May 4th 2023

What Makes the French so Different?

by Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson is a music critic with particular interest in piano. 

Johnson worked as a reporter and editor in New York, Moscow, Paris and London over his journalism career. He covered European technology for Business Week for five years, and served nine years as chief editor of International Management magazine and was chief editor of the French technology weekly 01 Informatique. He also spent four years as Moscow correspondent of The Associated Press. He is the author of five books.

Michael Johnson is based in Bordeaux. Besides English and French he is also fluent in Russian.

You can order Michael Johnson's most recent book, a bilingual book, French and English, with drawings by Johnson:

“Portraitures and caricatures:  Conductors, Pianist, Composers”

 here.

 

As the saying goes, “Love ‘em or loathe ‘em.” Either way, the French are a fascinating bunch. I have been involved with them for most of my life and now am trying to capture what makes them different – both visually in portraits and intellectually in their thoughts and actions. My recent book on them 25 Unforgettable French Faces covers a wide range of individuals, from an aging Brigitte Bardot to architect Gustave Eiffel. Both of them changed the face of France. In the upcoming sequel, 25 More Unforgettable French Faces, I have completed my collection of 50 examples. The new book, now in progress, ranges from The Bad Boy of the 18th Century (Voltaire) to A Man of Principle (Jean-Paul Sartre) and Big Dark Eyes, (the actress Audrey Tautou).

Here follow a few excerpts from my new selection. Still to come are Zinedan Zidane, Audrey Toutou, Voltaire, Napoleon, Marguerite Yourcenar, Louis Pasteur and others.

Only two French presidents have ever been sentenced to prison for crimes related to their office – the late Jacques Chirac in 2011 for paying salaries to fictitious employees while he was mayor of Paris, and his protégé Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012 for abuse of power and manipulation of the judicial process while president. Chirac died in 2019 without serving time, and Sarkozy now spends his days at home in Paris with lawyers fighting to have his sentence stricken.

Jean-Paul Belmondo, an extraordinary cinema star,  performed in a seemingly effortless style – doing his own stunts and developing a masculine swagger. He was a professional boxer early in his career.  He studied acting for three years at the Conservatoire des arts dramatiques. Following a series of small roles, he burst upon the world stage at 27 with the lead in Breathless (A Bout de Souffle) in 1960. The French loved him and mourned his death in 2021.

Belmondo

 

 

When Jean-Paul Sartre was arrested during the 1968 student riots in Paris, he was promptly pardoned by President Charles de Gaulle on the grounds that “One does not arrest Voltaire.” That suus up Sartre’s place in France as a public intellectual, serious philosopher and writer of novels, plays and essays. He can claim to have brought “existentialism” into common parlance. Sartre graciously accepted de Gaulle’s pardon. He never tried to rival Voltairre but did not need to. He was a French icon in his own right.

Satre

 

 

Khatia Buniatshvili, the Franco-Georgian piano sensation, is attempting the impossible – to present herself as a half-dressed fashion model and a serious concert pianist wrapped up in one bundle. In her public performancess, you get a bit of both. She began as a Plain Jane from the remote Soviet Georgia but in her teens put herself in the hands of Western glamor houses such as Esthé and the Sony image-makers. Now she moves like a French torch-singer, flinging her unruly head of hair as she  swoons over Rachmanimov, Schubert and Schumann. The whoosh of her flying tresses is almost audible over the music. Concert-goers, including me, are confused by the duality.

Khatia

 

Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarkozy de Nagy-Bocsa is a Frenchman to his bones but he is also proud of his Hungarian ancestry. Elected president in 2007, his extended family in Budapest celebrated his victory in the glare of the international media. He is the first Français of Hungarian origin to reach such heights. Sarkozy had a tendency to speak his mind in vulgar tones, leaving him with a diminished reputation today. In 2008, during his term as president, he toured the annual agriculture festival in Paris and mingled with crowds, shaking hands. One young man in the crowd stepped back and shouted “Ah non. Touche-moi pas. Tu me salis!” ( Oh no, don’t you touch me. You’ll get me dirty!) Sarkozy shouted back, “Casse-toi, pauvre con!” (Get lost, you bloody idiot).

