Aahhh, Graeme. There’s painting and then there’s transformation! Depends rather on your budget and design intentions. I am assuming you are thinking walls and woodwork, not furniture because those have some different solutions.
The full range of UK suppliers Farrow & Ball as well as Little Greene are available in France. There really is no alternative for the colour nuances.
Mylands (UK) is also available through a designated supplier in France and is formulated with crushed marble for incomparable pastels but your painter will curse you because it is rather thick and requires very soft brushes.
The best made in France paint is possibly Ressource
https://ressource-peintures.com/categorie-produit/peintures/
BUT! All of the above provide colour charts and, for a not huge price, sample pots that a skilled French painter can match à la mèsure. The only caveat is that without your knowing exactly the base paint composition and dye components that the colours may not hold over the long term. This can mean a subtle change into not quite the carefully selected colour as first applied.
Peeling, flaking and other horrors are directly down to getting a good painter with a trusted paint supplier who understands prep work. That and the cheaper paints with higher water content will require more (sometimes 4) coats depending on what they are covering. Your paint, whether matt or not needs to be the correct solution for (primed if not already painted) concrete/stone/plaster or wood surfaces. All are not equal!
And then there are the fairly new ‘French wash’ effect paints
The joys of interior transformation!
my pleasure
That wash looks nice on my phone screen.
limewash
Liberon are nice.
Their range on colours and tones is superb. [Normandy Grey?] Using the paint is not easy. I have done a lot of decorating over the years, lot of it paying jobs. I’ve used most UK makes, including Wickes own label [excellent results with their Trade ranges] and DIY sheds’ own label.
A friend asked me to paint the exterior woodwork on his house, including the front door. What I found with the Farrow and Ball paint he bought, without consulting me, was that it is very ‘liquid’, needing great care to apply to avoid getting runs and curtains and seems never goes off completely to give a hard-wearing high gloss.
This became very evident with the front door. The day after it was painted - it’s just a rectangular slab with no detailing - it looked excellent but still felt soft. It remained so and soon looked a mess with the bumps and scrapes that a front door is subject to - barging it open laden with shopping etc. The area round the key hole was very badly scratched in no time.
My conclusion was that F & B paint is for pros to apply and is not suitable for areas that are subject to life’s hard knocks.
I wholeheartedly concur. For decades in Hong Kong Liberon was our go-to for all antique furniture restoration and maintenance. Marque of quality. Only trouble is that I now have to put un tge elbow grease myself 
Also somewhat agree. Have not had the trouble with exterior gloss but then again, I tended to specify matt. However,… applying 3 (or more!) thin coats to walls does give a profound depth of colour that truly lasts.
Paint is colour. Or, at the very least, tone, (another Oxford comma!) and like lighting creates mood. If you are going to repaint a new home anyway, why not put a bit more thought into it and transform!
I think I’ll be coming to you for inspiration!
Another view for Liberon. When I was in the UK I always sought out their wood finish products and since being based in France, I also use their paints for smaller projects.
For large areas, I buy the 10L tins of white that Action sell and tint them myself with a variety of pigments.
can you imagine it in blue in a bathroom?
Yes, though I’d prefer a yellow or green
Thanks for the link. Good prices, simple site.