July 2010

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I recorded this piece about prostitution from France 2's evening news, because there would contain interesting voices - rather than for the intrinsic interest of what is always a very sad subject

Here's a nice little piece from the Envoyé spécial series of France 2 on the 'miracle plant' Aloe Vera. Note that, as in Anglosaxon countries, programmes made for the popular taste have commentators who speak as if to children. Pity.

We haven't had a film extract for a while. Here is Le voile des illusions, (The Paintend Veil), is a film about the English colononial period in China. While French colonists happily engaged in relationships with native girls, the English took their wives with them. Caused no end of problems....

France 5 offered us a nice documentary on Brigitte Bardot with - very unusually - interviews with the star. I had not known that she came of such a rich family - her father was the owner of the Usines Bardot. Not surprising that the arrival of Roger Vadim gave them mental indigestion...

A slightly odd enquiry from TF1 evening news. We were invited to sympathise with the plight of highly paid professional footballers (and other athletes), who find the transition to ordinary life difficult at the end of their careers. There is even a centre where psychiatrists offer advice to these luckless fellows. What about the poor young traders in the Stock Exchanges of the world? Don't we sympathise with the stress they suffer, and wonder what happens to them at the end of their careers ? No, we don't.

La Chaîne Parlémentaire has a series where members of the French parliament in search of votes volunteer to experience the everyday lives of their electors. A good idea, in principle. Here is Philippe Folliot, from the South of France, who is keen on the Army. On the whole, and despite the tongue-in-cheek tone of the voice-over, it was a good programme

One of the glories of French Television is the practice of broadcasting at peak times, the sort of cultural material which in Britain and America is relegated to speciality channels. So France 2 gave us Tosca, with Roberto Alagna  from les Chorégies d'Orange. But, because they want to entice the man in the street to watch, the programme is introduced by Christophe Hondelatte who gave us the grisly interviews that follow. It finishes with the lady director who says of Scarpia that a man who sings such beautiful music can't be really bad. Good production, though.

The actor, writer and sailor Bernard Giraudeau died this week - the end of a long battle with cancer. A very nice man, he appeared often on book and other discussion programmes. Here he with Patrick Poivre d'Arvor

A workmanlike piece - as always - from TF1 News on wrongful detention and the indemnisation payable by the State

As always, Comment c'est fait  gives us a useful listening exercise. This one gave me quite a lot of trouble !

During the summer months of July and August when there is very little worth while on French Television, the mums and dads settle down to watch a whole evening of documentary films about France Envoyé Spécial is often tinged with pessimism - industries are disappearing, and jobs with them. Here is a piece on the difficulties of being a maker of boules à neige  à la française

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