Product Description:
#876 French Drama & Literature - Corentin and His Violin (France) (Run time min.) DVD $69.95
A story from the Breton country of northern France that shows how a boy, taunted for his physical handicaps, repaid his tormentors with kindness. The villagers torment Corentin because he is a hunchback. One night, coming home through the woods, he is stopped by dwarves who insist that he play his violin. When he is finished, they grant him one wish. The neighborhood bully, surprised to see Corentin now standing straight, demands his secret. But what the bully gets from the dwarves is not at all what he wanted. Nevertheless, Corentin is kind and behaves as he wished the bully had behaved towards him. (26 minutes)
#7720 French Culture - Paris: 1830 (Run time 14 min.) DVD $79.95
Beginning in 1830, the first program presents the Paris of revolutionary theater, the Romantics, and the neoclassicists. It also deals with the impact of the Restoration and the Paris Commune on the arts-Racine, Balzac, and Hugo in literature; Jericho and Girodet in art; Chopin and Liszt in music. The appearance of the feuilletons and the erection of the Arc de Triomphe, the Pantheon, and the Place de Concorde take viewers on a nostalgic tour of a bygone Paris era. (French, 14 minutes)
#7721 French Culture - Paris: 1860 (Run time 14 min.) DVD $79.95
This program presents Paris as the city razed and rebuilt by Napoleon III. It features the magnificent salons of Paris, the founding of the Louvre, and the creation of many other buildings and institutions, such as the opera and train stations. The artistic works of Manet and the avant-garde movement conjure a Paris on the precipice of a new, modern era. (French, 14 minutes)
#7722 French Culture - Paris: 1900 (Run time 14 min.) DVD $79.95
It is the turn of the century-fin de siecle. This program captures that magical period in all of its glory on archival film by the renowned Lumiere brothers. Take a personal tour of the World's Fair, attend the Opera Comique, view Rodin's Gates of Hell, visit with Picasso and the Impressionists. This is Paris at the end of a major cultural epoch. (14 minutes)French
#1347 French Culture - Edith Piaf: La Vie en Rose (Run time 60 min.) DVD $89.95
Updated in 1998Edith Piaf's meteoric rise to fame from the nightclubs of Paris to the world's most famous chanteuse is legend. "The Little Sparrow's" throaty renditions of such hits as "La Vie en Rose," "Non, je ne regrette rien," and "L'Accordioniste" seem as fresh today as when they were recorded. This program pays tribute to Piaf by examining her life through archival footage, photos, and the personal commentary of Piaf historian Raquel Britton. Broadway and television actress Bebe Neuwirth narrates. (60 minutes, b&w)
#1348 French Culture - Jacques Brel (Run time 78 min.) DVD $89.95
The life and music of the inimitable French composer-singer, the tough Parisian with the guitar who looked life in the eye unflinchingly. There are no June/moon/spoon love lyrics here-Brel lives in the modernity of his music about loving and losing and surviving in love. (78 minutes, b&w)
#1349 French Culture - Maurice Chevalier (Run time 58 min.) DVD $89.95
A portrait of the charmer in the straw hat, the most beloved of the song-and-dance men, with archival footage tracing his career from Montmartre to Hollywood and clips from such films as The Merry Widow, Innocents of Paris, and Gigi. Among the many songs Chevalier sings is his signature song, "Louise." (58 minutes, b&w)
#2304 French Culture - Oh La La Paris (Run time 25 min.) DVD $89.95
A guide to the mood of Paris, this program tours the architectural, cultural, and nostalgic sights of Paris. (25 minutes)
#2673 French Culture - The Chateaux of the Loire (Run time 54 min.) DVD $89.95
From Amboise to Blois to Chenonceaux to Chambord, this tour of the chateaux of the Loire serves up a fascinating mix of political and architectural history, scandal, poetry, and local color. The program shows how French architecture made superb use of Italian Renaissance style while maintaining a distinctly French character. As well as examining the buildings themselves, the program offers an overview of the times in which these chateaux were being built, showing the role played by war and peace, famine and recovery, politics and jealousy in the lives of the chateaux and the people who built and inhabited them. In the process we see how Louis XII, Francois I, Henry II, Francois II, and Catherine de Medici and others left their marks on this valley. Also available in English. (54 minutes)French
#2852 French Culture - The Loire (Run time 55 min.) DVD $89.95
The waters of the Loire, the longest and most dangerous river in France, reflect the history of France-of St. Martin and Gregory of Tours, of the great kings from Louis XI to Francois I, of the great chateaux and the women who ruled them, of Rabelais, Ronsard, Du Bellay, and Balzac. In French. (55 minutes)
#2996 French Culture - The Chateaux of the Loire (Run time 42 min.) DVD $89.95
From Amboise to Blois to Chenonceaux to Chambord, this tour of the chateaux of the Loire serves up a fascinating mix of political and architectural history, scandal, poetry, and local color. The program shows how French architecture made superb use of Italian Renaissance style while maintaining a distinctly French character. As well as examining the buildings themselves, the program offers an overview of the times in which these chateaux were being built, showing the role played by war and peace, famine and recovery, politics and jealousy in the lives of the chateaux and the people who built and inhabited them. In the process we see how Louis XII, Francois I, Henry II, Francois II, and Catherine de Medici and others left their marks on this valley. (42 minutes)English
#7083 French Culture - The Many Faces of Fontainebleau (Run time 48 min.) DVD $89.95
The Chateau of Fontainebleau epitomizes the grandeur and opulence of the French monarchy, conjuring images of courtly excesses and royal intrigues. A good portion of 17th- and 18th-century French history examined in this program lies hidden within its walls. Cameras move through rooms including the Salon de Jour, Baptistry, and Royal Apartments and examine various works of art and decorative appointments introduced by French monarchs from Francois I and Louis XIV to Napoleon Bonaparte. Expert commentary relates each feature, and the building itself, to specific periods in French history, and to the political intrigues and private dalliances of Fontainebleau's royal occupants. Also available in English. (48 minutes)French
#7084 French Culture - The Many Faces of Fontainebleau (Run time 48 min.) DVD $89.95
