April 2011

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Here is Police Academy, an honourable example of a type of 'crazy' American comedy.  I like it, and it seems to translate very well into French

You don't see many extracts on politics here, because the subjects are transient, and often not of interest.  However, politics is more and more Star Academy these days, and politicians have become entertainers.  And then, there's French politics which is often great fun.

Nicolas Sarkozy ran a brilliant campaign to become President in 2007, after which he has consistently put his foot in it to the point where he has established a new record of presidential unpopularity. This extract is from the early evening discussion show C'est dans l'air, the day after  Sarkozy decided to have an intimate chat with some carefully selected French citizens in front of millions of television viewers.  The exercise fooled nobody, alas.

Last summer I spent a couple of weeks with some friends in Quebec and came back with a load of video files, all Canadian material. Much of it is not useable, because too hard - the broad Canadian accent is very hard to understand. However, let's start with a fairly easy example.    L'affaire Beaudry is a film from a series called Les grands procès - celebrated Canadian court cases

Arte Télévision broadcast Crimes à Oxford, a murder thriller involving an Oxford philosopher played by John Hurt.  It came across as a sort of second-class The name of the rose.  However, I have to say I enjoyed it.   And it's exactly the sort of stuff that ought to be daily listening for students of French

The number of American and British series on French TV is just amazing. I keep on finding new ones to sample. Laying aside what we may feel about their cultural value, they tell a story, they are reasonably interesting, and they enable us to practise listening in this difficult area in between the French documentary and the French film.  So what more do you want ?  Here is Les Experts.

Great fun this....Scary Movie 3, one of a long line of films that parody the standard Hollywood genres.  The jokes are funny, and it works extremely well in French

Here's another dose of Comment c'est fait.  An appealing little piece on how miniature trains are made

Here is the five minute advertising spot from the most popular of the French channels, TF1, just before the main programme of the evening.

We're always happy on this site to feature French women who have made an impact on their society. Considering they didn't get the vote until 1945, they've made up quite a bit of lost time. Here is Michèle Cotta, the power behind the throne of political journalism in France

The film Charade is a natural for this site. It's very watchable, and the fast-paced repartee between Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn makes it a good exercise.

As always, when we feature a comic on sonsenfrancais whose diction is suitable for this site, we copy it here along with a subtitle file. From Les Stars du Rire, here is Ben

In the week before the royal marriage, the French news correspondents in London have been diligently searching out examples of British eccentricity. In this piece on a spoof marriage ceremony, note the references to British humour and the slightly disdainful "Les Britanniques savent tirer profit de cet événement".  We'll no doubt pick up a clip or two on the 29th.

Des racines et des ailes is the flagship documentary series of France Télévisions, and a must for students of French.  Apart from listening practice, it is informative about the French cultural heritage, and always beautifully lit and filmed.

7 p.m Sunday night is when the channel M6 screens their popular science programme E=M6.  Unlike so many programmes of this type it doesn't condescend to its audience.  The science is well described by experts, and the graphics well done. So, gentlemen, if you find you are thinning a little on top... here's one on alopécie

If you are going to do a remake of Alice in Wonderland, you might as try to be seriously creative.  In this TV mini-series, that is what they did. Alice is grown up, the time is today, and it's all very sci-fi. But I enjoyed it, so full marks to those in the French media industry who spotted and bought it to be dubbed into French

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