"A superlative French gangster movie, beautifully shot around Pigalle. Melville creates in Bob an ethical, mysterious crook with loads of style. Supporting actress Isabelle Corey plays a bar girl you don’t want to get involved with."

"When I first saw it, I had never seen anything like it. I knew nothing about filmmaking. But I knew that the guy with that French name had made a film that was changing the rules."

"John Wick 1 was heavily influenced by Steve McQueen, by Bullitt. The Mustang and the turtleneck… Also, French Connection, that sort of thing. All those great ’70s films, they were a big part of John Wick 1."

"One of the things that's really cool about Christine is that she releases her music in English and French. She uses it as a tool for writing lyrics because she can bounce off the meanings in different languages."

"A book analyzing the films of French director Catherine Breillat, one of my favorite directors, is infinitely fascinating for how it dissects her treatment of subject matter: desire, shame, body image and male/female power struggles as sexuality."

"At a film festival conference a few decades past, I was asked by a solemn journalist which French director has had the most influence on me. I expressed undying appreciation of Truffaut, Godard, Renoir, but stated that the most accurate answer was that Jacques Tati left an indelible mark when I saw this film as a boy. The French hated that answer—Tati was out of favor at the time. Funny how that works. This film remains one of the most hilarious, affectionate, politely barbed creations. For me it’s a cinematic standard for human comedy."

"Another example of magnificent filmmaking, wherein the performances of Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux, and Vittorio De Sica and the direction of Max Ophuls are so perfect that it almost stands alone in a category of romantic European filmmaking. Ophuls’s great fame rests mostly on the extraordinary directorial control he brings to this special film. It seems the most quintessential French film ever made, based on a story by the French Louise de Vilmorin, but it was directed by the German Ophuls. Americans, sensibly enough, never really tried to do this kind of film."

"Surprise of my year. Really thought I was about to watch a remake of a remake, and it turns out Ladj Ly (doc-maker) crafted a stunningly researched, perfectly cast drama via power plays in a contemporary French banlieue."