Bonjour/hi!
It’s Bastille Day! AKA 14-Juillet, AKA la fête nationale — France’s version of the Fourth of July, roughly in its political history and very directly as its equivalent midsummer holiday. Bastille Day splits the French summer into before and after: I personally prefer the before, as the days are incredibly long, the weather is a little fresher (usually), and everyone’s looking forward to their vacation. After Bastille Day, Paris empties out and the weather gets [even] hot[ter] and dry, although there are few things I like more than sitting in my apartment with the lights out and a thunderstorm rolling over the city.
Today, in honor of the holiday, we recognize 14 ways to celebrate France, wherever you are.
1. The Bastille Day Google Doodle is extremely cute — wait for the surprise!
2. Netflix doesn’t have nearly as many good French movies as it used to but every movie on this list great. And if you’re looking for a classic French film — if you haven’t seen L’Armée des ombres [Army of Shadows], about Resistance fighters in WWII, you absolutely must! (Available to rent on AppleTV and Prime).
3. Do like the extremely political French do, and read your local lawmaker the riot act — for example, over the possibility of 30% tariffs against the European Union, which would mean that “trading as we know it will not continue, with huge negative effects on both sides of the Atlantic.” In other words….
4. No more fun, flirty tops from Sézane, unless you go to Paris (😢). Let’s…buy more now??
5. It’s a counterintuitive choice — not least because eucalyptus is not a scent traditionally associated with France — but I think no Diptyque candle smells more Paris than that one. If that’s not doing. it for you, here’s my ranking of 46 of their classic candles.
6. Pick one French classic to read: Maybe it’s a normy choice like Le Petit Prince. Maybe it’s The Sexual Life of Catherine M, which is definitely not normy. Maybe it’s the ultimate novel of summer ennui, Bonjour Tristesse. If none of those sound any good, consider this list of the best books of the 20th century by Le Monde — which, to be precise, asked 17,000 French citizens to name the “livres qui sont restés dans votre mémoire.” If you had told me that two Americans (and a German) would show up in the top 10, I would not have thought you were correct!
7. The events of Les Misérables didn’t take place until about 40 years after the storming of the Bastille, but the revolutionary vibe is the same. Bits and pieces of the French-language original (er the musical, not the Victor Hugo novel) are available across YouTube — here’s À La Volonté Du Peuple (“By the People’s Will”), which fans will recognize as a progenitor of “Do You Hear the People Sing?” And this is Le Grand Jour (“One Day More”). Of course, if you, like me, have listened to Eponine’s “On My Own” so many times that you killed it, you might like this yeh-yeh version of the song, by the West End’s Frances Ruffelle.
8. Just sharing the FP Frenchy 50, the cutest, Frenchiest things for the season. I can now reveal that the most clicked-on item was this dress that I am obsessed with, now half off for right around $40!
9. Let’s celebrate the work of artists from other places coming to France!!! Here’s the Lebanon-born, Paris-raised Mika singing “Grace Kelly” in French, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis tells her story of surviving the Islamic Revolution in Iran and ultimately fleeing to France. Tiny Desk Concerts celebrated its 1000th show with Angélique Kidjo, who left Benin in 1983 to live in Paris.
10. As for movies: There are two superior renderings of France in contemporary cinema made by Americans: Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola and Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch — not coincidentally, both made by directors who now live here (both widely available to rent). Two more: Before Sunset is less concerned with the wider culture than those two, but its use of Paris as a cinematic backdrop for a very small love affair is true to the nature of the city itself. All three of those films are amazing. And finally: Alexander Payne’s short film for Paris Je t’aime is the ultimate American-in-Paris movie that’s not An American in Paris.
11. There is no Etsy purchase more charming than a vintage French oil painting — lots of them are under $100, like this lovely painting of the Granite Coast!
12. A few gift recipes from the New York Times Cooking: a Nicoise salmon salad and a five-minute recipe for an Aperol spritz.
13. Eat an entire plate of French saucisson, like I just did.
14. Plan a trip to France!! To get you on your way:
- Where to stay in Paris on a budget
- The best French cities that aren’t Paris
- The 12 best Paris hotels with an Eiffel Tower view
- The best time of the year to visit France
- And 101 ideas for what to do in the City of Light
A few pieces from the blog!