In this paper, we critically assess the specificity of the French research system and of its funding mode, which is accepted in most of the literature on the subject. We show that this interpretation is largely a result of the use of categories for the analysis of public funding that are not really suited to the French case. We thus develop two new categories: joint laboratories as a distinct organisational structure between public research organisations and universities; and human resources funding as a description of the specific allocation mode of CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) to the joint laboratories, which we consider as more similar to project funding than to core funding. We then show that the French system has changed fundamentally in the last two decades, moving towards a system much nearer to other European countries than normally assumed, albeit following a distinct evolutionary trajectory based on the gradual restructuring of existing instruments. In methodological terms, this underlines the importance of adapting the categories for the analysis of funding systems to the specificities of each national context.