FRENCH BEAUTY
Pascale Lamche, UK/France, 2005 BBC Two: Monday 24 July 2006 11.20pm-12.30am
French actresses have always captivated movie-goers. Pascale Lamche examines their enduring appeal in the context of fashion, commerce and France's national identity.
IN PICTURES
French beauties from the 1960s to the present
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Have you ever wondered how the French for so long exercised a near monopoly in the world's perception of female beauty? Well, my mother is French and I have often pondered the question.
Pascale Lamche's film re-examines the status of French beauty in a contemporary context. We meet the grandes dames of the French New Wave - Jeanne Moreau, Catherine Deneuve and Brigitte Bardot. But we also are introduced to Juliette Binoche, Audrey Tautou and a young starlet en march, Sara Forestier, who you'll see flipping through her style book.
Lamche concludes that French beauty these days is part genuine pulchritude, part cosmetics advertising, and more than a little hype. But the film supplements its critical message with a marvellous procession of beauty moments, in film clips, festival footage etc. Some French beauties have even learnt to speak English! What is France coming to?