The Chateau of Fontainebleau epitomizes the grandeur and opulence of the French monarchy, conjuring images of courtly excesses and royal intrigues. A good portion of 17th- and 18th-century French history examined in this program lies hidden within its walls. Cameras move through rooms including the Salon de Jour, Baptistry, and Royal Apartments and examine various works of art and decorative appointments introduced by French monarchs from Francois I and Louis XIV to Napoleon Bonaparte. Expert commentary relates each feature, and the building itself, to specific periods in French history, and to the political intrigues and private dalliances of Fontainebleau's royal occupants. (48 minutes)English
#8793 French Culture - Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Run time 15 min.) DVD $89.95
The father of the social contract and of liberalism, Rousseau was the intellectual catalyst who shaped the ideals of the French Revolution. This program examines the life and work of this seminal writer, whose ideals of liberty and equality were essential to the 18th century. In French. (15 minutes)
#1616 French Drama & Literature - Moliere: Dom Juan (Run time 106 min.) DVD $89.95
By transforming the character of Don Juan from unscrupulous seducer into a man of overweening pride, cynicism, and disdain, Moliere turned a Spanish theme into a thoroughly French play and offended so many that the play was withdrawn. Posterity has judged more kindly. (French, 106 minutes, b&w)
#1620 French Drama & Literature - Honore de Balzac: L'Adieu (Run time 90 min.) DVD $89.95
Balzac in a more lyrical mood, between stories of old Pere Goriot and the criminal Vautrin, depicting an impassioned man willing to go to any lengths to win back the woman he loves. (90 minutes, b&w)
#1747 French Drama & Literature - Antoine de Saint-Exupery et Le Petit Prince (Run time 33 min.) DVD $89.95
A consideration of the book and its importance, which reaches far beyond that of a children's fable, interwoven with dramatic readings from it and with details of the author's life and his search for spiritual meaning in flight. (French, 33 minutes, b&w)
#2123 French Drama & Literature - The Works of La Fontaine (Run time 26 min.) DVD $89.95
A program about the life and work of the great-and enigmatic-fabulist whose renditions of Aesop in verse hold up animals as a mirror for man. Splendidly illustrated 18th-century books containing the fables as well as other stories by La Fontaine provide the visuals for some of La Fontaine's most charming and trenchant fables-light-handedly moral, elegantly voiced, and a sourcebook of what have become some of France's most frequently-used aphorisms. (26 minutes)
#3363 French Drama & Literature - Colette: Bella Vista (Run time 90 min.) DVD $89.95
A very stylish production, based on Colette's novel, and set in a country inn where the author is herself a visitor. The focus is less on what happens than on how, and with what, and to whom, all seen through the discerning eye of France's greatest woman novelist of the first part of the 20th century. (French, 90 minutes)
#5072 French Drama & Literature - Samuel Beckett: Tous ceux qui tombent (Run time 60 min.) DVD $89.95
Beckett, expatriate Irishman resident in Paris, was a truly bilingual author who wrote both in French and in English, translating most of the works he wrote in English into French, and vice versa. Tous ceux qui tombent (All that Fall)-written in English and translated by Robert Pinget-is a barely human and absurdist dialogue between a semi-functional old woman and her blind husband. As always with Beckett, the onus is on the director to stage a dramatic production of a play that lacks any real action while remaining faithful to the mood and language of Beckett-a challenge successfully met here by Michel Mitrani. (French, 60 minutes, b&w)
#5076 French Drama & Literature - Francois Mauriac: Le Noeud de Viperes (Run time 96 min.) DVD $89.95
This story of greed and family discord is set, like so much of Mauriac's fiction, in his native Bordeaux: Louis, in the twilight of his life, writes a long letter to his wife and, in the process, the milestones of his life burst to the forefront of his memory-all the irritations, anger, and shame. And to what end? He contemplates disinheriting his children, who are only waiting for him to die so they can get ahold of his money. (French, 96 minutes)
#5077 French Drama & Literature - Maurice Maeterlinck: L'Oiseau Bleu (Run time 90 min.) DVD $89.95
Christmas Eve is a night unlike any other. On this night, Tyttyl and her sister Mytyl go to sleep peacefully. But as soon as they have closed their eyes, they meet a weak, old fairy who begs them to find the blue bird, the only thing that can save her sick little daughter. With the help of a magic hat, the children-guided and protected by the Light-journey to the Land of Memories, the Kingdom of the Night, and the Garden of Happiness, among other strange places, in their search for the mysterious bird. The world of such fantasies was destroyed by World War I; Maeterlinck's work remains a classic of children's literature. (French, 90 minutes)
#5085 French Drama & Literature - Guy de Maupassant: Histoire Vraie (Run time 64 min.) DVD $89.95
Maupassant's story is of a young servant girl seduced, made pregnant, and abandoned by her master, who dies because she cannot live without him. This dramatized version focuses on the relationships between people and the landscapes amid which they live, a story reflective both of Maupassant's view of life and of the style in which he described it. (French, 64 minutes)
#5087 French Drama & Literature - Balzac: Le Cousin Pons (Run time 102 min.) DVD $89.95
Pons, an art collector, is considered a parasite by those who know him until they discover the value of his collection of objets d'art. In various ways and by various means, unscrupulous characters try to separate the old man and his heir from their possessions. This pessimistic story about men's obsession with money marks the conclusion of the Comedie Humaine. (French, 102 minutes)
#5088 French Drama & Literature - Alfred Jarry: Ubu Roi (Run time 97 min.) DVD $89.95
Satirical, farcical, absurd, surrealistic... Almost any word that describes the opposite of the Sarah Bernhardt image is appropriate for Jarry's magnum opus. A generation before the Dadaists, Jarry was outrageous by profession. Ubu Roi , famous by name, can now be experienced: a cruel puppet show which embodies human stupidity taken to the extremes, this production uses every imaginable electronic gimmick to represent the characters as ridiculous puppets, bustling around the omnipresent Ubu, who is himself a puppet. (French, 97 minutes, b&w)
#8780 French Drama & Literature - Le Parapluie (Run time 31 min.) DVD $89.95
A caustic and satirical portrayal of the odd habits and pettiness of low-ranking civil servants. This dramatization brings to life the concerns and cares of the petite bourgeoisie. In French. (31 minutes)
#8781 French Drama & Literature - La Parure (Run time 21 min.) DVD $89.95
The story of a woman who borrows her friend's necklace, only to lose it, this dramatization of Maupassant's cynical and caustic tale will delight students of all levels. In French. (21 minutes)
#8782 French Drama & Literature - Qui Sait? (Run time 19 min.) DVD $89.95
