The paper examines the representation of youth in contemporary French cinema. Research is based on an analysis of ten French films made between 2000 and 2015 in which protagonists are adolescents. These are coming-of-age movies that show the psychological and moral development of the main characters who are on the transition from youth to adulthood. Prior to analysis, paper offers a review of the development of French cinematography, from the time when brothers Lumière invented cinematograph until the contemporary French cinema, which is analyzed in the paper. Research has shown that the dominant theme in the analyzed contemporary French films is sexuality. Young people often think about indicated topic which is not surprising considering that they only begin to understand that concept and examine its position in that field. In the analysis, the adolescence proved to be a turbulent period of life because of frequent conflicts young people are being part of feeling misunderstood. They argue mostly at school with peers and teachers, followed by dissensions within the family. Youngsters are solving their own problems and conflicts in different ways, often choosing escape as the easiest solution. As the ultimate way of dealing with problems some choose suicide.