French films about the 16th century

Set in the high courts of 16th Century France, where the wars of religion between Catholics and Protestants are raging. Marie de Mézières, a beautiful young aristocrat, is in love with Henri de Guise, but her hand in marriage is promised to the Prince of Montpensier.

‘Marakkar Lion of the Arabian Sea’ portrays the courageous life-events of a rebellious naval chief, Kunjali Marakkar the fourth, who fought against the Portuguese in the ancient times. He was the fourth naval chief of the Calicut Zamorin. The film revolves around him who was also the first Indian Naval Commander and Indian freedom fighter for the war against the Portuguese. He is said to have won 16 such battles with his impeccable strategies and fighting skills.

The film tells the story of a prop from the 1923 movie The Ten Commandments that was actually an authentic artifact from antiquity with cursed powers. In the modern day these resurface leading to murder and mayhem.

The culmination of Orson Welles’s lifelong obsession with Shakespeare’s robustly funny and ultimately tragic screen antihero, Sir John Falstaff; the loyal, often soused friend of King Henry IV’s wayward son Prince Hal. Integrating elements from both Henry IV plays as well as Richard II, Henry V, and The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Director Franco Zeffirelli's beloved version of one of the most well-known love stories in the English language. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet fall in love against the wishes of their feuding families. Driven by their passion, the young lovers defy their destiny and elope, only to suffer the ultimate tragedy.

A wide-ranging, energetic period piece tracing the rise of the Protestant Henry of Navarre as he goes from battlefield warrior to France's beloved King Henri IV. Director Jo Baier's epic is a classically entertaining adventure, albeit one with more than a little bloodshed and frequent bawdy sexual interludes. In late 16th-century France, Catholics and Protestant Huguenots were at war. Seemingly seeking peace, the French dowager queen, Catherine de Medici summons Henry to her court to have him marry her daughter, uniting the two warring factions. However, the Catholics slaughter the Protestant wedding guests in what became known as the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre and Henry-now married-must use all his guile to both stay alive and maneuver for the throne. [Written by Palm Springs International Film Festival]

A dramatic retelling of the life of Michel de Nostredame, from his early work as a plague doctor to his time at the court of Catherine de Medici, after he became famed for his prophetic almanacs. Stars Rutger Hauer and Julia Ormond.

In the 16th century in the Cévennes, a horse dealer by the name of Michael Kohlhaas leads a happy and prosperous family life. When a lord treats him unjustly, this pious, upstanding man raises an army and puts the country to fire and sword in order to have his rights restored.

A chronicle of the life of Spanish playwright and poet Lope de Vega, who dominated Spain's early Golden Age of Theater in the 16th century. Lope returns home from war and enters the theater world when a producer's beautiful daughter takes a shine to him. They embark on a passionate affair as his plays begin to win popular acclaim.

Lea, Adrian, and their little brother Theo, born deaf, go on holiday in Provence with their grandfather, Paul "Oliveron" they never met because of a family quarrel. It is not the holidays they dreamed, especially their father announced yesterday that he was leaving the house. In less than 24 hours, it is the clash of generations between teenagers and a grandfather they believe psycho. A wrong. Because the turbulent past will resurface and Paul Seventies will land deep in the Alpilles. During this summer tormented both generations will be processed one by the other.

We follow 24 hours in the life of a being moving from life to life like a cold and solitary assassin moving from hit to hit. In each of these interwoven lives, the being possesses an entirely distinct identity: sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, sometimes youthful, sometimes old. By turns murderer, beggar, company chairman, monstrous creature, worker, family man.

At 40, Stephanie loses her job and is forced to move back in with her mother. She is welcomed with open arms to the joys of overheated apartment, Francis Cabrel playing on loop, Scrabble games and precious motherly advice on how to behave at the table and live her life.

Lucie and her father Hugo have grown closer since Lucie's mother left unexpectedly a year prior. When her mother returns, Hugo becomes jealous and angry.

After getting a car ride from an unknown man, Lisa wakes up in a tube. On her arm is strapped a bracelet with a countdown. She quickly understands that every 8 minutes, fire burns an occupied section. She has no choice but to crawl into safe sections to survive. To know why she’s there and how to get out, Lisa will have to face the memories of her dead daughter…

An illiterate and lonely man bonds with an older and well-read woman.

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.

Two sibling doctors take on a young diabetic patient and both fall for the girl’s lovely mother, who tends bar at a local watering hole, testing their fraternal bonds and professional relationship.