One of Maupassant's more "fantastic" tales, this story poses the question of what is fear and what are its consequences. A chilling story. In French. (19 minutes)
#8783 French Drama & Literature - Le Horla (Run time 17 min.) DVD $89.95
A gripping story that explores the ambiguities between the supernatural and the natural, this dramatization portrays one man's descent into the "fantastic" and his ensuing madness. In French. (17 minutes)
#8789 French Drama & Literature - Chateaubriand (Run time 14 min.) DVD $89.95
A predecessor of Romanticism and an activist and participant in the Bourbon monarchy, Chateaubriand embodied conservative 19th-century politics. This program analyzes both the writer and his turbulent times and offers a glimpse into post-Napoleonic France and one of the men whose writings and actions influenced the era. In French. (14 minutes)
#8790 French Drama & Literature - Flaubert (Run time 15 min.) DVD $89.95
Infamous for his most popular novel, Madame Bovary, for which he was unsuccessfully prosecuted, Flaubert was a relentless critic of bourgeois morality and hypocrisy. This program examines 19th-century French society, which was the impetus for many of his greatest, and most scandalous, works. In French. (15 minutes)
#2460 French History - The Battle of Cholet: 1794 (Run time 38 min.) DVD $89.95
War against the oppressive ancien regime, that was the battle cry of the French Revolution; wars against foreign enemies-of France and of the Revolution-were to be expected and were fought out of patriotism; but civil war, grounded in differences of principle, required taking a moral position. The revolt in the Vendee undermined the very concept of Revolution, for if the people were fighting the Revolution, restoring power to the enemies of the Revolution, what was the Revolution all about? This program looks at the issues underlying the revolt in the Vendee, the brutal manner in which it was put down, and the lessons France learned from this most vicious and unforgiving of civil wars. (38 minutes)English
#2463 French History - The Battle of Waterloo: 1815 (Run time 32 min.) DVD $89.95
Of all the battles Napoleon fought, and despite all his great victories, the most famous is the one he lost-Waterloo. This program looks at the events leading up to Waterloo: the French Revolution and the anxieties it aroused in other European monarchies; the ancient enmity between England and France; the rise of Napoleon; his many successes until he failed in Russia; his abdication and removal to Elba; his return; and the battle itself, with all its characters and its character. The Battle of Waterloo was the end of a chapter that had begun with the cry of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity and ended with a military adventure that cost over a million lives. (32 minutes)English
#2466 French History - The Paris Commune (Run time 32 min.) DVD $89.95
Paris in 1871 was a city of stark contrasts: Napoleon III and his Empress Eugenie ruled over a splendid Court; the Universal Exhibition was celebrating the miracles of the Machine Age; Baron Haussmann, redesigning Paris to create avenues splendid both for the vista and for the effective firing of cannons, had unleashed a speculative fever in Parisian real estate; and the poor, squeezed by industrialization, were squeezed beyond the point of no return when they were forced by higher rents to vacate their living quarters. These were the pre-conditions; the Franco-Prussian War, the siege of Paris, and finally the armistice with Bismarck was the spark that ignited the battle. The Commune was born, and for one bloody week there was talk of all those hopeless dreams of mankind: the brotherhood of man and the end of bureaucracy and exploitation. This program shows the conditions that gave rise to the Commune, the Communards, and the indescribably brutal manner in which the rest of France put an end to the Bloody Week of the Commune. (32 minutes)English
#2588 French History - Charles de Gaulle (Run time 14 min.) DVD $89.95
Leader of the one and only successful French counter-attack against the Germans before the Liberation, who escaped to London and issued the clarion call, "France has lost a battle, she has not lost the war," Charles de Gaulle badgered and bullied his way through the war years, demanding a larger role for France than Churchill and Roosevelt were willing to give a country that had barely lifted a finger against Hitler. From the time he landed on the Normandy beaches in June of 1944, he was in and out of power in France: heading the triumphant entry of Allied troops into Paris, heading the provisional French government, retiring from political life and then, because of the problems in Algeria, returning as President of the Fifth Republic. As President, he pursued a policy infuriating to the U.S. among other former allies: testing a French atomic bomb, keeping Britain out of the European Common Market, and encouraging Quebec's separatist movement. This program follows these events through the Sorbonne siege of 1968, which effectively proved that de Gaulle was out of date, to his resignation, and his death. (14 minutes)
#2729 French History - La Bataille de Poitiers: 733 (Run time 55 min.) DVD $89.95
In 711, Berbers and Moors invaded Spain, while a two-pronged attack was undertaken against Europe east of the Pyrenees. The stand-off would take place at Poitiers. This program describes the territory of Gaul at this time; the role of Christianity; the warriors on both sides and the battle itself, with its strange ending; and the retreat of the Saracens with Charles Martel in pursuit for nine long years. France was being built as Islam was pushed to the far side of the Pyrenees. Also available in English. (55 minutes)French
#2851 French History - La Bataille de Hastings: 1066 (Run time 52 min.) DVD $89.95
This program tells the background of William the Conqueror and his wife, Mathilde, of William's uncle Edward the Confessor, and of Harold of Wessex. With artifacts and battle sites, and above all with the Bayeux Tapestry as guide and text, this program tells the story of the conquest of England by the Normans. Also available in English. (52 minutes)French
#2853 French History - La Bataille de Quebec: 1759 (Run time 57 min.) DVD $89.95
The battle between England and France which was decided in Quebec determined the future of Canada, and of the United States as well. This program describes the founding of Quebec in 1608, and of the French colony, Canada. A hundred and fifty years later, in 1759, it was officially named New France-a small colony of some 60,000 living along the banks of the St. Lawrence; Montreal had been founded; and French explorers had explored, and claimed in the name of their king, territories from the frozen North down to the Gulf of Mexico. Seeking to restrain the English colonists, who outnumbered the French perhaps 20 to 1, the French built a series of forts, Ft. Duquesne and Ft. Niagara among them. The program analyzes the causes for the French and Indian War, the strategies and feints, and shows the siege of Quebec and the final bitter battle on the Plains of Abraham in which both Wolfe and Montcalm perished. Three days later Quebec fell to the British-the end of Quebec as a province of France but not, as we have come to understand, as a French province. Also available in English. (57 minutes)French
