LLC French

“Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis” (in English, “Welcome to the Sticks”) is the most successful French comedy so far, with about a quarter of the population in France rushing to movie theatres to enjoy an hour and a half of laughs and tears at the same time.

I will let Julia Frey, in her article entitled “Pang and Ch’tis”, introduce the movie to you:

“Currently, the wildly successful comedy Bienvenue Chez les Ch’tis -pronounced sh-tee- (Welcome to the Sticks), has sold more tickets than any French-made film in history, including France’s most expensive film to date, Astérix aux Jeux Olympiques. At this writing, approximately 25 percent of France has been to see this gentil (charming) farce about a postal clerk from sunny Provence forcibly relocated to a small town in France’s far north, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region along the Belgian border. Shot in Bergues (pronounced “berk“-which is also slang for “yuck”-pop. 4,200), not far from Dunkerque, it uses gags about torrential rains starting at the boundary and hard-drinking, unemployed rednecks who eat bread slathered in stinky cheese dipped in chicory-flavored coffee, while speaking an incomprehensible dialect called Ch’timi, whence their nickname, “les Ch’tis“. They replace “s” with “ch” (you know that singer Chtevie Wonder?), call their buddies “biloute” (regularly confused with biroute, slang for the male sex organ) and end every sentence with hein? (huh? pronounced a little like a duck quacking). All this slapstick has an underlying message: le Nord can be a wonderful place. “People arrive in tears”, someone says, “and leave in tears”. ”

An American version of the movie was planned to be shot (the story would have been about a New Yorker being sent to a small town in Texas), and Eddie Murphy was thought of as embodying the main character, but it seems that the project has been abandonned recently. However, I hear that the concept had been exported to Italy and other European countries.

Anyway, here is the trailer:

Once again, this is a feel-good movie, a good way to relax at the end of a long week, and of course there will be free snacks and beverages!!!

See you on Thursday, in WLT 21, at 7:30PM !

This Thursday, come and enjoy a classic French movie: “Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain”, also known as “Amélie” !

Released in 2001, “Amélie” takes us to the heart of Montmartre and of its inhabitants, whom we discover through the eyes of young Amélie Poulain. Let your imagination wander with the wonderful music of Yann Tiersen and discover “typical Paris” – except much kinder, some would argue, thanks to the magic operated by Amélie’s good heart. Plunge into your own memories and marvel at the extraordinary things that can happen in one’s life. Solve mysteries, become an anonymous hero, find impossible love and make it possible…

“Amélie” is the kind of movie you’ll want to make the end of the week easier. Just relax in the cosy room WLT 21 (there’s a couch and comfortable chairs), and enjoy the FREE popcorn and soft drinks!

Where: WLT 21, the “secret room” of the Smullin/Walton building (when you pass Smullin’s main entrance, go right and left, to the South-East corner of the building, and take the stairs to the basement).

When: this Thursday, 22nd of September, at 7:30 PM.

Here is a trailer, for those of you who have not seen it yet:

See you on Thursday !

En lisant ce titre, deux questions viennent immédiatement à l’esprit: Qu’est-ce que les Français n’oublieront jamais ? Qui craint que les Français soient frappés d’amnésie collective ?

En réponse à la première question, il suffit de dire que les Français n’oublieront jamais l’aide de leurs amis américains pendant deux guerres mondiales. L’Amérique a en effet consenti d’énormes sacrifices pour libérer la France et le reste de l’Europe du joug nazi. Pour s’en rendre compte, il suffit de visiter les nombreux cimetières militaires américains qui constellent l’hexagone. En Normandie par exemple, 10.000 GI’s reposent au seul cimetière d’Omaha Beach.

La réponse à la seconde question est moins évidente. Pour y répondre, il faut retourner huit ans en arrière. Le 10 février 2003, on pouvait lire à la une du New York Post : « They died for France but France has forgotten » (Ils sont morts pour la France mais la France a oublié). Cette allusion à la soi-disant ingratitude de la France est devenue un leitmotiv dans la bouche de nombreux politiciens, dans les médias et la presse américaine, en particulier la presse conservatrice. Un sentiment anti-français s’est répandu dans tout le pays. On ne mangeait plus de « French fries » mais des « freedom fries », ce qui peut faire sourire aujourd’hui, étant donné que ce sont les Belges et non pas les Français qui ont inventé les frites.

