French movies about the cold war

List of the best French movies about the Cold War, the confrontation between the superpowers of the USSR and the USA: Farewell, Obsessive Rythms, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Anna, Lights Out, Made in China, Paris by Night, A Gang Story, Fatima, Le grand soir.

In the top there are new films of 2023, a plot description and trailers for films that have already been released.

Country
Markimdb: 6.9
Genrethriller, melodrama, drama
CountryFrance

Engaging, emotional and riveting, FAREWELL is an intricate and highly intelligent thriller pulled from the pages of history— about an ordinary man thrust into the biggest theft of Soviet information of the Cold War. Ronald Reagan called this piece of history - largely unknown until now - “one of the most important espionage cases of the 20th century.” FAREWELL begins in 1981, after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. A French businessman based in Moscow, Pierre Froment, (Guillaume Canet) makes an unlikely connection with Grigoriev (Emir Kusturica), a senior KGB officer disenchanted with what the Communist ideal has become under Brezhnev. Grigoriev begins passing Froment highly sensitive information about the Soviet spy network in the US.

Markimdb: 4.7
Genremelodrama
CountryFrance, Portugal

On the night of New Year's Eve, a small group penetrates into the room of an old hotel in ruins. Carmine, the oldest of the group, poses a challenge to one of the men, Furio: he has 4 months to restore the hotel and inaugurate it with great pomp. Aware of the difficulties but anxious to prove the point, Furio accepts encouraged by his wife Margo who believes that this assignment will allow the couple to rediscover the lost momentum.

Markimdb: 7.1
Genrethriller, drama, detective
CountryUnited Kingdom, France, Germany
Duration02:07

In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet mole within his former colleagues at the heart of MI6.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genreaction, thriller
CountryFrance, USA, Canada, Russia
Duration02:05

Beneath Anna Poliatova's striking beauty lies a secret that will unleash her indelible strength and skill to become one of the world's most feared government assassins.

Markimdb: 6.4
Genrethriller, drama, detective
CountryFrance
Duration01:27

March 1992, in a small town in the suburbs of Paris. During an alcohol fueled party, teenagers discover a body hidden in the bushes of a forest. A body that seems lifeless. Two weeks earlier. Simon, a 16 year-old teenager, has not shown up for class. Blood stains are found in a class-room. Run-away, kidnap, suicide, murder? A few days later, Laetitia, a student from the same class goes missing without her parents knowing where she has gone. A young girl with no dark background or connection to Simon. The next day, Jean-Baptiste, a third student, also disappears. Rumors start to spread. The psychosis begins...

Markimdb: 5.6
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryFrance

François, a young thirty-year-old Asian, has not been back in his family for 10 years after a violent dispute with his father Meng. Since then, he has always tried to avoid questions about his origins, until he lies to believe that he has been adopted. But when he learns that he is going to be a father, he realizes that he will have to reconnect with his past and his origins. Pushed by his companion Sophie, he decides to reconnect with his family and returns to his XIIIth native district to announce the good news, accompanied by his best friend Bruno. François is welcomed with open arms by his family, with the exception of his father and his younger brother. The return to his community is not going to be so simple .

Markimdb: 6.5
Genredrama, crime
CountryFrance
Duration01:40

Police commander Simon Weiss, head of the division that supervises Paris’s demi-monde, starts out on his nightly tour of bars, discos and strip clubs, making sure once again that the owners don’t bend the rules too far. Weiss knows he’s between a rock and hard place: it’s obvious that criminal gangs run rampant in his special domain, and even more obvious that they’re protected by higher-ups in the department.

Markimdb: 7
Genredrama, crime
CountryFrance, Belgium
Duration01:42

After growing up in a poor gypsy camp, Edmond Vidal, aka Momon, has retained a sense of family, unfailing loyalty and pride in his origins. Most of all, he has remained friends with Serge Suttel, with whom he first discovered prison life - for stealing cherries. The two of them inevitably got involved in organized crime. The team they formed, the Ganf Des Lyonnais, made them the most notorious armed robbers of the early 1970s. Their irresistible rise ended in 1974 with a spectacular arrest. Today, as he nears 60, Momon would like to forget that part of his life. He has found peace by retiring from the "business". He tends to his wife Janou, who suffered so in the past, and to his children and grandchildren, all of whom have great respect for this man of simple and universal values, so clear-headed and full of kindness. But then Serge Suttel, who has disowned nothing of his past, comes back into the picture.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genredrama, family
CountryFrance, Canada

Fatima, an Algerian-born woman who now lives in France with her two teenage daughters, with whom she is barely able to communicate.

