| Title | Director | Cast | Genre | Notes |
| 100% Arabica | Mahmoud Zemmouri | Khaled, Cheb Mami | Comedy | 1 nomination |
| Assassin(s) | Mathieu Kassovitz | | | Entered into the 1997 Cannes Film Festival |
| The Banned Woman | Philippe Harel | | | Entered into the 1997 Cannes Film Festival |
| Bet | Didier Bourdon, Bernard Campan | Didier Bourdon, Bernard Campan | | |
| The Chambermaid on the Titanic | Bigas Luna | Romane Bohringer, Olivier Martinez | Period drama | |
| Le Bossu | Philippe de Broca | Daniel Auteuil, Fabrice Luchini | Swashbuckler | |
| Dakan | Mohamed Camara | | Drama | 1 win |
| The Fifth Element | Luc Besson | Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich | Sci-Fi adventure | 7 wins & 16 nominations |
| Genealogies of a Crime | Raúl Ruiz | | | Entered into the 47th Berlin International Film Festival |
| Kings for a Day | François Velle | | | Entered into the 20th Moscow International Film Festival |
| Lolita | Adrian Lyne | Jeremy Irons, Melanie Griffith, Frank Langella, Dominique Swain | Drama | French-American co-production |
| Lucie Aubrac | Claude Berri | | | Entered into the 47th Berlin International Film Festival |
| On connaît la chanson | Alain Resnais | Jean-Pierre Bacri, Agnès Jaoui | Musical comedy | 9 wins & 8 nominations |
| Port Djema | Eric Heumann | | | Heumann won the Silver Bear for Best Director at Berlin |
| Post Coitum, Animal Triste | Brigitte Roüan | Brigitte Roüan | Drama | 1 win & 2 nominations, screened at Cannes |
| Quadrille | Valérie Lemercier | André Dussollier, Sandrine Kiberlain | Comedy | |
| See the Sea | François Ozon | Sasha Hails, Marina de Van | Drama | |
| The Serpent's Kiss | Philippe Rousselot | Ewan McGregor, Greta Scacchi | Drama | 1 nomination |
| Sous les pieds des femmes | Rachida Krim | Claudia Cardinale, Nadia Farès, Mohammad Bakri | Drama | |
| La Vérité si je mens ! | Thomas Gilou | Bruno Solo, Richard Anconina, Vincent Elbaz, Gilbert Melki, José Garcia, Élie Kakou, Amira Casar | Comedy | |
| Western | Manuel Poirier | Sergi López, Sacha Bourdo | | Entered into the 1997 Cannes Film Festival |