France, friend or foe?

Ever since at least WWI, France has always called themselves our allies in time of crisis ( their crisis ) but they always seem to distance as far as they can from us in peace time. Having lived in Marseilles for some time, I often heard people complaining about the US, and its customs, and laws. It may be just me but I think that If we are as bad as some french say we are, we should not help them nor give aid to them in the future . What do you think?