Sarkozy

 

The talented young French president Emmanuel Macron, 46, hides some of his talents. He is a master of the piano. He studied the instrument for ten years and was playing the big Schumann and Liszt piaces when he turned his attention to building a serious career and, eventually, to trying to run France. His path to the presidential Elysee Palace is a textbook case of winning electoral success. But his determination to modernize institutions of the country probably makes him a short-term leader. Since the electoral honeymoon, protesters have  flooded the streets at regular intervals. Workers call him “president of the rich”.

Makron

 

Lydia Jardon, Concert pianist and producer, began her piano training rather late in life – age 8. Raised in the south of France, she made her way into the Parisian piano world by sheer determination, facing down teachers who often contradicted each other. In the confusion, she ended up “lost and very lonely”, she recalls, and “often in tears” after her stressful lessons.

Lydia

 

 

Blessed with a silken, sexy voice and a gift for punchy, socially conscious songs, French singer/actor Yves Montand was above all a great showman.  He was also a perfectionist. Every gesture, every link with his musicians, every note, every tremolo was endlessly rehearsed. In films as well, he left nothing to chance, applying meticulous efforts to get into character long before shooting, and staying there. Untrained in drama, he proved he could be a thug, a lover, a comic actor, a Formula One driver, a boxer, a sly and scheming uncle, a singer, whatever the script demanded.

Montand

 

 

END

 

 

 


