Paris Times Blogs

The biggest box office success in the history of French cinema was Titanic.

(Sadly, this was not actually a French film.)

Just as it did pretty much throughout the world in 1997 and 1998, Titanic caused turnstiles to spin like never before.

20 million French spectators were captivated by the tragic story of Jack and Rose.

That figure is equal to a third of the nation’s populace (though how many times did 13-year-old girls see the movie in theatres, inflating that number?).

The number one viewed French movie of all-time is the 1967 World War II comedy La Grande Vadrouille, which proportionately speaking did about the same business as Titanic, taking in seventeen million viewers in a nation of 51 million.

Both films face a new challenger in the face of Bienvenue Chez les Ch’tis.

Three-quarters of the way through Cédric Klapisch’s Paris, a young African man who has already traveled a great distance from his home looks over the choppy sea from the Moroccan side of the Strait of Gibraltar and asks the ferryman who will sneak him into Europe if it’s all worth the trouble.

The ferryman, perhaps just eager for payment, replies that it is definitely worth it.

The young man, who is seen only in snippets during his long journey, carries with him a post card sent by a relative.

The black and white image is that of Notre Dame Cathedral, in Paris.

Klapisch, and his mighty ensemble cast, bring that piece of photo paper to vibrant life in a wonderful movie that lives up to the gamble that is its name.

If you’re going to write and direct a film and call it Paris, it had better be worth the trouble.

Nailing the definition of Paris, even in a two-hour film, is a daunting task best left to a seasoned professional.

Apple Expo Paris will be held from September 25-29th, 2007, and will be LE place to be for Apple aficionados the world over. The Fall event is held at  a perfect time for a European iPhone announcements in front of the home crowd - a month ahead of the release.   AppleTV is another likely candidate to get updated along the way with a pan-European or European country specific movie store in iTunes.

It is also looking like an extremely good time to unveil a fresh new line of iPods - although we are still holding out for an earlier announcement as AOL|Engadget is predicting.

Jonny Evans over at Macworld.co.uk has announced that both Vodafone and O2 would be carrying the iPhone in the UK - something we voiced a few months back. The release date has been speculated to be

It looks like some sporadic rioting has erupted by some Segolene Royal supporters in the Bastille.

Reports are coming in as people bleeding from the head, rocks being thrown at police...
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/AfpNews/200705070548111178488091.46/afp
http://www.sargasso.nl/archief/2007/05/06/jusquici-tout-va-bien/&cid=0&sig2=NWLRmEeGig193G0oUrqt-A
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,70131-1264337,00.html

As anticipated, it is Sego vs. Sarko in the 2007 French presidential race. When polled against each other, Nicolas Sarkozy retains a comfortable lead over Segoline Royal (~6%), however, when doing the math, an interesting point must be brought up that most media outlets have neglected.

Most media has taken for granted the Ultra-right voters that voted for Le Pen in the primaries will vote with Sarkozy and the left of Socialists will vote for Royal. However, Sarkozy, who comes from a largely immigrant and minority background - Hungarian on one side and half Greek Sephardi Jewish on the other will likely not resonate with Le Pen's base. On the flip side, recent immigrants and minorities, especially those worried about security and the barriers to enter entrepreneurial endeavors, will be tempted by Sarkozy's platform.

In any case, the election is not black and white and will be very interesting to follow over the next two weeks.

It looks like it will come down to the wire this year as the polls have been erratic and many people are still undecided or willing to change.

Sarkozy is in front and it looks like he's going to make it to the next round. The race is on, however between Segolene Royal and François Bayrou, who has fallen recently in the polls.

Its a interesting situation for left centrists who are looking ahead to the final round because Bayrou polls much better than Royal against Sarkozy.

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

The English playwright William Cosgreve knew what he was talking about when he penned a similar line in 1697 which, slightly misquoted, takes the form of the famous adage we know today.

Cosgreve’s quote concerns angels of a darker sort, those of the fairer sex who torment their tormentors.

Think Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction.

Kathy Bates in Misery.

Sissy Spacek in Carrie.

No matter if you’re her former lover, her favorite novelist, or her prom date, you do not want to play with a woman’s emotions.

If you do, you might just find you’ve got hell to pay.

In Michel Spinosa’s Anna M., Isabelle Carré makes her grand entrance into the Cosgreve Hall of Fame, playing a mentally disturbed young woman who falls in love with her doctor after a failed suicide attempt.

Karl Zéro’s latest political documentary is entitled Ségo et Sarko Sont dans un Bateau, which translates literally as Ségo and Sarko are in a Boat, but perhaps the scene that most accurately portrays the movie’s message takes place in a train.

Nicolas Sarkozy, right wing presidential candidate and until recently Minister of the Interior, is shown glad-handing on an RER train, one of the network of commuter trains that connect Paris with its outlying suburbs.

Sarkozy chances upon a middle-aged businessman, probably hoping he’s found a kindred spirit.

The man, with an air of disgust, scoffs at Sarkozy’s thinly veiled attempt at connecting with the masses, asking him why he should talk with him, telling Sarkozy he knows as Minister of the Interior he never rides the RER but is usually chauffeured around town.

James Huth seems to have made Hell Phone just so France can say to America, ‘See ? We can make incredibly sophomoric teen films too!’

As if this were a good thing.

In fact, all Huth, the director of the 2005 box office winner Brice de Nice, really has accomplished is the recycling of every American teen film from the ‘80s to the present, added in a lot of Beverly Hills 90210, and tossed in plenty of shots of the Panthéon, slapping it all together in a truly awful film that every teenager in France will see.

From the title alone, one can guess at the plot of this film.

There’s a cell phone.

It comes from hell.

Boy meets cell phone, boy falls in love with cell phone, boy realizes cell phone is evil, boy has to get rid of cell phone before everybody dies.

Got it?