Pourquoi cette vague anti-française a-t-elle déferlé sur l’Amérique ? Tout simplement parce que le gouvernement français de l’époque a refusé de s’engager dans la guerre en Irak comme le souhaitait la Maison Blanche. C’est pour combattre ce sentiment anti-français qu’a été créée en 2003 l’association franco-new yorkaise « The French will never forget ».

Fondée par quatre Français expatriés depuis de longues années aux Etats-Unis, cette association s’est distinguée à plusieurs reprises. Ainsi le 4 juillet 2003, 60.522 roses rouges ont été déposées sur les tombes des soldats américains qui reposent dans les 11 cimetières militaires en France. Quatre ans plus tard, en 2007, l’association a rassemblé 2.500 personnes à Omaha Beach pour former une chaîne humaine épelant sur le sable « France will never forget – Thank you America ». Une de nos anciennes étudiantes qui était en France dans le cadre des échanges d’assistants de langue nous a dit avoir participé à cette chaîne humaine. Elle nous a confié qu’elle n’oublierait jamais cette expérience.

A l’approche du dixième anniversaire des attentats du 11 septembre, l’association franco-new yorkaise a vu grand, comme à son habitude. En hommage aux victimes et aux héros du 11 septembre, une cérémonie du souvenir, qui sera synchronisée sur la cérémonie prévue à New York, débutera à Paris à partir de 14h 46, soit 8h 46, heure du premier impact dans la tour Nord du World Trade Center. Avec la Tour Eiffel pour toile de fond, une reproduction des tours jumelles sera érigée sur la place du Trocadéro, devant le Palais de Chaillot à Paris. La première tour sera couverte des noms des 3000 victimes. La seconde tour sera tapissée de milliers de messages de sympathie envoyés sur Facebook par des Français résidant en France et aux Etats-Unis.

Pendant la cérémonie de commémoration, des discours, des lectures et des vidéos feront revivre la tragédie qui a endeuillé New York il y a dix ans. Une minute de silence sera observée aux heures exactes où les avions détournés ont percuté les tours jumelles et au moment où elles se sont écroulées. La journée se terminera par une veillée du souvenir avec hommage musical sur l’esplanade des Droits de l’Homme.

« Le plus grand événement européen de commémoration des attentats du World Trade Center » (Le Figaro, 30 août, 2011)

De nombreux officiels sont attendus à Paris, parmi lesquels l’Ambassadeur des Etats-Unis en France, le Maire de Paris ainsi qu’un des soldats du feu new yorkais qui sera l’invité d’honneur. Il est à espérer que de nombreux visiteurs américains de passage à Paris auront l’occasion d’assister aux cérémonies et pourront constater que, bien que la France soit parfois un allié difficile, elle reste une amie fidèle.

I had a funny experience yesterday. I had decided to get up early to walk to Walmart, and on the way back, I saw that the Regal Theatre, at Lancaster Mall, was showing the movie entitled “The Smurfs”. So I decided to get a ticket and watch it.

The Smurfs – or “schtroumpfs”, in French - are little blue characters born out of the imagination of Belgian comic-creator Peyo. They were first side-characters in another comic series by Peyo, Johan et Pirlouit. I confess that I haven’t read much of Johan et Pirlouit, but I remember stories of knights and noble quests, and of fighting evil wizards in haunted swamps. In the 1950s, the Smurfs started appearing in a few episodes of the series to help Johan and Pirlouit in their quests.

Image found on BéDécouvertes: http://www.bedecouverte.com/serigraphies/2026-affiche-poster-bd-peyo-schtroumpfs-johan-et-pirlouit.html

 Back then, the only Smurf with a specific character or appearance was Papa – known as “Le Grand Schtroumpf” in French. An interesting theory about him was published in my high school newspaper, so I’ll come back on this character a bit later.

