If you've ever googled ‘does Netflix have French movies, ‘how to watch French films online’ or ‘how can I stream French movies’, then this page is for you. We decided to list all of the legal ways to watch a French film in the US and to give you an idea of the catalogue and the price: we have the classics - Netflix, Hulu, Amazon - and many other streaming services with French movies including French streaming platforms you maybe didn’t know existed or didn’t know had hidden French gems! Silence, moteur, action!

The easiest way to find where to stream French films is to use this guide to all French movies available in the US across all streaming platforms. Just select the platform, the genre or the film and check where you can watch it. If you're unsure which French film to watch, take a look at our selection of movies about French cuisine, French romantic comedies, or French films set in Provence. You can also easily find the best French films on Netflix, or the best French movies on Amazon Prime.

Click below to check FrenchFlicks' streaming guide ↓

French movies on TV5MONDE

If you want to watch new French films all year round, then your number one choice should be TV5MONDE. The global French language entertainment network broadcasts around 500 French films per year, with English subtitles, with a good mix of classics, originals and recent French movies, as well as great French TV shows.

At no extra cost, included with a TV5MONDE subscription, TV5MONDEplus, the largest French language streaming platform, is now available on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, LG, and Samsung, in most markets. Stream thousands of titles from box office hits and series to travel and cultural shows, with the option to watch from up to five subtitled languages. 

TV5MONDE also offers the streaming platform TV5MONDE Cinema on Demand which has around 30 titles available at any time with new releases every week. You’ll often find French film festival favorites on the platform. Check out our monthly selection of the best French films on TV5MONDE and TV5MONDE Cinema on Demand (It's also available in French here!).

French movies on Netflix

By now, you probably already know there is only a small catalogue of French movies streaming on Netflix as well as French TV shows with English subtitiles, usually between 50 and 70, but with a growing list of Netflix originals including movies like Lupin, I am not an Easy Man, Paris is Us, The World is Yours, Divines, and the (not so great) TV series Marseille. And because it’s not always easy to find out if Netflix has added any new French films to its catalogue, FrenchFlicks maintains an updated list of every French film on Netflix here as well with trailers, synopsis, casting, and ratings from Rotten Tomatoes and Allociné. Good news, this list is updated weekly so be sure to add it to your favorite to be aware of the latest added movies! If the number of French movies has been going down recently, TV shows are on the rise with more than 20 already, mostly originals, and a lot of them quite daring and ambitious. The full list of French TV series on netflix is here.

And if you're not looking for a full listing, but the best of French cinema, la crème de la crème - and aren’t we all - here is our monthly updated top 10 best French movies on Netflix.

Free French movies via FrenchFlicks

Although we don't offer any films, we list 75 French films with English subtitles on the 'Watch Now' page available right now for free via legal platforms like Tubi and PopcornFlix. You can then watch the film directly from FrenchFlicks. The list is often updated so you'll never run out of french streams. Start streaming now! 

French movies on Amazon Prime

Amazon doesn’t really make it easy to find films on its prime platform but the best way to find a gallic feature is to type “French movies” in Prime Video, and make sure the box “included with Prime” is tagged if you’re on your laptop (one thing to note though is that some films on Amazon are categorized under French films but are simply not French…). You’ll be surprised to see how many French movies are available on Amazon Prime. Some good, and some (a lot) bad. Which is why we made a list of the 14 best French films on Amazon Prime, among them Back to Burgundy (Ce qui nous lie), The Connection (La French) and Delicatessen. You can also catch Ladj Ly's César winning Les Misérables.

But not all films are included with Prime; there's also the option to rent or buy French movies, especially if you are looking for very recent French films. Renting prices are usually between $1 and $5, while buying is between $6 and $15. Among those films, we would highly recommend The Innocents, The Apparition, Diane Has the Right Shape (Diane a les épaules), Memoir of War (La douleur), My King (Mon roi), A breath Away (Dans la brume), Intouchables, Summertime, Heartbreaker (L'arnacœur), La vie en rose (La môme), Welcome to the Sticks (Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis), and The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (Les aventures de Rabbi Jacob).

French movies on Amazon Channels

On top of the films on Prime and available to rent or buy, you’ll find plenty of French films on Amazon Channels, whether it is the channel of a US distributor specialized in foreign films like Cohen Media or networks like HBO, CBS and Cinemax, which also make some of their films available via Amazon. Here is the full list of every channel with French movies on Amazon Prime Video.

Among the many channels, you should check out Fandor which has over 140 French movies, mostly classics and Cahiers du Cinéma favorites like Jane B. By Agnès V., Cousin Jules, Séraphine or Éric Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale (Conte d'été). 

Another channel with a nice selection is Dekko, whose specialty is gay entertainment. Among the films, the great Knife+Heart with Vanessa Paradis and the French-Canadian drama from Philippe Lesage, Génèse.

