The Francophile
All Things French.
What happens when Virginia Woolf and Marguerite Duras make dinner together? Irina Brook’s “La Vie Matérielle”
"You say I idealize women? Possibly. Who can say. What’s wrong with a woman being idealized a bit now and then?" – Marguerite Duras "Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of a man at twice its natural size." – Virginia Woolf »
Cinema Duras at Anthology Film Archives March 12-18
From March 12th through the 18th, Anthology FIlm archives will be presenting a retrospective of the films of Marguerite Duras as part of the “In the Words of Duras” festival. If you’ve been reading about the great plays and lectures in this festival, which began on February 18, don’t miss out on it’s final... »
U.S. Stage Debut of “Hiroshima mon Amour” Honors the Sensuous, Memory-Laden Vision of Resnais and Duras
The lights go up on a man’s shoulder blade and a woman’s delicately curved spine; she runs her hands up that blade and into his hair, grabbing it in her fist before taking his hand in hers, their naked bodies pressed up against a vertical black wall. As the audience looks on, she lazily... »
Astrid Bas Diptych: The Lover and La Musica Deuxième
Astrid Bas: Diptych, The Lover and La Musica Deuxième, faithfully takes some of the most memorable passages of Duras on love, desire, and her youth from The Lover (1984) and pairs it with her play La Musica Deuxième (1985), a piece exploring the end of love as a soon-to-be divorced couple takes leave of... »
“Marguerite Duras par Hélène Bamberger” Opens “In the Words of Duras” Festival
One day, I was already old, in the entrance of a public place, a man came up to me. He introduced himself and said: “I've known you for years. Everyone says you were beautiful when you were young, but I want to tell you I think you're more beautiful now than then. Rather than... »
FIAF Presents Hugues de Montalembert’s “Black Sun”
“Black Sun” is a documentary- if it can be called a documentary- about the experiences of painter, filmmaker, and writer Hugues de Montalembert, who was attacked and blinded on his way home to his apartment in New York City in 1978. With humor, beauty, and an original score that perfectly sets off Montalembert’s narration,... »
La Crème de la Crème: Hottest tickets in town to French film, lectures, and theater events in New York City
For the lover of all things French, New York in January and February is alive with lectures, film, and plays from across the Atlantic. You can hear Bernard Henri Lévy discuss free speech at Columbia and listen to Sylvia Kahan dish the dirt on the American heiress and salon hostess that inspired Proust;... »
2009 LaNew-Yorkaise.com Book Gift Guide
Still looking for last-minute gifts? Here’s a quick rundown of some LaNew-Yorkaise favorites. Happy holidays! Biz, LaNew-Yorkaise Books for the aspiring writer: Classic Reference: The Elements of Style, William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White A reference book for grammar and style of which Charles Osgood wrote “still a little book, small enough and important enough to carry in your pocket,... »
Coco Avant Chanel
On a windy afternoon in New York, I made my way to The Paris Theatre to take in a matinée of the latest French import to hit New York soil: Anne Fontaine’s “Coco Avant Chanel.” What better theatre to take in a French film than the familiar darkness of The Paris, home to slightly saggy,... »
Between Collaboration and Resistance: French Literary Life Under the Nazi Occupation
“This last word from French soil. The train that shakes my handwriting is still rolling and I believe that we are headed for Germany…” -Louis Althusser »