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More Essays

May 4th 2023
EXTRACT: "My recent book on them 25 Unforgettable French Faces covers a wide range of individuals, from an aging Brigitte Bardot to architect Gustave Eiffel. Both of them changed the face of France. In the upcoming sequel, 25 More Unforgettable French Faces, I have completed my collection of 50 examples. The new book, now in progress, ranges from The Bad Boy of the 18th Century (Voltaire) to A Man of Principle (Jean-Paul Sartre) and Big Dark Eyes, (the actress Audrey Tautou)."
May 4th 2023
EXTRACT: "Silicon solar cells are an established technology for the generation of electricity from the sun. But they take a lot of energy to produce, are rigid and can be fragile. However, a new class of solar cell is matching their performance. And what’s more, it can now be printed out using special inks and wrapped flexibly around uneven surfaces."
Apr 21st 2023
EXTRACT: "You learn from your mistakes. At least, most of us have been told so. But science shows that we often fail to learn from past errors. Instead, we are likely to keep repeating the same mistakes." .... "Sometimes we stick with certain behaviour patterns, and repeat our mistakes because of an “ego effect” that compels us to stick with our existing beliefs. We are likely to selectively choose the information structures and feedback that help us protect our egos." ..... "....there are simpler things we can do. One is to become more comfortable with making mistakes. We might think that this is the wrong attitude towards failures, but it is in fact a more positive way forward."
Mar 17th 2023
EXTRACTS: "The intensifying concentration of wealth, and unjustifiable level of income inequality is proving disastrous in many ways. Here are just a few of them. First, less equal societies typically have more unstable economies, and this country is no exception." --- "Second, there is an incontrovertible link between economic inequality and violent crime. The fact is that rates of violence are higher in more unequal societies." --- "Third, the undeniable fact is that the greater the economic inequality that exists, the worse it is for general health outcomes. What is sometimes overlooked is that income inequality is bad for health outcomes across economic strata, not just for those in poverty. To be sure, poor health and poverty are closely linked; but the epidemiological research shows that high levels of economic inequality “negatively affect the health of even the affluent, mainly because… inequality reduces social cohesion, a dynamic that leads to more stress, fear, and insecurity for everyone.” People live longer in countries with lower levels of inequality, as the World Bank reports. In the United States, for example, “average life expectancy is four years shorter than in some of the most equitable countries.” "
Mar 10th 2023
EDITOR: "Quantum mechanics, the theory which rules the microworld of atoms and particles, certainly has the X factor. Unlike many other areas of physics, it is bizarre and counter-intuitive, which makes it dazzling and intriguing. When the 2022 Nobel prize in physics was awarded to Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger for research shedding light on quantum mechanics, it sparked excitement and discussion. But debates about quantum mechanics – be they on chat forums, in the media or in science fiction – can often get muddled thanks to a number of persistent myths and misconceptions. Here are four."
Mar 7th 2023
EXTRACT: "....the destructive logic of the false dualism of man and nature continues to threaten our civilization. The new Enlightenment would overcome this dualistic perspective, by bringing about a deep reconsideration of our moral duties to animals and future generations, and transforming how we inhabit the Earth. Instead of thinking of ourselves as separate from nature, we must recognize that we are embedded in it, and that even our most mundane actions have far-reaching consequences."
Feb 28th 2023
EXTRACT: " It has now been a year since Russia, my birthplace, invaded Ukraine. For 365 days, we have been waking up to news of Russian missile strikes, bombings, murders, torture, and rape. It has been 365 days of shame and confusion, of wanting to turn away but needing to know what is happening, of watching Russians become “ruscists,” “Orks,” or “putinoids.” For 365 days, the designation “Russian-American,” previously straightforward, has felt like a contradiction in terms. For those in my situation, some methods of adapting to the new circumstances have come easier than others. Russian books still crowd my bookcase, but I no longer have any wish to re-read them. Chekhov and Nabokov cannot be blamed for the aggression against Ukraine, but it nonetheless has stolen their magic and their capacity to teach. These authors were my friends, as were the old-country rituals like Russian Easter vigils and New Year’s screenings of the Soviet classic Irony of Fate. I feel the loss acutely, but perhaps it is for the better. It helps me concentrate on the present."
Feb 18th 2023
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Feb 17th 2023
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Feb 14th 2023
EXTRACT: "When Bob Dylan and the Beatles were creating a conceptual revolution in popular music, producing works that were highly personal, obscure, and often incomprehensible to listeners, Bacharach was the greatest composer who continued the experimental tradition of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, and the other giants of the Golden Age."
Feb 7th 2023
EXTRACT: "Many of Hopper’s most famous works – Nighthawks (1942), for example (not in the exhibition) – have become so ubiquitous that we are in danger of no longer being able to see them. The corrective for this over-exposure is to engage with the artist’s less familiar work; that is, to come to the artist through another portal – obliquely, if you will – and thereby trace a new path into the world that his oeuvre represents. Hopper observed, “I think I’m not very human, I didn’t want to paint people posturing and grimacing. What I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house.” It is as telling a description as any of Hopper’s painterly fascination with New York City."
Feb 3rd 2023
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Jan 14th 2023
EXTRACT: "With hindsight, 2022 will be seen as the year when artificial intelligence gained street credibility. The release of ChatGPT by the San Francisco-based research laboratory OpenAI garnered great attention and raised even greater questions.  In just its first week, ChatGPT attracted more than a million users and was used to write computer programs, compose music, play games, and take the bar exam. Students discovered that it could write serviceable essays worthy of a B grade – as did teachers, albeit more slowly and to their considerable dismay."
Jan 14th 2023
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Jan 14th 2023
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Jan 5th 2023
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Dec 5th 2022
EXTRACT: "One of the great paradoxes of human endeavour is why so much time and effort is spent on creating things and indulging in behaviour with no obvious survival value – behaviour otherwise known as art. Attempting to shed light on this issue is problematic because first we must define precisely what art is. We can start by looking at how art, or the arts, were practised by early humans during the Upper Palaeolithic period, 40,000 to 12,000 years ago, and immediately thereafter."
Dec 3rd 2022
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Dec 1st 2022
EXTRACT: "In the exhibition catalog Lisane Basquiat writes: 'What is important for everyone to understand… is that he was a son, and a brother, and a grandson, and a nephew, and a cousin, and a friend. He was all of that in addition to being a groundbreaking artist.' "