In 1959, the Smurfs became the heroes of their own comic series, published by the Spirou Magazine – a famous magazine aimed at children in France and in Belgium. The tone was light, and the smurf language was used as a humoristic device with the reader: “a smurf that smurfs smurf” was the description of “a dragon that spits fire” in the first encounter that Johan and Pirlouit had with a Smurf, for example. The 2011 movie also uses smurf language in a humoristic way: “smurfhappens” is the title of the official website!

Even though stories about the Smurfs started being published more than fifty years ago, they are still widely read nowadays, and I read my share when I was a kid. I especially remember a family roadtrip to Spain, when we passed the border and there was a truck loaded with pigs next to us. I was reading a Smurf story (“les Malheurs du Schtroumpf Coquet” – “Vanity’s Misfortunes”) which involved a swamp creature, and my kid’s imagination somehow associated that creature with the smell of the pigs, making the story very vivid to me.

I could write more on the origins and translations of the word “schtroumpf” (“pitufo” in Spanish), or on the works of Umberto Ecco on “signified” and “signifying” in the smurf language, but I’ll just say that the movie was really good. It was funny, it was beautiful, it was scary, and it really surprised me, as I didn’t think that taking the Smurfs to New-York would work. But guess what? It worked, and it was even better than anything I could have imagined.

Gargamel, the evil wizard who keeps trying to kidnap the Smurfs so as to create the philosopher’s stone, was played by Hank Azaria, who did a wonderful job. Same thing for Neil Patrick Harris (“Barney Stinson” in “How I Met Your Mother”) and Jayma Mays (“Emma Pillsbury” in “Glee”), who played hosts to the Smurfs in NYC.

In short, I had a really good time and I really encourage you to go and check it out. It’s a good way to have fun and to discover a bit more about Franco-Belgian culture !

As for the theory about “Papa”, it consisted first in noticing that the Smurfs are characters of a utopian narrative rather than characters of a mere fairy-tale. When a problem arises, ”Papa” finds solutions and puts the Smurfs in the right direction. His power over the little Smurf society is unquestioned and basically unrestricted. The original version of the comics, furthermore, never says that he is actually the father of the other Smurfs: rather, he is one of them, but he is called “Papa” (or “Grand Schtroumpf”) because of his superior intellectual abilities. Because of that, and because of an episode in which “Papa” asked the Smurfs (who already look alike) to elaborate a dance in which a hundred dancers would all be moving in the exact same way at the exact same time, someone writing in my high school newspaper in 2005 suggested that “Papa” could be a Stalinian figure. And, when you think about it, he is indeed dressed in red… I am not saying that this is the only possible reading of the comics, but it actually gives a lot to think about. “Papa” makes the Smurfs build a bridge and a dam on the Smurf river, in the comics, and is the only Smurf not to work on it with his own hands. Brainy could then be seen as some sort of Minister of Propaganda, as he always ends his sentences (in the comics, but not in the movie) with “… and Papa is always right”. Gargamel, the ambitious wizard who wants to create the Philosopher’s Stone (which can transform lead into gold), could then stand for our capitalist societies… Another example that children’s literature can have many many levels of reading.

Even though one could study the Smurfs in a political way, the magic of the stories does not disappear and both the comics and the movie remain extremely enjoyable: these are just different ways to look at the Smurfs, and to discover a little more of Belgian and French culture…. I hope you enjoy the movie, and if I find some Smurf comics in the area of Salem, I will definitely let you know.

Have a good first smurf of class, and see you later !

Hello everyone !

My name is Fabien, and I’m from Lyon, France. I’ll be a French T.A. at WU until May 2012.

I’m really looking forward to meeting everyone here, so don’t hesitate to get in touch with me, either in person or by email (fpoete@willamette.edu).

I’ll write more on this blog a bit later, but I still wanted to say “hello”… A video will follow later tonight !

Edit: I’m having a little trouble enbedding the video at the moment, so here’s a link that you can use if you feel like it –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzY7fs-RTr8 .

