Summer break is looming, but there is still time for one final History lesson. No worry : it will be light.
The characters in Besson’s signature film, « Le grand bleu », set records by diving deeper and deeper and exactly describe their creator’s ambition : film after film, as a scriptwriter, director, producer, to achieve new cinema lows that will translate into box office records.
Faced with a terrible film, a resourceful viewer, and irrepressible positive thinker, mines it for hidden reasons that may give it a hint of interest.
In such a perspective, even « Les anges de l’apocalypse » is not an absolute waste of time : the film provides clues about Besson’s amazing success, if not as a scriptwriter or a filmmaker, as a business man.
0 Read MoreFrench President Nicolas Sarkozy went to elaborate lengths to keep his wedding to former supermodel Carla Bruni a near state secret until it was over, a Paris district mayor has revealed.
Sarkozy, 53, and the Italian Bruni, 40, were married Saturday in a first floor reception room of the Elysee Palace, with about 20 relatives and close friends present, according to Francois Lebel, the local mayor who officiated.
1 Read MoreHello, everybody. Today I am very happy as I entry into a new area now. Just hope we can share our happiness together and help each other. And I hope I can know more friends from all over the world and learn more about this romantic country–France!
sherry
1 Read MoreFrance's national rail workers have begun an open-ended strike called in protest at President Nicolas Sarkozy's planned pension reforms.
Rail employees stopped work at 2000 (1900 GMT) and thousands of commuters will be affected on Wednesday morning.
Utility workers are also set to strike. They may be joined by teachers and civil servants on 20 November.
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The French mime artist Marcel Marceau has died at the age of 84, his family has announced.
The performer was known around the world for his portrayal of a white-faced clown with battered hat.
Born in Strasbourg in 1923, Marceau studied under mime master Etienne Decroux in Paris.
His daughter Camille said he died on Saturday evening, adding that details of the burial at Paris's Pere Lachaise cemetery would be given out later.
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A good American friend of mine -such rare individuals exist- confessed his admiration for Claude Berri’s « Jean de Florette » and « Manon des sources », and asked for my opinion on these Siamese movies.
I was blunt : strictly for export goods. This does not mean French domestic box office was not healthy : the foreign market for made in Provence delicacies starts North of Valence, if not Avignon.
0 Read MoreCACHAN, France — For dozens of illegal immigrant families, a gymnasium outside Paris has become a temporary home. They sleep shoulder-to-shoulder, their dingy mattresses piled high with necessities and small treasures: cooking pans, diapers, stuffed animals.
The families, mostly Africans, were evicted from France’s largest squat on Aug. 17. Riot police stormed the building _ an abandoned dormitory at a prestigious university _ and forced out more than 500 people. Nearly 30 illegal immigrants were put in detention centers. About 200 went to the cramped, dank gymnasium.
The mass eviction has become a symbol of France’s tougher new immigration policy, stoking the debate about how far the government can go to send a sign that illegals are not welcome.
0 Read MorePARIS (Reuters) – Police cleared hundreds of people from France’s biggest squat, a former student hall of residence near Paris, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday.
The Communist Party, which said 1,000 people were occupying the building, denounced the move as part of what it called French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy’s “determination” to arrest immigrants on a large scale.
“This expulsion on a large scale marks a further step in the violence and irresponsibility,” it said in a statement.
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