Paris Update
Comme si de Rien n’Etait/Carla Bruni
Music and Politics Make Strange Bedfellows Some of the criticism of Bruni’s new album is politically inspired. Now that supermodel-turned-singer Carla Bruni is France’s First Lady, it is perhaps inevitable that much of the vitriolic criticism of her new album, … Read More
Yvette, Bon Dieu!
How to Keep 'Em Down on the Ferme
Just a couple of hours from Paris by car, on a perfectly flat expanse of land in the Touraine, a complex of farm buildings like many others throughout France sits by the side of a quiet country lane. Someone in … Read More
Politesse
Politeness Counts (Sometimes) A handshake, if not cheek kisses, is mandatory every time friends and acquaintances meet. Photo: J. Gascoigne Recently, while I was having an early evening aperitif with two friends in a smart brasserie near Trinité Church, two … Read More
Lille
Culture in the Land of the Ch’tis The Lille post-office tower sports a Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis banner. Photo: J. Gascoigne After the runaway success of the film Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis, set in the north of France very near … Read More
French pharmacies
Prescription for Well-being The French hope to stop smoking and slim down with the help of their pharmacies. Photo: J. Gascoigne They say that you will find a pub in almost every Irish village. In France, by contrast, you will … Read More
A Dangerous Liaison
Existential Affairs
When Jean-Paul Sartre was buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery (on the south side of Paris) on April 19, 1980, a crowd of 50,000 people surged forward as his distraught partner Simone de Beauvoir threw a white rose onto his coffin. … Read More
Un Conte de Noël
A Tale for All Seasons
Arnaud Desplechin’s first international success came with his third feature, the nearly three-hour Comment Je me Disputé… Ma Vie Sexuelle (even the title was long). You expected a terrible bore – a group of middle-class philosophy students talk, smoke, talk, … Read More
Smoking/No Smoking
Indoor Smoking Out, Outdoor Smoking In Outdoor smoking can even be enjoyed while playing boules. Photo: J. Gascoigne Until the beginning of 2008, most images traditionally associated with Parisian life involved cigarettes: self-important intellectuals puffing away in Left Bank cafés, … Read More
Marché Saint Quentin
To Market, to Market, to London The market café’s coffee can’t be worse than the abysmal brews served at the Eurostar terminal. Food shopping in Paris can be a dispiriting affair when a crowded schedule means you don’t always have … Read More
Forget 68
Revolt Remembered
The 40th anniversary of the May 1968 riots in Paris has unleashed the inevitable stream of exhibitions and publications evoking that most extraordinary time. You can, for instance, see a free exhibition of photographs in the Place de la Sorbonne, … Read More