Take a look also at the Cohen Media Channel, which showcases some of the film the US distributor has been bringing to America for the past decade. Which means you’ll find plenty of recent films like the latest features of François Ozon as well as Godard Mon Amour (Le redoutable), Come What May (En mai, fais ce qu'il te plaît), Gauguin, but also some classics from Jacques Rivette, Agnès Varda and Bertrand Blier.

French movies on HBO MAX

The newly launched streaming platform HBO MAX which will eventually host the Friends reunion, offers an incredible selection of classic French films (and not just New Wave) from Henri-Georges Clouzot and Jacques Tati to François Truffaut and Jean-Pierre Melville. Quite ideal if you’re looking to perfect your knowledge of what made French cinema so special. Find here the 10 best French movies on HBO Max.

French movies on HBO Go

This is going to be a quick one. As of right now, there are only two French films - but they are really good ones - Amélie (Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain) and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le scaphandre et le papillon). So once you’re done with these two, you can go back to binge-watching The Sopranos or Game of Thrones.

French movies on Hulu

No one ever thinks to look for French films on Hulu, and we don’t blame you; we’ve only found a handful. But it stills boasts some great films like the George Simenon’ adaptation The Blue Room (La chambre bleue) by Mathieu Amalric and the star-studded period film The Princess of Montpensier (La princesse de Montpensier). Here is our list of the best French movies on Hulu.

French movies on YouTube

We’re talking about the legal options on YouTube here. There are actually two French films with English subtitles you can watch for free on the platform. Both feature Audrey Tautou and are definitely worth your time: Priceless (Hors de Prix), France’s take on Breakfast at Tiffany’s and He Loves Me He Loves Me Not (À la folie, pas du tout), a tormented love story with a twist. YouTube also offers dozens of French films to rent and buy (from $1 to $4) , classics as well as recent films. The selection is often updated so come back on this page to see the latest additions. 

French movies on Google Play

Just like Youtube, Google Play lets you rent or buy French films. The selection is pretty extensive and you can rent quite recent French movies like Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu) and Sink or Swim (Le grand bain) for just $1.99, and popular French comedies that you would often find on French TV like The Brice Man (Brice de Nice) for $2.99.

French movies on OVID

Launched in January 2019 by six noteworthy independent film distributors in the U.S., this video-on-demand subscription service provides a great selection of arthouse, documentary, and films on social issues. Even if you aren’t a subscriber, you can check their current listing of French films here. You won’t be disappointed as OVID offers a lot of recent French movies that toured the French and international film festivals in America in the past years. Our favorites: the fantastic comedy Guy about a fictitious has-been singer and Hippocrates, a darkly comic portrait of a Paris hospital as seen through the eyes of a young intern.

French movies on Vimeo on Demand

Vimeo is just another way to rent French films, like Amazon or Google Play. You've got two options to find French movies in an ocean of content. You can type ‘french film’ in the search bar then click on ‘on demand’ on the left filter bar. Or you can scroll through the Vimeo channel of the US distributors of French films. For example, Kino Lorber to watch Elles with Juliette Binoche or the thriller Rapt with Yvan Attal, Film Movement for the kids-friendly Belle and Sebastian or the riveting thriller Human Capital.

French movies on Mubi

MUBI is a platform which provides a hand-curated selection of indie films on demand and adds a new film every day. The streaming platform favors film d’auteur and festival favorites. In May, Mubi launched a library, allowing members to (re)watch hundreds of films that had been previously featured on the site. You’ll find films like Olivier Assayas’ Boarding Gate, Albert Serra’s The Death of Louis XIV (La mort de Louix XIV) with Jean-Pierre Léaud and films (of course) classics from Godard and Truffaut.

French movies on iTunes

Apple sure does not make it easy to find the films but once you access your iTunes store, you’ll find a couple of French films for around $3.99, mostly classics that are not exclusive to iTunes (Breathless (À bout de souffle), the 400 Blows (Les 400 coups), Le Samouraï, The City of Lost Children (La cité des enfants perdus), Contempt (le Mépris), Playtime, Le Cercle Rouge) and more recent ones like Amour, Renoir, Priceless (hors de prix), Carlos.

French movies on Fandor

Fandor is another streaming platform that hand-picks its films and presents a selection of classics and more recent critic’s favorites. So it's no wonder you’ll find plenty of French films (131 according to our math) from Agnès Varda, Chantal Akerman, Xavier Beauvois, Philippe Garrel and Claude Chabrol. Fandor is committed to the advancement and preservation of film art and culture and delivers a 50% revenu share to the films’ rights holders. The platform ($5.99 a month and $49.99 a year) is available on Apple TV and Roku. Click here to find the French selection of the platform.

French movies on Fubo TV

If you’re not a fan of MLB, NBA, or NFL, you might have never heard of Fubo TV. The streaming service offers around 90 channels in its entry-level package, mostly sports channels. But for $5.99 more, you can then add around 30 not sports-focused channels - which offer a few French films like Elevator to The Gallows (Ascenseur pour l’échafaud), Pickpocket by Robert Bresson, Black Girl (La noire de service) Ousmane Sembene’s masterpiece, The Dinner Game (Le dîner de cons), Tellement Proches with Omar Sy, Love Me If You Dare (Jeux d’enfants) with Marion Cotillard. It’s worth noting that the catalogue often changes, so what’s true today might no be tomorrow.

