The Problem With The French...

Washington Post ^ | September 7, 2003 | Gene Weingarten

[Ex-Dem]

The Problem With the French ... ... is that they have no word for rapprochement By Gene Weingarten Sunday, September 7, 2003; Page W14

The French minister of agriculture politely awaited my question. We were seated in the study of his ministry in the heart of Paris, overlooking a garden with ancient statuary. At 43, Herve Gaymard is already a member of the national cabinet, custodian of nothing less formidable than the French wine industry. Sandy-haired, lithe, urbanely handsome like Paul Henreid in "Casablanca," the minister was in shirtsleeves, slacks and -- as became apparent when he crossed his legs -- loafers sans socks. He looked effortlessly fabulous, of course. He is French.

[Recovering_Democrat]

OUI MONSIEUR!

[bert]

.....The fact is, the French were there for us when we needed them the most.....

Subsequent to these actions, there was a revolution in France where all the intellengsia that did not escape was eventually killed. The revolution ended France and started a new nation that still after 200 years doesn't have it all together.

[theFIRMbss]

>The Problem With The French...

This girl is Sophie
Marceau. She is French. There's no
problem here at all...

[wizardoz]

They also have Isabelle Adjani. Haven't seen her lately, but last I saw her she was 38 and still looked like 24. Incredible.

[billorites]

"enjoying a day in Dieppe, a resort town on the English Channel"

I don't think Dieppe is remembered as a resort by Canadians.

[Cicero]

Words, words, words. I've seldom seen more words with less purpose.

[jocon307]

It's a long read, but well worth it. Extremely well written and tres amusent! Thanks for posting this. And those, French, yeah, they do got style, you can't take it away from 'em.

[Helms]

France heat wave death toll could reach 12,000
Last Updated Sun, 31 Aug 2003 17:03:16

PARIS - The number of people who died during France's worst heat wave on record will likely rise toward 12,000, says the country's health minister.

Jean-François Mattei has confirmed 11,435 people in France died during the first two weeks of August. Temperatures rose to more than 40 C during that period.

Government officials originally estimated as many as 3,000 people died in the heat, despite repeated claims from the operator of the country's largest funeral home that as many as 10,000 people had died.

* FROM AUG. 20, 2003: Heat related deaths in France could exceed 10,000

In an interview published Sunday in Le Journal Du Dimanche, Mattei said the number of deaths would likely rise because more elderly people whose health deteriorated during the heat wave could die.

Mattei said he's disturbed by the "solitude and isolation of the aged" and shocked that so many bodies remain unclaimed in morgues.

[reformed_dem]

The problem with the French....

Oh, where to begin...

[SwinneySwitch]

OUI MONSIEUR!

It's spelled M O N S E W E R!

Les Batards!

[RJL]

The fact is, the French were there for us when we needed them the most

Once again self-serving on France’s part, they supported the revolution to spite their rival, the British.

[Ex-Dem]

It was an extremely long article (I actually didn't finish reading it until after I posted it). Very funny as you mentioned. It's also different from those typical Francophile articles that say the French are absolutely nothing like the stereotypes.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

[ This interview almost didn't happen. I had requested an audience with the highest French official available, on the subject of the strained relations between our two nations over the war in Iraq. The French Embassy initially seemed reluctant, at which point I observed that it would be a pity if, to secure an official audience with a French dignitary, I had to seek out Jean-Marie Le Pen. That would be the race-baiting crypto-fascist whose stunning showing in the last presidential elections threatened to create an international embarrassment for the French of a magnitude unseen since a swastika flapped beneath the Arc de Triomphe.

Soon afterward, Monsieur Gaymard was made available. ]

Thanks for posting!

[D Rider]

This girl is Sophie Marceau. She is French. There's no problem here at all...

I notice that in the picture that she has her arms down.

[Salman]

It is that je ne sais quoi, a thing which is far too French for you to understand.

[Tokhtamish]

I love Isabelle Adjani, Sophie Marceau, Emmanuelle Beart, etc. But they just don't make it in Hollywood. Is it that they project a cool that does not click with American audiences ? American audiences look for a girl next door to fall in love with and bring home to Mom, like Julia Roberts or Reese Witherspoon. Not ice goddesses.

[wizardoz]

My theory is that there are two brands of acceptable American screen goddesses: smart girls with blue eyes. and vulnerable waifs with brown eyes. You can be a Cameron or a Winona, and that's about it.

[theFIRMbss]

>Emmanuelle Beart

I'd forgotten her...
I didn't know she was French.
Heck, I only watch

the DVD of
Mission Impossible for
her scenes. She is great!