Last Updated on 26 July 2026 by frenchflicks
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is bringing ancient Greece back into the cultural spotlight. Big-budget adaptations show the grand scale of these classic tales. At the same time, French cinema has spent over a century finding personal, modern ways to tell these same stories.
French directors often bring ancient myths into everyday settings. They move gods and heroes into city cafes, quiet islands, or modern highways. These films focus on human emotion, art, and the challenge of storytelling itself.
Here are seven standout French and French co-production films that offer unique takes on ancient Greek and Roman myths.
1. Le Mépris (Contempt, 1963)
- Directed by: Jean-Luc Godard | Starring: Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, Fritz Lang
- The Myth: Homer’s The Odyssey
Jean-Luc Godard’s New Wave classic takes a meta approach to Homer’s epic. The film follows a French screenwriter hired to rework a movie adaptation of The Odyssey at Cinecittà studios and in Capri. Director Fritz Lang wants a poetic movie, while an American producer demands a simple blockbuster. Meanwhile, the screenwriter’s marriage breaks down, echoing the emotional distance between Odysseus and Penelope.
The FrenchFlicks Take: Godard looks at the drama behind the camera. The central conflict is about creative control, ego, and fading love.
2. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
- Directed by: Céline Sciamma | Starring: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel
- The Myth: Orpheus & Eurydice
Set in 18th-century Brittany, Céline Sciamma’s drama builds its emotional centerpiece around the myth of Orpheus. The characters read Ovid’s Metamorphoses together and debate why Orpheus turned around to look at Eurydice. They offer a new perspective: perhaps Orpheus turned around on purpose, choosing the memory of his love over the person.
The FrenchFlicks Take: Sciamma uses ancient poetry to examine love and art. The myth gives the characters a way to understand their own choices.
3. Orphée (Orpheus, 1950)
- Directed by: Jean Cocteau | Starring: Jean Marais, François Périer, María Casares
- The Myth: Orpheus & Eurydice
Jean Cocteau moves the tale of Orpheus to post-WWII Paris. Orphée is a famous poet who becomes obsessed with a mysterious Princess and coded messages sent over a car radio. When his wife Eurydice dies, he travels into the Underworld through a mirror to bring her back. Cocteau uses practical camera tricks, like reverse footage and mercury pools, to build a surreal mood.
The FrenchFlicks Take: Cocteau brings magic into everyday objects. Mirrors and car radios become gateways to the supernatural.
4. Métamorphoses (2014)
- Directed by: Christophe Honoré | Starring: Amélie Daure, Damien Chapelle
- The Myth: Ovid’s Metamorphoses
Christophe Honoré sets classical mythology in modern French towns and housing projects. Jupiter is a truck driver, Bacchus hangs around skate parks, and ancient gods walk around in modern clothes. The film grounds ancient tales of change and power in today’s world.
The FrenchFlicks Take: Honoré shows that mythology does not belong only in textbooks. The core themes feel natural in a contemporary setting.
5. Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro, 1959)
- Directed by: Marcel Camus | Starring: Breno Mello, Marpessa Dawn
- The Myth: Orpheus & Eurydice
This French-Brazilian co-production sets the Orpheus myth in Rio de Janeiro during Carnival. Orfeu is a streetcar conductor and musician, while Eurydice is a visitor escaping a man dressed as Death. Set to an iconic Bossa Nova score, the film combines ancient story structure with music and dance.
The FrenchFlicks Take: Camus uses music to carry the tragic storyline. The film proves how well Greek mythology adapts to different cultures.
6. Phaedra (1962)
- Directed by: Jules Dassin | Starring: Melina Mercouri, Anthony Perkins, Raf Vallone
- The Myth: Phaedra & Hippolytus
Jules Dassin adapts Jean Racine’s French play back onto the screen. Melina Mercouri plays the wife of a Greek shipping tycoon who falls in love with her stepson, played by Anthony Perkins. The film places classic tragedy inside the world of 20th-century wealth.
The FrenchFlicks Take: Dassin translates ancient concepts like fate and pride into modern drama, using yachts and luxury settings instead of palaces.
7. L’Île de Calypso: Ulysse et le géant Polyphème (1905)
- Directed by: Georges Méliès | Starring: Georges Méliès
- The Myth: The Odyssey
Early film pioneer Georges Méliès took on Homer in this short silent film from 1905. Méliès plays Odysseus on Calypso’s island, using early special effects to fight a giant Cyclops hand and eye.
The FrenchFlicks Take: Méliès showed early on that mythology is a natural fit for visual effects and movie magic.
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