#2855 French History - La Bataille de Cholet: 1794 (Run time 60 min.) DVD $89.95
War against the oppressive ancien regime, that was the battle cry of the French Revolution; wars against foreign enemies-of France and of the Revolution-were to be expected and were fought out of patriotism; but civil war, grounded in differences of principle, required taking a moral position. The revolt in the Vendee undermined the very concept of Revolution, for if the people were fighting the Revolution, restoring power to the enemies of the Revolution, what was the Revolution all about? This program looks at the issues underlying the revolt in the Vendee, the brutal manner in which it was put down, and the lessons France learned from this most vicious and unforgiving of civil wars. Also available in English. (60 minutes)French
#2858 French History - La Bataille de Waterloo: 1815 (Run time 52 min.) DVD $89.95
Of all the battles Napoleon fought, and despite all his great victories, the most famous is the one he lost-Waterloo. This program looks at the events leading up to Waterloo: the French Revolution and the anxieties it aroused in other European monarchies; the ancient enmity between England and France; the rise of Napoleon; his many successes until he failed in Russia; his abdication and removal to Elba; his return; and the battle itself, with all its characters and its character. Also available in English. (52 minutes)French
#2861 French History - La Bataille de la Marne: 1915 (Run time 52 min.) DVD $89.95
The Battle of the Marne is the demarcation between the ancient and the modern world, between wars fought with white gloves and those fought by killing machines. This program examines the roots of the First World War: France's loss of Alsace and Lorraine in 1870; the pan-Germanism promoted by the Kaiser and the pan-Slavism by Tsar Nicholas; the jealousy and arrogance of the Germans, and their growing industrial power; the decay of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; the intertwining ententes and alliances, the words of honor given that would send millions to their deaths. The program documents the struggles, the forced marches, the uneven confrontation between well-trained soldiers and patriotic farmers; portrays the leaders on both sides; and details the battle of the Marne-a vicious, bloody battle that in earlier times would have signaled the end of a war. This one would last four more years, cost nine million lives, and solve nothing. Also available in English. (52 minutes)French
#33517 French History - A Short Story of France's Epic Language-in French (Run time 28 min.) DVD $89.95
From medieval Gaul to the Age of the Internet, the French language has kept in step with history, changing and growing with the times yet never losing its unique character. This program stops at various points along the timeline to spotlight important chapters in the story of the evolution of a vibrant linguistic melange in locales as diverse as Europe, North America, and Africa. Many maps, representative texts from across the centuries, and newsreel clips help tell the tale. (French, 28 minutes)
#33518 French History - The Many Flavors of French-in French (Run time 27 min.) DVD $89.95
This program travels from Lyon and its surrounding region to Belgium, Switzerland, Senegal, and Quebec to savor some of the various flavors of French that have flourished on the Continent and abroad. Native speakers sing the language's praises and in doing so offer interesting insights into the cultures they represent-places where French must compete with other languages for prominence. (French, 27 minutes)
#33520 French History - Learning French: Lessons from the Mother Country-in French (Run time 26 min.) DVD $89.95
For children learning their mother tongue, class is always in session. Drawing on the knowledge of linguist Marc Wimet, the Sorbonne's Jean Pierre Goudailler, and Benedicte de Boysson-Bardies, author of How Language Comes to Children, this program looks at the process of language acquisition at home, at school, and among peers in both city and suburban settings. Standard French and slang are each considered. A must for understanding how students of a variety of ages can best learn language skills. (French, 26 minutes)
#33521 French History - The Incorrigible Orthography of French-in French (Run time 28 min.) DVD $89.95
This program talks about the origins of French orthography and the 1990 attempt at spelling rectification, which, inaccurately presented as spelling reform, ended in a public furor. Key figures in the case-reform promoters and their opponents, including former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard-all have a say. (French, 28 minutes)
#2156 French Language Instruction - Allo Oui! (Run time 35 min.) DVD $89.95
Speaking and understanding a foreign language, as all teachers and learners know, is much more difficult than reading; and speaking and understanding on the telephone is the most difficult of all, because there is no body language, no facial expressions, no moving lips to help. This program teaches the user to make business sense in French telephone conversation; it is divided into basic vocabulary, spelling names in French, saying French phone numbers, how and where to find French phones, the system of French telephone numbers, and talking on the phone. (35 minutes)
#2714 French Language Instruction - French Negatives (Run time 26 min.) DVD $89.95
A highly visual and humorously dramatic introduction to the concept of the negative in language and specifically to the nature and proper usage of ne, pas, plus, jamais, rien, and personne. Produced by the Inner London Education Authority, whose success in teaching French is attested to by the large number of Londoners who now speak a fluent, correct, and well-accented French. (25 minutes)
#2715 French Language Instruction - Gender in French (Run time 27 min.) DVD $89.95
By means of skits and songs, this program first teaches the concepts of pronouns and adjectives in English, and then demonstrates how in French there is no "it"-everything is either masculine or feminine. This lesson is then applied to the uses of le and la, un and une, il and elle, and the agreement of adjectives with nouns. (27 minutes)
#30045 French Language Instruction - Beginning with Bonjour: Hello and What Follows (Run time 16 min.) DVD $89.95
This program covers how to greet friends, introduce oneself to strangers, talk about where one comes from, and tell what one does for a living. Settings include an exhibition of rare books, a yacht race, an opera festival, a youth orchestra performance, and numerous other locales. "Bienvenue en France!" Original BBC broadcast title: Talk French, Program 1. (French and English, 16 minutes)
