Another influential French singer/songwriter who became popular during the war years, was Charles Trenet. “Without Trenet, we would all be accountants,” said Jacques Brel. Nicknamed “Le Fou Chantant” (the Singing Madman) and resembling Harpo Marx, Trenet wrote mainly comical, some might say “eccentric” songs – nearly a thousand catalogued. His classic “La Mer” (The Sea) is a beautifully melancholic exception. The song has been recorded hundreds of times since it debuted in 1945, and Trenet’s own version is still the best. Nearly 60 years later after “La Mer,” Charles Trenet was still recording his music, releasing Poets Take to the Streets in 1999. Between 1945 and 1999, there were some bumps in the road. In 1963, Trenet spent 28 days in prison in a French prison, charged with consorting with underage boys. It was revealed after Trenet’s death that it was actor Maurice Chevalier who informed the police about his fellow entertainer. Would Trenet have appreciated the irony of being shopped to the cops by the guy who sang “Thank Heaven for Little Girls?” Peut-être.
Chanteuses, La chanson française au féminin, a superb book, a great gift to offer…
By Pierre de Restigné
To begin, a statement, worthy of true feminists: it is exceptional to make a career in the song when you are over 40 years old and that you are a woman. We have to admit that the same criteria are not applied when you are a woman or a man. Indeed, we, finally the public, tend to judge more in relation to the physique than to the true talent of the artist. But in fact, there is no reason why what prevails in society should not have a place in the artistic world.
So yes, there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that equality has a place in our society. It is not because pregnancies have marked a body, that the face wears wrinkles, that the wearing of mini-skirts is more rare, that we can no longer sing and so on! Indeed it is necessary to see, rightly says Thomas Pawlowski, the author of this book, the artist and not a sexual fantasy more or less well assumed by the voyeur.
Let’s not deny it, some singers are more than ambiguous at this level, let’s think about Madonna, Lady Gaga and of course since we are on a French subject, about Lio (let’s think about Banana Split) and obviously to Mylène Farmer too. Certainly they played, or still play on the codes of sexuality, but their success over a long period is far from being due to this bias
Let us observe. Yes, it’s true, a woman over 40 years old is rare in the closed club of the Top 10. Moreover, it is certain and objective to see that all the rankings (number of trophies, record sales, etc.) are mainly composed by male singers.
And yet, among women there are so many nuggets, real talents, often superior to their male colleagues. And not only in terms of interpretation but also in terms of musical creation and lyrics. Without being iconoclastic, Johnny Halliday, He needed creators. And among them there is more than one woman!
What emerges from these portraits is that all of them, without exception, are hard workers, some of them even have a very solid foundation in singing or composition.
This is what Thomas Pawlowski shows us with brio and tenderness through the portrait of 27 current French singers (he pays tribute to the great deceased interpreters such as Barbara, Maurane, Édith Piaf or Juliette Gréco) who are all, with a few exceptions, more than 40 years old and who are still as present, active, even essential on the French scene. All are entitled to their portrait, their career, their stylistic evolution, etc. For each one, the two essential records, the 10 songs that are the most representative. For some, like Axelle Red, there is even a small interview by the author.
Everyone will find something to their liking when reading these portraits. Either we already admired this artist, or we discover some who do not always have access to the media, who are more “confidential”. It is not because one is not media that one has no talent, far from it.
What emerges from these portraits is that all of them, without exception, are hard workers, some of them even have a very solid foundation in singing or composition.
Thus, Thomas Pawlowski invites us to go from Zazie to Sylvie Vartan, from Patricia Kass to Jeanne Cherhal, or from Christine and the Queens to Véronique Sanson, without forgetting Catherine Ringer and Céline Dion.
In addition, the text of great erudition, is highlighted by beautiful photographs of all these artists who make us spend very pleasant moments. They all deserve, by their talent, by their work, the sensitive tribute that Thomas Pawlowski pays them.
‘Souleymane’s Story,’ Boris Lojkine’s timely drama which won two prizes at Cannes and four Cesar Awards, has been acquired by Kino Lorber for the U.S.
“Souleymane’s Story,” Boris Lojkine’s timely drama which took two prizes at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and four Cesar Awards earlier this year, has been acquired by Kino Lorber for U.S. and English-speaking Canada distribution rights.
Bolstered by the debut performance of first-time actor Abou Sangare, “Souleymane’s Story” is a ticking-clock drama charting the journey of a Guinean immigrant working as a bicycle deliveryman in Paris in the days leading up to his asylum interview. Kino Lorber pointed the film draws inspiration from Cristian Mungiu’s “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” and socially minded films by the Dardenne brothers.
Since world premiering at Cannes where it won the Jury Prize at Un Certain Regard and best actor for Abou Sangare, “Souleymane’s Story” became a major arthouse hit in France, selling approximately 500,000 admissions in French cinemas. The film also turned out to be one of the highlights of France’s awards season. On top of the four Cesar Awards, the film also won a Lumiere Award (France’s equivalent to the Golden Globes), as well as two European Film Awards.
