As the 2024 Olympics gear up for its stay in Paris from July 26 to August 11, we’re celebrating the on-screen history of the French capital with our guide to 50 movies that will make you fall in love with Paris! With a nickname like the City of Love, of course we’re feeling romance and romantic comedies in the air, including Before Sunrise, Midnight in Paris, Best Picture Oscar-winner An American in Paris, and Amelie.
Paris has been a monumental influence on the French New Wave movement of the 1950s and 1960s, as seen in The 400 Blows and Breathless. And there’s plenty of reason to say ‘action!’ with District B13, La Femme Nikita, and Leon: The Professional. Meanwhile, we also included movies that pay tribute to Paris with their own fully-constructed sets and worlds but filmed elsewhere, like Ratatouille, Moulin Rouge, and Sabrina.
Per usual, the list is sorted by Tomatometer, with Certified Fresh films first, which include Charade, Hugo, La vie en rose, Julie & Julia, and The Intouchables.
#1
Adjusted Score: 106021%
Critics Consensus: Moving without resorting to melodrama, BPM offers an engrossing look at a pivotal period in history that lingers long after the closing credits roll.
#2
Adjusted Score: 107067%
Critics Consensus: A seminal French New Wave film that offers an honest, sympathetic, and wholly heartbreaking observation of adolescence without trite nostalgia.
#3
Adjusted Score: 102906%
Critics Consensus: Paris Is Burning dives into ’80s transgender subculture, with the understated camera allowing this world to flourish and the people to speak (and dance) for themselves.
#4
Adjusted Score: 106251%
Critics Consensus: Fast-paced and stunningly animated, Ratatouille adds another delightfully entertaining entry — and a rather unlikely hero — to the Pixar canon.
#5
Adjusted Score: 105344%
Critics Consensus: Breathless rewrote the rules of cinema — and more than 50 years after its arrival, Jean-Luc Godard’s paradigm-shifting classic remains every bit as vital.
#6
Adjusted Score: 104979%
Critics Consensus: Elevated by a remarkable Franz Rogowski performance, Passages adds another smart, deeply humanistic film to director/co-writer Ira Sachs’ estimable filmography.
#7
Adjusted Score: 112255%
Critics Consensus: The plot may be problematic, but such concerns are rendered superfluous by Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron’s star power, the Gershwins’ classic songs, and Vincente Minnelli’s colorful, sympathetic direction.
#8
Adjusted Score: 99816%
Critics Consensus: Filled with engaging dialogue, Before Sunset is a witty, poignant romance, with natural chemistry between Hawke and Delpy.
#9
Adjusted Score: 103461%
Critics Consensus: Led by a luminous Lesley Manville, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is a good old-fashioned story charmingly told.
#10
Adjusted Score: 100497%
Critics Consensus: A globetrotting caper that prizes its idiosyncratic pieces over the general puzzle, Charade is a delightful romp with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn’s sparkling chemistry at the center of some perfectly orchestrated mayhem.
#11
Adjusted Score: 102410%
Critics Consensus: Hugo is an extravagant, elegant fantasy with an innocence lacking in many modern kids’ movies, and one that emanates an unabashed love for the magic of cinema.
#12
Adjusted Score: 102102%
Critics Consensus: It may not boast the depth of his classic films, but the sweetly sentimental Midnight in Paris is funny and charming enough to satisfy Woody Allen fans.
#13
Adjusted Score: 101055%
Critics Consensus: Mesmerizingly strange and willfully perverse, Holy Motors offers an unforgettable visual feast alongside a spellbinding — albeit unapologetically challenging — narrative.
#14
Adjusted Score: 98675%
Critics Consensus: The feel-good Amelie is a lively, fanciful charmer, showcasing Audrey Tautou as its delightful heroine.
#15
Adjusted Score: 93499%
Critics Consensus: A zany out-of-control thriller that gives lead Anne Parillaud a big character arc and plenty of emotional room to work within.
#16
Adjusted Score: 98782%
Critics Consensus: With its humorous script and its stars’ immense charm, Sabrina remains a resonant romantic gem.
#17
Adjusted Score: 92338%
Critics Consensus: Delpy proves not only to be an adept actress, but makes her mark as a writer and director in this thought-provoking comedy that breaks the romantic comedy mold.
#18
Adjusted Score: 99397%
Critics Consensus: It may not be one of Vincente Minnelli’s best, but the charming and flawlessly acted Gigi still offers enough visual and musical treats to satisfy.
#19
Adjusted Score: 93369%
Critics Consensus: A timeless and elegant musical feast, Funny Face thrives on the agile and vibrant performances from legendary screen titans Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire.
#20
Adjusted Score: 90129%
Critics Consensus: Paris Je T’aime is uneven, but there are more than enough delightful moments in this omnibus tribute to the City of Lights to tip the scale in its favor.
