 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Video
Subtitles
Text
Audio
Flash |
Video
Subtitles
Text
Audio
Flash |
Video
Subtitles
Text
Audio
Flash |
Video
Subtitles
Text
Audio
Flash |
|
Our
first extract from Au théâtre ce
soir gives us the extra
pleasure of seeing the great comic Fernand Raynaud on stage. In
Auguste we open with an agent and his young and pretty would-be
movie star. They have concocted a plot whereby she will throw herself in
the Seine to be rescued by a famous Hollywood star. Unfortunately a bank
clerk with a penchant for being helpful, gets there first. |
Here is an excellent piece by André
Roussin, La voyante. A young woman sweeps into her clairvoyants
room threatening to kill herself after the end of a love affair. Follows a
magnificent solo by Elvire Popescu |
.A fast paced extract from
Pour avoir
Adrienne. I am not at all sure that you could even produce this play
today - the sexual harassment which pleased the audience of the 1960s
would be very unPC today. However, it makes an excellent transcription
exercise. |
The first 'classic' extract, which means Molière
and Le Misanthrope. For the British, acquiring a taste
for Molière is not always easy. We grow up with the
great tragedies of Shakespeare. Molière brings
to perfection the brittle, witty comedy of moeurs of the end of the
18th century. We have the same epoque, that of Pope and Dryden, and the
style is similar..., |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Video
Subtitles
Text
Audio
Flash |
Video
Subtitles
Text
Audio
Flash |
Video
Subtitles
Text
Audio
Flash |
Video
Subtitles
Text
Audio
Flash |
| Courteline
au travail is
a little play in which Sacha Guitry imagines Courteline at work (in the
local bar) on his play. It's not hard, because the rhythm of this
excellent monologue is very slow. However, the language is very
sophisticated, so it is quite a difficult dictation exercise. |
This isn't a play. It is an extract from Kind
hearts and Coronets, dubbed into French. The film is a favourite of
mine, and I was delighted when Arte broadcast it. It's Edwardian, and the
language is that of Punch magazine of the époque. Mannered,
precise, academic. As always with classic films the French translators and
dubbing actors take great pains over the French version. Here is the first
encounter between Mazzini and Edith d'Ascogne, where Edith quotes
Tennyson's Kind hearts are more than coronets / And simple faith than
Norman blood. But they didn't take the hint and called it Noblesse
Oblige. |
Part II of Kind Hearts and Coronets.
Alec Guinness as the Rector of the country church. The perfect example of
over-educated aristocratic English imbecile. We have so many... |
Chevallier and Laspalès
are that rather rare thing in France, a comedy duo. They are witty and
intelligent and always very funny. Here they are in a play,
Le Banc
that treats of the difficult relationship between two concert pianists who
play piano four hands. It's a long extract and an excellent transcription
exercise |
