As the song  by Marvin Gaye said many years ago, a lot has been happening here in France recently.From another new Prime Minister in a Government led by a much disliked President Macron, to the amazing heist at the Louvre? French politics are crazy at the best of times and I don’t always follow it but it seems off the wall just now.

A sixth Prime Minister elected in the last years and still not looking very good, Monsieur Lecornu, with his peculiar facial expressions is the latest.

Then we see the former President Sarkozy taken off to prison in Paris.

Clutching his hand was his wife, Carla Bruni, the former model. They both looked strained, avoiding the cameras. He will be there for 5 years in a high security cell that is well away from other inmates. But perhaps with some comforts. I think he can have a telly ! He apparently still denies his involvement ie “criminal association “with Libyan’s Head of State, Gadhafi to finance his political campaign in 2007, but who knows ?

The other top story has been the amazing high-speed theft of 88 million Euros worth of jewels at world-famous museum the Louvre in broad daylight. No one took any notice as works are always going on there and with so many visitors, that 4 people could calmly arrive with a truck and a lifting platform onto the first floor and get in through a window. It apparently only took 7 minutes , to get in, smash cabinets containing historic jewellery ,and escape on motor bikes.  There are 4 suspects and three already have been found and charged. The missing jewels ? No where to be found yet. The authorities say it might be part of a larger group and that sentences will be lessened if they hand it over now .Bound to be a film of that one day I think in Hollywood !

Two great artists who met in 1937 at the Brasserie Les Deux Magots in Paris. He was 29 ,  she was 55 and already a well-established photographer. He was also in a relationship with Marie Therese Walter, and they had a daughter called Maya, but this didn’t stop a tumultuous affair that would last for 9 years.  She became his muse, and he painted her often. Using a Surrealist style of bright colours and angular sharp shapes , the paintings depicted her as suffering and anguished. She gave up her photography to be with a jealous and possessive man, but their passion fuelled each other’s work. She as his model and he as the macho leader. This was also the time for his great work Guernica, depicting the Spanish Civil War . His fascination with killings and bullfights which he would paint many times.

Dora Maar equally begins to paint , a different style to Picasso , but she would always feel and be made inferior to him. Almost like the Minatour and his prey.

Eventually , he leaves her for another woman , Francoise Gilot,  and a painting called Bust of a Woman with a Flowered Hat depicts the end.  This painting , by the way , has recently been rediscovered and is valued at 37 million dollars.

She ends up alone in a house bought by Picasso and she continues to paint mystical and light-coloured works. She suffers from depression and psychological problems but turns to Catholicism as her profound help and faith.

The Picasso Museum in the Marais district of Paris is dedicated to the Spanish artist , who died in 1973, and over 5000 works of art are housed there , with drawings , sculptures and photographic archives. https//www.museepicassoparis.fr

A very peculiar, I think , way of using English words and by adding ing at the end of a word makes them more French? For example, le footing, le dressing, le relooking, le brainstorming , le chips, le re looking, le baby foot . The list is endless it seems. It always sounds strange to me.

Tomber dans l’oreille d’un sourd . Literally to fall into a deaf ear. We would say To fall on deaf ears .

Le clou du spectacle. Literally , the nail of the show. We would say The highlight of the show often at the end of a performance.

Pour couronner du tout. Literally to crown it all. We would say To top it all off.

Etre a l’oeust . Literally To be in the West. Really means someone is not paying attention or isn’t listening and is perhaps disconnected from the real world.

To finish . Le temps d’Ecosse . Literally Scottish weather . When it rains heavily here , they always say this. Poor Scotland !

That’s it I think for this month. Until the next time.

Fifi’s stories from rural France.

November 2025