The French Journal

The Molières honor this year's best in French theatre

The Molières, the French equivalent to the Tony Awards, were given out last night in Paris, and they had a decidedly American flavor. The best musical award went to Le Roi Lion, that is, The Lion King, a French language recreation of the New York/Disney smash. And the best director award went to actor John Malkovich for his work on the play Good Canary.

Winning for best drama was La Vie devant soi, based on a novel by Romain Gary which had also served as the source for the well-known Simone Signoret film, Madame Rosa. The lead actress in the play, Myriam Boyer, was honored for her work. Boyer is the mother of French film star Clovis Cornillac, himself a nominee this year for a Molière for his role in L'Hôtel du libre-échange; Cornillac lost, however, to veteran French actor Michel Galabru, who starred in Les Chaussettes - opus 124.

A complete list of winners is available on Le Monde. If you want to try out your French, here's Galabru's acceptance speech.

French chart-toppers, YTD, 2008

These are the new CDs that have hit the number one spot on the charts so far this year in France:

• Francis Cabrel, Des roses et des ortils/Roses and Thorns. New songs by a popular, "Dylanesque" singer. There's no official clip that I can find, but you can hear a song, "Des hommes pareils/Equal Men," on this mash-up.

• Alain Bashung, Bleu Pétrole/Blue Petroleum. A French rocker of a certain age with a gift for experimentation and abstraction. Here's "La nuit je mens/The Night I Lie."

• Raphaël, Je sais que la terre est plate/I Know that the Earth is Flat. A sexy young pop folk artist whose influences are many. You can hear gypsy rhythms in "La vent d'hiver/Winter Wind," a video directed by Olivier Dahan (who is responsible for the movie La Vie en Rose). Shockable viewers may find the video...provocative.
• Les Enfoirés 2008/Les secrets des Enfoirés. This year's edition of the all-star fund-raising effort, benefitting an organization dedicated to feeding the needy. As usual, this clip of "L'Amitié/Friendship," features a "Who's Who" of French celebrities, if you want to test your French pop culture knowledge.
• Bernard Lavilliers/Samedi soir à Beyrouth/Saturday Night at Beyrouth Beirut. A respected vocalist who incorporates "world music" into his songs. This latest CD mixes blues, reggae, and Lebanese sounds. It has been promoted with a series of "webisodes" about the making of the recording. Here's the first, in French, about "Solitude."

• The Do/A Mouthful. Ah, some youth! A Finnish/French pop rock duo. I like.

Lots of other recordings have reached number one this year, but they all are holdovers from 2007. The exception: a release of Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Information taken from IFOP.

Top "archetypal" food experiences in Paris (with foot notes)

During your first visit to Paris, should you have any reasonable amount of time, there's are places you have to visit, right? You have to see the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower...make your own list. And there are foods you have to taste as well. One must experience the stereotypes if, for no other reason, you've been reading about these things all your life.

To help you fulfill the food imperatives of your journey, Diversion* magazine offers its suggestions for "The Top Ten Paris Tastes."  Here's a summary:

• Best baguette: Boulangerie Eric Kayser, Le Boulanger de Monge, Poilâne**
• Mouth-watering macarons***: Pierre Hermé****
• Magnificent cheeses: Fromagerie Barthélémy, Fromagerie Quatrehomme
• Incomparable ice cream: Berthillon
• Plateau fruits de mer: Le Dôme
• Irresistible crêpes: Crêperie at Relais Saint-Germain
• Sensational steak-frites: Bistro Paul Bert
• Incredible croissants: Pierre Hermé, Ladurée, Gérard Mulot
• Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame: Le Mabillon
• Champagne: Café de Flore, The Ritz Bar, Plaza Athénée

Addresses and much more background are available in the article.

* Diversion is a magazine for "physicians at leisure." Thanks for this post are offered to my doctor. I found this piece while waiting yesterday for my annual check-up.

**Obviously, this article was written way before yesterday's post about the best baguette.

***The author called them "macaroons" instead of "macarons."  Somewhere, a tear is being shed.

****A day late: yesterday was not only the Day of Francophonie, it was the Jour du Macaron. Had you been in Paris, and had I alerted you in time, tasting samples were available at some of the top purveyors. Zut! Next year!

The best baguette in Paris - 2008

Evidence of a changing France: the best baguette in Paris is baked by the young(ish) son of Tunisian immigrants (Business Week/Der Spiegel). Anis Bouabsa, 28, won the recognition for loaves baked in his 18th arrondissement boulangerie. One of his rewards: supplying 20 loaves every day to the Presidential Palace.

