Photo Duet: Daybreak

Before this week's photofriday.com theme changes- the photo duo strikes again.

Metz, Septembre 2010

p_ff: Yes, I snoozed through the official start of daybreak at 7:07 am last Sunday in France. I must admit, je n'ai jamais été une personne matinale. Still, morning person or not, I managed to catch some traces of daybreak: a vestige of warm sunrise colors in the clouds, the empty streets, the "night lights" spotlighting architectural features of the hotel still aglow. In the German Imperial District (city was ruled by Germany from 1871-1918) on our side of the Avenue Foch, from a fourth floor terrace: I was still enjoying the calm that is usually associated with the break of dawn.

Fain-lès-Montbard, Juin 2008

kk: An early morning peek through fogged windows at the rolling green lawn of the Château De Malaisy near Dijon suggests we are the only guests at this 17th century mansion turned hotel. June is still pre-tourist season in much of France, and the peace and quiet suits us just fine.

daybreak = die Morgendämmerung = l'aube (f), la pointe (f) du jour

-from the "Leo" online dictionary German to French (and English, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Russian)

dict.leo.org

Continuons: B - partie deux

B est pour Boudu sauvé des eaux

At first I was going to just write about the film Boudu starring Gerard Depardieu that was released in 2005. Until I found out that it was actually a remake. And not even the first. In fact, in 1986, Nick Nolte starred in American director Paul Mazursky's version: Down and Out in Beverly Hills. I tracked down the original and the director is no less than the son of French impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Boudu sauvé des eaux is my first encounter with Jean Renoir's work. I was, until now, ignorant of his fame and critical acclaim. When Renoir died in 1979, Orson Welles wrote a tribute in the Los Angeles times calling him "The Greatest of all Directors".

Michel Simon stars as a tramp named Boudu who is saved from drowning. His bourgeouis savior, Lestingois, invites him into his house to recover. The film is about the the rescue and the ensuing complications and consequences.

So how does the original Boudu of Renoir and Simon in Paris fare against Nick Nolte in Beverly Hills and Gerard Depardieu in Aix-en-Provence?

Obviously I "understood" the American version a lot more than both French versions not only because of the language but also the culture- though not specifically Beverly Hills. When I saw Boudu with Gerard Depardieu I was already familiar with his work (imdb.com lists over 150 movies he's been in since 1967) and though I saw the movie in French it was subtitled. Linguistically I understood almost nothing of the original since my DVD version didn't have subtitles and my French is not that good, yet. Also I hadn't heard of the director nor the actors. Still, armed with having already seen the the remakes I had enough information about the plot and I was able to pay more attention to the direction, the cinematography and the acting.

Despite my limited understanding of the dialogue, I liked Jean Renoir's version filmed in black and white the best. I prefer the Parisian location and Michel Simon is my favorite Boudu. While watching the film there were moments where Simon reminded me off Nolte and Depardieu's rendition– when I realized, oh it's actually the other way around if anything. Either Nolte and Depardieu based their Boudus on Simon's or they all have a good "tramp" in them.

I thought Renoir's version had the best ending of the three. Yet, I must say that the film isn't laugh-out-loud funny like some scenes in the later versions– it is hard to identify with the 1930s and we are a more sophisticated film audience. I'd have to say, almost as a warning, that this version is one for fans of Renoir, Simon, or hard-core cinemaphiles.

Orson Welles on Jean Renoir
http://www.wellesnet.com/?p=120

La photo: Strasbourg, août 2010.

Continouns: B - partie une --> Belle de Jour

B is for Belle de Jour

I'd heard of this movie many years before I watched it just a few days ago. I didn't know much about it except that it was French, starred Catherine Deneuve and was about a housewife turned prostitute.

On my previous visits to the local library I had decided against renting it out even though it was directed by famous and critically acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel. However, on my last visit- well there wasn't much left in the B section that I hadn't seen so I consoled myself with the fact that though the "housewife-turned-prostitute" plot wasn't turning me on, seeing something by Buñuel did interest me.

I'd taken a film colloquium in college. Bien sûr, the silent surrealist short "Un Chien Andalou" written and directed by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, released in Paris in 1929 was a must-see on the syllabus. To say the least, it's a very memorable film. 38 years years later "Belle de jour" is released. 44 years later, I watch the movie.

