Blogger Postcards from Around the World

These postcards are now finding their way through the French postal system to a certain blogger whose name and address I received after we both signed up for Blogger Postcards Around the World #2, an event organized by Meeta at What's For Lunch Honey? For this event, each person sends a postcard (or three) to an assigned fellow blogger somewhere in the world and also then receives a postcard from someone else. Everyone writes about the cards at each end of their journey.

The theme was Valentine's Day, but I couldn't find specifically Valentine's cards at the papeteries, and although I found quite a few variations on postcards for 'I Love Paris' and 'I Love You', those didn't quite hit the mark for this occasion. I think that friends here don't generally wish each other 'Happy Valentine's Day!', and the focus is more on lovers and chocolate. Stretching to fit the theme, then, I chose a card that has a boy and a girl doing Parisian things like walking a tiny dog and sitting at a cafe, another that had confetti and the Eiffel Tower, and one showing a toy gorilla climbing a toy Eiffel Tower on a map of Paris, that kind of reminded me of King Kong's tragic love for Ann Darrow.

I'll post a link when my cards land on the blog of their recipient and of course I'll tell you all about the postcard I'm eagerly awaiting. Or, you can check out the other blogs that are participating.

Meeta's blog is also worth checking out for some nice photograpy and food blogging events. It's in my list of blog links now.

French Film: Jacquou le Croquant

I don’t know quite how to translate the title of the French movie I saw Saturday night, (‘Jack-o the Cracker’?) but I’m fairly sure this one won’t be seeing too many American movie screens, so the point is perhaps moot. Anyway, ‘croquant’ is a nickname given to the thousands of peasants who revolted against unfair taxation by nobles in the 16th century. The French book that inspired the film, as well as 1969 TV mini-series, tells the story of a rural peasant who is treated cruelly by the local nobility as a young boy, then grows up to lead a rebellion and get his revenge.

The leading star of the movie is Gaspard Ulliel, the former male model who starred with Audrey Tautou in ‘A Very Long Engagement’ and will soon be seen as the young Hannibal Lecter in ‘Hannibal Rising’. In this film, he loses the first half screen time to a cute kid who plays the young Jacquou, desperately in need of a hair cut(see photo). Among the other stars are Tcheky Karyo, who was also in ‘A Very Long Engagement’, and the darkly alluring Bojana Panic, in one of her first major roles to accompany her modeling career.

My movie companions were two fellow etrangers, from England and India, so I can’t say that we got everything from this movie, but we found that we had a good time anyway. It lasted two and half hours, and we were a little nervous about getting lost in the dialogue, but in fact even the least French-able of us could follow, due to the straightforward plot. Now, that seems like a contradiction, right? How can a straightforward plot go on for two and a half hours? The solution: about an hours worth of walking in the woods, in the snow, and running through fields of flowers. My Indian friend commented that she was worried that they were going to start singing and dancing as if it were a Bollywood film.

There was at least some dancing: a crucial clog-dancing competition which ended in a tete-a-tete between the Count and Jacquou. Guess whose inspirational clog-dancing was the talk of the town, and who left in disgust (see photo of the Count and his youngest daughter).

The adult Jacquou has two main women of interest in his life: his sweet childhood love Lina, of the flowery fields, and the proud huntress La Galiote, the youngest daughter of the Count. In the course of the movie, both of them try to sneakily catch glimpses of naked Jacquou. Nonetheless, the two are opposites, and even though Jacquou wants to hate La Galiote, he is attracted by her fiery will and dark come-hither eyes. Jacquou himself is pretty much consumed by the need for vengeance against the Count, but somehow finds himself torn between them, especially at the end of the film. I won’t give away the ending, but I will say that, in the end, a boat sails away into a beautiful CGI sunset.

If your interest is piqued, you can watch the trailers and clips on allocine.fr.

Tribute to Abbé Pierre

This was the scene outside the Val de Grace hospital on Blvd Port Royal tonight and for the last several days, where people have been paying tribute to the late French Catholic priest, Abbé Pierre. The letters, flowers, and candles honor his lifelong campaign for human rights and especially the provision of housing for the poor and homeless. Just after the war, there were many poor and working class families in France without adequate housing as a result of limited public construction and the destruction resulting from the war. He served in the government to speed up the starting of public housing projects, and several years later, during an especially cold Paris winter, he issued a famous radio appeal to all of France to support those in need, and the Emmaus movement took off. The Emmaus International organization supports campaigns all over the world to relieve suffering by improvements in living conditions among the poor. The best tribute to this great leader would be to do what you can to contribute to the movement to end extreme poverty and to defend human rights.