11 films by François Ozon for those who know a lot about good cinema

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

On October 15, a new picture of the French director "Summer'85" was released. The life hacker talks about her and suggests remembering other notable works of the master.

11. Criminal lovers

• France, 1999.
• Thriller, drama, crime.
• Duration: 96 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 5.

A couple of teenagers kill their classmate. They go to the forest to get rid of the body. Having buried the corpse, the heroes lose their way home and come to the hut, where the owner of the house soon returns. The forester puts the guy on a chain, and the girl is locked in the basement. This meeting does not bode well for young people.

The second film in Ozone's career was first seen at the Venice Film Festival. The picture is characteristic of the early work of the author and shows his then favorite themes: love, violence and homosexuality. Not without dark humor. The roles of teenagers were played by Belgian namesakes: Jeremy Rainier and Natasha Rainier.

10. Raindrops on hot rocks

• France, 1999.
• Drama, melodrama, comedy.
• Duration: 82 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 8.

Germany, 1970s. The acquaintance of a middle-aged businessman and a young man develops into a long-term relationship. After some time, both were already tired of each other and are looking for new sensations. Even sexual experimentation does not help the situation. Suddenly, the girls they once loved return to their lives.

The film is an adaptation of the play of the same name by the German Rainer Werner Fasbinder. The sensual picture premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. The work won the "Teddy" prize, which is awarded to films about the problems of homosexual people. Ozone emphasizes the theatricality of the whole action, breaking the plot into separate chapters.

9. Under the sand

• France, Japan, 2000.
• Drama, detective.
• Duration: 92 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 1.

A man and a woman have been happily married for about 25 years. He is French, she is English. Each year, the couple spend their holidays in the same location in southwestern France. On one of these trips, the spouse disappears. His wife does not understand what happened and refuses to believe in suicide. She believes that he is alive and will soon return home.

The more mature works of François Ozon began with this picture. He no longer strives for shocking and shock. Under the Sand is a psychological drama about the danger of getting used to a loved one. She was awarded three nominations at once for the European Film Academy Award.

8.8 women

• France, Italy, 2001.
• Musical, crime, detective, drama, comedy.
• Duration: 110 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 1.

On the eve of Christmas, a murder takes place in the French province: someone stabbed the owner of the house with a knife. In addition to him, eight women were going to celebrate the holiday in the same mansion. They learn that unknown persons cut the telephone wires and broke the car. You can't call the police, you can't get to the nearest town. It remains only to find out who killed the only man in the house. This is definitely one of the women.

Ozone brings together brilliant French actresses (Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Bear, Fanny Ardant and others) under one roof. The director plays a detective story in the spirit of Agatha Christie, only in a comedic variation. The action takes place in the 50s of the XX century. At the same time, the play of the same name by Robert Thom was written, based on which this hilarious entertaining film was shot.

7. Swimming pool

• France, Great Britain, 2002.
• Thriller, drama, crime, detective.
• Duration: 102 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 7.

Exhausted by her creative crisis, the writer arrives at her publisher's villa. There are plans for a new work. Her peace is disturbed by the insolent daughter of the owner of the house. Every night the girl has a new man in bed, and during the day she wants to chat with a famous author. At first, this is already infuriating for a middle-aged woman, but one day everything changes.

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. This is Ozone's second work with British actress Charlotte Rampling. “Pool” fits perfectly into the genre of beach detective stories, where the action takes place without fail in a sunny summer. The Frenchman mixes eroticism and crime in his usual proportions.

6. Time to say goodbye

• France, 2005.
• Drama.
• Duration: 85 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 1.

A successful photographer learns that due to illness, he has only a few months left to live. He does not want to torture his body with strong drugs, so he decides to deal with important issues for him before dying. In order to leave a piece of himself to this world, the young man agrees to conceive a child for a couple whom he recently met.

The script for the film is based on Hervé Gibert's autobiographical documentary Shame or Shamelessness. Its author did not live to see the premiere, dying of AIDS in 1991. For the first time, Ozone is really serious about death. The picture is divided into two parts, clearly showing the transformation of the protagonist - from anger to acceptance of his fate.

5. In the house

• France, 2012.
• Thriller, melodrama, drama.
• Duration: 105 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 4.

The French literature teacher is disappointed in his students. Nobody listens to him, and school essays are impossible to read. Only the boy sitting at the last desk gives hope. He spies on his friend's house and writes an interesting story. The student even begins to intervene in the development of events in order to give the work a dramatic effect.

One of the director's most graceful and funniest films premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. As often happens with Ozon, the script is based not on the original text, but on someone else's play. This time it is Juan Mayorga's The Boy at the Last Desk. The director skillfully bypasses the clichés of social drama and turns the picture into a puzzle. It will be extremely difficult for the viewer to understand what is true and what is fiction of the young writer.

4. Young and beautiful

• France, 2013.
• Drama, melodrama.
• Duration: 93 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 7.

A seventeen-year-old girl from a wealthy family at a resort loses her virginity with her peer. It does not bring her any pleasure. Back in Paris, she becomes a prostitute. Her clients are exceptionally middle-aged men. One day, right during sex, one of them dies.

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. This is the first big role of the French model and actress Marina Vact. The director praises youth and does not condemn the attempts of the young lady to reveal her sexuality. It turns out a beautiful, simple and sincere movie.

3. Franz

• France, Germany, 2016.
• Drama, melodrama, military, history, detective.
• Duration: 113 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 5.

Germans Anna and Franz love each other and are going to get married. The First World War is going on, and the young man is sent to the front. He dies on the battlefield. Heartbroken girl visits the grave of her beloved. At the cemetery, she encounters a Frenchman - Franz's enemy during the battles. How are these two young men related?

Ozone shot his most sentimental and sensual film on black and white film. She emphasizes that the events unfold 100 years ago. The premiere took place at the Venice Film Festival. The script is based on the 1932 drama "The Unfinished Lullaby" by Ernst Lubitsch. Franz is a sophisticated melodramatic detective story and the pinnacle of the French director's work.

2. By the will of God

• France, Belgium, 2018.
• Drama, crime.
• Duration: 137 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 2.

One of the residents of Lyons, already an adult man, sees a Catholic priest on TV. The father of the family clearly remembers how this church minister seduced him. The victim of a pedophile finds brothers in misfortune. Together they start a campaign against the priest and the local cardinal, who committed the former's violent actions.

An incredibly relevant statement based on real events. At the time of the premiere, the pedophile priest had not yet been sentenced. In the form of an interesting story about the solidarity of victims, Ozone calls for justice to punish the perpetrator. A bold and decisive step. The painting won the Grand Prix at the Berlin Festival.

1. Summer'85

• France, Belgium, 2020.
• Drama.
• Duration: 100 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 9.

Summer 1985, Normandy. A young man turns his boat into the sea and is rescued by an older young man. Their friendships quickly develop into closer ones. But one of the heroes dies, and the second is handcuffed at the police station. What happened between them?

A vivid picture was supposed to get to the Cannes Film Festival, but the film screening was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ozone is filming a novel by Briton Aiden Chambers "Dance on My Grave". In his youth, this work greatly impressed the future director. He wanted to make a film based on this book for 25 years. The Frenchman uses an interesting plot structure: in the very first shots, he shows the ending of the story, and then tells how the heroes came to him.