The beginning is quite shocking, even though- certainly since Buñuel's time- films have become even more shocking and graphic. It looks so simple, somehow innocent until we get a glimpses of what Denueve's character, Séverine Serizy's daydreams are about. Catherine Deneuve plays both characters Séverine and her alter ego Belle with equal coolness and yet an emotional yearning comes through- for both characters. For me it became a double-story, more and more intertwined and in the end... well I don't want to spoil it. Suffice to say, I was glad I saw it. It's a cinematic milestone that francophiles and cinema buffs shouldn't miss.

Trailer in French with English subtitles

La photo: Street leading to the gothic Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg with traditional half-timbered houses on one side and flain façades on the other. On all sides, vendors of all types. Strasbourg, France. Août 2010.

Photo Duet: Chaud

For this week's photo duet - en fait, for all future photo duets: a photo taken/chosen by theme that relates to a Francophone country.

Haut: Punaise arlequin à Rocamadour, France. Mai 2009.

A striped shield bug basking in the sun of Rocamadour. Rocamadour was a popular destination for medieval pilgrims, more recently it's been reported to attract more than 1 million visitors a year. It's located in south-western France, about 100 miles north of Toulouse. You can't miss it: the town is partly built into a cliff. And the shield bug? It's actually a popular bug as well, originally from the Mediterranean and now commonly found in Central Europe, Southern Europe, Asia Minor and the Middle East. (p_ff)

Bas: Tafraout, Le Maroc. Mars 2008.

Mud-plastered, mud-brick high rise dwellings bake in the afternoon sun south of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. The German tour group and I shoot snaps of crumbling windowns, peeling paint, black veil enschrouded women, and dozens of children. Teen boys chat us up and offer email addresses in the hope that one day they make the contact that gets them out into the modern world. Charmant, romantique, et triste... (kk)

www.tafraout.info

chaud, adjectif (adj): Il fait chaud aujourd'hui.

It's a warm day today

chaleureux, adj: Ils ont réservé un accueil chaleureux à Lucky Luke.

They gave Lucky Luke a warm reception.

chauffer, verbe transitif (vt) : Il s'est mis près de la cheminée pour se chauffer les mains.

He stood by the fireplace to warm his hands.

(faire) réchauffer, vt: Je vais faire réchauffer la soupe.

I'll warm the soup up.

se réchauffer, verbe intransitif: La pièce a enfin commencé à se réchauffer.

The room began to warm up at last.

-This and more from: Dictionnaire de Lucky Luke illustré; Editeur Fleurus

Ailleurs, this week's theme at the Anu Garg's English Word a Day website: Wordsmith.org is terms from French!

Photo duet: La Rue

La Rue est le theme de cette semaine sur Photo Friday and it's the theme of my photo duet with "KK" with one other criteria: our photo must be related to France.

We dug into our archive and selected our photos independently et voilá:

gauche- a street in Saint Paul de Vence, June 2008

An exceptionally empty street in Saint Paul de Vence where painters like Marc Chagall and writers like Jacques Prévert once lived. It's not the captive chair that makes this street of the medieval, fortified town exceptional nor is it that artists and painters and international stars might have once walked upon it. For me, what makes it exceptional is that it's quiet and empty. Saint Paul de Vence reportedly attracts over 2.5 million tourists every year- and those streets are narrow! To me, Saint Paul de Vence is like one of the most charming outdoor malls you'll ever encounter- and it's "real". If I don't think of it that way, I am overwhelmed and a little saddened by the commercialism. (petit_foufou)

droite - a street in a wine village near Strasbourg (probably Riquewihr), late Spring 2007

I'm not a big fan of busy urban cityscapes. This is more my version of a pleasant street. I spent a pleasant hour or so noshing on flammkuchen and watching a stork in its nest atop one of the old timber-framed houses. Then I marched off the beer calories in the climb up to the local castle ruin. (kk)

The photographic vocabulary list goes on... (see tag photo friday) so here's an example phrase with the plural of today's photo theme:

"Courir les rues" means to run along the street. It's also the name of a French chanson swing band. Here's a visual and auditory introduction of "courir les rues", the band, with Parisian street scenes.

If you want to join the weekly photo-taking fun: www.PhotoFriday.com

Restarting at A

The theme of recommencer continues...

A is for ailleurs/elsewhere

"Mon père continue à conduire en regardant droit devant lui, ma mère est déjà ailleurs."

The mot of note from this week's French lesson is ailleurs and is from a children's book that I'm reading peu à peu with my French teacher. When I've finished the book, I'll divulge the the title, author and illustrator.

A is for Antonieta

Qui est-elle? Spanish director Carlos Saura (perhaps best known for his film Carmen, 1983) tells the story of Maria Antonieta Rivas Mercado through a French psychologist who is researching suicides of famous women. Antonieta is the story of a Mexican francophile, intellectual, writer, feminist and arts patron during the time of a bloody Mexican revolution.

