Just a gentle reminder that Christmas is in TEN DAYS! Here are some movie gift ideas for people who love France and films (including yourself!) This short list is hugely far from being complete and it’s always hard to make a selection. I know I should’ve listed more but I only have so many minutes available to blog today. This time around, I tried to include some current films and more light-hearted French films (and films by French directors or films about France), which, by the way, is no easy feat given the prodigious list of heavy French movies that inevitably end with someone killing themselves…more specifically, jumping out the window. The end.

No, no. Not much doom and gloom on the following list (well, maybe just a teeny tiny bit.):

Movies

Killer Tomatoes Eat France – The razor-toothed tomatoes return in “Killer Tomatoes Eat France,” affectionately known as Part IV of the Tomatoes Trilogy. This time they’ve developed an appetite for dining a’ la Francaise! Filmed in France, the juicy plot unfolds as the evil professor Gangreen (John Astin) and his bungling henchman Igor (Steve Lundquist) create a new strain of tomatoes to devour the country. Only a young American tourist claiming to be Michael J. Fox (Marc Price, Skippy from “Family Ties”) and his girlfriend (former Miss Universe, Angela Visser), who’s one hot tomato herself, can stop them!

Les Ripoux – Rene (P. Noiret) is a “ripou”, a rotten cop who makes ends meet by accepting bribes, presents and free drinks from the people he should be putting in jail. When his partner retires, he must team up with Francois (Lhermitte), a young police school graduate with a righteous attitude. He is hard to break and Rene has to trick him. This light comedy does not pretend to be a realistic picture of French police. Rather, it is the opportunity to have fun and discover unusual underworld characters.

Wasabi
Wasabi mixes action, comedy, and a tiny amount of drama together with the action being more of the comic book variety, like what you might see in a Jackie Chan film. There’s not a whole lot of substance and it would never win any awards, that doesn’t matter because this Luc Besson team up with Jean Reno, is a fun, lighthearted, silly movie.

La Grande Bouffe – tale of four world-weary middle-aged men (superbly portrayed by Marcello Mastroianni, Ugo Tognazzi, Michel Piccoli and Philippe Noiret) who decide to gorge themselves to death in one final orgiastic weekend full of gourmet food, call girls and a hefty, lusty schoolteacher.

Paris, Je t’aime – Celebrated directors from around the world, including the Coen Brothers, Gus Van Sant, Gurinder Chadha, Wes Craven, Walter Salles, Alexander Payne and Olivier Assayas, have come together to portray Paris in a way never before imagined.

Babette’s Feast Babette, a French refugee in Denmark, plans a huge meal for her employers, nuns from a village church. Although they are secretly concerned about what Babette, a Catholic and a foreigner, might do, the sisters allow her to go ahead. Babette then prepares the feast of a lifetime for the members of the tiny church and an important gentleman related to one of them.

La Vie en Rose – a critically-acclaimed biopic about the legendary international singing icon Edith Piaf, whose voice and talent captivated the world. Starring award-winner Marion Cotillard (A Very Long Engagement, A Good Year) in an astonishing performance, the film is a portrait of a remarkable artist born into poverty who survived using the only gift she had: her voice. Piaf’s tragic life was a constant battle to sing and survive, to live and love, with no regrets.

The Dinner Game – Each week, Pierre (Thierry Lhemitte) and his friends organize what is called as “un dîner de cons”. Everyone brings the biggest jackass he could find as a guest. Pierre thinks his champ -François Pignon (Jacques Villeret) – will steal the show.

Tour de France 2007 4-Hour The Tour Rediscovered – This video presents a storybook triumph in the midst of real-world adversity. After perhaps the darkest hours in the history of the Tour de France, the 2007 race concluded with a ray of sunshine and glimmers of hope that the sport of cycling has entered a new era that will be free of doping scandals and marked by restored trust in the minds of its millions of fans.

Movie Collections

The Brigitte Bardot Collection – A great Bardot set for both those who’ve seen her best known films and those looking for an introduction to one of the great sex symbols of all time.

Jean Renoir 3-Disc Collector’s Edition – A group of rare films by Jean Renoir, arguably the greatest director the medium has ever known, for under $20.

Beauty and The Beast – Criterion Collection – This is definitely not the Disney version. While it remains faithful to the plot of the classic fairy tale by Leprince de Beaumont, Jean Cocteau’s 1946 French romantic fantasy is the product of a sophisticated, mature sensibility in its tones and textures and, above all, in its surprising emotional power.

related: Shopping Guide for Francophiles

[sources: Amazon, IMDb]