As a country which offered an intellectual home to post-1968 spatial theory, and whose identity and frame of geopolitical influence is expressed in geometric terms (Hexagone, Francosphère) France offers a propitious, though potentially overdetermined, national context in which to explore questions of space and place. While a special issue of Yale French Studies entitled ‘New Spaces for French and Francophone Cinema’ (2009) helped carve out this field of enquiry in film studies, an impressive range of scholarship has continued apace. This review article discusses recent approaches to cinematic space in contemporary French film and documentary, before focusing on two site-specific studies, the first of which readdresses the France’s capital, and the latter concerning the more peripheral site of the beach.