The French Syndicate of Cinema Critics () has, each year since 1946, awarded a prize ("Prix de la critique", English: "Critics Prize"), the Prix Méliès, to the best French film of the preceding year. More awards have been added over time: the Prix Léon Moussinac for the best foreign film, added in 1967; the Prix Novaïs-Texeira for the best short film, added in 1999; prizes for the best first French and best first foreign films, added in 2001 and 2014, respectively; etc.
Each year, the Syndicate also organizes the Critics' Week, which is the oldest parallel competitive section of the Cannes Film Festival.
Best French Film
1940s 1946: La Bataille du rail by René Clément 1947: Le Silence est d'or by René Clair 1948: Paris 1900 by Nicole Védrès 1949: Manon by Henri-Georges Clouzot
1950s 1950: Rendezvous in July (Rendez-vous de juillet) by Jacques Becker 1951: Diary of a Country Priest (Journal d'un curé de campagne) by Robert Bresson 1952: Les Belles de nuit by René Clair 1953: The Wages of Fear (Le salaire de la peur) by Henri-Georges Clouzot 1954: The Red and the Black (Le rouge et le noir) by Claude Autant-Lara 1955: Rififi by Jules Dassin 1956: The Silent World (Le monde du silence) by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Les Grandes Manœuvres by René Clair 1957: La Traversée de Paris by Claude Autant-Lara and A Man Escaped by Robert Bresson 1958: Mon Oncle by Jacques Tati 1959: Hiroshima mon amour by Alain Resnais and The 400 Blows by François Truffaut
1960s 1960: Le Trou by Jacques Becker and A bout de souffle by Jean-Luc Godard 1961: Last Year at Marienbad by Alain Resnais 1962: Cléo from 5 to 7 (Cléo de 5 à 7) by Agnès Varda 1963: The Trial by Orson Welles 1964: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les parapluies de Cherbourg) by Jacques Demy 1965: The Shameless Old Lady (La vieille dame indigne) by René Allio 1966: The War Is Over (La guerre est finie) by Alain Resnais and Au hasard Balthazar by Robert Bresson 1967: Belle de Jour by Luis Buñuel and Mouchette by Robert Bresson 1968: Stolen Kisses (Baisers volés) by François Truffaut 1969: My Night at Maud's (Ma nuit chez Maud) by Éric Rohmer
1970s 1970: The Wild Child (L'enfant sauvage) by François Truffaut 1971: Claire's Knee (Le genou de Claire) by Éric Rohmer 1972: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie) by Luis Buñuel 1973: Day for Night (La nuit américaine) by François Truffaut 1974: Lacombe Lucien by Louis Malle 1975: Let Joy Reign Supreme (Que la fête commence) by Bertrand Tavernier 1976: The Story of Adele H. (L'histoire de Adèle H.) by François Truffaut 1977: Providence by Alain Resnais 1978: Le dossier 51 by Michel Deville 1979: Perceval le Gallois by Éric Rohmer
1980s 1980: My American Uncle (Mon oncle d'Amérique) by Alain Resnais 1981: Coup de Torchon by Bertrand Tavernier and Garde à Vue by Claude Miller 1982: A Room in Town (Une chambre en ville) by Jacques Demy 1983: Pauline at the Beach (Pauline à la plage) by Éric Rohmer 1984: Full Moon in Paris (Les nuits de la pleine lune) by Éric Rohmer 1985: Death in a French Garden (Péril en la demeure) à by Michel Deville and Sans toit ni loi by Agnès Varda 1986: Thérèse by Alain Cavalier 1987: Goodbye, Children (Au revoir les enfants) by Louis Malle 1988: The Little Thief (La petite voleuse) by Claude Miller 1989: Mr. Hire (Monsieur Hire) by Patrice Leconte
1990s 1990: La Discrète by Christian Vincent 1991: The Beautiful Troublemake (La belle noiseuse) by Jacques Rivette 1992: A Heart in Winter (Un cœur en hiver) by Claude Sautet 1993: Smoking/No Smoking by Alain Resnais 1994: Three Colors: Red (Trois couleurs: Rouge) by Krzysztof Kieślowski 1995: Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud (Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud) by Claude Sautet 1996: Capitaine Conan by Bertrand Tavernier 1997: Same Old Song (On connaît la chanson) by Alain Resnais 1998: The Dreamlife of Angels (La vie rêvée des anges) by Erick Zonca 1999: Sachs' Disease (La maladie de Sachs) by Michel Deville