#30046 French Language Instruction - Handling Social Situations with Finesse (Run time 16 min.) DVD $89.95
Filmed at a bustling cafe, a wedding, a christening, and a variety of other interesting locations, this program shows how to order and pay for beverages and how to express familial relationships and marital status. Commentary provides insights into cafe culture and family life in France. Original BBC broadcast title: Talk French, Program 2. (French and English, 16 minutes)
#30047 French Language Instruction - Excusez-Moi, Where Is the...? Dealing with Directions (Run time 16 min.) DVD $89.95
When traveling, finding one's way around is a big part of the adventure. This program demonstrates how to ask for and give directions when touring in urban and rural settings and how to say where one lives and works. Architectural landmarks such as Le Corbusier's Cite Radieuse, in Marseille, and the magnificent mansions lining the Cours Mirabeau, in Aix-en-Provence, are featured. Original BBC broadcast title: Talk French, Program 3. (French and English, 16 minutes)
#30048 French Language Instruction - Traveling in France: Booking Passage, Booking Rooms (Run time 16 min.) DVD $89.95
In France, traveling by public transportation is a popular way to see the sights. This program introduces questions and answers related to buying train and boat tickets and arranging for lodgings. Settings include a harbor near the famous Chateau d'If, a train terminal, a hotel, a bed-and-breakfast, and a variety of other interesting locations. Original BBC broadcast title: Talk French, Program 4. (French and English, 16 minutes)
#30049 French Language Instruction - What's Cooking? Food Shopping and Dining in France (Run time 16 min.) DVD $89.95
"J'adore le poisson grille." "J'ai horreur des broccolis." "J'aime beaucoup les fruits." This program focuses on the vocabulary of food. Featured activities include cherry-picking in Aurons, buying produce and lunching in Aix-en-Provence, and gathering ingredients for bouillabaisse at the fish market in Marseille. Original BBC broadcast title: Talk French, Program 5. (French and English, 16 minutes)
#30050 French Language Instruction - Enjoying the Weekend, French-Style (Run time 16 min.) DVD $89.95
This program spotlights the language of leisure. Topics of discussion include favorite athletic activities, such as hiking and the immensely popular petanque; landscape painting around Mount St. Victoire, immortalized by Cezanne; recreational shopping; and nightlife in Marseille, where outdoor restaurants and discotheques are always in vogue. Original BBC broadcast title: Talk French, Program 6. (French and English, 16 minutes)
#33519 French Language Instruction - Francophones from Around the World-in French (Run time 28 min.) DVD $89.95
Filmed in some surprising locales-Madagascar and Mauritius, Cambodia and Japan, and Louisiana as well-this program looks at how French has been adopted and adapted in many corners of the world where it is not the official language. For these Francophones, speaking la belle langue francaise is a matter of tradition...and an affair of the heart. (French, 28 minutes)
#5086 French Culture - Memoire d'un vieux quartier: Les Halles (Run time 137 min.) DVD $99.95
This program brings back to life a world that has disappeared: the old neighborhood of Les Halles and its spectacular covered market, revived, as it were, through interviews with people who recount tales of their trade, old traditions, stories about how the market was used, and other little known or barely remembered facts. Along with this 19th-century world that thrived in the underbelly of Paris, we get to meet Dede the butcher, Irene the greengrocer, and Edouard, the main man in the market. (French, 2 hours 17 minutes)
#7723 French Culture - Paris: 1900 (Run time 14 min.) DVD $99.95
It is the turn of the century-fin de siecle. This program captures that magical period in all of its glory on archival film by the renowned Lumiere brothers. Take a personal tour of the World's Fair, attend the Opera Comique, view Rodin's Gates of Hell, visit with Picasso and the Impressionists. This is Paris at the end of a major cultural epoch. (14 minutes)
#1628 French Drama & Literature - Diderot: Jacques le fataliste (Run time 120 min.) DVD $99.95
Like the author, Jacques is a discursive talker and a fatalist. Recounting the story of his amorous adventures to his master as they travel from inn to inn, Jacques is continually interrupted by the interference of events, chance encounters, conversational digressions-which, together with the thread of the main story, serve to expound Diderot's central thesis of fatalism. (French, 2 hours)
#3364 French Drama & Literature - Alfred de Musset: Les Caprices de Marianne (Run time 93 min.) DVD $99.95
Like most Romantic writers, Musset was his own favorite subject. Here the protagonist is being courted simultaneously by a cynical libertine and a shy Romantic-both of whom are aspects of the author. The Romantic, mistakenly believing himself betrayed by his friend and rival, dies brokenhearted, whereupon the other man rejects Marianne. (French, 93 minutes)
#4019 French Drama & Literature - Victor Hugo: Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamne (Run time 90 min.) DVD $99.95
In protest against the inhumanity of the penal system of his day, and particularly against the death penalty, Victor Hugo created this image of a man on his way to the scaffold, who confides his last thoughts, describes life in prison, and imagines the moment of death. This filmed version is the very exemplar of how a good story can be transferred brilliantly to the screen. (French, 90 minutes)
#10038 French Drama & Literature - Marcel Proust: Remembrance of Things Past (Run time 60 min.) DVD $99.95
Withdrawing from the glittering high society he had so avidly courted, Marcel Proust spent the last decade of his life in virtual isolation, writing and revising Remembrance of Things Past. This program focuses on an intriguing dramatization of part seven of Proust's magnum opus, in which narrator Marcel attends a reception for the new Princesse de Guermantes and discovers his life's true vocation in the process. Professor Michel Butor, of Geneva University, and translator Terence Kilmartin add keen insights into the novel's philosophical exploration of time, memory, and individual creativity. (60 minutes)
#2471 French History - Paris Through the Ages (Run time 62 min.) DVD $119.95
From its beginnings as a small fishing village inhabited by the Parisii during the third century B.C. through Caesar's conquest of Gaul and its acquisition of the name Lutetia, from its consecration as the capital of Capetian France in the 10th century through Villon to the student rebellion of 1968, Paris has been synonymous with France as no other national capital is. This program tells the story of Paris and its people: kings and councilors, poets and painters, architects and gardeners...rich and poor, aristocrats of ancient lineage and new immigrants, people of exquisite and those of execrable taste-Parisians all. In French. (58 minutes)
