10 French movies to watch or rewatch this summer No need to leave your living room to feel the sweet smell of salt air this summer

As the gentle August days roll on, the desire to extend our naps in the shade, enjoy longer cool breaks, and indulge in lazy mornings in bed grows stronger. Cinema becomes the perfect pastime to fill our summer days. For those whose holidays don’t necessarily mean travel, the greatest French directors still manage to transport us to faraway paradisiacal worlds without leaving our favorite couch. So here’s a non-exhaustive list of 10 French films with a summery vibe to watch or rewatch at all costs.

1. Swimming pool by Jacques Deray

Set in a stunning villa on the French Riviera in the late 60s, La Piscine tells the story of Jean-Paul (Alain Delon) and Marianne (Romy Schneider), a couple in love spending the summer lounging. The only problem: the arrival of Harry, Marianne’s former lover, and his daughter Pénélope (Jane Birkin). From the moment they arrive, a certain tension disturbs the villa’s peaceful atmosphere, mixing jealousy, rivalry, and growing unease.

2. Contempt by Jean-Luc Godard

To adapt The Odyssey, Paul and his partner Camille (Brigitte Bardot), both French, move to Italy and temporarily settle in Capri. During a simple afternoon with the film’s script and production team, Camille’s view of her partner radically shifts, and a growing contempt settles between them. Nestled in their sea-view apartment, the couple embarks on a long argument, the conclusion of which is only revealed after all 103 minutes unfold.

3. French Fried Vacation by Patrice Leconte

A group of vacationers arrives at Club Med in Ivory Coast, determined to enjoy their time off and leave their worries behind. But rest proves elusive when Gigi, Jérôme, Christiane, Jean-Claude, and Bernard get together. Between games, competitions, outings, sunburns, and other mishaps, their holiday turns out to be anything but calm.

4. The Troops of St. Tropez by Jean Girault

The first in a six-film series starring gendarme Cruchot, Le Gendarme de Saint Tropez shows the officer’s beginnings in the South of France, where he’s been assigned. Between problems caused by his teenage daughter, crimes like nude swimming he must crack down on, and his attempts to impress new colleagues by claiming his father is a millionaire, Cruchot singlehandedly makes us smile with his tireless energy.

5. The Big Blue by Luc Besson

Jacques and Enzo have been childhood friends who share a common passion for free diving. Jacques, a professional diver, chose to follow in the footsteps of his father who died at sea when he was young. Faced with his friend’s talent, Enzo decides to challenge him in a free diving competition to officially determine who can dive deeper and longer without equipment. But as the contest approaches, Jacques meets Johana, a beautiful American insurance investigator, and will have to choose between his two loves: Johana, and the big blue.

6. One Deadly Summer by Jean Becker

As the summer of 1976 approaches, Éliane (Isabelle Adjani), twenty years old, moves to a small village in Provence with her paralyzed adoptive father who refuses to take care of her and her German-born mother. There, she meets Pin-Pon, a volunteer firefighter, whom she falls in love with, and with whom she quickly plans her future. But before the baby and the wedding, Éliane makes discoveries that may well call her plans into question.

7. Those Happy Days by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache

In the early 1990s, Vincent Rousseau (Jean-Paul Rouve) takes over the direction of a summer camp that lasts 3 weeks. With the help of a team of not always capable colleagues, Vincent will have to deal with various and diverse crises, including a hyperactive child determined to escape, a particularly unlucky little girl, and love stories between both the campers and the counselors.

8. Pierrot le Fou by Jean-Luc Godard

After being fired, Ferdinand (Pierrot) decides to take his childhood friend and former babysitter of his children on a trip from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea. He leaves his wife and children behind to seek new horizons with this friend, who turns out to be chased by Algerian hitmen. The film follows this unlikely duo’s escape from north to south in a dangerous and eventful journey, but never a boring one.

9. Pauline at the Beach by Eric Rohmer

At the beginning of the 1980s, 15-year-old Pauline spends the end of summer with her cousin Marion in Normandy. Marion, who is twice her age and a stylist in Paris, has just divorced and wants to mend her heart. She does so with Pierre, who introduces his friends to her young cousin: Henri, a charming divorced ethnologist, and Sylvain, a teenager looking for a girl his age. On the warm sand, new bonds are formed between Pauline and the boys, as well as Marion and her rekindled teenage love.

10. Swimming Pool by François Ozon

Sarah, a British crime novelist, travels to her publisher’s upscale summer home in the south of France, more precisely in the Luberon, to find solitude and work on her next book. While she hopes to see the publisher arrive at the villa, it is his daughter Julie who shows up unexpectedly. The complete opposite of Sarah, tensions rise between the writer and the young woman. Yet jealousy quickly turns into complicity when a crime is committed in the villa.