Valérie Trierweiler's travails - and the price of fame

She might have written a best-selling warts and all score-settling book, "Merci pour ce moment", published at the beginning of September 2014 and politely described as a "political memoir" but that doesn't seem to have endeared France's former first lady, Valérie Trierweiler, to the nation as a whole.

Valérie Trierweiler  (screenshot BFM TV report on release of "Merci pour ce moment")

Indeed, given a recent poll, she's giving her former partner, the French president, François Hollande, a run for his money in the unpopularity ratings

Yes another poll.

Clearly someone at le Parisien/Aujourd'hui en France thought it would be interesting to discover what the French felt about their former first lady...and then tell them what they probably already knew.

Namely that 69 per cent of those questioned (a representative sample of the population as a whole of course) had a "bad opinion" of Trierweiler and 59 per cent thought she had been wrong to write her book.

(screenshot "Merci pour ce moment" front cover)

On the other hand, while some might not agree with what she wrote and others might not like her (if the survey is to believed) Trierweiler still elicits a great deal of interest.

Or is it simple curiosity?

Because on Saturday (the day before the poll was published) the Paris Match journalist (yes she still works for the magazine) had to beat a hasty retreat while out and about.

Trierweiler was in the Barbès area of northern Paris - shopping (for cassava and plantain, as she would later reveal) with a friend -  and being the celebrity that she has become was quickly recognised by people eager to have their photo' taken with her.

But it all threatened to escalate out of control and a plainclothes policeman (who just happened to be around) apparently directed her into one of the shops while he waited for reinforcements to allow her to drive away from the adoring throng.

Making light of the "incident" Trierweiler later took to her preferred method of communicating with fans and followers - on Twitter, of course.

"Thank you for the welcome very very warm welcome in Barbès . Neither panic nor the need to go to the police station. But cassava and plantains. And a lot of selfies."

Ah. The price of fame.

Sarcelles - two months after anti-Semitic violence at pro-Palestinian rally

"Is there a ‘rising tide’ of anti-Semitism in the West?" asked the BBC on its site back in August 2014.

While the figures the Beeb presented in its piece seemed to question newspaper headlines suggesting a significant increase, it admitted that anti-Semitism clearly remained a problem.

And this clip from a recent edition of France 2's investigative news magazine "Complément d'enquête" will surely only fuel the debate here in France.

(screenshot from "Complément d'enquête")

The TV crew revisited Sarcelles, "a multi-religious suburb north of Paris with a vibrant Jewish community", the scene of attacks on Jewish-owned businesses and a synagogue during a banned demonstration in July again the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

It was to "take the temperature" among those living in the town, two months after the events, and one young man they interviewed had no qualms expressing sentiments which, to say the least, were shocking.

So much so that the mayor of Sarcelles, François Pupponi, condemned the "calls of hatred and murder" expressed during the interview and said on his Facebook page that he would ask the justice minister, Christine Taubira, to "begin proceedings" against the individuals interviewed.

The clip is in French, of course, and you can judge for yourselves whether the interviewee was fully aware of what he was saying or whether it was a more a case of a puffed-up few minutes of (hateful) television "fame".

Face caméra, un jeune de Sarcelles déclare: "Ici, les juifs on les tue si on veut !" sur WAT.tv 

Friday's French music break - Cats on trees, "Love you like a love song"

It's not often an artist or group features more than once on Friday's French music break.

But hey - there exceptions to the rule.

And the recent cover version of Selena Gomez's quintessential 2011 pop song "Love you like a love song" by the French group Cats on Trees, was just too good not to share.

Cats on trees - Nina Goern and Yohan Hennequin (screenshot from YouTube channel)

No over-produced studio tricks for the duo of Nina Goern (piano and vocals) and Yohan Hennequin (percussion) whose hit "Sirens call" - "a pop ballad with a haunting and irresistible melody" and a former Friday's French music break - brought them national exposure last year and whose self-titled debut album "Cats on trees" was nominated in the category Album Révélation of the Year at the 2014 Victoires de la musique.

Instead simple piano, drums and vocal arrangement (with strings towards the end) turning it into...well a credible love song and taking it into quite another musical universe - gentler, more fragile and almost ethereal.

Compare and contrast - and see what you think.

First up the sugar-coated original from Gomez...not bad for what it is...followed by (saving the best until last) the version from Cats on Trees.






Cats on trees are currently on tour throughout France, including two dates at Le Trianon in Paris, November 6 and 7