#1697 French Drama & Literature - Racine: Phedre (Run time 110 min.) DVD $129.95
Here is a spectacular French production of Racine's great play that treats the classical past with respect while demonstrating its continued, living interest. If it was the playwright's goal to show people as they are-not as they ought to be-then this performance represents French classical drama at its most moving, with equal attention to the language itself, the lavishness of sets and costumes, and the passion and appropriateness of the acting. (French, 110 minutes)
#8788 French Drama & Literature - Balzac (Run time 14 min.) DVD $129.95
Balzac's tour de force, La Comedie Humaine, is a panorama of French history and society. His attempt to present a complete social history of France with scientific accuracy and in minute detail testifies to his prodigious literary energy. This program presents the prolific author's life and places him in a larger historical context of Romanticism and the 19th century. In French. (14 minutes)
#8791 French Drama & Literature - Jean de La Fontaine (Run time 15 min.) DVD $129.95
La Fontaine is famous for his poems, verse, and fables, which elicited great controversy and condemnation by the police, the royal court, and L'Academie Francaise. Condemned for the ribald content of his Contes et Nouvelles en Vers, La Fontaine nevertheless produced many works that continue to entertain today. This program examines his critique of the French court and the perversion that is the by-product of absolute power. A wonderful overview of 17th-century French society. In French. (15 minutes)
#8792 French Drama & Literature - Michel de Montaigne (Run time 14 min.) DVD $129.95
Michel de Montaigne, renowned as an author and philosophe, was a proponent of humanism and an opponent of tyranny. His writing style has been described as "the dialogue of the mind with itself." This program presents Montaigne and the world that he encountered and described in his three-volume work Essaies. An excellent resource for both students of literature and French history and culture. In French. (14 minutes)
#33390 French Drama & Literature - Victor Hugo (Run time 25 min.) DVD $129.95
The life of Victor Hugo, one of the giants of French literature, is a study in contrasts. This program chronicles how a man born into humble circumstances became a staunch monarchist and then a political liberal and supporter of the French republic. Though he lived many years in exile, Hugo was considered the conscience of the Republic, and his fame as a political force rivaled his renown as the author of plays, prose, and poetry. As a writer, he conquered the stage for Romanticism with his play Hernani and captured the imagination of untold millions with his epic novel Les Miserables. Readings from Hugo's vast oeuvre are included throughout the program. (25 minutes)
#2717 French Culture - Montreal (Run time 55 min.) DVD $149.95
A portrait of Mount Royal and why its French name stuck: its evolution from supply depot to French explorers and farmers to its development as one of the world's principal cities. This program examines the characteristics and character of the original French population and the reasons for and manner in which that French character remained despite-and in some ways because of-the loss of Quebec to the English. In showing us the city, its history, its monuments, and its life, the program examines the separate lives of Franco- and Anglophones, and shows the effect of Montreal's metropolitanization on the Francophone citizenry. In French. (55 minutes)
#2854 French Culture - Le Saint-Laurent (Run time 58 min.) DVD $149.95
This program follows the history of New France; the discoveries of Cartier and Champlain; the story of what the Indians called Kebec (which the French spelled Quebec), which means "river [i.e., the St. Lawrence] narrow here"; the growth of industry and population on both sides of the international border; and the changing role of the river from barrier to international symbol. In French. (58 minutes)
#1619 French Drama & Literature - Victor Hugo: Les Miserables (Run time 228 min.) DVD $149.95
A vivid, compelling film dramatization of Hugo's great novel, which provides students with an excellent historical and social portrait of France-and particularly Paris-at mid-19th century, as well as an insightful treatment of one of the greatest of all novels, one which is part of the basic cultural vocabulary. (French, 3 hours 48 minutes)
#4037 French Drama & Literature - Alfred de Musset: Lorenzaccio (Run time 150 min.) DVD $149.95
This historical drama, by one of the pillars of the French Romantic movement, is concerned with the psychological voyage of the young Lorenzo de' Medici, who, to gain the confidence of the ruling despot, adopts-and soon discovers he enjoys-the excesses for which the Medici are famous. The protagonist's introspective nature and Hamlet-like hesitancy in taking action add a philosophical dimension to the swashbuckling action. (French, 150 minutes)
#5875 French Drama & Literature - Moliere: Le Misanthrope (Run time 125 min.) DVD $149.95
Moliere lives, and there are always refreshed recognitions of the universality of his characters and the ubiquity of human vanity, folly, and greed. This is the superb 1994 made-for-TV production, directed by Jacques Weber and produced for Canal+. (French, 2 hours 5 minutes)
#7717 French Drama & Literature - Rabelais and His World (Run time 23 min.) DVD $149.95
Francois Rabelais-satirist, humanist, and physician-did not have an easy time of it during his life. His most famous work, Gargantua, was condemned by the Catholic Church for its unorthodox ideas and mockery of religious practices. This program examines the 16th-century masterpiece within the context of the epoch in which it was written, providing a comprehensive overview of the work, of Rabelais the man, and of the dogmatic world in which he lived. In advanced French. (23 minutes)
#7718 French Drama & Literature - Emile Zola (Run time 14 min.) DVD $149.95
Emile Zola, his writings, and the social issues that inspired him are the topics of this program. Using dramatizations of portions of three of Zola's most famous works-Les Victimes de l'Alcoolisme, Medan, and Germanal-we see how they reflected important events of Zola's day, including the Paris Commune and the Dreyfus Affair. In French. (14 minutes)
#10057 French Drama & Literature - Marguerite Yourcenar: A Reluctant Celebrity (Run time 58 min.) DVD $149.95
