Being a child and a young teenager in the ’90s, these movies bring back memories and references to specific times. The same as music, movies are a representation of cultural references, a way of seeing life and reflecting.
Some movies become cult and their quotes remain in the common language. This is the case in some of these movies.
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Les visiteurs – The visitors (1993)
French time-travel comedy for those with Pythonesque tastes. A comedy where stupidity makes sense. Not to be taken seriously!
A medieval knight (Jean Reno ) and his servant (Christian Clavier) aim to move back in time to prevent his father-in-law’s accidental killing. Instead, they travel away to the 20th century!
Les 3 frères (1995)
A cult French comedy with the French standup actors and singers Les inconnus. If you master French humour, Les inconnus short comedies are cult in the ’90s French cultural references.
Les 3 frères tells the story of 3 brothers getting to know each other’s existences at their mother’s funeral.
La Haine (1995) – Hate
Number one French movie for the ’90s! La Haine received a standing ovation and the Best Director prize at the Cannes Festival back in 1995. This movie’s political and social force shows three young men–an Arab, an African and a Jew-who spend 24 aimless hours in a Paris suburb. Another realistic face of France far from the City of Love stereotype.
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Le dîner de con (1998) – The game dinner
A group of friends organises a weekly dinner, competing to invite the stupidest person every time. This week’s host, Pierre Brochant, is trapped in a situation where his guest’s stupidity turns his life into a comic hell.
This movie adaptation of a French theatre play was then remade into an American movie The dinner in 2010.
La vérité si je mens (1997)
La vérité si je mens is a comedy of Eddie’s adventures, a non-Jew trying to pass as Jewish in spite of his total ignorance of Jewish traditions, as he works in a Jewish community.
There was such a domestic success that two other movies followed but not as good as the first one in my opinion.
La Gloire de mon père (1990) – My father’s glory
It is the first of two movies based on the childhood reminiscences of Marcel Pagnol, novelist, playwright and filmmaker. The movie captures the essence of the Provence region at the beginning of the last century. A great way to discover the South of France’s way of life!
Taxi (1998)
The first of the movie saga was orchestrated by Luc Besson. This is a movie fun to watch with a typical French laid-back approach and sense of humour. In some way, it is a parody of the cop and the robber American movies. The funny thing is this French movie ended up with an American remake!
There are a few other movies I haven’t mentioned here. Because they are not only French productions, such as Léon (The Professional in English) but also because the sense of humour may be quite difficult to get as a foreigner as La Cité de la Peur.
If there are any other movies from this decade that you have liked and that are not mentioned here, let me know in the comments.
Enjoy the movies!
