Heidi Ellison
Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire
Eclectic Estate The “Eloge du Compost” garden includes a “dry toilet” (in the structure in the background). Photo: Eric Sander pour le Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire Big changes are afoot at the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, a Loire Valley château/estate best known … Read More
Chaumont-sur-Loire
Eclectic Estate Big changes are afoot at the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, a Loire Valley château/estate best known for its annual garden festival. Formerly the property of the French national government, the entire estate was recently devolved to the Centre … Read More
Murder in the Rue de Paradis
A Walk on the Seedy Side of Paris
Like most mystery writers, Cara Black is a sort of recidivist who continually relapses into describing criminal behavior. Her latest book, Murder in the Rue de Paradis, is another detective story set in Paris and starring Aimée Leduc, a sexy … Read More
Café des Musées
A Best in Bistros The basic decor belies the quality of the food. February 22, 2006; updated March 19, 2008 Who would expect such a fine meal from such an unassuming little bistro? The Café des Musées, situated on a … Read More
Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis
A new cult film has been born. Already, 12 million* spectators have seen Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis (Welcome to the Sticks), which was released on February 27. Like the three Bronzés films or La Vie Est un Long Fleuve Tranquille, … Read More
La Fabrique des Sentiments
Ticking Clock, High-Speed Dates
Although Eloïse (Elsa Zylberstein) cries a lot during La Fabrique des Sentiments, a new film about a single, clock-ticking woman (yes, another one!), it’s hard to feel the emotion behind her mask-like face (which the camera is closely trained on … Read More
The Discovery of France
Back-Road Trip to the Past
Graham Robb, author of biographies of Balzac, Victor Hugo and Rimbaud, has now written what might be called a biography of France, The Discovery of France (Picador), which takes the reader back through time and into forgotten corners of the … Read More
L’Homme qui Marche
The Mystery of a Man
L’Homme qui Marche is a short, elliptical film that takes us on a long, slow, nearly silent walk through Paris over a period of 14 years, between 1974 and 1998, in the company of one man. Victor Atemian (played by … Read More
La Graine et le Mulet
Too Much of a Good Thing
Here is a film that just misses out on being great for lack of an editorial scalpel. La Graine et le Mulet, directed by Abdellatif Kechiche and winner of three prizes at the Venice Film Festival, has an engaging plot … Read More
Actrices
Actresses Acting Up
How strange to watch a deeply misogynistic film written, directed by and starring women. In Actrices, directed by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, most of the female characters are depicted as highly irrational and hysterical (if not insane) sexual predators whose main … Read More