Word: rien
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What They're in French First Lady Carla Bruni might blame hubby Nicolas Sarkozy for the lukewarm reviews of her latest folk-pop album, Comme Si Rien N'Etait (As If Nothing Happened). Though nearly half a million people logged on to the chanteuse's website before the much hyped July 11 release, sales are slow, and 55% of French voters think Sarkozy is merely using his wife to boost his image. With lyrics like "my lord, my darling, my orgy" (which presumably refer to Sarkozy)--that's quite an image indeed...
Plenty of pop albums have been ripped apart by music critics - including a few by model-singer turned French First Lady Carla Bruni. But Bruni's newest release, Comme Si Rien N'Etait (translation: As If Nothing Happened), out July 11, has elevated her well beyond ordinary targets of music snobbery like Vanessa Paradis or Kylie Minogue...
...conservative-leaning Times of London sarcastically praised Comme Si Rien N'Etait as quite possibly "the best album ever made by the wife of a head of state," which, while undoubtedly true, is also a typically British form of insult. But Bruni is not a joke singer, or a novelty act crossing over from one genre to another. (And yes, I'm looking at you, Scarlett Johansson.) Bruni's 2003 debut, Quelq'un M'a Dit, sold over two million copies and thrilled critics...
...increasingly on the here and now: one of the big books of this year's literary rentrée, Yasmina Reza's L'Aube le Soir ou la Nuit (Dawn Dusk or Night) is about Sarkozy's recent electoral campaign. Another standout, Olivier Adam's A l'Abri de Rien (In the Shelter of Nothing), concerns immigrants at the notorious Sangatte refugee camp. France's Japan-influenced bandes dessinées (comic-strip) artists have made their country a leader in one of literature's hottest genres: the graphic novel. Singers like Camille, Benjamin Biolay and Vincent Delerm have revived...
...Rien" - French for "nothing," famously the final diary entry by Louis XVI on the morning of his overthrow on July 14, 1789 - is exactly what the French are expecting out of Tuesday's White House summit between President Nicolas Sarkozy and President George W. Bush. The visit is expected to largely serve as another exercise in atmospherics to showcase just how positive the U.S.-French relationship has become, despite nothing having substantially changed in policy terms since Jacques Chirac cleared out his desk...