inhabited him. A whole life devoted to mountaineering.
L'Apparition
L'Apparition
1986 · 11m
country: France
A man's bathroom routine triggers a miraculous vision in a nearby church.


La Pirate
1984 · 1h 28m
country: France
Shortly after returning home one evening with her husband, Alma is visited by her one-time lesbian lover Carole. In the ensuing emotional torrent, Alma allows herself to be abducted by Carole and taken to a hotel, pursued by a young girl - an unnamed friend of Carole - and an eccentric bystander posing as a private detective. Before Alma and Carole can resolve their situation, Alma's husband Andrew appears on the scene and, in a mad frenzy, attempts to reclaim his wife…


The Last Metro
1980 · 2h 11m
country: France
In occupied Paris, an actress wed to a Jewish theater owner must keep him hidden from the Nazis while doing both of their jobs.
The 1980s codified the blockbuster — high concept, wide release, heavy merchandising — while home video quietly built a second life for films that flopped in theaters. Practical effects hit their peak just before CGI arrived.
French cinema invented much of what we consider film language, then reinvented it again with the Nouvelle Vague of the late 1950s. It remains Europe's most prolific film industry, with a strong tradition of state support for auteur work.