It’s Sunday morning–I’m sorry, I meant Dimanche matin–and French In Action is on. Turns out I’ve come across it before but it was always when Le Vieux Professeur was rattling off rapid-fire French to the camera. Now I took French in high school and college (I actually “lettered” in French I and II in high school. And they gave me an actual letter patch like you would sew on a varsity jacket. To which I thought, “Oh. That’s what that means.” For French II, I got a pin…to pin on the letter, I assume. I wasn’t sporty so the whole “letter jacket” concept was all Greek to me. And I spoke French. Ha! Comedy is the universal language…) Anyway, back to Le Vieux Professeur. I could only pick out a few words here and there as I admired his hair (I kept thinking of Bugs Bunny as “Leopold!” the conductor). I then immediately felt that I was a poser to own that letter and pin so I switched the channel. Today, however, I sat and watched.
French In Action is described on the KLCS website as:
“A 52-part telecourse introduces the French language and culture to viewers by way of a romantic comedy, filmed in France.”
A romantic comedy! That explains a lot…or not really. Today’s episode was Mireille and Robert on a date. And Le Vieux Professeur–that is how he is listed in the credits–was explaining the difference between “entendre” and “attendre”. He cupped his hand to his ear for “entendre” (to hear) and sat back and crossed his arms for “attendre” (to wait). Even though I already knew those verbs, I thought, “Hey, I’ll be able to follow along.” It goes back to Mireille and Robert speaking with the waiter. And during that exchange, it cuts to some little girl and her mother sitting on a sofa. And then it goes back to the date. And then back to Leopold putting a cap on a pen. He then puts on a smaller cap that doesn’t fit onto the pen. I don’t know what the hell is going on. And to make matters worse, a few seconds later, it cuts to a guy in makeup and a bowler cap laughing at someone with the words “se moquer” underneath. “To make fun of” is what it says. Like, “Ha ha, Mandy, French In Action is mocking you.”
Well, two can play that game: Hey, Mireille, I know this is 1987 but France had bras back then. Do you “entend” me?