Although I saw this film in French with German subtitles and indeed, Antonieta, is played by the French actress Isabelle Adjani and the other main character Anna is a French psychologist (played by German actress and chanson singer, Hanna Schygulla)– research for this post reveals that it is indeed a Spanish film (thanks for the info, IMDb). I cannot imagine Adjani or Schygulla speaking in Spanish, though. And it didn't seem to me that the film was dubbed. So, even though it's been verified by IMDb I wonder on.

For fans of Carlos Saura and this film: a link to an interview in 1982 by Valeria Ciompi

Antonieta, Carlos Saura Between the Past and the Present

(from a book of Interviews with Carlos Saura, edited by Linda M. Willem, 2003)

Le photo: Merci Monsieur Foufou. Rocamadour, France. Mai 2009.

I Do

I did take a break from French lessons, but as evidenced by the past posts- not from chocolat.

I'm back now and restarting my efforts to go beyond the level of debutante and reach intermédiare: j'ai recommencé à prendre des leçons de français et à regarder des films en français.

I'm back to weekly lessons albeit sans devoirs. I'd love to view French movies in lieu of the weekly homework so I made a start, or more aptly recommencer with Prête-moi ta main. The English title is I Do - How to Get Married and Stay Single.

It stars acteur/réalisateur Alain Chabat and actrice/chanteuse Charlotte Gainsbourg and was directed by Eric Lartigau. I found it to be an entertaining romantic comedy with a cute twist. Few of the romantic comedies I've watched have been able to balance realism and imagination and be funny.

There are a lot of comedies that I've seen that were funny because they were also incredibly unrealistic or not funny because they were too realistic. I think this comedy does a great job with "real" characters in an imaginative situation where the pressures are real enough though one might not try out the solution posed in this movie. What am I referring to exactly? A trailer or the three-minute review by ecran total podcast can best explain the charm of this comédie romantique and help you to decide whether you say "I do" to seeing the fillm.

Ecran total podcasts - radio reviews of films in French but not necessarily French films.

Review of Prêt-moi ta main (numéro 166) released July 10, 2010 - free download on Apple Itunes.

For francocinemaphiles: Francofille

Follow Londoner Rachel Malcolm as she documents her mission to watch 52 French Films in 2010

francofille.com

recommencer to begin again

Attention: recommencer à + verbe à l'infinitif

Les photos: Having a snack of foie Gras at the Galeries Lafayette Berlin. The French Boucher can advise you in German, English and bien sûr en français! Mai 2010.

Bite-sized

My fellow francophiles, it does look like I'm gaining more knowledge about chocolates made by companies located in French-speaking countries more than the French language itself. Admittedly my tongue has been more busy with chocolate than French conjugations.

On my most recent trip to New York to visit my favorite nephew – fellow francophile and chocolate lover – we both could not resist stepping into "la maison du chocolat" located at the Rockefeller Plaza. Admittedly, he stepped out with his mother a bit earlier than I, overwhelmed at all the chocolate he just wanted to look at, touch and have.

This was actually my first time in the Parisian house of chocolates, anywhere - so I was eager to do a taste test with my nephew. I chose a beautifully boxed set of six different bite-sized creations. I think half of the price I paid for the chocolate was actually for the packaging... tres cher!

So... without further ado- my nephew's taste test results:

Here he's just put a piece of chocolate in his mouth. I imagined him thinking "Hmmm... never tasted something like this before..." but he didn't actually say a word at this point.

Now he's savoring the chocolate, letting it melt on his tongue and forming his opinion.

The critic finally looks at me solemnly and pronounces:

"It REALLY IS dark chocolate, Tita!"

I smiled and ask "shall we have another piece?" A rhetorical question that we both answered by reaching for another piece of yummy chocolate.

Last but not least- Bitesize French lessons: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/french/

Furanza!

November- you wonder what happened to me? I was on vacation, but getting my fill of French. So there I am in Tokyo and it seems to me that every pâtisserie is French- or at least has a French name: Bon Dessert, St. Germain, La Pêche-Blanc...

There are ALOT of pâtisseries that also double as a café. On the other hand when I walk into cafés and ask for the menu- it's not uncommon to see the headers in English (Coffee, Soft Drink, Alcohol, Dessert) but that's it- then it's all Japanese. English is rarely spoken or "only little".

