5 French films on Netflix that feel like summer

Voila sex, love, weddings, family and soccer, - the five cornerstones for the summer. And they are all part of the 5 French films we have selected for you, all available on Netflix.

Wedding unplanned (Jour J)

Summer means happy hours at a terrace, mosquitos, and of course, wedding season. Sure, a comedy about a wedding gone wrong isn’t something unheard of but this one comes with a twist: it all starts when Mathias's girlfriend finds a business card for a wedding planner in his pocket. Suddenly, he's engaged and hiring his lover to plan the big day! This French comedy could very much be a Judd Apatow production and it won’t be too long before Hollywood looks for a remake.

Bang Gang

Sex, summer, drugs and electro. That’s what Eva Husson’s first feature is about, on the surface at least. Bang Gang will make the temperature in your living-room skyrocket so a little piece of advice: don’t watch it with your parents (or kids). The film follows a group of teenagers trying to not fall into summer boredom by testing and pushing the boundaries of their sexuality. A subtle and transgressive take on the teenage years.

Lolo

Yes, you’ve been hooked recently on some crime documentaries on Netflix, but who also doesn’t want a good innocent laugh in the summer, without feeling like you lost an hour and a half of your life that you could have spent outside. Look no further than Julie Delpy’s dark humor in Lolo. When Parisian sophisticate Violette (Julie Deply herself) falls in love with geeky Jean-René (Dany Boon), her ultra-possessive 19-year-old son (Vincent Lacoste) determines to sabotage their relationship, by any means necessary. As always with the French director, the dialogues are fast and caustic and the situations outrageous without being too over the top.

Rust and Bone (De rouille et d’os)

One of the best French films of the past decade, Jacques Audiard’s powerful drama set in the hot southern town of Antibes is a story about love, acceptance, forgiveness, and friendship. It’s also Marion Cotillard’s best role, as she plays Stephanie, a killer whale trainer who is trying to get her life back on track and accepting the help of others after suffering a horrible accident that left her in a wheelchair. Of course it’s not a Disney fairytale, but you will come out of this film moved and ready to take on whatever life throws at you.

Les bleus: une autre histoire de France

The French love their soccer. And especially for the past 20 years as France went all the way to the World Cup final twice: winning once in 1998 on a day that brought to the street of Paris as many people as it did for the defeat of the Nazis in 1945, but also losing once in a heart-breaking defeat in 2006 that shook France and ended the career of its best player ever: Zinédine Zidane. Of course it helps to like soccer to watch this documentary but it’s also fascinating to see how the ups and downs of the French national soccer team mirrored those of French society, which is precisely what Les bleus, is trying to achieve here.

And of course, read our weekly review of a French film on Netflix! as well as our updated list of the best French films to stream right now on Netflix!

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