Wednesday 23 May 2007

The Full Monty: God bless French TV




On a distant planet named “Cannes” a film festival is in full weightless swing. It is the cue for French television to go “French Glamour” mad. On TV2 last night Sophie Marceau held court in blue while a Select Committee of Telegenics interviewed her about such things as female masturbation. But it was “Arte” that came up trumps.

Arte is serious cultural television. PBS and the BBC. But serious. Last night in a bid for pop-cultural ascendancy – or something – it ran a two hour special on French Actors (women). It told us all about “nudity”, modelling, being Icons, and working with famous directors. One young hopeful explained the difference between the 1960s and now. “In the 1960s,” she says, “every actress was sleeping with the director. Nowadays modelling (and the big cheques) means that we can choose the films we appear in, not just those of our lovers.”

I’ll write about Jane Fonda and Roger Vadim soon, in Paris.

Instead in homage to the Surrealists, and their objet trouvées, here are some images I found through my small bolted down television in the station hotel (with scary Deep Throat garage traversing to find the tiny room) in Clermont.


They got them all, almost. Guess the list and there will be a prize.









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