Friday, 4 October 2019

Two French experiences

Despite suffering from a cold, Cat very kindly kept our date a week ago last Monday to watch one of my favourite French films, “Ponette”. I first saw this film in the late 1990s (it was released in 1996) and it made a huge impression on me. When we watched the film it seemed even grimmer than I remembered, however I still enjoyed it and the acting by Victoire Thivisol was extraordinary for a four year old. I was touched that Cat was willing to watch it for me and she even coined the term “Linguistic Lundi” which impressed me - I have loads of French films on DVD that I would like to get round to watching and I had thought of having a weekly “Multicultural Monday” when I would watch them, but Linguistic Lundi (or perhaps Lundi Linguiste?) is much better. Needless to say James, Ally and Davie have mercilessly mocked my cultural aspirations, however when I suggested “Wetherspoons Wednesday” they were quite enthusiastic!
In another cultural event, I went to see a play with Heather last night at the Theatre Royal called “What’s in a name?“. It was a quirky little play translated from a French play called “Le Prénom” Although the place names and some of the characters names have been changed into English, it still had a really French feel to it. It reminded me a lot of the play that we went to see last year about the painting, “Art”, which was also translated from French. In both plays an incident (the purchase of a painting, the naming of a baby) provokes a huge amount of Parisian middle class discussion, the digging up the past resentments and grudges, and finally a revelation and resolution. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Heather is the perfect theatre partner, she is willing to give anything a go and as a result we have seen some good plays over the years, and among those some real gems. 

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