The song is entitled “Hello”, and it was released in 2010… Here are the lyrics:

Il y a tant de barrières entre nos vies
De destins en sens interdit
Nous, on vit sans frontières, à contretemps
Et nos rêves sont nos liens du sang

Times are changing
Dreams are changing
But our faith keeps going on, going on

Hello, oh Hello
Si tu viens jusqu’ici, bienvenue dans ma vie
Hello, oh Hello
Si tu vis loin de moi, rendez-vous
Où tu voudras

Il y a tant de lumières qu’on ne voit pas
De regards qu’on ne croise pas
Nous, on vit sans repères, mais jamais perdus
Voyageurs de terre inconnue

Keep on dreaming
Keep on living
And the world is going on, going on…

Hello, oh Hello
Si tu viens jusqu’ici, bienvenue dans ma vie
Hello, oh Hello
Si tu vis loin de moi, rendez-vous
Où tu voudras

Times are changing
Dreams are changing
But our faith is going on, going on…

Hello, oh Hello
Si tu viens jusqu’ici, bienvenue dans ma vie
Hello, oh Hello
Tu peux me faire confiance
Te connaître est une chance
Hello, oh Hello
I’ll give you all my dreams
Any time that you need
Hello, oh Hello
Si tu vis loin de moi, rendez vous
Où tu voudras (x2)

A month ago, the Willamette volunteer program Language In Motion (LIM) offered me the opportunity to give a presentation at the South Salem high school. I must admit that I was a bit nervous before the presentation. The teacher wanted me to do the whole talk in French, and I was afraid that the students couldn’t understand what I say (first because I speak very fast; then because I didn’t know what was their real level). But, actually, the presentation went more than well. It was all in French and the students were not lost at all (I know quite well how to recognize confused faces…). The teacher and the students gave me a warm welcome, they prepared a lot of questions for me about France, about the differences between France and the USA, and I spent almost half an hour replying to all their questions. It was absolutely great to see how interested and involved they were. They took an active part in the presentation and I absolutely loved this morning spent at the South Salem high school. I talked to the teacher after the presentation and she thanked me for what I brought to her students. But, the thing is that they brought me even more than I could ever have imagined. It was great to share my culture with them and to benefit from theirs. I really got quite a thrill out of the experience and I really hope to repeat it soon.

I shared a French song with the class  at the end of the presentation and the students told me that they liked it. So, here it is.. M. Pokora, \”Juste une photo de toi\”

Salut tout le monde!

Next Thursday (November,  4th), new French movie night! The movie we’ll watch, Nos jours heureux, is recent (2006). It shows the realities of a  French “colonie de vacances” (summer camp). The kids are kind of… wild, the leaders are crazy and so,  the mixture is explosive!  This movie is really great, with good actors (most of them are famous in France: Jean-Paul Rouve, Omar Sy, Marilou Berry…) and with some very funny moments. No worries: there are English subtitles. I really had fun watching it so, I hope you’ll enjoy it!  See you on Thursday, 4th, at 7:00 p.m, in Walton B 21!

Mikhal.

Bonjour tout le monde!  My name’s Caitlin- I’m a senior French major and I’m going to start tutoring in French for a few hours a week.  I’m looking forward to working with you all.  In the meantime, take a look at the video below.  I watched this when I first started taking French in middle school.  I think it’s safe to say the ’80s were a pretty solid decade for educational television.

Téléfrancais! – Episode 1

Bonjour tout le monde!

Guess what? The first French movie night will take place on Thursday (October 7th, 6:30 p.m, room Walton B 21)! We’ll be watching a famous French movie called “Le gendarme à New-York” (don’t worry, there’ll be English subtitles). It’s a very funny movie with one of the funniest French actors, Louis de Funès. I think I’ve watched it a thousand times but I’ll be happy to watch it one more time with you. So, see you on Thursday!

Mikhal.

P.S: Here is a trailer of the movie. (I hope this works.)

Bonjour à tous!
My name is Mikhal. I’m the new French assistant coming from Paris. I hope many of you will attend French classes in order to improve your French and to learn more about France. I’ll be very happy to let you share in the French culture (in the broadest sense of the word) so, don’t hesitate to come and talk to me even if it’s just to say “bonjour” !
Let’s start the academic year with some good French music (the song is half in French, half in English). Jean-Jacques Goldman is one of our most famous singer-songwriter and this 80’s song, “Je te donne”, is still popular in France. I hope you’ll like it!
Mikhal.

Read More…