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: 6.7
Genrethriller, drama
CountryFrance, Belgium

Sebastien Nicolas is a reclusive realtor leading a double life – in his spare time he creates complex disguises based on acquaintances. Combined with minutely studied and rehearsed impersonations, Sebastien can disappear completely into other people's lives. Things spiral out of control after he impersonates the wrong man.

Markimdb: 6
Genredrama
CountryFrance
Duration01:26

Inspired by events that took place in Massachusetts, Delphine and Muriel Coulin's provocative debut focuses on a group of bored teenage girls who all make an irrevocable pact. When Camille (Louise Grinberg) accidentally becomes pregnant, she encourages her friends and fellow high school classmates to follow suit. It's only a matter of time, before 17 girls in the high school are pregnant and the town is thrown into a world of chaos. Set in the writer/directors' small, seaside hometown of Lorient in Brittany, 17 Girls is a reflection on adolescence, body image, friendship and the perplexing realities of growing up.

Markimdb: 5.3
Genrecomedy, melodrama
CountryFrance
Duration01:25

Three generations of a French family open up about their sexual experiences and desires after young Romain is caught masturbating in his biology class.

Markimdb: 7.5
Genremelodrama, drama, music, history
CountryPoland, United Kingdom, France, Belgium
Duration02:02

A man and a woman meet in the ruins of post-war Poland. With vastly different backgrounds and temperaments, they are fatally mismatched and yet drawn to each other.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genrecomedy, drama, adventure
CountryFrance

An Algerian man's life-long dream finally comes true when he receives an invitation to take his cow Jacqueline to the Paris International Agriculture Fair.

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: 5.2
Genrecomedy
CountryFrance
Duration01:57

Mrs. Géquil is an eccentric teacher despised by her colleagues and students. On a stormy night, she is struck by lightning and faints. When she wakes up, she feels different. Will she now be able to keep the powerful and dangerous Mrs. Hyde contained?

Markimdb: 6.6
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryFrance, Belgium
Duration01:47

She drove me into a corner, then forced me to go beyond my limits. She made me confront the absolute: love, sacrifice, tenderness, abandonment. She dislocated me, transformed me. Why didn't anyone warn me? Why doesn't anyone ever talk about this?" Un heureux événement, or an intimate view of motherhood, sincere and with no taboos.

Markimdb: 5.9
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryFrance

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.

Markimdb: 5.3
Genrecomedy, sport
CountryFrance

Momo has one dream buried for years: become a petanque champion. When an international tournament is announced, he drops his ordinary life to win the first prize and fulfill his dreams.

Markimdb: 5.4
Genremelodrama, drama
CountryFrance
Duration01:42

In a social context deteriorated by a countrywide economic crisis, the life of several people will be turned upside down after they meet Cecile, a character who symbolizes desire.

Markimdb: 5.5
Genredocumentary
CountryFrance

A documentary focused on former Vogue Paris editor-in-chief and fashion stylist Carine Roitfeld.

Markimdb: 6.3
Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama, detective
CountryFrance, Luxembourg, Belgium
Duration01:37

When the fun loving Marie sets her eyes on brooding comic book artist Paul, it sets off the kind of romantic sparks that quickly culminate in the bedroom. But the next morning brings its share of surprises as Marie crawls out of bed to discover her life flash-forwarded fifteen years down the road: Not only has she been married to Paul all this time, but she’s now the mother of a little boy the head of a powerful multinational investment firm and the proprietor of a fabulous apartment overlooking the Eiffel Tower. Quickly Marie discovers that all her achievements have not brought happiness.

Markimdb: 7.4
Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
CountryFrance, Belgium

Victor, a disillusioned sexagenarian, sees his life turned upside down on the day when Antoine, a brilliant entrepreneur, offers him a new kind of attraction: mixing theatrical artifices and historical reconstruction, this company offers his clients a chance to dive back into the era of their choice. Victor then chose to relive the most memorable week of his life: the one where, 40 years earlier, he met the great love.

