The French noticed and celebrated the dark impulse in American movies of the ’40s and gave it a name—film noir—and a philosophy. Our series returns the gaze, as we celebrate the Gallic sensibility with 16 extraordinary (and many rare) titles. Special thanks to the French Ministry of Culture.
“All men are guilty. They’re born innocent, but it doesn’t last.”
Buy a series pass and see all 16 French Crime Wave films for just $75 ($50 SIFF Supporters). Click here to purchase.
Presented in association with 98.1 Classical KING FM
Films
 | Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville, 1955, 100 min.
Ex-gangster and “flambeur” (high roller) Bob Montagné has gone straight for 20 years, but the lure of one last heist—the casino at Deauville—is irresistible. more |
 | Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville, 1970, 150 min.
This late work by legendary director Melville sets three hardboiled gangsters on a collision course with their own criminal code, and a relentless police detective. more |
 | Dir. Claude Chabrol, 1967, 105 min.
Murder seems to follow champagne-heir Paul Wagner (Maurice Ronet) wherever he goes. more |
 | Dir. Claude Sautet, 1960, 103 min.
The relationship of two tough guy icons—Lino Ventura and Jean-Paul Belmondo—is at the core of this taut story of honor among thieves. more |
 | Dir. Bertrand Tavernier, 1981, 128 min.
Jim Thompson’s hardboiled Pop. 1280 has been transplanted from the deep US South to French colonial Africa in this blackly comic adaptation. more |
 | Dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955, 114 min.
A French boys’ boarding school. A despicable headmaster. His downtrodden wife and strapping mistress. An irascible Columbo-like inspector. A murder. more |
 | Dir. Louis Malle, 1957, 89 min.
Louis Malle’s first feature is a crime thriller that brilliantly presages the coming French New Wave. more |
 | Dir. Claude Miller, 1981, 86 min.
It’s New Year’s Eve and rich attorney Michel Serrault is spending the night in police custody. Two young girls have been raped and murdered and all of the circumstantial evidence points to the counselor. more |
 | Dir. François Truffaut, 1969, 123 min.
Based on the novel by Cornell Woolwich and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Catherine Deneuve at the heights of their powers more |
 | Dir. Julien Duvivier, 1937, 94 min.
Jean Gabin is suave Parisian gangster Pépé Le Moko, who’s been hiding out in the Casbah, the Arab quarter of Algiers, while the heat is on. more |
 | Dir. Robert Bresson, 1959, 80 min.
One of the great works of cinema, Robert Bresson’s sublime masterpiece follows the career of a petty criminal, his rise to master pickpocket…and his fall. more |
 | Dir. Jacques Deray, 1969, 120 min.
Lovers Alain Delon and Romy Schneider spend an idyllic poolside vacation in St. Tropez until Schneider’s ex-lover shows up with his daughter. The drop-in has lethal consequences. more |
 | Dir. Jules Dassin, 1955, 135 min.
The heist at the center of this classic crime story is told in a spectacular 30-minute sequence, breathtaking in its absence of dialogue or music, an absolute edge-of-the-seat thrill. more |
 | Dir. Yves Allégret, 1949, 91 min.
A murderer (Gérard Philipe) returns to his seaside childhood home, where he befriends a chambermaid at the town’s dingy resort hotel. more |
 | Dir. François Truffaut, 1960, 81 min.
New 35mm print! Based on a pulp novel by David Goodis, François Truffaut’s second film (after 400 Blows) stars legendary French singer Charles Aznavour. more |
 | Dir. Henri Verneuil, 1960, 120 min.
New 35mm print! Capo Vittorio Manalese (Jean Gabin) busts cop-killer Roger Sartet (Alain Delon) out of prison to help plot an elaborate jewel heist. more |