Étoile takes a while to find its groove—but when it does, it soars
If you experienced a bit of TV déjà vu when you heard about Étoile, Prime Video’s new ballet dramedy from the creators of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Gilmore Girls, you’d be forgiven. Amy Sherman-Palladino and husband-partner Daniel Palladino already dipped a pointed toe into the world of tutus and turnouts with their 2012 series Bunheads, which starred theater favorite Sutton Foster and Gilmore great Kelly Bishop and ran on ABC Family for one season.
It certainly looks like the Palladinos haven’t shaken their preoccupation with pliés and pirouettes. (Sherman-Palladino started training in classical ballet when she was just four.) Étoilen (French for “star”) follows the professional dancers and artistic staff of two of the world’s most storied ballet companies (one in New York, the other in Paris). With both institutions struggling to fill theater seats in a post-pandemic and tech-possessed society (“Our dancers have abandoned toe shoes for TikToks,” one character bemoans in an early episode), they’ll need a miracle to get the public caring again about the endangered, and admittedly stuffy, art form.
Or, apparently, they just need a savvy marketing move. Geneviève Lavigne—the interim general director of l’Opera Francais and Le Ballet National, played by the ever-chic French actor/musician Charlotte Gainsbourg—proposes they drum up much-needed attention by having her Parisian dance company swap some of its top talent with that of New York City’s Metropolitan Ballet Theater, which is helmed by executive director and Geneviève’s sometimes paramour Jack McMillan (Maisel star Luke Kirby).
Given that the series is populated entirely by neurotic New Yorkers and fussy French folks, it’s no surprise that the single-year swap does not go over well with either company’s main players, especially when word hits that Jack wants to snatch up France’s superstar principal dancer Cheyenne Toussaint (Lou de Laâge). All that melodrama isn’t completely warranted, TBH; in real life, swapping ballet dancers isn’t an entirely uncommon practice among the discipline’s most elite establishments.
But this is a Palladino property, which means everything is heightened. The dialogue is, as always, quicker than a chaîné turn; the takes are long and lush (with all eight episodes directed by the Emmy-winning duo, whose love of the master shot emphatically endures); and the settings and costuming are unsurprisingly sumptuous, especially in Paris. That’s no disrespect to Lincoln Center’s lovely campus; it’s just that France has had a couple extra thousand years to get all ornate and magnifique. (By the way, Geneviève may meta-mock that “This isn’t Emily In Paris, Jack—you can’t see the Eiffel Tower from everywhere,” but rest assured that all of the picturesque landmarks from that Netflix series are accounted for here as well.)
And disciples of the Gilmore gospel will be charmed by the familiar Stars Hollow faces that frequently drop into rotation: There’s the regal Kelly Bishop as Jack’s moneyed mom, Yanic Truesdale as Geneviève’s right-hand man Raphael, Dakin Matthews as a member of the MBT board, and so on.
The whole transatlantic move is complicated, of course, by interpersonal dynamics. Jack hates who’s funding the campaign, the duplicitous dandy Crispin Shamblee (Simon Callow). Cheyenne refuses to partner with any danseur other than Gael (West Side Story’s David Alvarez), who’s been hiding out on a self-imposed farm “sabbatical.” French-born nepo baby Mishi Duplessis (Taïs Vinolo) struggles with her overbearing stage parents upon her return to the Paris company. And the quirky creative chaos—and, evidently, on-the-spectrum diagnosis—of American choreographer Tobias Bell (Gideon Glick) is lost in translation among the French performers, save for male lead Gabin (Ivan du Pontavice). (‘Shippers, take note.
Using real-deal talents (like the New York City Ballet’s Tiler Peck and the Boston Ballet’s John Lam) adds legitimacy to the dramedy’s frequent dance numbers, which are overseen by choreographer Marguerite Derricks. (Each episode lovingly ends with rehearsal footage of actual ballerinas, too.) However, some of the more dance-focused cast members fail to pop against their fellow actors. For example, the supposed heat in the pas de deux between Alvarez’s Gael and De Laâge’s Cheyenne feels barely simmering. Hell, it’s tough for anyone onscreen to match the passion of the French fireball that is Cheyenne: “You feel everything—that’s why you’re such an asshole,” one character shrewdly sums her up. And both Gainsbourg and Kirby are captivating leads but because their characters, like us, are viewers and not doers—lovers of the art form, certainly, but saddled more with navigating the bureaucracy of ballet rather than creating the beauty of it—that means their respective storylines lack the intensity and urgency of their more kinetic company.
Speaking of lack of urgency, the eight episodes do move slowly. With two companies and cities to get acquainted with, it takes a good half season to really get grooving. However, unlike their one-and-done experience with Bunheads, the Palladinos have the benefit of time here—and money, too. Thanks to an overall deal inked with Amazon MGM Studios back in 2019 (boosted by the success of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Étoile was green-lit for two seasons before the curtain could even rise, which means there are plenty more moves to come. Here’s hoping that, story-wise, that adagio speeds up to an allegro in season two.
Pas De Merde 