Menu
© 2026 The Couch Critic
Browse 28 movies from Galatée Films
In the heart of a botanical garden in a medieval university town in Germany stands a majestic ginkgo tree. This silent witness has observed over a century the quiet rhythms of transformation across three human lives. At three distinct moments across the 20th and 21st centuries, these people — each carrying their own questions and inner struggles — inevitably find themselves drawn into the presence of this tree, full of mystery and meaning.
Jan 2026
In 1940s France, a new teacher at a school for disruptive boys gives hope and inspiration.
Mar 2004
A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.
Sep 1996
A young girl from London moves to Africa with her parents where she befriends a lion cub.
Aug 2018
After her grandfather's death, 20-year-old Alma decides to go back to her childhood home - a little island in the heart of the majestic Canadian forest. Whilst there, she rescues two helpless cubs: a wolf and a lion. They forge an inseparable bond, but their world soon collapses as the forest ranger discovers the animals and takes them away. The two cub brothers must now embark on a treacherous journey across Canada to be reunited with one another and Alma once more.
Oct 2021
The Trench tells the story of a group of young British soldiers on the eve of the Battle of the Somme in the summer of 1916, the worst defeat in British military history. Against this ill-fated backdrop, the movie depicts the soldiers' experience as a mixture of boredom, fear, panic, and restlessness, confined to a trench on the front lines.
Sep 1999
Eleven directors from eleven countries each contribute an eleven-minute short reflecting on the events of 11 September 2001: A village teacher in Iran tries to explain to her young students what's happened; city kids in Burkina Faso think they've spotted Osama bin Laden; a deaf Frenchwoman in Manhattan writes a Dear John letter to a man who left that morning for work at the World Trade Center; a Chilean remembers Allende; events recall other deaths; a mother endures more than her son's death. Tones vary, as do the locales. Most concern coming to terms with the events of the day, but at least one confronts the viewer with tragedy and death.
Sep 2002
An ecological drama/documentary, filmed throughout the globe. Part thriller, part meditation on the vanishing wonders of the sub-aquatic world.
Jan 2010
In a village of the French Juras, Daniel, 15, and Marie, 14, live in the shadow of their brutal, domineering father, who can only express his love through violence. When their mother dies, the two inseparable children flee into the forest pursued by their father...
This documentary follows various migratory bird species on their long journeys from their summer homes to the equator and back, covering thousands of miles and navigating by the stars. These arduous treks are crucial for survival, seeking hospitable climates and food sources. Birds face numerous challenges, including crossing oceans and evading predators, illness, and injury. Although migrations are undertaken as a community, birds disperse into family units once they reach their destinations, and every continent is affected by these migrations, hosting migratory bird species at least part of the year.
Dec 2001
A star is born in a time of both celebration and instability in this historical drama with music from director Christophe Barratier. In the spring of 1936, Paris is in a state of uncertainty; while the rise of the Third Reich in Germany worries many, a leftist union-oriented candidate, Léon Blum, has been voted into power, and organized labor is feeling its new power by standing up to management.
Sep 2008
March 1945. The Japanese army launches a sudden and extremely brutal assault against the French garrisons in the Far East. Thousands of civilians and soldiers were executed. Hunted by the Japanese enemy, a column of legionnaires already weakened by alcohol and disease decides to enter the jungle to try to reach China and the allied bases.
Sep 2023
As the denizens of a Tibetan village prepare for their arduous annual trek to exchange salt for grain, the community's allegiances are split between aging chieftain Tinle and rebellious young Karma. Tinle tries to maintain his clout and preserve obedience to ancient customs when Karma challenges the old man's power.
Several couples break up and get back together.
Mar 2008
A film about the life and career of the great French sailor Eric Tabarly.
Jun 2008
In the heart of Greenland’s vast frozen wilderness, 12-year-old Pipaluk lives with her mother and brother in an isolated village. Her dream: to compete in the most prestigious dog sled race, a challenge reserved for the greatest mushers, all men. Mocked by her peers and ignored by her family, Pipaluk develops a friendship with an adorable husky puppy named Ashia, and finds an unexpected ally in Tulok, a solitary and enigmatic old hunter. Under Tulok’s guidance, she slowly opens to the wonders of nature, discovers the true reason for his support, and soon realises that their destinies are intertwined. Will Pipaluk find the strength to defy tradition and achieve the impossible?
0
As funeral preparations begin for Pierre Henri 'Guelwaar' Thioune, rumour spreads that his death may have been an assassination in retaliation for his radical political beliefs and constant criticism of the current regime. When the heroic Guelwaar's cadaver is stolen, his Francophile son, Barthelemy, contacts the authorities. As Detective Gora begrudgingly investigates, he discovers that Guelwaar was a complicated man guilty of his own share of sins.
Jul 1993
Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud travel throughout Europe to film brown bears, wild horses, wolves and other animals in their natural habitat.
Jan 2016
A drama about the less known aspects of the trading activity inside one of the biggest banks in the world - Société Générale. The movie tracks the rise and fall of anonymous trader turned superstar turned escape goat - Jérôme Kerviel - just as the 2008 financial crisis was unfolding
Jun 2016
Patrick Perrault, a photo-journalist covering the war in Beirut in the late 1980s, is himself caught up in the hostilities when one day he is picked up and bundled into a car at gun-point. Blind-folded, he is taken to an unknown location where he discovers that he is being taken hostage by Lebanese guerrillas.
May 1991