Bonjour/hi!
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau recently “weighed in with a deliberately baiting comment” (lol) about foreign residents who’ve failed to master French. (Queue up that scene from Emily in Paris where “Gabriel Rants in French to Emily About Communicating” (double lol)). “’When a legally resident foreigner has not mastered French after several years, it’s because he or she has not made the effort,’ the minister said.”
Next year will see the introduction of stricter language requirements for newcomers to France — including a level of A2 (advanced beginner) for “first time applications for multi-year residency cards” and B1 (intermediate) for “anyone applying for the first time for a 10-year carte de résident.” Wondering where you might fall? I was — this test from a language school in Montpellier will give you a solid estimate.
Now, the news from France!
1. Coming up soon is the opening of the Wes Anderson exhibition at the Cinémathèque Française, with “props, costumes and documents from the filmmaker’s personal collection.” Anderson is of course a big francophile and lives “at least part-time” on rue Daguerre in the 14th (seems a lil private to be out there on the internet but who am I to say??). For anyone who’s seen his Frenchiest film, The French Dispatch, the aspect of it I liked the best actually looped back to Anderson’s Central Standard Time origins: One of its heroes is Maw Clampette (pronounced Clahm-pet, and seen above, with pearl earrings), a Kansas heiress who finances the safeguarding of paradigm-shifting frescoes produced by Benicio del Toro’s avant-garde artist. A sterling example of francoamerican cooperation! Anyway: the exhibit opens on March 17 and The French Dispatch is streaming on Hulu. If you’re as obsessed by Maw Clampette by me — a powerful American woman known for plain speech and exceptional foresight — I recommend this story in The Art Newspaper about her possible inspirations, including Houston power broker Dominique de Menil.
2. How French women are styling their cardigans — short answer, they’re literally just getting a Gaspard (see at top) and leaving a bunch of buttons (top and bottom!) undone.
3. Speaking of Americans in Paris: Apparently Lenny Kravitz lives there, in the 16th, in a four-story townhouse “originally built in the Twenties as the US embassy to France”? Lol, OK — here’s the Sunday Times interview, but if that’s paywalled know that the most startling admission from that interview is available for free at Us Weekly: He’s seen all of Emily in Paris. I am currently in the midst of a rewatch, on Episode 5 of Season 1 [recap here] — it has my vote for the cringiest of all of them.
4. Dwell goes inside a $2M loft in the 17th, “overlooking the street where the Statue of Liberty was built” — those windows!
5. A JetBlue pilot was arrested almost immediately before flying out of Boston on his way to CDG.
6. The super-colorful, TikTok-beloved basketball court Pigalle Duperré is super famous — the Athletic has a story on the designer behind it, Stéphane Ashpool.
7. If you happen to be in the market for a lovely spring candle, here are the best picks from Diptyque for the season. Spoiler: Muguet!
8. Vogue is resurfacing a 2001 interview with Renée Zellweger (shot and interviewed in Paris by Arthur Elgort) on the occasion of the debut of Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, which I want to say was an absolutely delightful movie (sadly only available to stream on Peacock).
9. The Salon d’Agriculture is here: “Every year thousands of farmers convene in the French capital for a nine-day exhibition of livestock, produce and farming tools. The event attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors and is an essential stop for France’s top politicians – why?” France24 has the answer!
10. The Faraway Places newsletter would like to reiterate its STEADFAST support of National Parks employees, who have enriched the lives of millions of Americans and our guests since the founding of the National Park Service in 1916. As longtime readers know, this newsletter is based part-time, over the next 14 months, in Iowa — not far from Effigy Mounds, a small but meaningful park safeguarding ancient burial sites on the Iowa-Wisconsin border. If you haven’t heard about the dismissal of its ranger Brian Gibbs, you can read about it here, and we’ll also recommend Parks Service-supporting T-shirts from the small-but-locally famous Raygun design team, a 100% “cut and sewn” in the U.S. shop (“we are, believe it or not, the largest unionized clothing chain in America”). Having spent probably most of my adult life overseas, I can see clearly that the National Parks Service is without question one of our country’s most worthy accomplishments — many countries, including France, have vibrant nation park systems, but désolée, ours is the best. I will certainly advocate for, financially support, and vote on behalf of their protection.