DVDs

We have reviews of some of the Best French DVDs to help you learn French or just to enjoy French culture.

 

If you like Detective dramas such as The Wire, Wallander, Waking the Dead or CSI then you will hopefully really enjoy Spiral, the acclaimed series from France.

The title Spiral or its French title Engrenages (which means Gears) hints at the storyline, in which you will discover that the stories of the various characters are intricately meshed together. It stars Gregory Fitoussi, Caroline Proust, Philippe Duclos and Audrey Fleurot. A very exciting if slightly gory series. Certificate 18. Great French atmosphere of what I imagine is the "real France". It is in French with English subtitles but is very easy to follow.  Useful if you are trying to learn some French although our version did not have French subtitles.  But enjoyable even for those who are not trying to learn French !

Another two French crime dramas which we have enjoyed and which have great reviews are 36 and Mesrine. 36, starring Daniel Auteuil follows two cops Leo and Denis, each with a very different work ethic. Thrown together on a trying armed robbery case, the pair will embark on a journey that will force them to question whether they are any different from the criminals of whom they pursue. Mesrine is a two part saga featuring an incredible series of hold-ups, prison breaks and kidnappings throughout the 70’s and 80’s across several continents with the main character Jacques Mesrine played by Vincent Cassel. Both of these DVDs are Certificate 15 :
 

The absolute classic French film Jean de Florette and its sequel Manon des Sources will be enjoyed by anyone learning French or who appreciates good films. Starring Yves Montand, Daniel Auteuil, Emmanuelle Beart, Hippolyte Girardot, Gerard Depardieu. Certificate PG :

Another pair of Classic films from 1990 and 1991 are La Gloire De Mon Pere and Le Chateau de Ma Mere starring Phillippe Caubere, Nathalie Roussel, Didier Pain, and Therese Liotard. Both are Classified as U Certificate :
    

A film I enjoyed recently was Fear and Trembling which is in French and Japanese. It is quite interesting about the culture within a Japanese company in Japan and is also useful to help with your French as well as being quite amusing. It stars Sylvie Testud, Kaori Tsuji, Taro Suwa, Bison Katayama, Yusanari Kondo and is a Certificate 12 :

    

Two other favourite French films of all time are Amelie starring Audrey Tautou (Certificate 15) and Chocolat starring Juliette Binoche, Alfred Molina, Carrie-Anne Moss, Judi Dench, Antonio Gil (VI) and Johnny Depp (Certificate 12) :
              

Another wonderful film is Dialogues Avec Mon Jardinier or "Conversations with my Gardener". This gentle, enjoyable film is the story of an artist (Daniel Auteuil), who  inherits his family's house in the country. The artist notices that the house's once-impressive vegetable garden has fallen into neglect, and he hires a local gardener to put it back into shape. To his great surprise, the gardener (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) turns out to be an old friend from his school days, and as the gardener gets to work, he and the artist talk over a period of months about their lives. (Just watch out what Region DVD you are buying here as it looks on Amazon as though it may be the Australian version). It is Certificate 15 and is also available on Play.Com by clicking here.

This is a very amusing film - Certificate 15 - Le Diner de Cons. Its about four men who meet weekly and have a challenge to bring along the biggest "idiot" they meet that week. However one of the "idiots" actions proceed to cause much hilarity and disruption to the life of one of the four men !

We will be adding further DVDs all the time as we develop our site.

 

 

Disclaimer: The reviews published on the site are intended solely for the purpose of providing general information and comment and are purely our opinions. We cannot guarantee that reviews of descriptions on this site are accurate, up to date or free from error.

We have found that the campsites described are very good but we find that it is difficult to find a campsite which has 100% of what you are looking for.  Also one person may love a busy campsite with lots of activities while someone else may love a quiet campsite with a small swimming pool. Actually we tend to be the latter ! So what we have done is highlight the good points of the sites and maybe point out a few of what we have found as slightly negative points. However we strongly recommend that you make full use of as many internet sources as possible before deciding about your holiday, including other review sites and Google maps etc.