French connections, (a breathless) part three

The start of the summer holidays means I have two weeks without my usual French evening class.  I know it’s only a fortnight but I miss it.  A few years ago I decided to brush up on my incredibly rusty ‘O’ Level French and got hooked.  Firstly I think it is quite simply a beautiful language (it’s just so sensual sounding, and requires you to form your mouth into interesting shapes!), secondly it’s good for my brain, of which I feel sure I only utilise one side (although I can never remember if it’s the left or the right) because I spend so much of my time working visually.  Thirdly, I have a penchant (oh, how I love the way these French words infiltrate our everyday language!) for certain aspects of the country's culture.  And fourthly, it gets me out of the house…

But as I’m staying chez moi for now I reckon that dipping into some French films will be a fine way to help keep my linguistic faculties in good shape. 

Here’s a favourite from Godard.  Funny too how this trailer is like a French vocab lesson (but so much better than anything we were taught at school…although my French teacher was always on about Johnny Hallyday.)

À Bout De Souffle

French connections, part two

I’m going all Francophile again today.

J’adore ceci…

A classic scene from a classic nouvelle vague film -  Jean Luc Godard’s  ‘Bande À Part’ - with one of my favourite songs by French ensemble Nouvelle Vague.  I think it just fits so well.  The timing is quite something and, well, for me it’s just one of those satisfyingly complementary combinations.  Like peaches and cream, or rough paper and a soft pencil, or (just for you Godard fans) like Jean Seberg and Jean Paul Belmondo.  The dance sequence itself has also been cited as an influence for scenes in several other films, not least ‘Pulp Fiction’.

Nouvelle Vague, who also named their second album ‘Bande À Part’, frequently surprise with some of their more unlikely choices of cover versions.  If you know Lords Of The New Church’s original of this track, ‘Dance With Me’, you’ll appreciate how much they manage to change a song almost beyond recognition.  NV’s vocalist on here, Mélanie Pain (thank god she’s French, Melanie Bread just wouldn’t sound quite right), manages to make it sound so sensual, whereas Stiv Bators’ approach sounds, as you might expect, a tad more sleazy (much like his name).

Other tracks whose origins may be more familiar but which have been given the unmistakeable and often unexpected NV treatment to great effect are: 'Teenage Kicks',  'Guns Of Brixton', 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' and even 'Too Drunk To Fuck'…

Another personal favourite is their version of Depeche Mode’s 'Master and Servant', also sung by Mélanie Pain, along with Martin Gore.  Let’s play!