The French romantic thriller “Diva” dashes along with a pellmell gracefulness, and it doesn’t take long to see that the images and visual gags and homages all fit together and reverberate back and forth. It’s a glittering toy of a movie... This one is by a new director, Jean-Jacques Beineix... who understands the pleasures to be had from a picture that doesn’t take itself very seriously. Every shot seems designed to delight the audience. - Pauline Kael, 1982
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posted by Trurl
on Sep 16, 2011 -
33 comments
After Kad & Olivier sign off and the Satisfaction production logo fades, viewing audiences are oftentimes treated to a cold open of an empty talk show set... one that quickly becomes the impromptu dance floor for a shameless Frenchman making an absolute giddy fool of himself while lip-syncing pop songs alongside a menagerie of...
wait, *what*?! That's right.
The Late Late Show's Craig Ferguson appears to have
a not-so-secret French admirer -- one who's not above ripping off both his opening titles and
his signature dance sequences (including
the iconic animal puppets):
"ABC" by The Jackson 5,
"Flashdance" by Irene Cara,
"On the Floor" by Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull,
"Waka Waka" by Shakira,
"Men in Black" by Will Smith,
"Let's All Chant" by the Michael Zager Band,
"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!,
"It's Raining Men" by The Weather Girls, and
"Vive Le Vent (Jingle Bells)" by Tino Rossi.
Luckily, Ferguson's sense of showmanship is
more prodigious than litigious -- he responded to Arthur's "
homáge" by booking a pair of translatlantic crossover shows, with Arthur visiting LA that week and Ferguson flying out to Paris just last month. Video of both shows (plus lots more) inside!
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posted by Rhaomi
on Jul 11, 2011 -
12 comments
"
Imagine, amid the grey serge of wartime France, a tribe of youngsters with all the colourful decadence of punks or teddy boys. Wearing zoot suits cut off at the knee (the better to show off their brightly coloured socks), with hair sculpted into grand quiffs, and shoes with triple-height soles - looking like glam-rock footwear 30 years early - these were the kids who would lay the foundations of nightclubbing. Ladies and gentlemen,
les Zazous."
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posted by Paragon
on Feb 8, 2010 -
15 comments
He invented or popularized a startling array of the fundamental elements of film: the dissolve, the fade-in and fade-out, slow motion, fast motion, stop motion, double exposures and multiple exposures, miniatures, the in-camera matte, time-lapse photography, color film (albeit hand-painted), artificial film lighting, production sketches and storyboards, and the whole idea of narrative film.
By 1897, in a studio of his own design and construction – the first complete movie studio – his hand forged virtually everything on his screen. Norman McLaren writes, "He was not only his own producer, ideas man, script writer, but he was his own set-builder, scene painter, choreographer, deviser of mechanical contrivances, special effects man, costume designer, model maker, actor, multiple actor, editor and distributor." Also, his own cinematographer, and the inventor of cameras to suit his special conceptions. Not even auteur directors such as Charles Chaplin, Orson Welles, John Cassavetes, and Stanley Kubrick would personally author so many aspects of their films."
Inside: 57 films by Georges Méliès, the
Grandfather of Visual Effects.
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posted by Paragon
on Feb 3, 2010 -
31 comments
The sales of a book by
Madame de Lafayette, "La Princesse de Clèves", are up in France and there have been public readings of it in theatres and universities. The reason? Sarkozy
hates it. As Sarkozy's popularity
plummets, the "17th century tale of thwarted love" gets unexpected attention beyond the classroom.
Badges inscribed with "I am reading The Princess of Clèves" were the most popular item at the opening of the Paris book fair this week.
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posted by lucia__is__dada
on Mar 19, 2009 -
29 comments
"I've hidden myself and covered myself for too long. Now I want to show myself fearlessly, even though I know my body arouses repugnance. I want to recover because I love life and the riches of the universe. I want to show young people how dangerous this illness is." French Comedienne
Isabelle Caro, 27, an anorexic who weighs just 68 pounds, was displayed on Milan
billboards (NSFW) for
fashion designer Nolita as the city celebrated fashion week. The prevalence of eating disorders within the
fashion industry have only recently been
addressed officially, however
Georgio Armani has complained that since Caro isn't a model herself it proves
"even people who take no notice of fashion get anorexic."
posted by miss lynnster
on Sep 30, 2007 -
116 comments
Flamenco clearly belongs to spain. But so many immigrants came to France to find work or escape from the civil war that there is a small community of guitarists in southern France who are playing it with original voices.