Markimdb: 5.8
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryFrance, Belgium
Duration01:25

Vincent Miles, a gunsmith and shooting instructor at the National Police, is an expert in combat shooting who stubbornly refuses to join a field brigade, a choice which their colleagues do not understand. When he meets Milo Cardena, a mysterious and skilled cop, his life changes in such way that he cannot ignore his true nature anymore.

Markimdb: 7
Genredrama, crime, biography
CountryFrance, Germany
Duration01:40

In 1982, André Bamberski learns about the death of his 14 year-old daughter, Kalinka, while she was on vacation with her mother and stepfather in Germany. Convinced that Kalinka’s death was not an accident, Bamberski begins to investigate. A botched autopsy report raises his suspicions and leads him to accuse Kalinka’s stepfather, Dr Dieter Krombach, as the murderer. Unable to indict Krombach in Germany, Bamberski attempts to take the trial to France, where he will dedicate his life to Kalinka’s justice and the imprisonment of Krombach.

Markimdb: 4.5
Genrethriller, crime
CountryFrance
Duration01:32

Unable to repay their debts, Milan and Victor, best friends and co-owners of a Paris nightclub, are lured into a drug deal that goes bad. Tortured by police, they negotiate their freedom against an overwhelming testimony that condemns their psychotic liaison to prison. Six years later, the men's nightmare begins again when the pyschopath is granted his freedom. Now, not having talked for years, the old friends are united again in order to survive.

Markimdb: 6.3
Genrecomedy
CountryFrance
Duration01:53

Diane is a well-known lawyer, divorced for three years. She loses her mobile telephone and receives a call from the person who finds it. That person is Alexandre, a charming man and the perfect gentleman. They make a connection over the phone and agree to meet up the following day. But when Alexandre arrives, there's a surprise in store when Diane discovers he is only 4' 6" tall. From that moment on, Diane tries to overcome the prejudices of society and her own fears to experience the best time of her life...

Markimdb: 6.5
Genrecomedy
CountryFrance

Michel, a fifty year old man, graphic designer, decides to change the urban lifestyle and go on an adventure. Fascinated by airmail, he dreams at Jean Mermoz when he's on scooter. One day, Michel sees a picture of a kayak.

Markimdb: 6.4
Genrecomedy
CountryFrance
Duration01:54

It is 1979 and Albertine, 10, and all her family members have gathered in Brittany to celebrate the birthday of her grandmother. Everyone thinks that the Skylab space station from NASA will fall on their heads this summer. The meeting turns into a crazy weekend full of revelations, love and song.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genrefantastic, action, cartoon
CountryFrance, Japan, USA
Duration01:37

Angelino is just one of thousands of deadbeats living in Dark Meat City. But an otherwise unremarkable scooter accident caused by a beautiful, mysterious stranger is about to transform his life... into a waking nightmare! He starts seeing monstrous forms prowling around all over the city... Is Angelino losing his mind, or could an alien invasion really be happening this quietly...?

Markimdb: 6.3
Genrecomedy
CountryFrance, Belgium

Fiona visits Paris for the first time to assist her myopic Aunt Martha. Catastrophes ensue, mainly involving Dom, a homeless man who has yet to have an emotion or thought he was afraid of expressing.

Markimdb: 7.3
Genredrama, crime
CountryFrance
Duration02:07

Paris, France. Fred and his colleagues, members of the BPM, the Police Child Protection Unit, dedicated to pursuing all sorts of offenses committed against the weakest, must endure the scrutiny of Melissa, a photographer commissioned to graphically document the daily routine of the team.

Markimdb: 5.3
Genrethriller, drama, detective
CountryFrance, Poland, United Kingdom
Duration01:25

An American writer moves to Paris to be closer to his daughter and finds himself falling immediately on hard times.

Markimdb: 6.1
Genredrama
CountryUnited Kingdom, France, Hungary, USA, Canada, Belgium

The chilling story of a young American boy living in France in 1918 whose father is working for the US government on the creation of the Treaty of Versailles. What he witnesses helps to mold his beliefs – and we witness the birth of a terrifying ego.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genrecomedy, drama, crime
CountryFrance
Duration01:27

Paulette lives alone in a housing project in the Paris suburbs. With her meager pension, she can no longer make ends meet.

