Les parapluies des Cherbourg

I picked up this film accidentally and almost put it back on the racks after I read that it was a musical. For all my love of Nouvelle Vague, the director Jacques Demy unfortunately did not ring a bell. Fortunately, I decided to borrow the movie from my local library and watched it.

The film started with a beautiful shot of the seaside town of Cherbourg (now known as Cherbourg-Octeville), colorful umbrellas accompanied by the pensive music of Michel Legrand. Premiére Partie: Le Départ begins with an explosion of happy music. It's November 1957 and we are introduced to 20-year-old Guy Foucher while he's working… and singing. He's a mechanic and he's not whistling a tune or singing some popular song while he's checking engines. The dialogue of the whole film is sung. Everybody is singing!

Hmmm… I'm curious and admittedly a little skeptical about the constant singing. The work day has ended. Guy and the other mechanics are washing up and talking, I mean singing- about their plans for the evening. It seems a little silly but actually they do pull it off because the acting and singing isn't overdone. A few minutes later, Guy is outside an umbrella shop where 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, played by Catherine Deneuve, runs out to throw her arms around him and sing sweetly "Mon amour, oh mon amour…". It takes less than six minutes into the movie and I'm hooked.

This movie has a lot of what I have come to love about French Cinema: lush and elegant cinematography, inventiveness, joie de vivre, elegant and stylish costumes, and interesting twists in the plot.

This film looks and sounds like a fairytale but it's a real story dealing with the difficult issues of love and overcoming difficulties. The music and the singing pulls at my heartstrings, underscoring the tenderness of the scenes of joys as well as profound disappointment and longing in the sad scenes. This film deepens my appreciation and knowledge of Nouvelle Vague as well as cute umbrellas. For language learners- the singing is an added bonus because the sung dialogue is more enunciated and slower.

You can watch the entire film in French with English subtitles here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=l25gYXilNzk

(via/Thanks: www.openculture.com)

You can get your very own made to measure umbrella from Parisian designer Michel Heurtault: www.parasolerieheurtault.com

(via/Thanks: www.parisbao.com)

La photo: Un Parapluie à Jakarta, Indonesie. Septembre 2006.

Movie Poster from amazon.com, where the movie is available

Free online Food Photography course: May 13-15, 2011

A good French meal is a feast for the eyes and a discriminating palate. I've gotten into the habit of taking photographs of my French meals as a nice remembrance of what I ate and where I've been. With every French meal I have I strive to learn more about French cuisine and the art of photography.

This weekend there's a chance to learn about Food Photography from a professional: photojournalist and food photographer Penny De Los Santos. The best part- you can join in for free and basically from anywhere since it's online:

Food Photography Course with Penny De Los Santos

May 13-15, 2011

10 am Pacific Time

http://www.creativelive.com/courses/food-photography-penny-de-los-santos

(info on the course via/thanks to www.thepioneerwoman.com)

Photos: Un repas chez L'Ami Schutz à Strasbourg, France. Aout 2010.

"French is the language that turns dirt into romance."

Anu Garg starts his "A Word a Day" e-mail with this quote from Stephen King and then goes on to give the definition of the now English word "soubrette" which was borrowed from the French. It has one meaning in French, a maid, but two additional uses in English: a flirtatious young woman or a soprano in a supporting role in a comic opera.

He is devoting this week to featuring five words used in the English language that are borrowed from the French. So if your French is not yet up to snuff, there's no reason not to at least speak some French words while speaking English.

To view the words (April 2011) or sign up for the daily e-mails go to Garg's website, Wordsmith.org, where "A Word a Day" resides.

Foto: Une couple en un parc de sculptures en Taninges, France. Mars 2011.

Photo Duet: Chill

Last day of this week's Photo Friday Theme: Chill. Stepping out for a few quick errands today and "brrrr" - the weather in my corner of the world is in line with the theme.

I'm racing to get the photos (three in one) posted but wait- chill! Or rather du calme!

gauche Chill in the air, on the trees, on the rooftops...

A Taninges, France en fevrier 2009. Photo p_ff.

droite "Chillin under the gun"

In the waters of the Atlantic so it's "chilly chillin"

A Le Mans, France en août, 2002. Photo composé par KK.

chill - verbe transitif

mettre au frais make cold (food, wine)

vin blanc frais chilled white wine

frapper make cold (champagne)

glacer make cold (glass, person)

être glacé jusqu'aux os/jusqu'à la moelle

to be chilled to the bone/to the marrow

chill - verbe intransitif

se refroidir

rafraîchir chill out

chill - noun

la fraîchuer, la froideur coldness

il fait assez frais; un peu froid there's a chill in the air

son observation a jeté un froid dans l'assemblée

his remark cast a chill over the meeting

j'ai senti une certaine froideur dans son accueil

I sensed a certain chill in his welcome

chill out - verb intransitif

décompresser (familier)

du calme! chill out!

