Today marks the 116th anniversary of the official opening of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. In honor of this day I thought I’d try to list 116 things for which we can be grateful to the French. Just kidding, though here are a few:
1.) Jean-Pierre Jeunet. You had to know he’d be at the top. Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children, Amelie, and A Very Long Engagement are four of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Fantastic, quirky, funny love stories. Jeunet is the Master!
2.) It would naturally follow that Audrey Tautou would be second. She’s a lovely, talented French ingenue who, in my mind, is France’s equivalent to Audrey Hepburn.
Other wonderful French actresses include:
Juliette Binoche, who was absolutely amazing in Chocolat, a sensuous, must-see movie for food and chocolate romantics everywhere.
Also:
Sophie Marceau, who was wonderful in Braveheart, another of my favorite movies.
3.) French words. We use some marvelous words in our English language that are actually French. Some of my favorites are: denouement, queue, couture, decolletage, and lingerie.
And since we’re on the subject:
(don’t give me a hard time, at least I picked a picture painted by a woman! Don’t believe me? Click on the pic.)
4.) Lingerie. I don’t know that the French invented it, but I love the word so I’ll give them credit for it. One story holds that a Mme. Cadolle of France cut off the midriff of her corset to allow more movement from the waist and thus the first brassiere was born. You can read a tasteful history of lingerie here. As a married man hopelessly enchanted with his wife, I have to say that lingerie is one of the most wonderful things a woman can wear. I love Victoria’s Secret…I’m sorry, can’t help it!
5.) French authors.
Jules Verne, considered to be the father of science fiction gave us: Around the World in 80 Days, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Mysterious Island, Journey to the Center of the Earth.
Antoine De Saint-Exupery touched us all with The Little Prince.
Alexandre Dumas gave us The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.
Charles Perrault created the fairy tale with stories of: Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and Puss in Boots.
Victor Hugo gave us Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Incidently Les Miserables is one of the most amazing musicals ever made. It tells a powerful story of the law versus grace.
“To love another person is to see the face of God” -Victor Hugo
These are just a few of the French authors who have shaped the foundation of our literary lives and gave birth to tales mined repeatedly in television and movies.
6.) Wine. I credit the French with the creation of good wine and the proliferation of the truism that good wine and good food commune together to bring us a little touch of dining heaven on earth. My current favorite is Hogue Late Harvest Reisling. There are some great wines out there and its fun to see how wine bottles have become such creative works of art, from the interesting shapes and colors of the bottles to the fantastic artwork on the labels. A visit to the World Market is fun just to look at all the interesting wine bottles they carry. For a fun wine site with a selection of very artistic wine labels, check out Bonny Doon Vineyard. They also have some really fun animations as well.
and last, but certainly not least:
7.) Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Without the French there would be no Frenchman at the castle to taunt our English heroes on their quest for the Holy Grail. There would be no taunts like this, or this…or perhaps this. And how could we forget this. (you may need real player or windows media player to hear the taunts)
I could go on but I’ll leave you to comment on these or add your own. In closing I’d like to leave you with this.
Don’t forget oeuvre.
And ogre.
I also love French accents. Half the fun of watching French films is to listen to that marvelous accent. Very romantic, not like this, however.
Trick question: how about croissant?
I have a killer French accent! It consists of me cat-calling a pretty girl with the ever-romantic line, “Huh huh, my schhhweet flou-air.”
Hmm, on second thought, perhaps my French accent is why I don’t have a girlfriend. Think?
So you’re saying that you’re french accent doesn’t make the ladies think you’re haute?
That was terrible, but I couldn’t resist.
i have a deep & lasting affection for the french. i could expand your list endlessly–but i won’t.
PS: sorry my photoblog has been eaten by bloggie. hopefully will reincarnate soon.
Feel free, believe me I don’t mind!
French fries.
(sorry, it must be the diet)
I knew someone would do it, should’ve figured it would be you. I resisted the urge to be ‘funny’ and put: french fries, french bread, french toast, french dressing, french kissing….well, at least I resisted the urge until now! 🙂
Shame on me, I didn’t even know about that landmark date…
rendez-vous, dieu et mon droit, cuisine, couture, silhouette, voilà…
We have a few English words in French too, y’know.
silhouette, and viola…love those as well! An actual comment from someone in France. That’s pretty cool! Thanks Anne! Be sure to check out Anne’s site when you get the chance.
i got to visit france & the eiffel tower back in college.. it was a magical experience! (especially notre dame)
Lucky you, I’ve never been out of the country…except being born in Germany but that doesn’t really count since I don’t have any memories of it.
I can’t complain though, I’ve been lucky enough to do some wonderful in-country traveling: NYC several times, Seattle, Hawaii, Boston, South Carolina, Mississippi…those have been my favorites. I was able to see both Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables (see how I tied this back into the whole French thing! 🙂 ) on Broadway as well as numerous other shows.
I would love to visit Paris, Italy, and Ireland…and I’d actually like to see where I was born.
Thank you, Carl…!
You’re welcome….although shouldn’t you have said, “merci”? 🙂
To continue with the French theme: if you’re looking for good, romantic music for any reason whatsoever I highly recommend the French Kiss soundtrack. This has some of the most wonderful, mood setting music I’ve ever heard. Van Morrison, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Zucchero, Paolo Conte…very, very good. Kevin Kline even sings a beautiful song in French called La Mer. You can go to this link on Amazon to listen to snippets of songs. It has an interesting mix of English and French songs.
When I clicked on the link above to test it out an advertisement along the top of Amazon’s page was for the Paris Hilton collection…I love little ironic coincidences like this!
I took French in high school. I loved practicing the words. I wish I remembered all that I learned.
My teacher was kinda strange. She had fake nails that were always coming off and she would hold them on with bandaids! That probably wasn’t a very french thing to do.
I briefly took a self-study French course in 8th or 9th grade but I didn’t stick with it. Did 3 semesters of Spanish in college…remember very little of it!
And yes, I doubt that bandaids and fake nails are a French thing….maybe a Psychotic thing, however! 🙂
I wish I knew how to pronounce French words….I retained a fairly good ability at Spanish pronunciation but I believe it is probably much easier than French.
Carl, didn’t you love Les Mis?! That’s my fav musical (of the few I’ve seen). Next would be Ragtime, then maybe Miss Saigon. I like the tragedies and serious musicals. The ones that make you think. The fluffy ones are fun, but don’t stick with me.
I guess it’s the same with movies for me. 🙂
me, i’ve got french family. i’ve flowing with frenchiness. my thoughts on the subject are too vast; however i’ll endeavor to post something in these veins & link back to this conversation.
it’s too much, too much, & i’m crappy at html.
Jenn, Whatever you post I’ll make sure it gets linked over here if you have any trouble.
Yes Rob, Les Miz is the best. I’ve seen it 2 or 3 times, can’t remember, and loved it every time. Phantom is probably my second favorite. I like the more serious, inspiring stuff as well. I saw this exact Royal Shakespeare Company version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Broadway and it was incredible. I recommend the DVD as its a pretty good reproduction of what they did on stage. I saw Matthew Broderick in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and it was fun.
I’m really rather disappointed that you men haven’t commented on the actresses referred to in this post or offered up your own personal French favorites….please meet me at your local nail salon to turn in your Man cards…. 🙂
Good romantic flicks are so hard to find these days. The ones being made at present are either so cheesy or just plain crappy. I’d write, direct and produce my own romantic flick if only I had the resources. And Robert Redford.