French films about self-sacrifice

List of the best French films about self-sacrifice, selected by visitors to our site: The Load, Lucky, The Emperor of Paris, Family Is Family, Barbecue, The Ideal Palace, Marianne, La liste de mes envies, April and the Extraordinary World, A Mermaid in Paris.

In the top there are new films of 2021, a plot description and trailers for films that have already been released.

Country
Markimdb: 6.5
Genredrama, history
CountrySerbia, France, Croatia, Iran, Qatar

Vlada works as a truck driver during the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999. Tasked with transporting a mysterious load from Kosovo to Belgrade, he drives through unfamiliar territory, trying to make his way in a country scarred by the war. He knows that once the job is over, he will need to return home and face the consequences of his actions.

Markimdb: 4.6
Genrecomedy
CountryFrance

Willy and Tony have a brilliant idea for getting out of it financially: stealing a dog from the brigade des stups. But everything does not go as planned and the two accomplices will have to rely on the most corrupt of the cops.

Markimdb: 6.3
Genrethriller, adventure, crime, history
CountryFrance
Duration01:50

Paris, France, early 19th century. The legendary convict François Vidocq lives in disguise trying to escape from a tragic past that torments him. When, after an unfortunate event, he crosses paths with the police chief, he makes a bold decision that will turn the ruthless mastermind of the Parisian underworld against him.

Markimdb: 5.7
Genrecomedy
CountryFrance
Duration02:10

Valentin D is a hot designer architect who claims to be an orphan because he is too ashamed to admit he is the son of working-class scrap metal merchants from the north of France.

Markimdb: 6.1
Genrecomedy
CountryFrance

On his 50th birthday, a man who's been watching his weight, health and temper all his life suffers a heart attack. He's been doing everything he was told he should do and it still didn't help. He decides to turn the page and let loose.

Markimdb: 7.1
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryFrance, Belgium

Follows Joseph Ferdinand Chavel a French postman who built a palace in the French countryside over 33 years.

Markimdb: 7.4
Genrehorror, drama
CountryFrance
Duration01:17

When a novelist realizes her terrifying stories are coming true, she returns to her hometown to face the demons from her past that inspire her writing.

Markimdb: 5.4
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryFrance
Duration01:34

When the little haberdasher Arras discovers she's won 18 million in the lottery and can now afford anything she wants, she has only one fear: losing the small joys of life made simple it cherishes above all. But fate is obstinate, and this is giving too long this good fortune will trigger it, despite herself, a hurricane that will change everything. Everything except her.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genrefantastic, thriller, comedy, drama, adventure, family, cartoon, detective
CountryFrance, Canada, Belgium

France asleep in the nineteenth century, governed by steam and Napoleon VI, where scientists vanish mysteriously, a girl, Avril, goes in search of her missing scientist parents.

Markimdb: 5.7
Genrefantasy, comedy, melodrama
CountryFrance

A man rescues a mermaid in Paris and slowly falls in love with her.

Markimdb: 5.4
Genrecomedy, sport
CountryFrance
Duration01:37

A former footballer living in Brittany enlists his old teammates to help the local fisherman to win some games in order to raise money and save jobs.

Markimdb: 6.3
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryFrance

The daughter of one of the architects who built the Eiffel Tower gets framed for a murder that has taken place there, so she and her girlfriend embark on a quest across Paris to solve the mystery.

Markimdb: 6.3
Genrecomedy, melodrama
CountryFrance
Duration01:36

Antoine is a lawyer living in New York. On his way back to France for the final round of a job interview, Antoine finds himself sitting right next to his ex-girlfriend Julie. With a seven-hour flight ahead of them, they are going to have to speak to each other.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
CountryUSA, France
Duration01:38

Set in the 1920s French Riviera, a master magician is commissioned to try and expose a psychic as a fraud.

Markimdb: 5.9
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryFrance, Belgium, Germany
Duration01:35

An ageing punk-with-a-dog and his brother the conformist decide to get their revenge on a shopping mall. Directing duo Benoit Delepine and Gustave Kervern, longstanding comic crusaders against capitalism, again set out to surprise and shock the bourgeois audience.

Markimdb: 7.4
Genrefantasy, comedy, adventure, family, cartoon
CountryFrance, Belgium
Duration01:11

The misadventures of a young clumsy Fox and a feisty little red Hen. The Fox, both a little stupid and naïve, tries daily to devour the little Hen, without success. Tired of the repeated humiliation, the Fox is persuaded to steal the Hen’s eggs to raise and then eat. This plan seems perfect, until the moment the chicks hatch…

Markimdb: 6.9
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama
CountryFrance
Duration01:36

Summertime. A cruising spot for men, tucked away on the shores of a lake. Franck falls in love with Michel, an attractive, potent and lethally dangerous man. Franck knows this, but wants to live out his passion anyway.

