Heidi Ellison
Château de Malmaison
Faded Roses The Salon Doré in the Château Malmaison. Photo: Thierry Vidal Known as Rose until Napoleon gave her the new first name that would follow his empress into history, Josephine (née Marie-Joseph-Rose de Tascher de la Pagerie) loved her … Read More
Musée du Quai Branly
New Parisian Monument Opens
The rest of the collection more than lives up to this highly promising beginning. France’s wealth of magnificent pieces from various cultures of Oceania, Africa, Asia and the Americas – formerly hidden away in the still-existing Musée de l’Homme and … Read More
Mini-guide to Avignon
Pont, Popes and Plays Tourists admiring the architecture of Avignon. Avignon, dominated by the imposing 14th-century Gothic fortress of the Palais des Papes and the adjacent golden-statue-topped Notre-Dame des Doms Cathedral next to it, is best known to the world … Read More
Institut National de l’Audiovisuel
Now Showing on Your Home Computer Screen May 1968 as seen on French television. © INA. While politicians and the entertainment industry argue about the right to download music and videos from the Web, France’s Institut National de l’Audiovisuel has … Read More
Dans la Peau de Jacques Chirac
Gueule d’Amour
In Dans la Peau de Jacques Chirac (Being Jacques Chirac), French television personality Karl Zéro and his collaborator Michel Royer have made a mock autobiography of Jacques Chirac by stringing together actual film clips from the French president’s 40-year political … Read More
Hotel Amour
Coolness Credentials High, Prices Low The room decorated by the artist André in the Hotel Amour. It is not true, as the French press has reported, that the new Hôtel Amour is the Parisian version of Japanese Love Hotels, where … Read More
Musée de l’Orangerie
Sistine Chapel of Impressionism Reopens
The facade of the rectangular building known as the “Sistine Chapel of Impressionism,” located on the Seine side of the Tuileries Garden (and the near-twin of the Jeu de Paume on the north side), has been left intact, but the … Read More
Ecole Normale Supérieure
Paris Modern The handsome main staircase. A new building in the heart of Paris is a true rarity in these days of fervent architectural preservationism, but one has nevertheless gone up in the Latin Quarter, designed for some of France’s … Read More
OSS 117: Le Caire Nid d’Espions
The Revenge of Jacques Bond
Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, code name OSS 117, is a character based on the novels of French writer Jean Bruce (the pen name of Jean Brochet), published in the 1940s, before Ian Fleming’s James Bond thrillers came out. OSS … Read More
Jean-Philippe
Johnny Be Real
One of those inexplicable things about France is the near-universal adoration of Johnny Hallyday, a rock singer who made his name in the 1960s by singing French versions of American hits and dressing like a tough-guy rocker. Even today, at … Read More