#21
Adjusted Score: 87817%
Critics Consensus: Naturalistic but evocative, Last Tango in Paris is a vivid exploration of pain, love, and sex featuring a typically towering Marlon Brando performance.
#22
Adjusted Score: 83392%
Critics Consensus: A nonstop thrill ride, District B13‘s dizzying action sequences more than make up for any expository flaws.
#23
Adjusted Score: 84879%
Critics Consensus: Woody Allen’s 50th film, Coup de Chance adds yet another creative rebound to the writer-director’s oeuvre with a charming thriller that makes up in wit what it lacks in surprises.
#24
Adjusted Score: 86066%
Critics Consensus: Boosted by Meryl Streep’s charismatic performance as Julia Child, Julie and Julia is a light, but fairly entertaining culinary comedy.
#25
Adjusted Score: 80690%
Critics Consensus: It handles its potentially prickly subject matter with kid gloves, but Intouchables gets by thanks to its strong cast and some remarkably sensitive direction.
#26
Adjusted Score: 84754%
Critics Consensus: A love-it-or-hate-it experience, Moulin Rouge is all style, all giddy, over-the-top spectacle. But it’s also daring in its vision and wildly original.
#27
Adjusted Score: 79589%
Critics Consensus: Pivoting on the unusual relationship between seasoned hitman and his 12-year-old apprentice — a breakout turn by young Natalie Portman — Luc Besson’s Léon is a stylish and oddly affecting thriller.
#28
Adjusted Score: 79804%
Critics Consensus: The set design and cinematography are impressive, but the real achievement of La Vie en Rose is Marion Cotillard’s mesmerizing, wholly convincing performance as Edith Piaf.
#29
Adjusted Score: 103995%
Critics Consensus: Le Samouraï makes the most of its spare aesthetic, using stylish — and influential — direction, solid performances, and thick atmosphere to weave an absorbing story.
#30
Adjusted Score: 85865%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#31
Adjusted Score: 100552%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#32
Adjusted Score: 99229%
Critics Consensus: The Red Balloon invests the simplest of narratives with spectacular visual inventiveness, making for a singularly wondrous portrait of innocence.
#33
Adjusted Score: 98313%
Critics Consensus: Jacques Tati’s most accessible film is a paean to gentle values and observing the small details of life.
#34
Adjusted Score: 85459%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#35
Adjusted Score: 77854%
Critics Consensus: Though it occasionally stumbles into sitcom territory, Something’s Gotta Give is mostly a smart, funny romantic comedy, with sharp performances from Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, and Keanu Reeves.
#36
Adjusted Score: 82248%
Critics Consensus: Impeccably mounted but occasionally bombastic, Les Misérables largely succeeds thanks to bravura performances from its distinguished cast.
#37
Adjusted Score: 76557%
Critics Consensus: Lovely and diffuse, Sleep isn’t as immediately absorbing as Gondry’s previous work, but its messy beauty is its own reward.
#38
Adjusted Score: 74111%
Critics Consensus: Ronin earns comparisons to The French Connection with strong action, dynamic road chase scenes, and solid performances.
#39
Adjusted Score: 74974%
Critics Consensus: The smartly written French Exit offers proof that even the most caustic characters can be made entertaining — and even relatable — through a Michelle Pfeiffer performance.
#40
Adjusted Score: 67968%
Critics Consensus: Though it doesn’t quite capture the complexity of its subject’s life, Coco Avant Chanel remains a fascinating, appropriately lovely tribute.
#41
Adjusted Score: 65495%
Critics Consensus: Though lushly atmospheric, The Dreamers doesn’t engage or provoke as much as it should.
#42
Adjusted Score: 65984%
Critics Consensus: Lavish imagery and a daring soundtrack set this film apart from most period dramas; in fact, style completely takes precedence over plot and character development in Coppola’s vision of the doomed queen.
#43
Adjusted Score: 55371%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#44
Adjusted Score: 40579%
Critics Consensus: A mixed bag of uneven tones that feels flat.
#45
Adjusted Score: 38399%
Critics Consensus: The music of the night has hit something of a sour note: Critics are calling the screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s popular musical histrionic, boring, and lacking in both romance and danger. Still, some have praised the film for its sheer spectacle.
#46
Adjusted Score: 34579%
Critics Consensus: What makes Dan Brown’s novel a best seller is evidently not present in this dull and bloated movie adaptation of The Da Vinci Code.
#47
Adjusted Score: 26549%
Critics Consensus: Though Steve Martin is game, the particulars of the Inspector Clouseau character elude him in this middling update.
#48
Adjusted Score: 23026%
Critics Consensus: Rush Hour 3 is a tired rehash of the earlier films, and a change of scenery can’t hide a lack of new ideas.
#49
Adjusted Score: -1%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#50
Adjusted Score: -1%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.