9 of the best documentaries about France

Looking to get an inside glance into French culture and society? Here are our suggestions for some documentaries will help you see France, either via interviews with individual French people or larger explorations of topics and themes, like work conditions or the country's nuclear industry.

Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse (The Gleaners and I)

This documentary is by legendary Belgian-French film director Agnès Varda, who helped to pioneer the French New Wave movement in the 1950s and 60s. Many documentaries today are influenced by her experimental style, which focused on documentary realism and an attention to issues that impact women. This film was released in the year 2000, and it has been voted among the best documentaries of all time in a 2014 Sight & Sound poll. 

It tells the stories of several gleaners (gatherers) in both rural and urban France, giving an image of both cosmopolitan life and that in the countryside. Some of the people Varda speaks to gather things for ethical or artistic reasons, while others do so out of necessity. The film is made up of interviews, which each give a glimpse into a different life within French society. For those interested in Agnès Varda, the documentary Les Plages d’Agnes tells the story of her life.

 

Être et Avoir (To be and to have)

This 2002 documentary follows a group of students and a teacher in a primary school for one year in central France. It is a fascinating look into the French education system, as well as as rural France itself. You can watch it on YouTube HERE.

 

L'Enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot  (Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno)

This 2010 documentary uses footage from director Henri-Georges Clouzot's attempted 1964 film 'L'enfer', which would have been about a jealous husband, but its filming was stopped just three weeks after shooting began. It gives a backstage view of French filmmaking in the 1960s, filmed in a very artistic manner itself. The original subject matter of the film was rather adult, so it may not be suitable for younger audiences.

 

Merci patron!  (Thanks, boss!)

This documentary has a sort of Michael Moore feel to it, and was created in 2015 by journalist François Ruffin, who has since gone on to become an MP in the left-wing La France Insoumise party. It follows the outsourcing of French jobs to Poland at a factory owned by French billionaire Berard Arnault, and the impact this has on the local community when the factory closes.

 

L'uranium de la colère - du Niger à Narbonne

Part of a France Télévisions series called 'Vert de rage' about the environment and pollution, this follows where the uranium that powers France's nuclear industry actually comes from and the impacts that has on local communities in Niger, and also focuses on the French people who live near nuclear centres in France.

It is an interesting look into the French nuclear industry at large, which is the country's third largest energy sector, and poses questions about its sustainability and impact.

 

Grégory (Who killed little Gregory?)

This multi-part Netflix documentary examines France's most famous unsolved murder, that of four-year-old Grégory Villemin who was found dead in a river near his home in 1984.

The case itself is bizarre and full of twists and turns and the documentary does a good job both of telling the story and examining some of the wider issues around it such as poverty in eastern France and the behaviour of the French media.

 

A Voix haute (Speak up)

Another Netflix one, directed by Oscar nominated film director Ladj Ly, this follows a group of high school students living in a deprived suburb of Paris as they prepare for one of France's many public speaking competitions.

It's a fascinating insight into both the world of these contests and the importance placed on words and the power of debate in France, and the lives of young people in a place that is frequently either ignored or derided by much of French society.

 

Les Invisibles de Sébastien Lifshitz

This is a single part documentary speaking to gay French people who grew up during the 1950s and 60s. Don't expect plot twists or drama - the pacing of this documentary is very slow, but that's part of its charm.

It gives space to these now mostly elderly people to talk about their experiences of growing up and coming to terms with their sexuality - for some this was difficult and traumatic, while others were able to find love and acceptance in their communities, whether rural or urban. 

 

Un pays qui se tient sage (A country that stays silent)

The one to watch if you want to understand the conversation in France about police violence, this was made by noted campaigner David Dufresne.

It's nearly solely based on amateur videos, most of which were shot on mobile phones during the notoriously violent 'yellow vest' protests, and focuses more on the policing of demos in France.

It focuses more on the policing of demos, rather than the issues with police violence against young men of colour, but its style - short, amateur video clips interspersed with talking heads on the nature of policing and violence itself - is compelling and the issues that it raises remain pertinent.

 

Do you have a suggestion for a good documentary? Share it in the comments below