Markimdb: 7.8
Genrefantasy, comedy, drama, adventure, family, cartoon, crime
CountryFrance, Belgium, Luxembourg
Duration01:20

Celestine is a little mouse trying to avoid a dental career; Ernest is a big bear craving an artistic outlet. When Celestine meets Ernest, they overcome their natural enmity by forging a life of crime together.

Markimdb: 6.4
Genremelodrama, drama
CountryFrance
Duration01:43

During World War I, a home care nurse treats a man who lost one leg on the front lines. A strong bond arises between them and evolves into a passionate love affair.

Markimdb: 7.9
Genrefantasy, melodrama, drama
CountryFrance
Duration01:34

The story of a gentle-hearted beast in love with a simple and beautiful girl. She is drawn to the repellent but strangely fascinating Beast, who tests her fidelity by giving her a key, telling her that if she doesn't return it to him by a specific time, he will die of grief. She is unable to return the key on time, but it is revealed that the Beast is the genuinely handsome one. A simple tale of tragic love that turns into a surreal vision of death, desire, and beauty.

Markimdb: 6.4
Genrethriller, drama
CountryFrance, Luxembourg

Frédéric, a young man with a troubled past, has the good fortune to be given a job in a luxurious mountain hotel. When one of the hotel guests disappears one evening and is later found dead, Frédéric suspects he may have been killed by the family who employ him. But rather than betray his boss, Jacques Couvreur, he makes up his mind to protect him. Unwittingly, Frédéric puts himself in grave danger...

Markimdb: 5.3
Genremelodrama, drama
CountryFrance, Malta, USA
Duration01:11

Set in France during the mid-1970s, Vanessa, a former dancer, and her husband Roland, an American writer, travel the country together. They seem to be growing apart, but when they linger in one quiet, seaside town they begin to draw close to some of its more vibrant inhabitants, such as a local bar/café-keeper and a hotel owner.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryFrance
Duration01:44

Serge Tanneur (Fabrice Luchini) is at the pinnacle of his acting career when he decides to turn his back on show business and become a hermit living off of France’s Atlantic coast. Three years later, Gauthier Valence (Lambert Wilson), a beloved TV actor, shows up on the island to offer Serge a role in his directorial debut – a rendition of Molière’s classic play, “The Misanthrope”. Serge refuses at first, but then suggests that they rehearse the first scene and after five days he’ll decide if he wants to dothe play or not. What ensues is a battle of brawn and wits and peculiar encounters with a hotel maid who longs to be a pornstar and an Italian divorcée.

Markimdb: 5.4
Genrecomedy
CountryFrance
Duration01:40

A resort for individuals who want to lose weight is helps several women discover friendships, acceptance with body image and hard truths.

Markimdb: 5.7
Genremelodrama, drama
CountryFrance, Belgium
Duration01:38

A romantic drama set in Germany just before WWI and centered on a married woman who falls in love with her husband's teacher. Separated by the war, they pledge their devotion to one another.

Markimdb: 6.2
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryFrance
Duration01:34

Bright days ahead? Caroline has retired, at last. A new life lies before her: time to take care of her children, her husband, and, most of all, herself. However, she soon comes to realize that this new freedom is synonymous with boredom and idleness. Especially when she receives a membership to her neighborhood’s senior club as a birthday present… Reluctant at first, she nevertheless decides to take the plunge. Oddly enough, she meets great people there, starting with the young computer science teacher, who is far from insensitive to her charms. Caroline gradually takes control of her life again and lives a second youth: taking a new lover, living new experiences, breaking the rules, not doing what’s expected of her… Who said that retirement was the beginning of the end and not a new beginning?

Markimdb: 5.5
Genrecomedy
CountryFrance, Italy
Duration01:23

Amanda believes men are too complicated and has lost faith finding the perfect one. Her friend and a psychoanalyst have a plan how to make her fall in love.

Markimdb: 7
Genredrama, military
CountryFrance, Germany

The night of August 24, 1944. The fate of Paris is in the hands of General von Choltitz, governor of Grand Paris, who is preparing, on Hitler’s orders, to blow up the French capital. The descendent of a long line of Prussian military men, the general has never had any hesitation when it came to obeying orders. This is what’s on Swedish consul Raoul Nordling’s mind as he takes the secret staircase that leads to General von Choltitz’s suite at the Hôtel Meurice. The bridges on the Seine and the major monuments of Paris (including the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower) are mined with explosives, ready to be detonated. Armed with all the weapons of diplomacy, the consul will try to convince the general not to follow Hitler’s order of destruction.

