I clearly remember my first exposure to Edgar Degas’ wax sculptures of ballerinas. As a high school graduation gift, my parents sent me on a student trip to France. At 18, I’d heard of the word Impressionism and, being an avid student of dance, I’d seen some of Degas’ behind-the-scenes…
Movie trends fluctuate over time and 2024 seems to have been a particularly fruitful year for the French film industry. While box office revenues in the United States are still well below pre-pandemic levels, ticket sales in France had largely recovered by the end of 2023 and continued to grow…
Two years ago, when comics author Riad Sattouf released the sixth and final edition of his 6-part autobiography, L’Arabe du Futur, I was sad to be at the end of a fascinating saga, each book of which I’d eagerly devoured. Sattouf, whose mother is French and father is Syrian, had…
With help from Le Chat and Belgian cartoonist Phillippe Geluck, below are wishes for a happy 2025 accompanied by a short vocabulary lesson. Je vous souhaite une anneé pleine de joie…I wish you a year filled with joy… Mais aussi de Réussite Bonne humeur Délices Volupté Douceur Euphorie Succès Amour…
France’s Emilia Pérez will Knock Your Socks Off When I bought a ticket to see Emilia Pérez in November, I was intrigued. I knew little about the film other than that France was about to submit it to the Academy Awards as the country’s entry for Best International Feature Film,…
December being a month for merrymaking, I thought it was a good time to introduce the great printmaker and caricaturist, Honoré Daumier, to my blog. I look at his work as an early precursor to comic strips like The Lighter Side of…, by Dave Berg of Mad Magazine. As you’ll…
I have a small stack of French-related coffee table books that I’ve wanted to review for months but waited until December since I think they’d make great gifts. Today’s post was intended to supplement a previous piece, 35 Sensational Reads for the Francophiles on your Gift List. When I sat…
If you follow my blog, you’ve probably recognized that I have a penchant for sobering literature. While feel-good stories aren’t exactly banned from my shelves, most of what I read is either nonfiction or historical fiction that sheds light on a troubling period in human history. Likewise, when it comes…