The first woman to be elected to the Academie Francaise and a close contender for a Nobel Prize, Marguerite Yourcenar remained characteristically indifferent to public life and professional honors. This program-shot on location at her hermitage on Mount Desert Island a year before her death in 1987-profiles the life and literature of a renowned novelist, poet, and essayist who viewed the world and even herself with a curious detachment. Best known for her historical novels such as Memoirs of Hadrian, excerpts of which are read by actress Janet Suzman, Yourcenar displays her remarkable range by reading lyrics from her offbeat Blues et Gospels. (58 minutes)
#10094 French Drama & Literature - Marguerite Duras: Worn Out with Desire . . . to Write (Run time 52 min.) DVD $149.95
She was the sort of woman who spared neither herself nor others-and arguably qualifies as 20th-century France's greatest femme de lettres. In this interview, the late novelist and filmmaker talks openly about the hardship and the romance of her childhood in French Indochina, sharing how this period haunted her life and shaped her work. Excerpts from her films and readings from her books by actress Elizabeth Rider and Duras herself-including The Lover, winner of the Prix Goncourt and translated into more than forty languages-bring to life those formative years in Vietnam. (52 minutes)
#10758 French Drama & Literature - Les Precieuses Ridicules (Run time 62 min.) DVD $149.95
Gorgibus, a provincial bourgeois, moves to Paris in the hopes of marrying his daughter and niece to a pair of young men of good families. Unfortunately, Magdelon and Cathos, enamored of the affectations of Parisian society, reject their suitors for lacking the flamboyant manners they so adore. In retaliation, the suitors pass off their valets as highly fashionable noblemen, who succeed in infatuating the snobbish young ladies-and when the subterfuge is revealed, their mortification is complete. This play was Moliere's first comedy of manners. Directed by Georges Bensoussan. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (French, 63 minutes)
#10759 French Drama & Literature - L'Ecole des Femmes (Run time 150 min.) DVD $149.95
Fearful of falling victim to marital infidelity, bachelor Arnolphe schemes to marry his guileless young ward, Agnes, whom he has had raised in a convent specifically to be his model wife. However, his naive plan is spoiled when Agnes runs away with Horace-a fact that Arnolphe learns when Horace unwittingly asks him to conceal her at his home. Before Arnolphe can react, it is revealed that Agnes' wealthy father has formally arranged her marriage to Horace, dashing his hopes forever. This play-Moliere's greatest commercial success-drew heavy attacks for supposed moral and literary flaws. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (French, 2 parts, 67 minutes and 72 minutes)
#10760 French Drama & Literature - L'Impromptu de Versailles (Run time 56 min.) DVD $149.95
Under the pretext of holding an improvised rehearsal at Versailles, Moliere gathers his actors and attempts to explain his conception of drama while defining the poetics of a rigorous and innovative dramatic art-and in the process settles some accounts with the troupe of the Hotel de Bourgogne. This play, along with La Critique de L'Ecole des Femmes, served as Moliere's response to the severe criticism of his L'Ecole des Femmes. Directed by Georges Bensoussan. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (French, 56 minutes)
#10761 French Drama & Literature - Le Mariage Force (Run time 71 min.) DVD $149.95
Sganarelle is a wealthy man of sixty-four who proposes to Dorimene, a flirtatious young woman in her teens. But as second thoughts assail him, he consults with his friend Geronimo, a couple of philosophers, and even a pair of fortune-tellers. Convinced that he will become the butt of marital infidelity, he struggles to break off the engagement-until Dorimene's brother gives him a sound beating, which persuades him to finish what he has started. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (French, 71 minutes)
#10762 French Drama & Literature - Le Misanthrope (Run time 135 min.) DVD $149.95
Having lost all patience with the flattery and hypocrisy of fashionable society, Alceste has vowed to speak and act only with complete sincerity. Paradoxically, he falls in love with the epitome of all that he despises: the cruel coquette Celimene. Disgusted by his loss in a lawsuit in which justice was on his side, Alceste resolves to abandon society once and for all, and asks Celimene to accompany him. Unfortunately, she is more in love with her frivolous lifestyle than with him. Alceste departs alone. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (French, 2 parts, 80 minutes and 61 minutes)
#10763 French Drama & Literature - Tartuffe (Run time 120 min.) DVD $149.95
When the religious charlatan Tartuffe insinuates himself into the household of the wealthy but credulous Orgon, it is not long before he takes over, acquiring the deed to the property, disinheriting Orgon's son, and becoming betrothed to Orgon's daughter. But when clever Elmire, Orgon's wife, trips up the imposter, Orgon throws him out-only to find himself arrested and his family evicted instead. A last-minute intervention by the King restores order and metes out justice. This play was suppressed twice before permission was given to perform it freely. Directed by Georges Bensoussan. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (French, 2 parts, 70 minutes and 50 minutes)
#10764 French Drama & Literature - Les Femmes Savantes (Run time 134 min.) DVD $149.95
Pseudo-intellectualism is all the fashion, and Chrysale is a man under siege. Philaminte, his wife, is enthralled by the pedantic poet Trissotin and is determined to marry their youngest daughter, Henriette, to him in spite of her husband's opposition and Henriette's protests that she be allowed to marry the sensible Clitandre. In the end, Henriette is united with her beloved, but not before Trissotin abandons his suit-just when it appears that the family's fortunes have been lost through Philaminte's spendthrift highbrow pursuits. Directed by Georges Bensoussan. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (French, 2 parts, 87 minutes and 48 minutes)
#32304 French Drama & Literature - Dom Juan-in French (Run time 142 min.) DVD $149.95
A notorious lothario, Dom Juan is the despair of his longsuffering servant, Sganarelle. He carries on his many seductions without a care, deceiving and leaving woman after woman-including the noble Elvire, whose brothers promptly swear vengeance against him. After successfully eluding them, Dom Juan mockingly invites to dinner the statue of a man he had recently killed. When the statue's arrival prompts him to fake a repentant change of heart, an overtaxed Providence cuts the scene short by opening a flaming abyss at his feet and dropping him into Hell. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (French, 2 parts, 62 minutes and 80 minutes)
#32305 French Drama & Literature - Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme-in French (Run time 145 min.) DVD $149.95
