Demob Happy

FIRST PUBLISHED AT THE LINE OF BEST FIT
French windows
4/10
In 1994 a law was introduced in France by then culture minister Jacques Toubon protecting the French language. One of the outcomes of this globalisation-resisting move was that two out of five songs on French radio must be sung in la langue maternelle . It was a [...]

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Herculean
9/10
Paul Theroux’s ‘Grand Tour of the Mediterranean’ is typical Theroux in many ways, the vagaries of his mood often colouring his perception of the places he visits, but he plays on his reputation as a misanthrop and cumugeon throughout this travelogue. After a comment on the opening page about ‘runty shunted trees and ugly houses’, [...]

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La vie en rose of a not-so-Little Sparrow
7/10
‘La vie en rose‘ (or La Môme - “the kid” - as it is known in its native France) is a refreshingly unconventional biopic of the diminutive chanteuse Edith Piaf. While it charts the singer’s childhood - first in a brothel, then as a street performer - [...]

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