Francis Cabrel: “I have been on the extreme left for a long time”

At 61 years old, Francis Cabrel released “In extremis”, a record which speaks for the most part about the time that flies. The occasion for the hermit of Astaffort to react on the policy and the rumors which run about him.

By Sophie Delassein [Google translation]

As every spring, every seven years, a new Cabrel arrives in the bins. “In extremis” (Sony) is a mixture of concerned songs and sentimental refrains. But what is striking about this album, today more than yesterday, is the awareness of the time that flies. Meeting with Francis Cabrel, who came from Astaffort to Paris, to tell the story of the genesis of this disc, to give some explanations of texts, to talk about the career of his daughter Aurélie. And to respond to the rumors that are currently circulating about him. They obviously stunned him.

You are already 61 years old. We are very far from “Petite Marie” …

– I even go on my 62. “Petite Marie”, I was 24 but I had started the song 4 or 5 years before. I wrote my first song when I was 19. Time flies normally, I don’t feel like I’ve wasted my time or that it has gone so quickly.

Time flies is the central theme of your album.

– Yes. First I don’t want to hide it. Then, that’s what concerns me and then it allows me to play down. It is not dizzying. I don’t want to quote anyone, but trying to convince teens that we make interesting songs doesn’t ring a bell, I just want to say who I am at that point in my life. All of my albums, in fact, are photographs, snapshots that show who I am as I write them. Who I was at 24, 27, 31, etc. When I look back, I care about who I was. I don’t want to be fasting.

Why ?

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This Pauline Croze concert is superb. Bien sûr!

As águas de março não apenas fecham o verão como cantava Tom Jobim, mas trazem também, todos os anos, a promessa de uma intensa e diversificada programação cultural em torno da Francofonia. E para abrir a edição deste ano, um concerto em voz e violão de Pauline Croze seguida da apresentação do cantor Sévérin serão apresentados no dia 15 de março, às 19h, nos canais YouTube e Twitch da Aliança Francesa Brasil.

Continue reading “This Pauline Croze concert is superb. Bien sûr!” →

Comme une Française: Fast Spoken French Tips from ‘Call My Agent’

Real, fast spoken French can be very hard to understand, no matter how long you’ve been studying the language! French slang, eating syllables… even dropping the “ne” in negative sentences. One of the best ways to improve your understanding of fast spoken French is through exposure. Today, we’re going to practice your understanding with the popular Netflix show, Call My Agent.

Take care and stay safe. 😘 from Grenoble, France.

Géraldine

French Cinema and Stars: Profile of Actress Camille Cottin

Camille Cottin
Camille Cottin

Gutsy and utterly shameless, meet the queen of provocation who burst through the small screen, all guns blazing.

Long before she conquered the box office, Camille Cottin packed a punch as TV’s most fearless, and reviled, provocatrice; thanks to her irreverent breakthrough sketch show Connasse. No wonder. Armed with a hidden camera, the ballsy comédienne blazed through Paris, under the guise of her obnoxious alter-ego Camilla, dolling out insults, incensing taxi drivers, taunting joggers and ruffling paper-pushers.

But Cottin truly came into her own in 2015, when she brazenly clambered on the gates of Kensington Palace (unhurried bobbies eventually dragged the baying thesp down), only to later burst through the Changing of the Guard as a crew secretly filmed her antics for cringe-worthy spin-off movie Connasse, Princesse des coeurs; this time charting Camilla’s efforts to hunt down and marry Prince Harry. She spent two days in jail for the privilege.

Stoically facing the gaol not to break character on her illicit spree was the game-changer which propelled the loose canon overnight from fringe comic to bona fide star. Since her spell as the rabble-rouser, she has become the darling of French cinema, totting up a string of (relatively conservative) roles, including a remote social worker in Cigarettes et Chocolat Chaud and feisty gay impresario in Cédric Klapisch’s hit series Dix Pour Cent. Her cheek even nabbed her a coveted part in Allied opposite Brad Pitt. Worth every mortifying second behind bars, surely…

10-Second CV: A screen star’s life in one take

Name: Camille Cottin

Born: December 1, 1978 in Paris

Early career: After graduating, she made ends meet as a secondary school English teacher while taking acting lessons. She eventually joined a high- profile troupe in 2009. She enjoyed her first taste of fame in 2013, when she was cast as loudmouth Camilla in sketch show Connasse.

I know the face… She appeared as Monique in World War Two romantic thriller Allied alongside Hollywood royalty Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard.

Where will we see her next? She currently stars as Juliette Binoche’s iron-willed daughter in awards-tipped comedy Telle mère, telle fille. The second series of her hit show Dix Pour Cent is currently airing in France. It’ll be available on Netflix soon.

C’est pas vrai! She feared police would arrest her before she’d even reached the gates of Kensington Palace, ruining Connasse’s pivotal scene. She needn’t have worried. It took an age for guards to notice the baying woman hanging on for dear life.

Source: French Cinema and Stars: Profile of Actress Camille Cottin