2000s 2000: The Gleaners and I (Les glaneurs et la glaneuse) by Agnès Varda 2001: Amélie (Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain) by Jean-Pierre Jeunet 2002: To Be and to Have (Être et avoir) by Nicolas Philibert 2003: La trilogie Un couple épatant, Après la vie and Cavale by Lucas Belvaux 2004: Kings and Queen (Rois et reine) by Arnaud Desplechin 2005: The Beat That My Heart Skipped (De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté) by Jacques Audiard 2006: Private Fears in Public Places (Cœurs), by Alain Resnais 2007: The Secret of the Grain (La graine et le mulet) by Abdellatif Kechiche 2008: The Beaches of Agnès (Les Plages d'Agnès) by Agnès Varda 2009: A Prophet by Jacques Audiard
2010s 2010: Of Gods and Men by Xavier Beauvois 2011: The Minister by Pierre Schöller 2012: Amour by Michael Haneke 2013: Blue Is the Warmest Colour by Abdellatif Kechiche 2014: Timbuktu by Abderrahmane Sissako 2015: Fatima by Philippe Faucon 2016: Elle by Paul Verhoeven 2017: 120 Beats per Minute by Robin Campillo 2018: Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno by Abdellatif Kechiche 2019: Les misérables by Ladj Ly
2020s 2020: Les choses qu'on dit, les choses qu'on fait by Emmanuel Mouret 2021: Onoda, 10 000 nuits dans la jungle by Arthur Harari 2022: Pacifiction – Tourment sur les îles by Albert Serra 2023: Anatomy of a Fall by Justine Triet
Best Foreign Film
1960s 1967: Blowup (Italy) by Michelangelo Antonioni 1968: The Red and the White (Hungary) by Miklós Jancsó 1969: Rosemary's Baby (USA) by Roman Polanski
1970s 1970: Andrey Rublyov (Soviet Union) by Andrei Tarkovsky 1971: Death in Venice (Italy) by Luchino Visconti 1972: Roma (Italy) by Federico Fellini 1973: Family Life (UK) by Ken Loach 1974: Amarcord (Italy) by Federico Fellini 1975: Aguirre, the Wrath of God (West Germany) by Werner Herzog 1976: Cría cuervos (Spain) by Carlos Saura 1977: Dersu Uzala (Soviet Union) by Akira Kurosawa 1978: The Tree of Wooden Clogs (Italy) by Ermanno Olmi 1979: Not awarded
1980s 1980: Christ Stopped at Eboli (Italy) by Francesco Rosi 1981: The Elephant Man (USA) by David Lynch 1982: The Night of the Shooting Stars (Italy) by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani and Yol (Turkey) by Yılmaz Güney and Serif Gören 1983: Fanny and Alexander (Sweden) by Ingmar Bergman 1984: Paris, Texas (West Germany) by Wim Wenders 1985: The Purple Rose of Cairo (USA) by Woody Allen 1986: Hannah and Her Sisters (USA) by Woody Allen 1987: Wings of Desire (West Germany) by Wim Wenders 1988: The Dead (USA) by John Huston and Bagdad Café (West Germany) by Percy Adlon 1989: A Short Film About Killing (Poland) by Krzysztof Kieślowski
1990s 1990: Dekalog (Poland) by Krzysztof Kieślowski 1991: The Double Life of Véronique (Poland) by Krzysztof Kieślowski 1992: Man Bites Dog (Belgium) by Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel and Benoît Poelvoorde and The Story of Qiu Ju (China) by Zhang Yimou 1993: Raining Stones (UK) by Ken Loach 1994: Exotica (Canada) by Atom Egoyan 1995: Land and Freedom (UK) by Ken Loach and Ulysses' Gaze (Greece) by Theodoros Angelopoulos 1996: Secrets & Lies (UK) by Mike Leigh 1997: Hana-bi (Japan) by Takeshi Kitano 1998: Life Is Beautiful (Italy) by Roberto Benigni 1999: Eyes Wide Shut (UK/USA) by Stanley Kubrick
2000s 2000: Yi Yi (Taiwan) by Edward Yang 2001: No Man's Land (Bosnia-Herzegovina) by Danis Tanović 2002: Talk to Her (Spain) by Pedro Almodóvar 2003: Elephant (USA) by Gus Van Sant 2004: Lost in Translation (USA) by Sofia Coppola 2005: A History of Violence (USA) by David Cronenberg 2006: Volver (Spain) by Pedro Almodóvar 2007: The Lives of Others (Germany) by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck 2008: There Will Be Blood (USA) by Paul Thomas Anderson 2009: The White Ribbon (Austria) by Michael Haneke
