Looking for Adèle Exarchopoulos meilleurs films and want the short answer fast? Start with these six that defined her rise and range: “Blue Is the Warmest Color” (2013), “Sibyl” (2019), “Paris, 13th District” (2021), “The Stronghold” (2021), “The Five Devils” (2022) and “Passages” (2023). Awards, Cannes selections, box-office traction – each title brings a concrete reason to watch now.
The spark came early. In 2013, “Blue Is the Warmest Color” won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, with the jury making a rare decision to also honor Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux. At 19, Exarchopoulos became the youngest person to receive the Palme d’Or distinction. A year later, she earned the 2014 César Award for Most Promising Actress. Since then, the filmography grew with directors like Jacques Audiard, Justine Triet, Léa Mysius and Ira Sachs, moving from raw character studies to genre and international dramas.
Adèle Exarchopoulos: the essential films to watch first
To go straight to the point, here is the watchlist that answers the query and saves time.
- “Blue Is the Warmest Color” (2013) – Palme d’Or winner at Cannes 2013; Exarchopoulos received the 2014 César for Most Promising Actress for this performance.
- “Sibyl” (2019) – In competition at Cannes 2019, a layered turn under Justine Triet that plays with fame, desire and blurred identities.
- “Paris, 13th District” (2021) – Selected for Cannes 2021; Jacques Audiard’s black-and-white romance adapted from Adrian Tomine’s stories.
- “The Stronghold” – “BAC Nord” (2021) – Cannes 2021 selection; drew over 2 million admissions in France after its August 2021 release.
- “The Five Devils” (2022) – Premiered at Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes 2022; a genre-tinged drama by Léa Mysius with a striking physical performance.
- “Passages” (2023) – Premiered at Sundance 2023; Ira Sachs casts Exarchopoulos in a tense triangle with Franz Rogowski and Ben Whishaw.
Cannes and after: how “Blue Is the Warmest Color” rewired the path
Facts first. “Blue Is the Warmest Color” premiered in May 2013 and runs close to three hours. The Cannes jury awarded the Palme d’Or to the film and exceptionally cited the two lead actresses alongside director Abdellatif Kechiche. For Exarchopoulos, 1993-born, that meant a 19-year-old carrying a top festival prize. The film also grossed around 19 million dollars worldwide, solid for a French-language drama released in the fall of 2013 in the United States.
The aftershocks kept rolling. In February 2014, the César Awards recognized her with Most Promising Actress. International press highlighted the naturalistic acting, the long-take intimacy, and the emotional stamina needed for the role. This set a template: directors began offering parts that ask for presence and truth more than ornament.
That context helps when ranking the best. The later picks are not a replay, they are expansions. The line from Cannes 2013 leads straight to festival mainstays, then to projects that travel across markets without diluting her screen energy.
From “Sibyl” to “Paris, 13th District” – range, directors and standout roles
Observation first. Many viewers stop at “Blue Is the Warmest Color” and miss the next wave. That is the common mistake. The performance in Justine Triet’s “Sibyl” (2019) lands differently: a young actress spiraling in a meta drama about creation and manipulation. It competed for the Palme d’Or the year Triet returned to Cannes with a starry cast and exacting tone.
Then Jacques Audiard’s “Paris, 13th District” (2021) shifts the register again. Shot in black-and-white, the film adapts Adrian Tomine’s graphic stories and screened in competition at Cannes 2021. Exarchopoulos plays a teacher with bruised tenderness, walking that line between desire and fragility. Runtime sits just over 100 minutes, the pace crisp, the mood modern.
Add a cross-border note. Before that, “Racer and the Jailbird” (2017) with director Michaël R. Roskam premiered in Venice. Belgium submitted it for the 90th Academy Awards in the International Feature category for 2018. It stands as a bridge to international co-productions that will resurface later with “Passages”.
New wave picks: “The Stronghold”, “Passages” and “The Five Devils” in numbers
Numbers anchor the next trio. “The Stronghold” – released in France in August 2021 after a Cannes slot – pulled in over 2 million admissions domestically, a significant mark for a tense Marseille-set thriller. Exarchopoulos plays a young lawyer opposite a seasoned police unit, cutting through the film’s procedural heat.
“Passages” arrived at Sundance in January 2023 and rolled out in U.S. theaters in August 2023 via Mubi. The triangle is sharp: director Ira Sachs tracks shifting power with a dancer, a filmmaker and a partner caught in the churn. Exarchopoulos gives the role a grounded physicality, not loud, just precise. It definitly shows how easily she moves in English-language settings without losing her French cadence.
“The Five Devils” premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes 2022, then expanded globally across late 2022 and 2023. Léa Mysius blends memory, scent and time into a small-town thriller where Exarchopoulos plays a woman confronting eruptions from her past. Lean runtime, high voltage scenes, and a commitment to bodies in space – it all clicks.
If the plan is to catch up efficiently, take this order for balance and impact: start with “Blue Is the Warmest Color” for origin and scale, jump to “Sibyl” for a Cannes-grade pivot, follow with “Paris, 13th District” for modern romance, then “The Stronghold” for mainstream traction, before closing with the recent duo “The Five Devils” and “Passages”. Availability changes by country, so check local legal VOD or festival-affiliated platforms first, then national catalogs.