March 2010

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March, and we start with a deceptively easy documentary on les Landes and Bordeaux. Once the two local gentlemen start talking in the local dialect/language it becomes a bit harder. This wasn't recorded from the television, it was 'mailbag' item. My thanks to the provider

France has more than its fair share of very remarkable women (Florence Aubenas, Simone Weill, Elisabeth Badinter) ... or perhaps it is just happily the case that in the developed countries women are coming to the fore. Here is Elisabeth Badinter, who has fought for the cause of women in France, pointing out in France 5's book programme La grande librairie, that after the advances of the '70s women must not relapse into the old role of child-bearer and nothing else.

Another delivery of Comment c'est fait and the introduction to this tells you what goodies are in store. It's the only type of extract I do here which tests your vocabulary and your ability to spell unfamiliar words, rather than merely your aural comprehension. And it comes in 5 minutes chunks ! Thank you to our kind and faithful supplier.

The French government's handling of the flu pandemic announced by the WHO has been widely debated. While we happily sneezed out way though it, the French bought enough vaccine to sink several battleships, and invited the people to line up and be vaccinated. Publicity spots on TV gravely underlined the gravity of the situation. But the people are often wiser than their masters. Taking their cue from doctors and nurses, who weren't keen on being jabbed, the French people shrugged and continued normal life. Quite right too.

The Langoliers of Stephen King (a title which works well in French) is the epitome of the good ol' film on the telly. Tightly-constructed, suspenseful, with the air of menace that hangs over all of this writer's work... For the French, as for us. For us it is as good as it gets in American films dubbed into French

Here is a very strong documentary on the taking of French diplomatic hostages in the Lebanon of the '80s.

We're having a run of extracts at the moment which test the ear. Here we have a little tourism programme fro France 5, Echappées belles. Inevitably, the local chocolate shop poses a little problem of vocabulary !

Here is a clip which I am putting on both sites. You'll see why. The film La Rafle, starring Gad Elmaleh is out two days from now as I write. Toute l'histoire did a super little documentary on le making-of. I've added the subtitle file for this site.

Now that the Winter Games in Vancouver are over, France 3 has resumed Inspector Barnaby on Sunday nights. The critic in Télé2Semaines didn't understand what was going on in this episode. Obviously he doesn't know his Hamlet...

I wanted to include this clip for two reasons. First linguistic - it's a debate between two very different speakers.  But it's also the comedian Dieudonné, a comedian who never appears on French Television, having been condemned more than once for antisemitism and inciting to racial hatred, debating with the lawyer who accuses him in court. In the interests of balance I took the last two and a half minutes of Dieudonné and the first two and a half of the lawyer. And I express no opinion - the objective is to show a little of an aspect of French society, while offering a useful listening exercise

We have to have TF1 News on the snowstorms that afflicted the south of France in the second week of March. 'What does it mean' I heard Yves Calvi musing. 'Is it global warming ?'  'No', respond the weather men. 'It means it's winter. Sometimes it snows in winter...'

Deserting TF1 evening news for David Pujadas and the Vingt Heures of France 2, I found an excellent piece on the exploitation of illegal immigrants in various industrial sectors. A very good piece of investigative journalism, this

Here's another in the J'aime la France series with which we started the month. Nice little documentaries, these, with a good range of regional accents

I've commented before on the success of Faites entrer l'accusé, the France 2 series which reconstructs celebrated crimes through interviews and reconstruction. It dwells lovingly on the gory details. Be warned - this one is particularly unpleasant.

Des Racines et des ailes is always good value for the student of French. The formal, clear voice-over, interspersed with the comments of local people to give the ear a little challenge

France 2 did a programme on the vagaries of human memory, from loss of memory and Alzheimer's to child prodigies. Made for the mass audience, these programmes are gently sentimental, emphasising the emotional component.

Exceptionally I am putting up two separate clips from the same programme, one on sonsenfrancais.org, and one here. Read about the programme here. The clip on this site is part of the explanation that followed as to just why ordinary people could, in a television game, put someone to death. Horrifying.

We need a change after that last piece, although I am not sure this is any less spooky. From Un soir au musée, here is a piece featuring interviews with Yves Saint Laurent and a lady I take to be his mother. YSL's favourite writer was Marcel Proust, whom he resembled, being rich, talented, hyper-sensitive and homosexual. And the lady ? Madame Verdurin, of course

Here is one of TF1 News' professionally done enquiries on an aspect of French society - the fact that in France the citizen has the right to disappear without trace. I am no expert on British law, but I thought that this side of the Channel the authorities spend a lot of time tracking down men who desert wives and families whom they have an obligation to support financially.

I find myself liking the series Comment c'est fait more and more. It allows us to exercise a different ability - to be able to spell an unknown word in order to find it in a dictionary. The voice-over is very clear, but it is sometimes surprisingly hard to pin down the specialised words. And I am happy to repeat my gratitude to our Canadian friend who records these programmes for me.

It's always interesting to pick up on the faits divers that caused a little sensation at the time, and of which no-one speaks now. Robert Boulin was a very able minister under Giscard d'Estaing, and spoken of as the next Prime Minister. He returned home one day, and left almost immediately for another appointment. Next day his body was found next to a lake. Suicide... or ?

Here is a piece on the effects of climate change on the region of Aquitaine. I try to avoid such pieces, not because I am against the 'save the planet' movement, but because it's a 'safe' subject that comes up again and again and again in French classes. However, it gives us a chance to contrast the voice-over with the voice of the local expert.

France 2 did a two hour spectacular on the French Air Force, fronted by Michel Drucker. A very sentimental programme, certainly, but extremely well-done. And one is allowed to be impressed by the young woman who flies that big brute of a helicopter...

Les Editions Nathan is the traditional French publisher of educational materials. Toute l'histoire did a nice little documentary on the company, and on the type of schooling that developed from the ideas of Jules Ferry

You will have seen the piece on the death of the ex-minister Robert Boulin, above  It was France 3 which screened it as a filler on Sunday 21 January, the day of the second round of the regional elections, where no political commentary was allowed. Now TF1 has picked up this strange story of the minister, who allegedly committed suicide, but whose death is now rumoured to have been a political assassination. Two days running TF1 News has run stories on this, so there are two clips in this extract. We'll have to follow this one...

If you listen to the voices of Americans - and especially English people - speaking French on TV, you're struck by what a seriously horrible sound we make. The stiffer the upper lip, the worse it is. Jane Birkin, however, has acquired a gentle, infinitely sweet way of speaking French, even though she shares the problem we all have of not being quite sure of the gender of words. And what a wonderful parable of life that is at the end, the story of the little octopus !

We had the educational publisher Nathan above. Here is the company that started the paperback revolution in France - Livre de Poche. Some nice footage of the epoque - and what about the young man at the end. Given that he belonged to the 'readership aristocracy', he could have given us a subjunctive at the end of his little speech, though

When I find a particularly clear comedy sketch for sonsenfrancais.org I like to offer it on this site as well, with the subtitle file. Here is Anthony Kavanagh who speaks very clearly, but fast. It's a long sketch this, and excellent listening practise

When I started this site I assumed that the bread-and-butter clips would be from the news reports, thanks to the measured tones of news-readers. However, all news concerns human beings, and when - as in this case - farm workers are interviewed, life can get very difficult indeed.

If you ever wondered how drain-pipes are made (if you ever wondered, for that matter, what the French for drain-pipe is), prepare to be edified by another edition of Comment c'est fait

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