Markimdb: 7.8
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryDenmark, Sweden, France, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Norway, Iceland
Duration02:33

In a small and conservative Scottish village, a woman's paralytic husband convinces her to have extramarital intercourse so she can tell him about it and give him a reason for living.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
CountryFrance
Duration01:48

A French woman mourning over the death of her husband three years prior is courted by a Swedish co-worker.

Markimdb: 4.9
Genrecomedy, crime
CountryFrance
Duration01:28

Thomas Gardesse, a traveling alarm systems salesman, is arrested for a minor offense and sentenced to six months imprisonment. To win the respect of his fellow inmates, he claims he is "The Marquis," a brilliant robber whose identity has remained a mystery. Two weeks before his release, an armed robber named Quentin Tasseau helps him escape and takes him to Manila so he can take part in a robbery whose mastermind requires the talents of the Marquis.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genredrama
CountryFrance, Belgium

Transport Minister Bertrand Saint-Jean is awoken in the middle of the night by his head of staff. A bus has gone off the road into a gully. He has no choice but to go to the scene of the accident. Thus begins the odyssey of a politician in a world that is increasingly more complex and hostile.

Markimdb: 5.8
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryFrance
Duration01:42

Dino Fabrizzi is the number one seller of the Maserati dealership in Nice. At 42, he arrives at a turning point in his life, the position of director is openly proposed and his companion for a year, Helen, has the firm intention to marry her. For Dino, life is great, except that this perfect life was built on a lie. Dino is actually called Mourad Ben Saoud. Neither his boss nor Helen and even less his parents are aware of this false identity. In ten days begins Ramadan and Mourad who passes every year will this time assume the promise made to his sick father. Taking part in Ramadan, For Dino - the Italian - it will not be easy.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genredrama, crime, film noir
CountryChina, France
Duration01:05

A gangster on the run, sacrifices everything for his family and a woman he meets while on the lam.

Markimdb: 5.9
Genrecomedy
CountryFrance, Belgium

It all began when camcorders replaced cameras. Making TV programs then became within everyone's reach. Jean-Lou, Yasmina, Victor, Clara, Adonis, and the others didn't only want to create their own television channel, they above all wanted to make a revolution. Thus Télé Gaucho was born, as anarchic and provocative as the main channels were conformist and reactionary. Five years of mayhem, brutal pirate TV demonstrations, drunken parties, and thwarted love.. And that was my idyllic interlude.

Markimdb: 5.2
Genrecomedy
CountryFrance, Greece

"Everything will be fine" the doctor promised Jo while she was giving birth to her first child. But, some forty years and four sons later, nothing is happening like it should be during this month of August: as she arrives on Greek soil to organize her traditional festival with her tribe, Jo learns that the latter has been cancelled, courtesy of the economic crisis. The hour seems to be tragic but the maternal instinct grows stronger, she is ready to do everything for the happiness of her sons. Between squabbles and blood and destiny blows, this summer will be like no other.

Markimdb: 5.3
Genredrama
CountryFrance
Duration01:49

From the moment they meet, brooding Chris and the beautiful Aurore fall instantly and passionately in love but it's not long before their intense connection is consumed by Chris's dark obsession with gay men. Before long, the pair embarks on a violent and sexual journey filled with seduction and destruction of young gay hustlers.

Markimdb: 4.6
Genrecomedy
CountryFrance
Duration01:26

Passengers on a low cost flight from Djerba to Beauvais have their patience tested to destruction when their departure is delayed for eight hours because of a fault with the plane's air-conditioning. In the end, they are so fed up that they will do almost anything to get back home.

Markimdb: 7.3
Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama, history
CountryFrance, Belgium
Duration01:52

Paris, France, December 1897. The young playwright Edmond Rostand feels like a failure. Inspiration has abandoned him. Married and father of two children, desperate and penniless, he persuades the great actor Constant Coquelin to perform the main role in his new play. But there is a problem: Coquelin wants to premiere it at Christmas and Edmond has not written a single word.

Markimdb: 5.9
Genredrama
CountryFrance
Duration01:36

In Normandy, Louise lives happily in the horse world. Suddenly, fate strikes. Louise left alone with his father and a family friend to Ferronnière the stud where she has always lived. Business is bad, they are on the verge of bankruptcy ... Fortunately there Marquise, a young mare Louise high. Against all odds, the girl and Marquise will fight against the fate that seems hell-bent ...

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