Markimdb: 5.8
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
CountryFrance, Canada

After a bank job goes badly wrong, three desperate criminals take a young woman and a father and child hostage - it's the beginning of a frantic and violent road trip that not all of them will survive.

Markimdb: 6.2
Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
CountryFrance
Duration01:28

Marianne leaves Abel for Paul, his best friend and the father of her unborn child. Eight years later, Paul dies and Marianne returns to Abel. However, things have changed for the both of them and feelings of jealousy surround their new relationship.

Markimdb: 7
Genredrama, military, history
CountryFrance, Germany, Hungary
Duration01:55

Joseph is eleven. And this June morning, he must go to school, a yellow star sown on his chest. He receives the support of a goods dealer. The mockery of a baker. Between kindness and contempt, Jo, his Jewish friends, their families, learn of life in an occupied Paris, on the Butte Montmartre, where they've taken shelter. At least that's what they think, until that morning on July 16th 1942, when their fragile happiness is toppled over.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genredrama, adventure, family
CountryNetherlands, Belgium, United Kingdom, Spain, France
Duration01:35

Nono, a Dutch kid lacking two days being thirteen, runs away from problems at home and, disguised as a girl, takes up with the world's cleverest thief, who unbeknownst to Nono, may hold the bizarre key to his true identity.

Markimdb: 5.7
Genredrama, crime
CountryFrance

A man leaves prison after a 15-year sentence and returns to his home district to find that it has changed completely, almost beyond recognition. He will find it hard to adjust to a world that is governed by a totally different set of rules...

Markimdb: 6.2
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryFrance, USA
Duration01:35

A thriller that follows two siblings who decide to fend for themselves in the wake of a botched casino heist, and their unlikely reunion during another family's Thanksgiving celebration.

Markimdb: 7.7
Genredrama, detective
CountryFrance, Italy, Belgium, Iran
Duration02:10

After four years apart, Ahmad returns to his wife Marie in Paris in order to progress their divorce. During his brief stay, he cannot help noticing the strained relationship between Marie and her daughter Lucie. As he attempts to improve matters between mother and daughter Ahmad unwittingly lifts the lid on a long buried secret...

Markimdb: 6.2
Genrecomedy, family, cartoon
CountryFrance, Luxembourg
Duration01:29

Plant loving Hilda, has created a museum where she preserves endangered and rare plants from all over the world. Meanwhile Attilem, a new genetically modified cereal, is launched on the market. Growing with little water and fertilizer while generating high crop field Attilem looks like an ideal solution to eradicate starvation and provide an alternative to diminishing oil reserves. But nothing is at it seems...

Markimdb: 6.6
Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama, biography
CountryFrance
Duration02:02

During the making of one of his films, French film director Jean-Luc Godard falls in love with 17-year old actress Anne Wiazemsky and later gets married.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genrethriller, detective
CountryFrance, Belgium

Nine translators have been picked by a ruthless publisher and locked in a luxury bunker to translate the highly anticipated book of a famous author in record time. Although the translators are confined to prevent any kind of leak because of the high financial stakes, a crisis erupts when someone posts the first 10 pages of the novel online and blackmails the publisher to pay 5 million euros. A hunt for the culprit inside the bunker unfolds.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
CountryFrance
Duration01:48

A young woman makes a surprising discovery about the husband of her late best friend.

Markimdb: 7.3
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryFrance, Belgium
Duration01:49

Vincent, a wealthy real estate agent, is invited to dinner by his sister Elizabeth and her husband Peter, both professors in Paris. Claude, a childhood friend and trombonist in a symphony orchestra, is also present. Vincent brings news from the prenatal examination of his and his wife Anna's unborn son. The name chosen by the soon-to-be parents strongly offends the others for many reasons. The dispute between the guests quickly escalates and before long the resurgence of old grudges and hidden secrets is unavoidable ...

Markimdb: 6.3
Genrefantasy, family, documentary
CountryFrance
Duration01:21

A man remembers holidays at his uncle in a little village in the French countryside when he was something like 10. He feels so bored until he finds a pond and starts discovering the life in it.

Markimdb: 5.8
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryFrance

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.




MoviesList