Monsieur Jourdain, a wealthy tradesman, is sparing no expense to try to buy what he can never be: a born gentleman. As delightful as he is fatuous and as genuine as he is naive, M. Jourdain's attempts to transform himself through custom-tailored clothing and all manner of lessons are absurd to everyone-except himself. But when his pretensions lead him to refuse his daughter's hand to Cleante on the grounds that the young man is not a gentleman, he goes too far. Thanks to a clever scheme, she and her beloved find the happiness they seek. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (French, 2 parts, 93 minutes and 52 minutes)
#32306 French Drama & Literature - Le Malade Imaginaire-in French (Run time 123 min.) DVD $149.95
Hypochondriac Argan's household revolves around his obsession with his chronic imaginary illnesses. Served by a pair of unscrupulous doctors, Argan even goes so far as to try to marry off his daughter Angelique to one of their sons so he would have a physician in the family. But Angelique is in love with Cleante, and it takes all of the wiles of servant Toinette to bring about their marriage. Le Malade Imaginaire was Moliere's last play. Playing Argan, he collapsed onstage during a performance and died that very night. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (French, 2 parts, 66 minutes and 57 minutes)
#36151 French Drama & Literature - Arthur Rimbaud (Run time 59 min.) DVD $149.95
His incendiary poetry assaulted the constraints of European society, helped to define the Symbolist movement, and influenced generations of later writers-including many Surrealists, Beat poets, and even rockers like Jim Morrison. This program combines a stunning visual biography of Arthur Rimbaud with excerpts from key texts, forging a unique study of the poet's personality and examining his relationship with his mother and with Paul Verlaine. Images and footage of the settings in which Rimbaud grew up, worked, loved, traveled, and lived out his final years provide a dynamic backdrop for readings from "Le bateau ivre," Une Saison en Enfer, and several other works and letters. (59 minutes)
#33522 French Language Instruction - French ABCs: Learning the Alphabet, with a Twist-in French (Run time 54 min.) DVD $149.95
Composed of 27 mini-chapters-one for each letter of the alphabet, plus the @ of e-mail-this program cleverly reinforces knowledge of French language and culture through a wide variety of topics, ranging from Accents, Babillage, and Crise...to Langues Regionales, Mots d'Ailleurs, and Nombres...to XXL, Yen/Dollar/Euro, Ziboulateur, and @ Demain. Commentary by well-known linguists and grammarians stresses the flexibility of the French language and its ability to rise to each new linguistic challenge. (French, 53 minutes)
#10754 French Drama & Literature - Berenice by Racine (Run time 169 min.) DVD $159.95
Based loosely upon the events following the death of the Roman emperor Vespasian in the 1st century, Berenice is the story of a love triangle in which Emperor Titus and his friend Antiochus, King of Commagene, both fall in love with the Queen of Judea: Berenice. This production by the incomparable La Comedie-Francaise dramatically captures the anguish and the intensity of Racine's play-a play that marked both the young playwright's ascendancy and the great Corneille's decline. (French, 2 hours 46 minutes on 2 videocassettes)
#5874 French Drama & Literature - Sartre par lui-meme (Run time 90 min.) DVD $169.95
In this definitive documentary, Jean-Paul Sartre talks about the stages of his life and thought. Surrounded by some of his intellectual circle, among them Simone de Beauvoir, he reflects on the relationship between his own philosophical development and the political events that shaped him and were, in turn, shaped by him. The importance of Sartre's thoughts and writings is crystallized in this, his audiovisual testament. (French, 2 parts, 90 minutes and 97 minutes)
#4010 French History - Jeanne d'Arc (Run time 270 min.) DVD $199.95
This lavishly produced miniseries shows us a mystery-filled Joan of Arc who is enthralled by her own faith and propelled by her dream of justice, a simple peasant girl so certain of her vision that the sight of the high and mighty never deflects her from the path for which she thinks she has been chosen. The recreation of characters and period styles also helps to bring this period of French history into meaningful focus. (French, 4 hours 30 minutes)
#7719 French Culture - Paris: Une Capitale des Arts (Run time min.) DVD $239.85
This gloriously-filmed three-part series examines Paris as the undisputed center of the 19th-century European art world. Included are most of the famous architects, artists, musicians, and writers who inhabited the City of Light at the height of its cultural glory from 1830 to 1900. Series is in French. 3-part series, 14 minutes each.
#8779 French Drama & Literature - Maupassant: Four Fantastic Stories (Run time min.) DVD $359.8
This series dramatizes four short stories from the 19th-century author Guy de Maupassant, the master of "fantastic" literature, which explores the ambiguity between reality and phantoms of the mind. Likewise, his portrayal of the petite bourgeoisie offers a scathing criticism of his subjects and their world. The series allows a glimpse of 19th-century French society and facilitates an appreciation of French culture and history through literature. In French. 4-part series.
#33516 French History - That Surprising French Language!-in French (Run time min.) DVD $449.75
This engaging five-part series studies a language often called the most cultured and colorful in the world. Topics include reading and writing, speaking and spelling, a bit of French history, and a journey around the globe to see and appreciate the universality and vitality of the language. French, 5-part series, 26-28 minutes each.
#30044 French Language Instruction - Talk French (Run time min.) DVD $539.7
"Parlez-vous francais?" Filmed in the south of France, this lively six-part series covers all of the practical essentials of contemporary conversational French while spotlighting cultural aspects of the country. Each program uses a diverse group of speakers talking in a wide range of real-world contexts to encourage beginners to speak up-and to have fun doing it. A BBC Production. French and English, 6-part series, 16 minutes each.
#32303 French Drama & Literature - The Moliere Collection by La Comedie-Francaise - in French (Run time min.) DVD $1499.5
This outstanding ten-part collection of Moliere's plays is dramatized by France's oldest and most prestigious theater company: La Comedie-Francaise, formed in 1680 by Louis XIV himself. For over three centuries, La Comedie-Francaise-often referred to as "Moliere's House"-has stood by its commitment to unite tradition and innovation, backed by the unflagging support of its dedicated actors and directors. These classical productions epitomize l'esprit de Moliere and France's premier theater. Not available in French-speaking Canada. French, 10-part series, 56-145 minutes each.
