THE CRIME OF MONSIEUR LANGE (LE CRIME DE MONSIEUR LANGE)

(Jean Renoir, 1936, b/w, DVD)
Amédée Lange (René Lefèvre) writes a comic strip called Arizona Jim for a small printing press run by the venal and corrupt Batala (played by Jules Berry). In trouble with his creditors, Batala does a runner, and the workers take over the press. With such success, Batala returns to get what’s coming to him. Written by Jacques Prévert, this may not have the subtleties of later Renoir, but its breathless all-for-one approach is impossible to resist.

BIZARRE, BIZARRE (DRÔLE DE DRAME)

(Marcel Carné, 1937 b/w, DVD, amazon.fr with English subtitles)
“I said ‘Bizarre, bizarre’? How strange. Why would I have said ‘Bizarre, bizarre’?” “I can assure you, dear cousin, you said ‘Bizarre, bizarre’.” “I said ‘Bizarre’? That is bizarre.” Carné’s delightful second feature is an absurdist screwball farce set in a French studio version of Edwardian London, with a wacky script by Prévert. Jean-Louis Barrault is a psychotic vegetarian (he murders butchers), while botanist Michel Simon abandons his mimosa after he’s wrongfully accused of murdering his wife by the Bishop of Bedford (Louis Jouvet).

MR HULOT’S HOLIDAY (LES VACANCES DE M. HULOT)

(Jacques Tati, 1951, b/w, DVD)
Tati was modernity’s clown; technology his banana skin. No film-maker scrutinised the rapid architectural, scientific and sociological evolution of Gaullist France as quizzically as Tati in Jour de Fête (1949), Mr Hulot’s Holiday, Mon Oncle (1958) and Playtime (1967). Hulot was his beloved alter ego, and Hulot’s Holiday was his best-loved film, particularly among the English, who recognise “un vrai gentleman” when they see one. Slapstick never seemed so civilised.

THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE (LE CHARME DISCRET DE LA BOURGEOISIE)

(Luis Buñuel, 1972, DVD)
The Spanish Surrealist Luis Buñuel found an accommodating home in France, where his anti-clericalism and satirical assaults on the elite were not only tolerated but embraced. This was his most popular film, an effortless exercise in delayed gratification as a wealthy group of friends (including Fernando Rey, Delphine Seyrig and Stéphane Audran) meet for a dinner that will always elude them; either the host is absent, or the restaurant proprietor is dead, or they are assailed by armed intruders, as a surreal sequence of events leads towards the oneiric dénouement.

MAKING IT (LES VALSEUSES)

(Bertrand Blier, 1974, VHS)
Buñuel’s successor in many ways, Blier has enjoyed a rollercoaster career, falling in and out of fashion in a trajectory that is both highly erratic (in terms of quality) and consistent (in terms of sensibility). More shocking than Buñuel, and certainly more explicit, Blier has often been accused of sexism, and this, his first feature, remains a provocative test case, with Gérard Depardieu and Patrick Dewaere following their baser instincts with Jeanne Moreau, Miou-Miou, Isabelle Huppert and others (the original title literally translates as “The Waltzers”, but it is French slang for “testicles”).

BIRDS OF A FEATHER (LA CAGE AUX FOLLES)

(Edouard Molinaro, 1978, DVD)
A middle-aged gay couple play it straight (if Michel Serrault in drag qualifies) when meeting the rightwing parents of their son’s fiancée. Molinaro’s high-camp farce may trade in stereotypes, but in light of the reactionary moral climate in the United States, it looks even more relevant. It is also screamingly funny, and surprisingly touching.

AN AUTUMN TALE (CONTE D’AUTOMNE)

(Eric Rohmer, 1998, DVD)
A late masterpiece (one of several) from the then 78-year-old Eric Rohmer. It benefits from the cultivation of two of his favourite actresses, Marie Rivière (from The Green Ray, 1986) and Béatrice Romand (Laura in Claire’s Knee, 1970). Both middle-aged by the time of An Autumn Tale, they bring a rare depth and assurance to another deceptively slight yet paradoxically pragmatic inquiry into the rules of attraction. Rohmer’s civilised, conversational cinema is a constant companion. Here he excels himself.

OTHER PEOPLE’S TASTE (LE GOÛT DES AUTRES)

(Agnès Jaoui, 2000, DVD)
A culture-clash comedy with the emphasis on “culture”, this delectable morsel concerns a wealthy industrialist (Jaoui’s writing partner Jean-Pierre Bacri) who falls head over heels in love with a theatre actress (Anne Alvaro) and forlornly sets about “improving himself”. It’s that rare thing, a concept comedy with rich, credible characters and subtle playing. The Jaoui/ Bacri team have had a second triumph recently with the Cannes-winning Look At Me.

MA FEMME EST UNE ACTRICE (MY WIFE IS AN ACTRESS)

(Yvan Attal, 2001, DVD, with English subtitles)
This sly, self-referential comedy, written and directed by Attal, and starring his real-life wife Charlotte Gainsbourg, is a satire on how actors’ actual and screen lives are confused. Jealous of his wife’s romantic scenes, Attal turns up on set to find the cast and crew shooting in the nude. Getting the wrong idea, he pushes his wife towards the infidelity he fears. Watch out for the scene where Charlotte announces herself pregnant.

STAR CHOICE

ERIC SYKES ON JACQUES TATI

“Jacques Tati, who was a friend of mine and shared my sense of humour, would invite me to sit next to him at his London premieres because he reckoned that I was the Jacques Tati of England. Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, Jour de Fête ... these are fantastically funny films.”

Sykes: The First Colour Series, is on DVD