Françaises (French Things)
I’ve been struck down with a really annoying cold this week. I’ve spent most of my time in my apartment, watching bittorrented movies (I know, I know) and sleeping. After seeing Marion Cotillard win the Oscar, I was curious about La Vie En Rose. I’ve always liked Édith Piaf, and I knew that this film was about her life. What an astounding transformation. To see this pretty young thing at the ceremony, you’d never think she’d be able to alter every little thing about herself to create this flawed, fragile, deeply wounded character. Édith Piaf’s life was heartbreaking, every step of the way. After seeing the movie, I did some research and learned that she was only 4’8″. While she was married twice, the true love of her life was a world champion boxer named Marcel who was married with children. At one point, a movie was made about their love affair called Édith et Marcel. In this film, the part of Marcel was played by his real-life son. Weird, isn’t it? A man playing the part of his father while he was in an adulterous relationship? I wonder if his mother was still alive at the time of the film’s production? Anyway, I digress. My point is that I highly recommend this film.
Here’s Édith Piaf two years before her death, singing the song seen in that clip: “Non, je ne regrette rien” (No, I have no regrets). It’s clear in this video how utterly tiny she is:
A rough translation found on teh internetz:
No, nothing at all. I regret nothing at all. Not the good, nor the bad. It is all the same. No, nothing at all, I have no regrets about anything. It is paid, wiped away, forgotten. I am not concerned with the past, with my memories. I set fire to my pains and pleasures. I don’t need them anymore. I have wiped away my loves, and my troubles. Swept them all away. I am starting again from zero.
No, nothing at all, I have no regrets. Because from today, my life, my happiness, everything starts with you!
So after a French-tastic beginning of the week, I decided to go ahead and meet up with some friends to see Keren Ann and Dean & Britta. These are tickets I’d had for some time, so I loaded up on cold medicine and drove to Carrboro for the show. I’m so glad I did.
Keren Ann has an album that I’ve loved for a few years, but somehow I’d neglected to recall that she is, in fact, French. I thoroughly enjoyed her set and will definitely be spending more time listening to her.
This clip is very brief and is her singing a song in French at her show, but my favorite song she sang was this one, called “I’m Not Going Anywhere”
Dean & Britta are new to me. My friend Ayse is a big fan, and I’ve heard of his former bands Galaxie 500 and Luna before, but only in passing. I was pretty undecided about them during the whole set, but I kept feeling like they were very reminiscent of the legendary Serge Gainsbourg. Then, at the end of the show, they blew me away with a cover of the Serge Gainsbourg classic “Bonnie & Clyde”. Perfection! While I’m not a new massive fan, they sure have my respect for their performance of that song, as well as at least one other song that I really enjoyed.
This isn’t the best writing I’ve ever done. I’m still pretty out of it, but I’ve decided to try and pull myself back to help starting tomorrow, even if I have to fake it. Maybe by the weekend, my brain will work properly again.