-- much, much more (definitions, audio for pronunciation, conjugation information) at www.larousse.com

E is for Equipier

Another French film and hâllo again to Sandra Bonnaire. I'm not obsessed with Sandra Bonnaire but I think someone at my local library might be. In fact, I'd seen this DVD with Sandra Bonnaire on a bicycle with a warm smile many times before. I would consider watching the movie but in the end, I had always passed it up because of the lighthouse pictured in the background. It seemed to me that it meant the movie would be desolate.

The last movie I'd seen starring Bonnaire was Chabrol's La ceremonie and I remembered only cold cunning smiles. I decided to see what was behind this warm smile.

L'équipier I thought meant team. L'équipe (f) means team, l'équipier means team member or friend or a shipmate. In English the movie title is just simply translated as "The Light" while in German it's "Die Frau des Leuchtturmwärters" (The Wife of the Lighthouse Keeper).

Yes, Sandrine Bonnaire does play the wife of the lighthouse keeper. The story is also set on the very small island of Ouessant in the Celtic Sea close to the English Channel. The lighthouse though is offshore- which I did not expect.

The story does deal with a lighthouse keeper, his wife, the isolation of working in an offshore lighthouse and of the small town. Why is the lighthouse keeper's wife smiling? It has to do with a young lighthouse keeper. It's 1963 and Mabé's (Sandrine Bonnaire) father, a lighthouse keeper, has just died. Antoine Cassendi (Grégori Derangère) is his eager and enthusiastic young replacement.

This movie is not desolate at all- it's full of emotions and people being happy, too despite their struggles and periods of isolation. All the titles apply to the story: it's about shedding light on the past, being the light in someone's life, being a friend and part of the team. It's not exactly a "feel-good" movie but it had me smiling warmly more than once.

L'équipier, 2004

Directed by Philippe Lioret

For a very thorough review of this movie in English

http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/Reviews/Reviews.asp?ID=8533

French trailer with English subtitles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRl9Odkssbg

La photo: Uniforms for the self-proclaimed team of "Oyster Mercenaries" at Hog Island Oyster Farm in Marshall, California. Juillet, 2010.

...des histoires pour s'endormir

As I've failed at attaining and improving French grammar through osmosis, I've decided to accept the inevitability of learning French grammar. So I'm back to doing some self-study and homework "by the book".

This week started out with a bit of grammar ("de") and I've delved a little deeper. What I've come up with is that uses and rules of "de" and "des" feel very innumerable to me at the moment and sometimes incomprehensible still.

I'd love to explain what I've learned but although I have embraced learning French grammar-I am also still looking for the fun and excitement in it. Anything I post now is going to put us to sleep. Unintenionally. I'll save then my introductions to my grammar guides, Mr. Brown and Mr. Picard for a rainy day and introduce you today instead to Belgian writer Carl Norac and French illustrator Thomas Baas. It's their intention to put you to sleep- fast.

Petites histoires pour les enfants qui s'endorment très vite is a charming book of bedtime stories whimsically illustrated by Thomas Baas. It's for kids who want to fall asleep quickly but this adult French learner was much too captivated by the expressive words and drawings to close my eyes, much less sleep.

Carl Norac is also a poet and you can hear that in the rythmn and rhyme of his bedtime stories or rather sentences. the longest stories are three sentence long! The beginning is always the same and contains "de" (we just can't get enough):

C'est l'histoire de ...

C'est l'histoire d'un baleineau...

C'est l'histoire d'un robot...

C'est l'histoire d'un mille-pattes...

C'est l'histoire d'une petite larme...

Petites histoires pour les enfants qui s'endorment très vite

Description by the publisher: éditions Sarbacane

http://www.editions-sarbacane.com/catalogue.htm

La photo (m_ff) : I've never seen a fanciful chicken like this, not even in my dreams. I believe this chicken belongs to the breed known as "Polish" though they did not originate in Poland. The French name for this breed is "Padoue" after the Italian city "Padua". On the grounds of Avril Williams "Ocean Villas" Bed & Breakfast in Auchonvillers, France. Octubre 2010.