2010s 2010: Another Year (UK) by Mike Leigh 2011: Melancholia (Denmark) by Lars von Trier 2012: Tabu (Portugal, Germany, Brazil, France) by Miguel Gomes 2013: A Touch of Sin (China) by Jia Zhangke 2014: Winter Sleep (Turkey) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan 2015: Son of Saul (Hungary) by László Nemes 2016: Aquarius (Brazil) by Kleber Mendonça Filho 2017: Faute d'amour (Russia, France, Belgium, Germany) by Andreï Zviaguintsev 2018: Phantom Thread (United States) by Paul Thomas Anderson 2019: Parasite (South Korea) by Bong Joon-ho
2020s 2020: Drunk (Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands) by Thomas Vinterberg 2021: Drive My Car (Japan) by Ryusuke Hamaguchi 2022: Licorice Pizza (United States) by Paul Thomas Anderson 2023: The Fabelmans (United States) by Steven Spielberg
Best First French Film
2000s 2000: Human Resources by Laurent Cantet 2001: De l'histoire ancienne by Orso Miret 2002: Beautiful Memories by Zabou Breitman 2003: Since Otar Left by Julie Bertucelli 2004: A Common Thread by Éléonore Faucher 2005: Little Jerusalem by Karin Albou 2006: Premonition by Jean-Pierre Darroussin 2007: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud 2008: Her Name Is Sabine by Sandrine Bonnaire 2009: Adieu Gary by Nassim Amaouche
2010s 2010: Dear Prudence by Rebecca Zlotowski 2011: Angel & Tony by Alix Delaporte 2012: Louise Wimmer by Cyril Mennegun 2013: Me, Myself and Mum by Guillaume Gallienne 2014: Love at First Fight by Thomas Cailley 2015: The Wakhan Front by Clément Cogitore 2016: Dark Inclusion by Arthur Harari 2017: Raw by Julia Ducournau 2018: Custody by Xavier Legrand 2019: Young and Alive by Matthieu Bareyre
2020s 2020: Josep by Aurel 2021: Skies of Lebanon by Chloé Mazlo 2022: Bruno Reidal, Confession d'un meurtrier by Vincent Le Port 2023: The Rapture by Iris Kaltenbäck
Best First Foreign Film 2010s 2014: Harmony Lessons (Kazakhstan & Germany) by Emir Baigazin 2015: Titli (India) by Kanu Behl 2016: Dogs (Romania) by Bogdan Mirică 2017: I Am Not a Witch (United Kingdom, France, Germany, Zambia) by Rungano Nyoni 2018: Girl (Belgium) by Lukas Dhont 2019: An Elephant Sitting Still (China) by Hu Bo
2020s 2020: Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (China) by Gu Xiaogang 2021: Freda (Haiti) by Gessica Généus 2022: Joyland (Pakistan) by Saim Sadiq 2023: 1976 (Chile, Argentina) by Manuela Martelli
Best French TV Series 2010s 2011: Mysteries of Lisbon by Raoul Ruiz (broadcast by Arte) 2012: Un village français by Frédéric Krivine, Philippe Triboit et Emmanuel Daucé (broadcast by France 3) 2013: The Returned by Fabrice Gobert et Frédéric Mermoud (broadcast by Canal+) 2014: Three Times Manon by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (broadcast by Arte) 2015: The Bureau by Eric Rochant (broadcast by Canal+) 2016: The Bureau, series 2, by Eric Rochant (broadcast by Canal+) 2017: Manon, 20 Years by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (broadcast by Arte) 2018: Hippocrate by Thomas Lilti (broadcast by Canal+) 2019: Savages by Rebecca Zlotowski & Sabri Louatah (broadcast by Canal+)
2020s 2020: Possessions by Shachar Magen, directed by Thomas Vincent (broadcast by Canal+) 2021: Nona et ses filles by Valérie Donzelli (broadcast by Arte) 2022: Le Monde de demain by Quillévéré et Hélier Cisterne, Vincent Poymiro, David Elkaïm with collaboration of Laurent Rigoulet (broadcast by Arte) 2023: Sambre by Alice Géraud, Marc Herpoux, directed by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (broadcast by France 2)
Best Short Film 1984 : Coup de feu by Magali Clément 1999 : Les Aveugles by Jean-Luc Perréard 2000 : Ressources humaines by Laurent Cantet 2001 : Soufflé by Delphine Coulin 2002 : Intimisto by Licia Eminenti 2003 : Nosferatu Tango by Zoltán Horváth 2004 : Anna, 3 kilos 2 by Laurette Polmanss 2005 : Sous mon lit by Jihane Chouaib 2006 : Stricteternum by Julien Legrand
References
External links French Syndicate of Cinema Critics at IMDb