Word: gallicisms
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...Government Out of Touch Re "A strange kind of revolution" [April 3], author Jacques Marseille's essay on the French protests over the youth labor law: Having lived half my life in Britain and half in France, I've been able to note some enduring differences in the Gallic modus operandi. Among the many problems that France has, one is an élitist government. Too few of the ministers during the past 30 years have come up through the ranks from an ordinary background. They form a modern-day monarchical court. The buildings they work in are palatial, the apartments...
...charm him with their politeness, pragmatism and, on occasion, intelligence. He marvels at the patience of passengers queuing at an airport (the French would be murdering each other to get ahead). And when a stone-faced policeman collars Lévy for urinating alongside a busy highway, a hallowed Gallic custom, they end up in a lively discussion of De Tocqueville - who, Lévy notes, remains underappreciated among the French. They certainly know Lévy, whose bronzed, leonine visage is familiar from talk shows and gossip columns. "BHL," as he is known at home, exploded onto the literary...
...voiced, they're the tourists from hell. Self-centered and sex-obsessed, they rarely miss the chance to insult each other or the locals. And that's why the French lionize them. This septet of risibly dysfunctional characters collectively known as Les Bronzés (the Suntanners) have become Gallic cultural icons. Their egotism and low-brow fixations are still catnip to French comedy fans even though their debut film hit the screens a full 28 years ago. Their second - and only other - sortie into cinema, Les Bronzés Go Skiing, released a year later, marked their last incarnation...
...upcoming “Casino Royale.” Unlike the intense emotionality Owen was able to display in his performance as the betrayed Larry in “Closer,” here he seems simply uncomfortable by the vulnerability of his limited character. Likewise, Cassell reprises his Gallic villain from “Ocean’s Twelve” with only minimal success; he’s genuinely creepy, but it is seriously doubtable that the slender French sleazeball could actually strike fear in the exceedingly masculine Owen (think of Dwight in “Sin City?...
...then gave it his own twist. In deadpan tragedies like Le Boucher, La Femme Infidle and The Beast Must Die, passion leads to crimes of passion, and crime to self-lacerating punishment. These films are all the more potent because they speak their evils and ironies in a Gallic whisper...