D is for "de"

My learning French is supposed to be fun so I avoided grammar as much as I could. I thought I could absorb the rules and intuitively construct sentences correctly through weekly conversations with my French teacher, listening to some podcasts, watching videos and movies and reading.

What I've learned in the past twelve weeks though is that there is only so much I can learn without learning grammar. And that turns out to be not enough. "Duh!"

In the spirit of "restarting with my French ABCs" - I continue the "recommencer" with a "grammatic" letter "D" or as it were "de".

"De" (pronounced duh) is a preposition with many uses. It usually means "of" or "from". In French an apostrophe is never used to indicate possession.

When "de" is followed by the articles le and les it contracts (unless le or les is a direct object - a subject for a future post) but it never contracts with la or l':

de (of, from) + le (the) = du (of the, from the)

de + les (the; plural) = des (of the, from the; plural)

Où es le bureau du commerçant?

Where is the office of the merchant?

Mme Picard est une amie des étudiants.

Mrs. Picard is a friend of the students.

Le salon de la maison est grand.

The living room of the house is large.

Il sait le nom de l'hotel.

He knows the name of the hotel.

-Sample sentences from the grammar notes of chapter five of "French Made Simple" revised edition by Julien LaFontant and Pamela Rose Haze; 2006 Edition The Stonesong Press, LLC

More grammar notes on About.com

http://french.about.com/od/grammar/a/preposition_de.htm

http://french.about.com/od/mistakes/a/ilmaditdufaire.htm

Practice (with audio) with Le Point du FLE

http://www.lepointdufle.net/ressources_fle/articles_de_du1.htm

La photo: Seeing the Light (at the end of a tunnel of grammar?). Saint-Sébastien, Espagne. Mai 2009.

C partie duex: chefs-d'oeuvre, Centre Pompidou-Metz

Qu'est-ce qu'un chef-d'oeuvre? Well that's the question upon which the inaugural exhibition of the recently opened Centre Pompidou-Metz is trying to answer.

There's a lot to see: over 700 works of art are on display. I was pleased encounter some of my favorites art objects, discover work I wasn't familiar with from favorite artists as well as see something totally new to me. It is an overwhelming exhibition, a sensory overload. At the end... I think the question remains: What is a masterpiece?

Chefs-d'oeuvre at the Centre Pompidou-Metz

until 25 October 2010

centrepompidou-metz.fr

le chef-d'oeuvre noun, masculine

chefs-d'oeuvre plural

There's actually no need to translate this word as it can be found in the dictionary as is.

Seen from a view of posterity, her "boring" job was to provide Julia Child with the discipline, the autonomous organizational skill, the patience to devise, test and perfect the recipes in her encyclopedic chef-d'oeuvre: "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" (1961, 1970), on which her immortality can be said to rest.”

—The Wall Street Journal, "Julia Child: The OSS Years"

However, there was one thing at Les Jardies of which he was really proud; and that was his system of bell-ringing, which he considered a _chef-d'oeuvre_.”

—Honore de Balzac, His Life and Writings

-Example sentences in English from a compilation at the online dictionary wordnik.com

(CHEF se prononce CHÈ.) n. m. Ouvrage parfait ou très beau en quelque genre que ce puisse être. Ce palais est un chef-d'oeuvre d'architecture, un chef-d'oeuvre de l'art. Un chef-d'oeuvre de la nature. Les chefs- d'oeuvre de Corneille.

Par extension, C'est un chef-d'oeuvre d'habileté, de malice, d'impertinence, etc., Ce qu'un tel a fait, a dit, annonce beaucoup d'habileté, de malice, d'impertinence, etc.

Fig. et par ironie, Il a fait là un beau chef-d'oeuvre, voilà de ses chefs-d'oeuvre, se dit d'un Homme qui a causé quelque désordre, qui a fait quelque chose de mal par inadvertance, par emportement.

Il se disait autrefois de l'Ouvrage difficile que faisaient les ouvriers dans le métier où ils voulaient passer maîtres. Présenter son chef-d'oeuvre.

-Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, huiteme edition (1932-5) thanks to the ARTFL Project: Dictionnaires d'autrefois

http://artfl-project.uchicago.edu/content/dictionnaires-dautrefois

La photo: Viewing the clouds of Metz, France from Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec's installation, 32 Clouds, at the Centre Pompidou-Metz. Septembre 2010.