More on Bouabsa:

"In 2004, he entered France's renowned competition for 'Best Craftsman' and was elected the youngest winner of all time in his specialty 'boulangerie,' or bakery. He had to make six different kinds of bread for the exam, including pastries, Brioches, and a whimsical "pièce de fantaisie" with a theme from the movies. Ever since then, his collar patch sports the French blue-white-and red tricolor, a sign of membership in this very exclusive, very French club."

The address for the boulangerie is 32, rue Tristan Tzara. French speakers can learn more about the competition on the Michelin site, where there's a slide show of other notable masters of the baguette.

Victoires de la Musique honors the top French recording artists of 2008

Les Victoires de la Musique, the French equivalent to the Grammys, were presented last week, honoring the best French recordings and artists of 2008. Vanessa Paradis was a big winner, with a pop album of the year citation for Divinidylle, as well as one for best female artist. Another double victor was Renan Luce, who won two "best newcomer" recognitions for himself and his album, Repenti. Luce, whose style is largely acoustic, is featured in the above video clip singing "Les Voisines."

Other major awards were given to Christophe Willem for Song of the Year ("Double je"), and Christophe Mae, the public's choice for best new artist. Abd al Malik was recognized as Best Male Artist, which Le Monde suggested was odd, since he had won last year in a different category and hasn't released any new material in the meantime. Other big awards were won by Etienne Daho for L'Invitation (Best Pop/Rock album); Justice (Electronic/Dance Music); MC Solaar/Chapitre 7 (Urban Music Album); Yael Naim (World Music); Eric Serra (Motion Picture score for Arthur et les Minimoys); Michel Polnareff (Best Live Performance); Feist (Video clip: 1234); and Le Soldat Rose (Best Musical DVD). Zazie was the night's loser, going 0 for 5.

A list of lists: The best Paris art galleries, chateaux, and campsites

There's something for every kind of traveler in this list of lists:

• Best Paris Art Galleries. The Guardian (U.K.) is in list-making mode again, Lord bless 'em. First of two: a list of great art galleries in Paris. A few of them are far afield, but there's a cluster around the third and fourth arrondissement if this type of experience would be part of your ideal day. The Passage de Rez, one of the choices, has a good web site for a virtual experience.
• 20 "fabulous" chateaux. Another Guardian list, the emphasis here is on those chateaux were you can bed down for a night or two and feel like royalty. In other words, Versailles didn't make the list. Most of them are in western France, particularly in the Loire valley and the Aquitaine, and they are put into categories: stylish interiors, budget, traditional, and best for families.
• Best French campsites. Even though I enjoyed the movie Camping, this is very much NOT to my taste, and the list is too long for me to absorb. One day, when I have time (ha!), I may try to spend some time with this article, if only to figure out where some of these regions are (The Gers?). Like the last one, this list is grouped: there are campsites for great views, great eating, great beaches, great peace, and great everything else.

Six writers, six escapes to southern France

Dream fodder. The Guardian (U.K.) asked six writers, living in France, to name their favorite places to escape to when they want to go far from the madding crowd. Here are their selections; take your pick for a quiet Monday morning.

• Gigaro, Provence. Chosen by Stephen Clarke, who begins by trashing St. Tropez -- the man can't help himself. When he writes of the nearby town of Gigaro, however, his tone (almost) changes: "...in one corner of the bay is the start of a coastal path that winds for 10km through fragrant pine forests. If you don't fancy a long hike, you can stop at one of the rocky coves that might just turn out to be your private beach."
• Buoux, Provence. Jamie Ivey, who keeps the blog Extremely Pale Rosé, says that "Buoux is a small hamlet set amid towering pine-crested cliffs. The shape of the valley contrives to drive traffic away, and only the curious discover the untouched heart of the Luberon."
• Banyuls-sur-Mer, Languedoc. Chosen by Rosemary Bailey, Banyuls is a "modest Catalan fishing village of Banyuls-sur-Mer. I love its old town with its steep whitewashed streets with shady patios filled with palms and bougainvillea..."
• Vence, Provence. A neighbor of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Vence is the selection of photographer Tania Cagnoni. "Vence's forte is daily life: sipping rosé in dappled sunlight under the plane trees in the square, buying freshly baked bread from the boulangerie and punnets of Carros strawberries at the daily market."
• Eugenie-les-Bains, Aquitaine. Emily Barr, a novelist, reveals that the "test kitchen" of a popular, nearby three-star restaurant is a "sublime experience," and a bargain.
• Northern Ardeche. Correspondent Jason Burke says, "Here there are fewer gorges, fewer people, fewer caravans and fewer German school parties. Instead, you can enjoy a landscape like a warmer, drier Scotland, with high moors, plunging valleys, sheep galore, rushing torrents and superb walking..."