One day when I walked into to a café and asked what was on the menu and the owner responded with "gâteau" I seized my chance and asked "parlez-vous français?" The answer is the same blank look and a raising of the eyebrows I get when I ask "do you speak English?"

After two weeks, I'm undecided as to which language/culture the Japanese favor more: English or French.

My French experience in Tokyo was limited to the tasting of "gâteaux" and the interesting Japanese/French dessert fusions.

La photos:

1+2) Dessert at Ma Chatelaine in Shibuya with the explanation of what could be found inside the dessert.

3) Sweets for sale at the Bon Dessert in Seiyu/Nishi-Ogikubo Station.

Japon, Novembre 2009

"Come and get them!"

Always on the look out for tasty chocolate even when I should actually be looking out for Balkavas or Kataefi. I am in Greece after all.

In Athens, against the backdrop of the Acropolis, I spot a chocolaterie: Leonidas. Aha, I thought, time to check out Greek chocolate. I'm in the middle of picking out an assortment to fill a little golden box when I notice "Fresh Belgian Chocolates" written on it in fine script. The first time I ever groaned at discovering Belgian chocolates. I quickly recovered from the disappointment of not having found Greek chocolate and finished filling my box.

I have spartan knowledge of Leonidas so I decided to find out more. Leonidas was a Spartan King. Leonidas Kestekides was a Greek confectioner who immigrated from Anatolia to America in the late 1800s. In 1910, at the World Fair in Brussels he was already winning awards for his chocolates. Belgium has a reputation for producing the world's finest chocolates but it was a young woman in Brussels that he fell in love with and later married that kept him there permanently. Alors, c'est le meilleur de mondes possibles: bonjour chocolat multiculturel!

Alors, c'est le meilleur de mondes possibles: bonjour chocolat multiculturel! So, it's the best of all possible worlds: hello multicultural chocolate

The title of today's post is a quote found under the bronz statue of Leonidas at the site of the Battle of Thermopylae. "Come and get them!" refers to what the Spartans said when the Persians asked them to put down their weapons. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonidas_I)

La photo: The three surviving chocolates jostled around in their golden box in my suitcase. Right after this photo was taken there were no more survivors. Octobre 2009.

Michel Cluizel

J'aime le chocolat mais je ne suis pas hanté par lui. Still, in almost every article or the one book (see how cursory my knowledge is) I've read about chocolate the French chocolatier Michel Cluizel is mentioned as producing one of the best chocolates in the world.

Today, my tastebuds know why: Grand Noir, 85% cocoa.

I didn't go to Paris to get the chocolate. I got it in Frankfurt at:
Bitter & Zart
Domstraße 4
Frankfurt/Main - Germany
www.bitterundzart.de/blog

In Paris and elsewhere the Michel Cluizel Website will tell you
where you can get luxury chocolate goodness:
www.cluizel.com

J'aime le chocolat mais... I love chocolate but am not chocolate obsessed.

La photo: Aujourd'hui en allemagne.

Pour les intellectuels

In the late 1980's there was an anti-drug television and poster campaign that was all over America: This is Your Brain on Drugs.

Vous rappelez-vous? It involves an egg and a frying pan. A man shows us an egg and says "This is your brain". He shows us the frying pan and says "This is drugs". He cracks open the egg and drops it into the very hot frying pan and says "This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?"

Well you might be questioning what is today's picture all about. C'est mon cerveau pendant l'immersion française.

In June I was in the French Alps again for another French immersion. It's the second day of my weeklong program. We are dealing with pronouns. Grammar! I need something to fortify and soothe my nerves while dealing with pronouns.

I go into the kitchen and put the théière on the stove to heat the water. I go back into the "grammer room" to review and learn more about pronouns: subject, direct and indirect, reflexive, imperitive and disjunctive. Disjunctive? They are also aptly called stressed pronouns!

Soudainement, je me rappelle... oui, la théière! I run to the kitchen and there I see: my brain on French pronouns! My French teacher's wife is more positive- she sees the tea kettle, smiles and exclaims "les intellectuels"!

C'est mon cerveau pendant l'immersion française It's my brain on (literally "during the") French immersion

Vous rappelez-vous? Do you remember? (formal form)

Soudainement, je me rappelle... Suddenly, I remember...

la théière tea kettle

All about This is Your Brain on Drugs

at drugfree.org

Les Pronoms (in English)

On About.com - French section

On Geocities.com

More on stressed pronouns

On About.com

Free action sets for making the tea kettle "lovely & ethereal"

à la Pioneer Woman

La Photo: Saint-Pierre-en-Faucigny, Juin 2009.