10 Best Movies About Paris That You Should Watching Update 03/2024

Movies About Paris

Before you visit Paris, you should watch these 10 movies set in the French capital, which include everything from romantic comedies to dystopian thrillers. The city’s prominent landmarks will never be seen in the same light again after taking these tours.

1. Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

Mission Impossible – Fallout (2018)

With Christopher McQuarrie’s latest Mission Impossible espionage flick, you get a thrilling taste of Paris in the form of the French city. The landmarks of Paris come to life like never before as Hollywood actor Tom Cruise chases a hazardous quantity of plutonium through the city’s streets. Mission: Impossible – Fallout has it all, including a helicopter fly over the Eiffel Tower, a parachute descent on the Grand Palais’ glass roof, a race around the Arc de Triomphe in the wrong direction, and a speedboat chase through the Canal Saint-Martin tunnels. When it comes to Parisian nightlife, the nightclub scenes are sure to get you aroused.

2. Amélie (2001)

Le Fabuleux Destin de Amélie Poulain, a tremendously successful romantic humorous fantasy, depicts the story of a young woman who has a vivid imagination and an active dream life. As a result of Princess Diana’s death in the summer of 1997, Amélie realizes that life is short and decides to make a difference in the lives of those around her, even as she struggles with her own loneliness. Empire magazine ranked the film second on its list of the 100 Greatest Films of All Time. If you know where to look, you may still trace her footsteps and enter her dreamlike world in Montmartre, where the film is set.

3. La Haine (1995)

La Haine (1995)

Three underprivileged kids (Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé and Said Taghmaoui) living in the banlieues (suburbs) of Paris are the focus of La Haine (Hate), a realist take on the violent, lawless lives they lead in the banlieues (suburbs). Makome M’Bowole, a Congolese youngster, was shot dead in police detention in April 1993, and the killing of student demonstrator Malik Oussekine further inspired the story.

According to some reviewers, Mathieu Kassovitz’s seminal picture, which was partly based on his personal experiences, depicted the French underclass as a caricature. It incorporates footage from the Paris riots of 1986 to 1996, which gives a fair sense of the current protest culture in the city. At the Cannes Film Festival, Kassowitz was named Best Director.

4. Dans la brume (2018)

It takes place in Paris, and features a dystopian thriller set in the city’s streets. City of romance is paralyzed one day when a hazardous fog comes and engulfs the entire population. A new meaning is given to Paris’s most famous monuments, such as Notre Dame and Montmartre, which are seen from a new perspective by survivors.

The video serves as a terrifying wake-up call in the context of climate change and pollution, even though the causes of this meteorological disaster remain a mystery. However, there’s also a tale of love to be found in this dystopian world. As a result of her genetic defect, a family’s daughter must remain in a sterilized capsule in her bedroom at all times to protect her. When she can survive the toxic mist and freely traverse the city, it is heartwarming.

5. Le ballon rouge (1956)

Le ballon rouge (1956)

A Parisian youngster named Pascal (played by the director’s son) grabs a red balloon from a lamppost and discovers that it has a consciousness and personality of its own in Albert Lamorisse’s 1956 children’s classic Le ballon rouge (The Red Balloon). An nearly unbreakable friendship develops between the two of them.

Labyrinth of narrow passageways and cobblestones are seen in the film, which was shot in the Ménilmontant district of Paris. The blazing-red roundness of the balloon serves as a sign of hope. However, despite the film’s seemingly seamless realism, it was shot using a wide range of technical cinematic techniques. The 1956 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Red Balloon is one of cinema’s greatest examples of pure cinema.

6. Paris, je t’aime (2006)

Paris, je t’aime (Paris, I Love You) is a unique anthology film that comprises 18 short stories, each set in a different region of Paris and directed by a different cast and crew.

Tom Tykwer’s film ‘Faubourg Saint-Denis’ stars Natalie Portman as an American actor who is the focus of a blind student’s affections in the film (Melchior Belson). A salesperson (Barbet Schroeder) tries to sell beauty aids in Chinatown in Christopher Doyle’s “Porte de Choisy.” In Alfonso Cuarón’s ‘Parc Monceau,’ Nick Nolte and Ludivine Sagnier play father and daughter. “Tour Eiffel” is an animated film by Sylvain Chomet, which features a pair of living, breathing mimes. An interesting and multicultural look at the City of Lights, Paris, je t’aime is a must-see.

7. C’était un rendez-vous (1976)

C’était un rendez-vous (It Was a Date) is a remarkable example of cinéma vérité, an illegal and uncompromising documentary that was shot in one take. One morning in Paris, Claude Lelouch, the film’s director, gets in his car early and speeds through the city, ignoring traffic lights, one-way streets (and even cars and pedestrians), in order to meet his wife eight minutes later.

When he’s driving at 150 kph, the camera is mounted to the bumper of his Mercedes (93 mph). For many years, the film’s footage was kept hidden and only recently published on DVD (Pyramid Film and Video in 1992 issued a low-quality tape priced at £32, making it one of the most costly videos to get).

8. Bande à part (1964)

Bande à part (1964)

Claude Brasseur (Sami Frey) and Sami Frey (Sami Frey) are two restless young men who convince an Anna Karina (Anne Karina) to help them plunder her own house. The headlong chase through the Louvre and the iconic Madison dance sequence, two of Jean-Luc Godard’s most renowned set pieces, appear in this gangster picture.

As a New Wave film, it aims to capture current social themes and experiment with the film form in its own unique way. With minimal to no preparation time, the New Wave approach of filmmaking resembles a documentary in its manner. Long takes, disjointed narration, and discontinuous editing were all employed in the filmmaking process.

9. French Cancan (1955)

Jean Renoir’s French Cancan is a musical comedy with a kind of continuous, buzzing choreography set in a period dream with amazing color. It tells the story of the Moulin Rouge’s opening and the success of the cancan. In spite of the fact that the picture intentionally distorts known facts, it is a far more abstract and less political version of the Renoir films of the 1930s.

French Cancan is a departure from Renoir’s previous works in that it is set in a fictional world that is disconnected from reality. Despite this, it may be argued that this picture has a universality due to its global features. After watching this film, you’ll appreciate a trip to the Moulin Rouge even more.

10. Charade (1963)

Charade (1963)

As Audrey Hepburn stars in this beautiful comedy-thriller, a trio of con artists are on the hunt for the fortunes her dead husband stole from them and chase her relentlessly around Paris. The movie is frequently referred to as “the best Hitchcock movie Hitchcock never made.”. They have a lot of charisma and chemistry, as well as Walter Matthau, James Coburn and George Kennedy as supporting cast members. On the action front, there is a massive brawl on the roof of a Parisian hotel, as well as a thrilling final showdown. Final sequence in Paris cements Paris’s position as a city of love in the movie.