Enjoy. I'm off to speculate whether I'll ever visit any of the hundreds of places in France that I write about and other ironies.

Rerun: Inexpensive Paris hotels

Hotel de Varenne

I always hesitate to recommend lodgings in France because one person's bargain is another person's flea trap. Yesterday's New York Times, however, rushed in where angels like me fear to tread with a list of affordable "chic" Paris hotels. Under these circumstances, I will admit that my two faves are featured: the Hôtel de Varenne in the seventh and L'Hôtel des Grandes Ecoles in the fifth (no A/C there...so you know).

The rest of the cheap best are:

• Hôtel de Nice, 4th
• Hôtel Amour 7th
• Hôtel Lindbergh, 7th
• Hôtel Verneuil, 7th
• New Orient Hotel, 8th
• Hôtel Langlois 9th
• Hôtel Chopin 9th
• Hôtel Muguet, 11th
• Hôtel Windsor Home, 16th
• Hôtel Eldorado, 17th

Rerun: The Great Directors

If you want to study French cinema, let me offer an approach. Following is a list of the great French directors, plus the title of at least one of their masterpieces. Anyone who wants to learn more would benefit from checking out the oeuvres of these artists.

There are too many links for me to manufacture, so for more information, go to the International Movie Data Base (IMDB).

• Bertrand Blier, Trop belle pour toi/Too Beautiful for You
• Robert Bresson, Journal d'une cure de compagne/Diary of a Country Priest
• Alain Cavalier, Terese
• Marcel Carne, Les enfants du paradis/Children of Paradise
• Claude Chabrol, La femme infidel/The Unfaithful Wife
• Rene Clair, Sous les toits de Paris/Under the Rooftops of Paris
• Henri Clouzot, Les salaires du peur/The Wages of Fear
• Jean Cocteau, Beauty and the Beast
• Jacques Demy, Les parapluies de Cherbourg/The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
• Michel Deville, Péril en la demeure/Death in a French Garden
• Constintan Costa-Gavras, Z
• Julien Duvivier, Pepe le Moko
• Able Gance, Napoleon
• Jean-Luc Godard, Breathless
• Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Amelie
• Patrice Leconte, Ridicule
• Jean-Pierre Melville, Army of Shadows
• Marcel Ophuls, La pitie et le chagrin/The Sorrow and the Pity
• Maurice Pialat, A nos amours
• Alain Resnais, La guerre est finie/The War is Over
• Jean Renoir, Le regle de jeu/Rules of the Game
• Jacques Rivette, Celine et Julie va bateau/Celine and Julie Go Boating
• Eric Rohmer, Ma nuit chez Maud/My Night at Maud's
• Claude Sautet, Un coeur en hiver/A Heart in Winter
• Jacques Tati, Les vacances de M. Hulot/Mr. Hulot's Holiday
• Andre Techine, Les roseaux sauvages/Wild Reeds
• Bertrand Tavernier, La vie et rien d'autre/Life and Nothing But
• Francois Truffaut, Jules et Jim
• Agnes Varda, Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse/The Gleaners and I
• Jean Vigo, L'Atalante

This is a beginning.  If you have other suggestions, please add them!

Rerun: My favorite Paris guidebooks

I've been to Paris five or six times in the past several years, but I still pack a small library whenever I travel there. Here are the guidebooks that I usually take with me.

• Walking Paris by Gilles Desmond has thirty walks in different areas of the city, each of which lasts about two hours. By now I've completed most of the walks, and they've added immeasurably to my enjoyment of Paris. I've poked around alleys, passages, little museums, parks, cemeteries, and more. For those of you who want to get away from the heavily traveled tourist routes, this is the one to get (although, to be frank, tourists are everywhere in Paris; it's just a matter of how many).

Walking Paris is overdue for an update; once or twice it may advise you to go someplace that's no longer accessible (there's usually an easy workaround). And it may not be the only guide you'll need for a first trip. Despite these qualifications, it's one that I treasure.