Photo of the Week
Another view of the Centre Pompidou. Photo © Darren Palmer of Paris by Photo.
Wednesday, 30 May 2012 00:00
Paris Update What's New in Paris
RESTAURANT/CLUB/CAFE
Wanderlust: Finally, part of Les Docks, Cité de la Mode et Design will open to the public on June 6. Brunch on the terrace, take a yoga class, take in a concert or dance all night. 34, quai d'Austerlitz, 75013 Paris.
SHOPS
Stella Cadente: The designer of very feminine clothing and accessories has a new Paris store that's like a gold-lined tunnel. 102 boulevard Beaumarchais, 75011 Paris.
Ecolo-Chic: Pop-up store in the Marais selling ethically resourced products, from toys and design to organic wine. 90, rue des Archives, 75003 Paris.
SMOKING
A new organization, L'Union pour les Droits des Fumeurs Adultes, has been formed to lobby for the rights of French smokers
JUSTIN ON THE ROOFTOPS
Keep your eyes peeled: Justin Bieber will be filming for the Web TV program live@home in an undisclosed location on the rooftops of Paris on the evening of May 31. Click here to win a pass to the taping.
Wednesday, 30 May 2012 00:00
Paris Update Flash News
CAKE THE WAY WE LIKE IT
Goodies on display at Merce and the Muse.
Nowadays, American expatriates in Paris can easily satisfy almost all their nostalgic food cravings, from hamburgers to Reese’s peanut-butter cups or Oreo cookies. Until Merce and the Muse opened in the Upper Marais, however, it wasn’t easy to find good homemade, American-style cakes. The desserts at this homey, flea-market-furnished café are not just good, they are scrumptious and original, made from owner Merce Muse’s own recipes. The other day I shared a slice of chocolate layer cake with vanilla icing and another of pistachio cake with rose icing with a friend, but in truth I wanted to eat all of both of them. 1 bis, rue Dupuis, 75003 Paris. Tel.: 09 53 14 53 04. Open Tues.-Sun. for breakfast, lunch and coffee; brunch on Sunday. Heidi Ellison
Paris Update This Week's Events
For full details about an event, click on its name to visit the official Web site (in English when available).
 Art Saint-Germain-des-Prés
>Left Bank gallery walk. Collective opening, May 31, 6pm. May 31-June 3.
Carré Rive Gauche
>Another Left Bank gallery walk, with 120 participating galleries. June 1-June 3.
Champs-Elysées Film Festival
>A new Franco-American film festival, presided over by Lambert Wilson and Michael Madsen. Various locations, Paris, June 6-12.
Chartre en Lumières
> The town of Chartres illuminates its monuments and the cathedral with colorful light installations. Through Sept. 15.
Designer's Days
>Design shops, galleries, schools and more participate in a city-wide design event. Various locations, Paris, May 31-June 4.
Festival de l'Imaginaire
> Performances by troupes from around the world, Maison des Cultures du Monde, Paris, through June 17.
Festival de Saint Denis
> Music festival featuring both stars like Sir Colin Davis and young talents; ends with a dawn performance by horse whisperer Bartabas and oud player Mehdi Haddab, Cathedral and Legion of Honor, Saint Denis, through June 30.
Festival Extensions
> Concerts, dance, films and more, various locations, Paris and Val de Marne, through May 31.
Festival International des Jardins de Chaumont-sur-Loire
>"Gardens of delights, gardens of delirium" is the theme of this year's garden festival, Chaumont-sur-Loire, through Oct. 21.
Festival Jazz à Saint-Germain-des-Prés
>Jazz acts ranging from amateur to big names like Ahmad Jamal and Yusef Lateef (together). Various locations, Paris, Through June 3.
Le Court en Dit Long
>Festival of short films. Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris, June 4-9.
Nomades
>Cultural festival in the third arrondissement; art, poetry, concerts and more. Various locations, Paris, May 31-June 3.
Quinzaine des Réalisateurs
>The features and short subjects entered in this category at the Cannes Film Festival shown in Paris, Forum des Images, Paris, May 31-June 10
Salon du Vin de La Revue du Vin de France
>Annual wine fair. Palais Brongniart, Paris, June 2-3
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L’Enfant
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Film
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/ Drama
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Published on Wednesday, 25 February 2009 23:29
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Written by Heidi Ellison
Conscience-Impaired Youth
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| Jérémie Renier plays the feckless Bruno. |
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It’s difficult to understand why L’Enfant (The Child), written and directed by brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, won them a second Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year – it’s a nice little film, well-made and interesting but not sublime, as Cannes’ top prize should be.
Filmed in a gritty Belgian city (the Dardennes are Belgian), L’Enfant tells the story of a charmingly feckless 20-year-old named Bruno (Jérémie Renier), a petty thief by profession, whose 18-year-old girlfriend Sonia (Déborah François) has just given birth to their baby, Jimmy. While she was in the hospital, Bruno, always on the lookout for any way to make a few euros, sublet her apartment, so Sonia and Jimmy end up in a homeless shelter for the night.
Bruno shows only the vaguest interest in Jimmy, but he is obviously happy to have Sonia back – their lust for each other is convincingly expressed in playful roughhousing. They are so playful, in fact, that little Jimmy seems far more mature than his parents.
When one of his fences tells Bruno that there’s a market for babies, he doesn’t react, but we’re not surprised when the sale is made the very next day. Bruno is shocked at Sonia’s reaction when he casually tells her what he’s done. “We’ll just make another one,” he says. But Sonia’s extreme distress is too much for him to bear, so he sets off to try and recover the baby, setting in motion a series of events that will affect the lives of everyone around him.
Jérémie Renier is just right as Bruno, a well-
meaning charmer with a screw loose. With his youthful insouciance, he thinks he knows it all, but he is soon crushed by forces more powerful than he is. L’Enfant shows us a slice of the world he inhabits, but by the end of the film we are none the wiser for it.
French critics seem to have seen a social message in the film: a disadvantaged young man is forced to sell his baby to survive, as one article in the Nouvel Observateur stated, but that is a total misreading of the film. The directors make it perfectly clear that Bruno sells his baby not to survive but to get a bundle of money so he and Sonia can live it up for a while – it is established many times over that whenever Bruno gets any money, he blows it immediately – renting a fancy car for a day or buying Sonia a leather jacket to match his. If anything, this is a psychological portrait of a conscience-impaired young man, though the movie offers absolutely no explanation of how he got that way.
L’Enfant will be released as The Child in the United States in March 2006.
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Heidi Ellison
© 2005 Paris Update
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