November 2009

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In case you don't remember the controversy, the President's son put himself forward as candidate for President of the EPAD, the body charged with renovating the prestigious business quarter of Paris La Défense. Here Jean Sarkozy explains that he has decided not to go for the presidency of this institution.

News items aren't usually Level-3, but I found this one quite awkward. Most of it is straightforward, but the voices 'drop out' every so often.

Here is a great pleasure, and a chance for me to to resume one of my favourite themes - what students need to watch are not French films, but Anglo/American films dubbed into French. You have to walk before you can run ! Tell your French teachers !

So here is Harry Potter et le prisonnier d'Azkaban. It's a Level-1. Much more than that it works beautifully in French, because the language lends itself to the formal nature of the dialogue.

Here is the last extract from the edition of Comment c'est fait. Couldn't be more useful for listening practice. We finish with how toilet paper is made, which provides opportunity for some arch humour

TMC screened Mon curé chez les nudistes. Ah well. In fact it was quite funny, a vehicle for the post-war comedian Paul Préboist. There are whole bunch of French comic films which are the rough equivalent of the British Carry On films. But, lets face it, the French can't compete with the British when it comes to pointless vulgarity...

A big bank raid always makes headlines, but when an employee of the Loomis security company calmly walks away with 11 million euros after conning his colleagues into leaving him alone in his van, journalists lick their lips...

As well as the main channels (France 2,3,5,Arte, LCP) Atlantic Bird 3 transmits a few others free-to-air. Télévison Monte Carlo - TMC - transmits mostly American material dubbed into French. I couldn't resist this - Las Vegas - a series where the actors, the set and the dialogue are all made of fluorescent plastic. But as a listening exercise, it's great stuff !

From Las Vegas to the literary set of Paris. France 5's book programme La grande librairie, which replaced Le bateau livre, strikes a nice balance between a popular style and the passion for books and bookshops displayed by the presenter, François Busnel

Here is a piece on the robotisation of our society. Actually, much less disapproving than one would expect in a French news item. Where's all the gripes about people losing their jobs ? But, my goodness, those telephone menus and synthetic voices....

Des racines et des ailes, the flagship documentary of France 3, came from the cathedral of Reims, and included a piece on the coronation of Elizabeth II. I couldn't resist this, the historical detail is interesting. But the French commentary from 1953 is a treasure.

Faites entrer l'accusé is a very popular crime reconstruction programme hosted by Christophe Hondelatte. 

This is from the breakfast show Télématin which always has some little cultural pieces. I include this because I have never heard such a contrast of the gabble of the guy who introduces this exhibition on the Maharajas of the British Empire of India and the deliberately literary tones of the voice over.  But look, both of them represent modern French !

The series Les stars du rire on France 2 is one of the best things around. The quality is just amazing. Here is a new comedian, young, funny, and - amazingly - Level-1 in terms of comprehension. I put it up on sonsenfrancais.org,  but I'm doubling it here - and on this site, with subtitles

I wanted to put up this extract from an interview with Charles Pasqua, mostly for the interest of this old, gravelly voice which retains its Corsican roots. But I also feel sorry for the old scoundrel, who has aged visibly as a result of being condemned to a sentence of one year in prison for being no more or less corrupt than many other politicians of his époque. Here is an enormous political figure of the right-wing being chased by little judges eager to make their careers on his back.

Here's a item about tax-payer's who demand that companies who have received state aid to build factories in the region, who have failed to create jobs, and propose to move out of the country, should pay back what they received. Quite right too.

I wanted to include the next extract for the voice of Laurence Piquet - the thinking man's crumpet - who introduces Un soir au musée. If you want to study an 'ideal' French female pronunciation, I reckon this must be it.

Here is the evening news trotting out the hoary question of whether parents should be allowed to administer une fessée to their children. A slightly crazed lady politician child psychiatrist says yes, and everybody else says no. However, more than half of the rest of Europe  has already banned this time-honoured method for parents to work off their aggression. Let's stick to the linguistic interest...

Now here is a truly terrible film Le bonheur est un mensonge. It's combines the familiar themes of evil capitalism and marital infidelity. And, yes, it's French. In fact, it's so bad, it's enjoyable.

Here is the article from France 3 evening news on the France-Ireland match and the hand-ball of Thierry Henry. And no, I'm not taking a swipe at the French here - I have no interest in football. However, I was vastly amused - and also impressed by this item. Only in France would one invite a philosopher and a literary critic to comment on a football match !  However, who else would have the courage to denounce France's victory but the intellectuals. Not to mention a very honest and straightforward ex-international referee. Full marks !

I wouldn't normally follow one news item with another, but France 2 evening news did an excellent piece on the capture of Jean-Paul Treiber, the presumed murderer of two women, and who escaped spectacularly from his prison in Auxerre. Not just a good news item, but an excellent summary of the affair

Historical dramas are always good for listening practice. However, this one, about the lady who becomes La Pompadour goes beyond the formal, rather wooden model. The dialogue is well-done, rapidly delivered, and intimate. Not so easy.

 Just because I have praised France 2's evening news to the skies recently, here is a piece that left me feeling uneasy. The Téléthon is the big television charity event. The president of the AIDS charity organisation criticised it, saying that it gathered more money than it knew what to do with, and harmed other charities. Did France Télévision - which hosts the Téléthon - do an exemplarary job of investigative journalism here ?

Something quite different. Stéphane Berne was Drucker's guest in Vivement Dimanche. I've wanted to put up a clip from this programme for a while, but every time I switch to it, it seems to be Bernadette Chirac. So here is the perennially youthful Stéphane. Jean Dujardin does a nicely vicious takeoff of him over on sonsenfrancais. Look on the humour page

Not the evening, but the early afternoon news, and here is a nice little piece on the army equestrian team Le Cadre noir

We all love the recreation of famous criminal cases. The following is from L'objet du scandale a talk-show which discussed the reopening of the unresolved case of the murder of a four year old boy, thanks to the use of DNA technology. It's a longer extract than usual, because I didn't want to cut short the summary of this fascinating case which sheds light both on the operation of the police at the time, and of the media

Denis Podalydès of the Comédie française, is a modest and unassuming man, but a fine actor. Here he acts as tourist guide to the gardens of Versailles - but using for script, the book written by Louis XIII Manière de montrer les jardins de Versailles. The result was a nice little documentary
Have a look at the book, here in PDF format

Having renewed my Bis+ subscription card I thought we'd have something from the inexhaustible treasure trove of American series on the private channels. This is from M6, a channel which specialises in inquiries into the scandals of celebrities and - American series. So much for the cultural side - it's good listening practise

Toute l'histoire is a very minor channel which doesn't even figure in my Télé deux semaines, but it offers some good documentary material. Here is Catherine Deneuve rightly celebrating the clockmakers of 18th century France

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