Armand and Leila, students at Science Po, are a young couple. They plan to go to New York to do their internship at the United Nations. But when Mahmoud, Leila's big brother, returns from a long stay in Yemen, which radically transformed him, he is opposed to his sister's love relationship and decides to remove him at any cost from Armand. To enter Mahmoud and see again Leila, Armand has no choice: he must slip the integral veil! The next day, a certain Scheherazade with a veiled face rings at the door of Leila, and she will not leave Mahmoud indifferent ...

Two years after a burn-out, Duval is still unemployed. Contacted by an enigmatic businessman, he is offered a simple and well-paid job: transcribing telephone tapping. Duval accepts financially without questioning the purpose of the organization that employs him. Precipitated at the heart of a political plot, he must face the brutal mechanics of the underground world of the secret services.

Max is a battle-weary veteran of the wedding-planning racket. His latest — and last — gig is a hell of a fête, involving stuffy period costumes for the caterers, a vain, hyper- sensitive singer who thinks he's a Gallic James Brown, and a morose, micromanaging groom determined to make Max's night as miserable as possible. But what makes the affair too bitter to endure is that Max's colleague and ostensible girlfriend, Joisette, seems to have written him off, coolly going about her professional duties while openly flirting with a much younger server. It's going to be a very long night… especially once the groom's aerial serenade gets underway.

Told through performances, TV interviews, home movies, family photographs, private letters and unpublished memoirs, the film reveals the essence of an extraordinary woman who rose from humble beginnings in New York City to become a glamorous international superstar and one of the greatest artists of all time.

Adding a little spice to a waning marriage, Anne and Bob, a wealthy and well-connected American couple, move into a manor house in romantic Paris. While preparing a particularly luxurious dinner for sophisticated international friends, our hostess discovers there are 13 guests. Panic-stricken, Anne insists her loyal maid Maria disguise herself as a mysterious Spanish noble woman to even out the numbers. But a little too much wine and some playful chat lead Maria to accidentally endear herself to a dandy British art broker. Their budding romance will have Anne chasing her maid around Paris and finally plotting to destroy this most unexpected and joyous love affair.

After waking up in an apartment where only the night before a party was raging, Sam is forced to come to grips with reality: He is now alone and the living dead have invaded the streets of Paris. Petrified with fear, Sam is going to have to barricade himself inside the building and organize his survival. But is he really the sole survivor?

Philibert, a robust lad and eldest son of an artichoke farmer, stands out from the other boys in the village. Idealistic and ingenuous, he foresees for himself a glorious future in artichokes and is saving his virginity for an as-yet-unknown woman chosen for him by God. Before he dies, his father tells him that he isn't his real parent. Philibert's real father was a gentleman murdered in the most cowardly way by a man from Burgundy who is recognisable by a rose-shaped strawberry birthmark on his neck. With a pouch full of ideals and artichokes, Philibert leaves his village and gallops towards Burgundy, accompanied by Martin, his rather deceitful manservant. Philibert's courage, kindness, physical and moral purity will thus be severely tested when faced with the baseness and venality of villains and the temptation of women each more lustful than the last.

In a ghetto where religion and drug trafficking rub shoulders, Dounia has a lust for power and success. Supported by Maimouna, her best friend, she decides to follow in the footsteps of Rebecca, a respected dealer. But her encounter with Djigui, a young, disturbingly sensual dancer, throws her off course.

Set in London's world of high class call girls, Amoureux Solitaires tells the story of London based French escort Virginie, and Rupert, a man who rescues trafficked girls.

After the death of his mother, Elisa (Claire Borotra) is responsible for custody of her sister Audrey (Penelope Leveque), a troubled teen and something he hardly knows. Following the last will of her mother, both go to Mont Saint Michel, where the two grew up, to spread his ashes. The second night of stay, and after a flood, Audrey disappears while the mayor's daughter, which suggests a voluntary escape, but Elisa does not think so, so it will not stop until its trace sister.

Depardieu plays an unnamed hunter and we join him and his dog as they depart for a nearby forest to snare some rabbits - or perhaps he's hunting for something far more elusive? His excursion soon progresses from carefree meandering to a palpable sense of placelessness and it doesn't take long before the hunter's dog disappears and he finds himself lost.

A gripping family drama and entrepreneurial fable, set in a post-war Paris fashion house. It exposes the grit behind the glamour of a rising business, spearheaded by two clashing brothers.

It's young Lucy's first day as a trainee in-house caregiver. She visits Mrs Jessel, an old woman who lies in cerebral coma, by herself, in her large desolate house. Learning by accident that Mrs Jessel, a former dance teacher of repute, supposedly possesses a treasure somewhere in the house, Lucy and friends William and Ben decide to search the house in the hope of finding it. At night, they get into the house, which reveals itself to be increasingly peculiar. Their hunt for Mrs Jessel's treasure leads them into a horrifying supernatural series of events that will change Lucy forever..

