Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Marion Cotillard was not a superstar when she landed the role of Edith Piaf in La Môme. But, already a formidable actress, she had an impressive set of roles under her belt, and the film’s director had no doubt she was “the one.” He was right: Marion took home the Oscar for best actress in 2008.
An interesting note: The USA release title for the film – in French, ironically enough – is La Vie en Rose, the name of a famous Piaf song, which basically means, “life through rose-colored glasses.” The French title comes from Piaf’s nickname: “La Môme Piaf,” which can be translated as “the little sparrow,” but also means “little kid Piaf.”
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Which four designers’ collections are not to miss (if your income is in the seven digits)? Chanel, Yves Saint-Laurent, Loewe, and, for your delicate foot, René Caovilla and his sparkling handmade Venetian shoes.
Difficulty: Advanced
France
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Debout Sur Le Zinc is a seven-member group that plays a unique fusion of rock and traditional French, Irish, and Gypsy folk music. The band’s name (which means “standing on the zinc,” as in the zinc countertop of a bar) comes from the Jacques Prévert poem “Et la fête continue”—and indeed DSLZ is the perfect music for a fête!
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
French Minister of Finance Christine Lagarde takes a stroll through the aisles of a Parisian supermarket, checking as she goes to see if the actual prices of the store’s dairy products match prices recorded in a recent French consumer’s report. The verdict? It appears that shelf prices are actually lower than what was listed in the report. But the French can rest assured that this won’t stop the government’s investigation into the country’s rising food prices.
Difficulty: Advanced
France
Celebrated French hardcore musician Manu le Malin sits down for an interview about his influences and his music. He talks in particular about the last part of his “Biomechanik” series, Biomechanik III: The Final Chapter, which was filmed at the H.R. Giger Museum in Gruyères, Switzerland.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
The second video on rising food prices in France takes a look at dairy products, in particular yogurt, which has been especially affected by this general trend of skyrocketing prices. So who is responsible? The milk producers? The product manufacturers? The supermarkets?
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
The first in a trilogy of segments from Le Journal on the same subject, this video discusses the emergency measures called for by the French government, which has brought together a task force to deal with rising food prices in French stores.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Ina-Ich, singer, songwriter, composer, and instrumentalist: this rockin’ babe has it all! Her song “Âme armée” shows off her many talents, blending elements of screamo, metal, rock, electronica, and even classical music into a passionate, intense ballad about the battle scars of war.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Brr! It’s hard to believe that anything could survive in waters as cold as minus two degrees. But recent research expeditions in the Antarctic Ocean have found life forms, like the icefish, that manage to thrive despite the chilly temperatures.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
In the final part of this film, we find out what the real motivation is behind the Orion Conspiracy. As it turns out, like so many other things, it’s “all about the Benjamins…”
Need to get more of your conspiracy-theorist fix? Watch the film in HD quality here. After all, “The only new things are those which have been forgotten.”
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
It’s common to see photos of celebrities aged forty and up happily pregnant or pushing a pram. But according to most doctors, a woman’s chances of conceiving drop dramatically after age thirty-eight or so. Of course there are exceptions. Modern medical fertility treatments allowed a sixty-six-year-old Romanian woman to give birth to twins in 2005. But unless we’re willing and able to procure such treatments, which can be financially, emotionally, and physically draining, those who want to wait until their forties to have kids will have to take their chances.
Difficulty: Newbie
France
Mellow musician Bertrand Pierre sets the poignant poetry of French grand écrivain Victor Hugo to slow and soulful musical compositions. A man of many talents, Bertrand Pierre is also quite a performer live and acoustically.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
How would you feel if you found out that a government research program could effectively control the climate, remotely and silently destroy anything and everything, and manipulate human behavior? Sound like science fiction? Watch the latest installment of the Orion Conspiracy, and decide for yourself.
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