November 2011
We start November with a subject which is far from fragrant... Arte Television loves to shock the bourgeoisie by taking subjects that are taboo and treating them carefully and thoroughly, often with humour. So it was with a programme entitled La fabuleuse histoire des excréments. We are treated to a vocabulary lesson at bthe beginning, and then an expert on purification plants explains that 50% of your water bill is spent on the expensive treatment that we accord what is flushed down the toilet ... grosso modo, or as he puts it, grosso merdo. Good programme.
Here, mirrored across from sonsenfrancais, is the amazing Pierre Desproges. It is worth reading his texts carefully. Wonderful language, wonderfully offensive
Toute l'histoire is a very minor channel which occasionally offers an interesting programme on French history. Such was the sad story of Joseph and Henriette Caillaux. We are coming up to the First World War, Joseph Caillaux is a rising star in French politics, likely to become Président du Conseil (premier ministre). He is also an ardent pacifist, very much against war with Germany. For the newspapers, such as the Figaro he becomes l'homme à abattre. The media, as we say today, pursue him relentlessly... as they do today. Under the intense pressure his wife, Henriette, buys herself a little gun and shoots the editor of the Figaro dead.
France 5 screened a programme about eating insects. Because this is, in our societies, still an odd thing to do, the first few minutes showed English people doing it. But that's normal on French TV. The programme then went on to show a French entrepreneur making an insect dinner for a couple of his friends who do their best to show their appreciation.
Whatever would the British film industry do without Henry VIII? FranceTélévisions screened a rather good film unattractively titled The other Boleyn girl, as Deux soeurs pour un roi. As always, such films make excellent material at level-1
The 11 November is the day of commemoration in France of the First World War. Last May the last veteran of that conflict died, and Nicolas Sarkozy has decided to devote the day to all French soldiers who have given their lives for their country.. as other countries have done. And as one old soldier says in this piece Quand ils tombent, ils tombent. And my goodness, a very effective ceremony. Easy to be cynical about this sort of thing, but I found it moving
Friday evenings, France 3 screens Thalassa, le magazine de la mer. It was from the Brittany port of Saint-Brieuc, where lives a French friend of mine with whom I speak regularly on Skype - so I was particularly interested. They did a little piece on a girl pop singer from the region whose name is Julie Budet, and whose father, François Budet is the composer of the song Loguivy de la mer. The song absolutely blew me away. It speaks to those of us who were born near the North sea and know the little coast towns where all that is left of the fishing trade is the cobles turned upside down on the jetties to make cabins for the locals. Here you have the song off Youtube and a bit of the interview with Julie Budet. Not an easy voice to follow, but you will like the song
Echappées belles is a nice little series from France 5 where broadcasters visit regions of France and other countries to discover 'the local colour'. This one was on the region of Bourgogne, where we meet a group of feminist winegrowers. A bit odd, but good fun
I always enjoy receiving videos from users of this site - it gets me out of the rut of ordinary television. So I am very grateful for Paris 1900, a black and white documentary which was shot in 1946. The voice-over is fascinating. It's of it's period, similar to the way movie announcers spoke in Britain and in America in the '30s and '40s. However, the sound quality makes this a fairly difficult listening exercise. A lot of the time it is clear, then there a re a few words which one just has to guess. Good fun though.
Smallville is an American TV series chronicling the life of the young Bruce Wayne .. the later Batman. This gives him a chance to be the All-American boy - not at all a bad thing - and in the course of his young life he has to do battle with evil. I found this episode quite disturbing, because it deals with the (apparent) difficulty some kids have in leaving High School and joining the real world, where they will 'work in a video shop to the end of their life'.
A vos ordres, Monsieur le Président was a nicely done documentary from France 5 about the often difficult relationship between the French army and the President. In some countries, it is the army that rules, and it is often a political force. De Gaulle was brought to power by the army in Algeria, but was very aware that the army must be brought under political control. This clip starts with the story of the French atom bomb
In the anglo-saxon world we have shops that we used to call pawnbrokers, and which now bear flashy signs that say 'Cash Generator'. In Paris, they have le Crédit Municipal, known as Le Mont-de-Piété, and yes, it's a nationalised money-lender. I am going to lay aside the temptation to discuss whether that's a good thing or not.. it made for an interesting documentary. Also a rather difficult listening exercise, since le Crédit Municipal is a rather noisy place.
The popular science programme E=M6 instructs us on the reason for cramps and what the French call chair de poule. In Britain we call it goosebumps - is that perhaps because it's colder here and the bumps are bigger...?
Des racines et des ailes did a nice little piece on the Lalique factory situated in Alsace, who make glass of extraordinary quality. Here one of the experts of the firm passes some of his skills to the younger generation.