Théo and Hugo meet in a club and form an immediate bond. Once the desire and elation of this first moment has passed, the two young men, now sober, wander through the empty streets of nocturnal Paris, having to confront the love they sense blossoming between them. Ducastel and Martineau's most ambitious film to date and a candid insight into 21st century life.

When a romance between a widow and a notorious libertine takes an unexpected turn, Mademoiselle de Joncquières becomes instrumental to one lover’s plans for revenge.

A thrilling mystery that unfurls in the alleys and on the rooftops of the French capital, Paris, over the course of one adventurous evening.

Yann and Rose are young, they love and want to have a child. Nine months later ... still no baby in sight. They then show great imagination and try everything ... no matter what it is. But they wish so hardly to be three that, is not likely they finish all alone?

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...

Summer 1910. Several tourists have vanished while relaxing on the beautiful beaches of the Channel Coast. Infamous inspectors Machin and Malfoy soon gather that the epicenter of these mysterious disappearances must be Slack Bay, a unique site where the Slack river and the sea join only at high tide.

Tony, a promising young motorcycle racer, is forced to do perilous drug runs to save the mother of his child from a dangerous mobster.

Marie and Boris decide to get a divorce after 15 years of marriage. Tensions rise when cash-strapped Boris must continue to live with Marie and the two children while trying to figure out how to divide the assets.

Nicky Larson is tasked to recover the perfume of Cupid, a perfume that would make anyone who uses it irresistible.

Kelly, Dan and Louis are students at a prestigious business school, destined to become tomorrow's elite. The industrious trio are determined to start putting their education into practise from the off in an attempt to make as much money as they can from their fellow students. Working on the theory that relationships between the sexes can be regulated by market principles, they begin to inflate the popularity of certain individuals artificially, by hiring beautiful and sexy off-campus women as their dates for exclusive and riotous college parties. However their perfect business model soon spirals out of control as their moneymaking scheme takes off in a big way across campus.

Paulette Van Der Beck and her husband have been running the housekeeping school of Bitche in Alsace for many years. Their mission is to train teenage girls to become the perfect housewives at a time when women were expected to be subservient to their husband. After the sudden death of her husband, Paulette discovers that the school is on the verge of bankruptcy and has to take her responsibilities. But while preparations are underway for the best housekeeping competition TV show, she and her lively students start questioning their beliefs as the nation-wide protests of May 1968 transform society around them. Reunited with her first love, André, and with the help of her eccentric stepsister Gilberte and strict nun Marie-Therese, Paulette joins forces with the schoolgirls to overcome their suppressed status and become liberated women.

An enigmatic actress (Emmanuelle Seigner) may have a hidden agenda when she auditions for a part in a misogynistic writer's (Mathieu Amalric) play.

Arnaud, facing an uncertain future and a dearth of choices in a small French coastal town, meets and falls for the apocalyptic-minded Madeleine, who joins an army boot camp to learn military and survival skills to prepare for the upcoming environmental collapse. Intrigued and excited by Madeleine’s wild ideas, Arnaud signs up for the boot camp himself. They soon realize that the boot camp is harder than they’d imagined, but the experience nonetheless cements them together as the couple continues to explore their young love.

Pensioners Nina and Madeleine have hidden their deep and passionate love for many decades. From everybody’s point of view, including Madeleine’s family, they are simply two neighbors living on the top floor of their building. They come and go between their two apartments, sharing the tender delights of everyday life together. Until the day their relationship is turned upside down by an unexpected event leading Madeleine’s daughter to slowly unveil the truth about them.

Ever since she served on the jury during his trial, Nora has been convinced that Jacques Viguier is innocent, despite him being accused of murdering his wife. Following an appeal by the public prosecutor’s office, and fearing a miscarriage of justice, she convinces a leading lawyer to defend him during his second trial, on appeal. Together, they will put up a tenacious fight against injustice.

The story of a father, his 23-year-old daughter who goes back home one day because she has just been dumped, and his new girlfriend, who is also 23 and lives with him.

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.

Muriel Bayen, a divorced beautician and mother of two, loves to tell stories. She is a huge fan of this singer Vincent Lacroix, in fact she is a dedicated fan. One day Vincent knock on her door and ask for her help.

The whole Bélier family is deaf, except for sixteen year old Paula who is the important translator in her parents' day to day life especially when it comes to matters concerning the family farm. When her music teacher discovers she has a fantastic singing voice and she gets an opportunity to enter a big Radio France contest the whole family's future is set up for big changes.

A hairdresser forwards a passionate love letter to her widowed mother.