French movies on Fandango Now

The movie ticket company Fandango, also has its own platform with only a few gallic films. Among them, Michael Haneke’s fascinating thriller Caché with Daniel Autueil and Juliette Binoche, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s debut feature Delicatessen and a few other critcally-acclaimed films like Amour, The Artist, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le scaphanre et le papillon), Last Year at Marienbad (L'année dernière à Marienbad), La Cage aux Folles and Gemma Bovery. Prices starts at $2.99 to rent and $6.99 to buy.

French movies on IMDbTV

The World’s biggest movie database offers to its members (account creation is free) hundreds of free films and (hooray!), some French are in the mix. And by some, we mean 4: Little White Lies (Les petits mouchoirs), Paris, je t’aime, A Monster in Paris (Un monstre à Paris). 

French movies on The Roku Channel

If you’re not familiar with Roku, it’s a device that offer access to streaming media content on your TV from various online services. Through Roku, you can then connect your tv to Netflix, Amazon Prime and the like. But it also has its own streaming channel available after a free registration, with quite a large selection of on-demand content, some free, some not. Only 10 French films are currently available on the channel, among them Julie Delpy’s Lolo and Two Days in Paris for no extra cost. The price for the Roku streaming player is one time-fee of $29.99. You then can have access to a selection of free films, and you can buy more films starting at $3.99.

French mvoies on The Criterion Channel

Criterion is THE channel for the best of French cinema, classics films, American and foreign. It’s where you’ll find the biggest selection of French films from the new wave, French film noir from Jean-Pierre Melville and Henri-George Clouzot, and movies from the middle of the 20th century from Marcel Carné or Jean Renoir. But you’ll find a nice selection of more recent French films that found an audience internationally like Céline Sciamma’s Water Lillies (La naissance des pieuvres), Olivier Assayas’ Carlos and Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan.

French movies on Kanopy

Kanopy is a video-streaming platform providing free-of-charge and ad-free films thanks to the support of public libraries and universities. To enjoy the films on your TV, mobile phone, tablet or online, you'll need your library membership card number or your university login. Check here if your library is participating (New York City public libraries discontinued Kanopy on July 1, 2019). Film-wise, Kanopy has thousands of titles available, but each library pays for a curated number of titles that they make available to their members.

French movies on Hoopla

Just like Kanopy, Hoopla offers French streams through libraries. You can stream titles instantly through your desktop browser or our mobile app. If you use the mobile app, you can also download titles to your device for offline playback later, where Wi-Fi may be unavailable.

French movies on Showtime on Demand

There’s only a couple,among them the brilliant drama by Céline Sciamma, Girlhood (Bande de filles).

French movies on DIRECTV Cinema

Thousands of films are available on the on-demand platform; some can be rented for free if you’re a subscriber but most need to be rented or bought. The selection is often changing but you’ll always find about 50 French films, mostly recent movies that were released previously in theatres in America like Two Days, One Night (Deux jours, une nuit) with Marion Cotillard, Coco Chanel with Audrey Tautou or The Past (Le passé) with Bérénice Béjo 

French movies on Sundance Now

Amen, Madame Bovary, On the Way to School (Sur le chemin de l'école), and Paris je t’aime are the only ones there but Sundance Now is also where you can watch the great spy show The Bureau (Le bureau des légendes), besides Amazon Prime. Make sure to also check French films on Sundance Channel if it’s part of your TV package.

French movies on MHz Choice

MHz Choice is a streaming service featuring new and exclusive international mysteries, dramas and comedies with English subtitles. Among them, French TV shows like Mafiosa, Captain Marleau, Un Village français and Crimes parfaits.

To stream French films, you can check also these platforms, which sometimes have French movies in their catalog Film Movement Plus, Watch TCM, FilmRise, TNT, FlixFLing, Pantaflix, Dekkoo and BritBox. There are currently no French films on Disney+, no French movies on Apple TV+, CBS All Access, FX Now and the recently launched NBC-owned Peacock and Peacock Premium.

French movies in theaters near me

The most obvious (before Covid…) way to watch a French film is of course in theaters. Before the pandemic started, there was about 150 French films screened every month all across the US. All of the screenings are listed on FrenchFlicks - although today it’s mostly a virtual experience as opposed to actual screenings in theaters. All films screened via virtual cinema or in theaters are listed here. Some of the films have a wide release and are usually recent French films, some are special screenings, some of them are part of international or French film festivals or retrospectives (listed here). So dig into our search page and look to see if there is a French film for you. And if you want to make sure you never miss a French films playing in a theater near you, subscribe to our weekly newsletter on our homepage (on the right).