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Top 5 French Movies of 2022

Top 5 French Movies of 2022

Here is a new selection of the best French movies for the year 2022. We have prepared a selection of the five excellent French films that we enjoyed this year.

The selection goes from French action to comedy movies. There is something for everyone in this article on French movies 2022.


List of the Best French Movies of 2022

Let’s start this list of the best French movies of 2022! 

  1. Novembre 

Novembre is a police movie, a thriller that will keep you in suspense until the end. Here is a sensitive topic for the French people. The film is about the deadly terrorist attacks that occurred on the 13th of November 2015 in Paris.

The movie was out of competition for the official selection of the Cannes Festival 2022. You will find the French actor Jean Dujardin playing the role of a divisional commissioner trying to figure out the people’s locations involved in this attack. 

Synopsis: A dive into the heart of anti-terrorism services during the five days of investigation that followed the November 13 attacks.


  1. L’innocent 

This was my favorite French movie of 2022! L’innocent is a French comedy movie about a heist made by a family. In a way, it reminds me of the French Netflix series Family Business. 

L'innocent
L’innocent @AdVitam & Les Films des Tournelles

The French actress, Noémie Merlant takes the movie to another level thanks to her performance. You will find the famous French actor Roschdy Zem playing an ex-prisoner and Anouk Grinberg playing the role of a mature woman. All those French actors surrounded the actor and director of this film, Louis Garrel. This is definitely a feel-good dramatic comedy French movie. The scenario is not a “revolution” but the acting is worth watching this French movie of 2022. 

Synopsis: When Abel (Louis Garrel) learns that his mother Sylvie (Anouk Grinberg), in her sixties, is about to get married for the third time to a man in prison, he panics. Supported by Clémence (Noémie Merlant), his best friend, he does everything he can to protect her. But the meeting with Michel (Roschdy Zem ), his new stepfather, could offer Abel new perspectives.

Read also: Top 5 French Movies of 2023


  1. Reprise en main 

Another French comedy movie that shows the social side of France. The country is famous for its protests and social movements, quite negative. This movie shows the bright side of the French working class in the French Alps. You will find the French actor Grégory Montel who played in the French series Call My Agent.

My review, the film is perhaps a little bit too manichean with on one side the evil businessmen who don’t care about the conditions of the workers to maximize profits. And on the other side, the good workers fight to keep their jobs. A positive point, the film takes place in Haute-Savoie (a French country), and the landscapes of the mountains are magnificent, it is also a feel-good movie. One last point, I found the world of finance well illustrated, there was an educational side to the functioning of this world. 

Synopsis: Cédric works in a precision engineering company in Haute-Savoie. The factory is to be sold again to an investment fund. Cedric and his childhood friends try the impossible: to buy the factory by pretending to be investors!


  1. Reste un peu

We are used to seeing Gad Elmaleh as a joker (You need to know that he is a mega star in France as a French stand-up comedian). For once, the comedian reveals his true self in this French movie of 2022. It is a beautiful introspection that the artist offers us, the film will speak to the spectators having a sensitivity to spirituality. Still, you might be laughing or smiling thanks to his humor (less visible than usual).

Reste un peu @SAJE Distribution & Laure Gilli

This film is based on his personal life and shows his spiritual path. You need to know that religion is a taboo topic in France. Gad Elmaleh is ethnically and religiously Jewish but he wishes to convert to Catholicism. He did inspire by his life but not 100% of the movie is true, he wants to let the spectators be their own judge. Fun fact there are no actors in the movie, the parents of Gad Elmaleh are his real parents, the religious persons are real ones, and so on.  

Synopsis: A fifty-year-old man returning to France after a rich American experience visits his family of Moroccan descent. The joy of the reunion is shattered when the mother discovers a statue of the Virgin Mary in her son’s suitcase.


  1. Fumer fait tousser

Film by the unique and original producer Quentin Dupieux. We owe him the excellent films Le Daim or Mandibules. He also directed a French horror movie with Rubber. The movie director likes to play with the absurd and does it wonderfully. As usual, Quentin Dupieux offers us a crazy French film with five “Power Rangers”. The film is punctuated this time by several stories, each more bizarre than the last. 

We find a long list of famous French actors and famous French actresses with Gilles Lellouche, Vincent Lacoste, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Anaïs Demoustier as well as the unavoidable Belgian actor Benoît Poelvoorde. We find the two comedians of the Palme Show (a funny French TV show) with Grégroire Ludig and David Marsais as well as the comedian from the internet Jérôme Neil. Finally, Alain Chabat lends his voice for the character of the rat.  

Synopsis: After a fierce fight against a demonic turtle, five avengers known as the “TABAC FORCE”, are ordered to retreat to strengthen the cohesion of their group, which is deteriorating. The retreat goes well until Lezardin, Emperor of Evil, decides to destroy the planet Earth.


I hope you enjoyed discovering those new French movies and that you will watch some of them (or all of them). Are there some French movies of 2022 you liked and are not on this list? Tell us in the comments of this article. We would be happy to answer you! 

Finally, I invite you to consult the previous articles about our different selections of the best French movies with French movies on Netflix and the Top 5 French movies of 2021

Photo Credits: 

Cover picture and L’innocent: @AdVitam & Les Films des Tournelles

Reste un peu: @SAJE Distribution & Laure Gilli

Catherine Laz

Tuesday 24th of January 2023

I really enjoyed As Bestas, a Franco-Spanish film with Denis Ménochet and Marina Foïs. It's a brilliant and tense drama with masterful acting from a top cast including pretty scary Spanish characters. Ménochet and Foïs are organic farmers in a secluded region of Spain. Developers want to set up a wind farm. The French couple opposes it while the locals who are poor want it. That triggers spiraling violence between the French and their neighbours, two brothers who are bent on eliminating them.

Sacha

Wednesday 25th of January 2023

Thanks Catherine! I did not know the movie "As bestas", looks like a good movie to watch. Thanks for the recommendation :)