January 2012
We're starting the year with a change I've already made in sonsenfrancais.org - the move from .avi video format to Flash video. It's in order to allow you to download the video and subtitle files separately to study on your own machine, or watch the video, with subtitles in your browser as you do on YouTube. The video you download will now have the extension .flv. AlPlayer/AlShow will play it as before, with the subtitles (although you may have to use Open with if .flv files are already associated with another application). If you have any difficulties, don't hesitate to use the feedback form, and we will sort out the problem
Use the links to download files as before or
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My thanks to the kind person who sent me this clip from the channel Animaux. You can't beat kittens playing can you ?
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This classic film from Pierre Etaix made me laugh a lot. It depicts the fate of a man ensnared by a young lady of the bourgeoisie. He is subjected to the ritual horrors of meeting the parents, getting engaged, married, being given a job in Dad's factory. Until one day a pretty new secretary arrives..
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I enjoyed this documentary on la maison Harcourt - the famous portrait photography studio, narrated by Jane Birkin, who recounts that the rich M. Harcourt gave the studio to his wife Cosette to keep her amused... and she turned it into a commercial success. Good for Cosette. And I am always willing to listen to Jane Birkin
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Here is The Firm, a 1993 film about an American law company, starring Tom Cruise. A good film and exactly the sort that helps us to follow dubbed French at this level
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Christmas is the time for television companies to trot out the great classics. They don't come any greater than La Grande Vadrouille, which until Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis was the most successful French film of all time. Bourvil and Louis de Funès help the crew of a British bomber who have bailed out over Paris, escape to Switzerland. There's a lot of English spoken in the film, but that contrasts with the casual French spoken by Bourvil and de Funès
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American films and classic French films may be the staple of French television, but Arte gives us the the great British television series. Les Tudors with the sulphurous tale of Henry VIII is always popular. And it is a change of register for us - from the natural French spoken by Bourvil to the dubbed voices of actors parodying the Elizabethan style. A good series.
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The France 3 flagship documentary series Des racines et des ailes boasts one of the clearest voice-overs one could wish. Unfortunately the folks one meets on these civilised tours through France do not always live up to that standard of diction. So it is with the affable lock-keeper we meet in this extract. But that's how the French speak - we have to live with it and slowly accustom our ears to the different ways of speaking
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After canal-boats ... trees. Arte Télévision has started an early evening series called Douce France, celebrating aspects of the French countryside. I found this story of an ex-air traffic controller turned tree climber ... well, interesting.
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After all this healthy outdoor stuff let's return to America and Nicolas Cage's film Prédictions (English title Knowing). No prizes for guessing what the spooky little girl knows at the start - it's the end of the world of course. And Mr Cage and his little boy, coming to terms with the loss of Mommy, are going to save that world. We may mock, but we enjoy watching it..
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