Bernardo Sandoval was the subject of a
post in mefi music some time ago.
Antonio "kiko" ruiz is about to come to the United States with Renaud-Garcia-Fons : their work can be seen
here.
Serge Lopez is another great guitarist who puts some
guitar parts on his website.
Salvador Paterna adds to the traditional sound of flamenco both the 'oud and the violin.
They are all from or nearby
Toulouse.
posted by nicolin
on Sep 4, 2007 -
8 comments
Stephane Halleux is a French sculpture artist whose work feels like Jules Verne as realized by Tim Burton; the sculptures all share cartoonish steampunk vibe that's really appealing. Sadly, the site is 100% Flash, so no linking to specific favorites, but at the very least the navigation remains fairly straightforward.
posted by jonson
on May 5, 2007 -
14 comments
90 years ago today, whistles blew around the river Somme in France as British troops prepared for an attack on German trenches. By the end of the day they had suffered 57,470 casualties. By the battle's end in November, there were over 600,000 Allied casualties, with perhaps the same number of German casualties. The
Imperial War Museum has launched an online exhibition, where you can find out more about
how the battle was planned, personal stories of those involved, and
myths about the attack. Elsewhere you can find copies of
Army reports on the first day, look at
film of the attack,
diaries and letters home from the troops, go on
tours of the
trenches, listen to
contemporary songs and music inspired by the battle, and see some
more modern responses.
posted by greycap
on Jul 1, 2006 -
38 comments
Insecula. As the
Wiki says:
Insecula: L'encyclopédie des arts et de l'architecture is a French language art website containing images and descriptions of thousands of works of art from major museums and collections in France and elsewhere, including the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Palace of Versailles, the Centre Pompidou, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the MOMA.
But it's not just museums and art. It's got
Mayan ruins,
Manhattan and
Brooklyn, and of course lots of
Paris streets.
I can't believe plep hasn't posted this already...
posted by languagehat
on Apr 10, 2004 -
12 comments
She claimed to be a sporting champion whose brave and public battle against cancer turned her into a national hero across France.
But when
Florence le Vot was asked to become the patron of a charity to tackle the disease her conscience finally got the better of her.
posted by sgt.serenity
on Feb 17, 2004 -
10 comments
"pleix is a virtual community of digital artists based in paris. some of us are 3d artists, some others are musicians or graphic designers. this website is the perfect place to share our latest creations." [note: quicktime]
posted by crunchland
on Oct 17, 2003 -
4 comments
112 Gripes About the French One of the best selling books in France today is about why Americans seem to hate the French so much (well
hated them 60 years ago). The book, originally published by the US military to teach GIs in France how to get along with the natives, was translated into French and is now flying off the shelves.
Now you too can hate the French (en anglais, naturellement).
posted by m@
on Jul 25, 2003 -
37 comments
Are the days of French as a world language numbered? The French language is still considered a "world language," but it is slowly losing its relevance in an English-dominated world. "What is at stake is the survival of our culture. It is a life or death matter," said Jacques Viot, head of the Alliance Francaise in Paris. Will French finally surrender to English?
posted by laz-e-boy
on Jul 7, 2003 -
58 comments
One in three French backs Saddam Seems to me that it is one thing to be against the war in Iraq--Many Americans are--but quite another thing to root for Saddam to win over America. I had known relations between the U.S. and France had deteriorated. But this is mind boggling.
posted by Postroad
on Apr 1, 2003 -
72 comments
We know that the French take their food seriously, and restaurant ratings
are a BIG deal over there. But here's a sad illustration of that: famed chef
Bernard Loiseau was found dead yesterday of an apparent suicide, and speculation
centers around his downgraded rating from the influential GaultMillau guide. Shades of
Vatel?
posted by Vidiot
on Feb 26, 2003 -
17 comments
Fantomas Lives!
Fantômas is the Lord of Terror, the Genius of Evil, the arch-criminal anti-hero of a series of 32 pre-WWI French thrillers written by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain. He carries out the most appalling crimes: substituting sulfuric acid in the perfume dispensers at a Parisian department store, releasing plague-infested rats on an ocean liner, or forcing a victim to witness his own execution by placing him face-up in a guillotine.
In 1912, Apollinaire founded the
Societe des Amis de Fantomas which included prominent artists and writers.
Magritte considered Fantomas to be a major influence in many of his paintings. Fantomas was not only a comic book but also
spawned films, tv and radio shows and plays. (There is, of course, a modern
band as well)(I read the
Mexican comic book as a child)
posted by vacapinta
on Sep 14, 2002 -
6 comments
