Top 10 French Sci-Fi Films Through the Ages

The French have always had a certain ~je ne sais quoi~ for science fiction. Spanning space and time— From trips to the moon with Mélèis in 1902 to time travel with Marker and Resnais during the '60s to post-apocalyptic survival with Luc Besson during the '80s— they've really done it all. Grab some food, charge your laptop, and take a trip with us back through the 20th century. Here's a closer look at some of the best French sci-fi films

1902 A Trip to the Moon ( Le Voyage dans la lune) - George Mélèis

Generally considered as the first sci-fi film ever, Mélèis's A Trip to the Moon is an early silent film that follows a group of astronauts as they travel to the moon and back.

1904 The Impossible Voyage (Voyage à travers l'impossible)- George Mélèis

Less famous than A Trip to the Moon but equally cool, The Impossible Voyage is a satirical tale of a group of geographers who venture through the layers of the sun.

1962 La Jetée - Chris Marker

La Jetée is Chris Marker's still-photo featurette masterpiece about an post-nuclear-war experiment on a man who travels back through time to a pre-apocalyptic Paris. It won the Prix Jean Vigo and has served as the inspiration for many subsequent sci-films including the 1995 12 Monkeys starring Bruce Willis.

1965 Alphaville - Jean-luc Godard

Alphaville is Godard's highly stylized black-and-white sci-fi "film noir" starring Anna Karina, Eddie Constantine, Howard Vernon, and Akim Tamiroff. Set in the futuristic dystopia of "Alphaville", the film chronicles the adventures of Lemmy Caution, a secret agent from the "Outlands", who poses as a journalist to fulfill his mission to capture and kill the creator of Alphaville, and destroy the evil master computer that rules over the city. Along with winning the "Golden Bear" award at the Berlin International Film Festival Award in 1965, the film has garnered quite the cult following. London's yearly art festival "Alpha-ville", The Danish film production company "Alphaville Pictures" and the German synthpop band "Alphaville" are all named after it.

1968 Je T'aime, Je T'aime - Alain Resnais

Inspired by La Jetée, this film tells the story of a man who has been selected as the guinea pig for time-travel experiments after having attempted suicide. His experience with time travel is made difficult by the lack of continuity of time as he rekindles his liaison with a former lover. Romance meets sic-fi meets french new-wave.

1973 Fantastic Planet (La planète sauvage) - René Laloux & Roland Tapor

Fantastic Planet is a beautiful stop-motion animation film set in a future version of earth where enormous blue humanoid beings called Draags rule the planet, and humans are seen as tiny pests. The majority of the plot follows the allegorical tale of a Draag child who accidentally kills a human mother, and consequently adopts her orphaned baby as a pet. The film addresses many themes such as the convergence of science and superstition, communal coexistence, and trans-categorical love. It won the 1973 Cannes special jury prize.

1981 La Soupe aux Choux - Jean Girault

La soupe aux Choux is a ridiculous comedy about two small-town farmers who are visited by aliens who are after their regional dish: cabbage soup.

1982 Time Masters (Les maîtres du temps) - René Laloux

Time Masters is an animated film chronicling a little boy's plight as he becomes stranded on an uninhabited planet, waiting to be saved by his father's friend back on Earth.

1983 Le Dernier Combat - Luc Besson

Le Dernier Combat is Luc Besson's black-and-white film about post-apocalypctic survival. No need for subtitles or dubbing! This film is virtually without dialogue!

1988 Gandahar/The Light Years - René Laloux

Gandahar is one of René Laloux's later animations about the people of Gandahar as they fight for survival, besieged by an army of automatons known as the "Men of Metal".