Mar 12th, 2010 · Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ted Morgan's Valley of Death is the story of the brutal conflict — a fight led by the French to re-establish colonial rule in Vietnam — that led to the Vietnam War. The battle of Dien Bien Phu lasted months, but the fallout lasted decades.
Mar 3rd, 2010 · Right before Lent, a French company set up an automated telephone line that allows Catholics to confess over the phone. In case of mortal sins, the phone voice does say, there is no replacement for confiding to a priest. French bishops say the church does not approve of "Line to the Lord."
Feb 28th, 2010 · Earlier this month, five French-speaking journalists spent a week in a house in the French countryside. No cell phones, no TV. They could use only Twitter and Facebook in their reporting. Host Liane Hansen speaks to Janic Tremblay of Radio Canada to find out how the experiment turned out.
Feb 26th, 2010 · In A Prophet, a young Corsican Arab must earn his place in the hierarchy of a French prison by murdering a fellow inmate. Director Jacques Audiard neither victimizes nor glorifies his protagonist, says critic David Edelstein. The result is a gripping, realistic prison drama. (Recommended)
Feb 25th, 2010 · Sentenced to six years in a French prison, 19-year-old Malik learns quickly that there's quick death around every corner. But under the eye of a veteran gangster who's both a mentor and a cruel boss, he learns to hold his own among the most dangerous of men. Jacques Audiard's powerfully emotional film is a contender for the foreign-language film Oscar. (Recommended)
Feb 21st, 2010 · Gainsbourg, the daughter of Serge Gainsbourg, is a cultivated enigma: The French actress and singer has hardly missed a step in a long career that began in adolescence. Now in her late 30s, she's released her third album, IRM, which was produced and co-written by Beck.
Feb 21st, 2010 · "I am just learning how to paint," said Pierre-Auguste Renoir in 1913 — six years before he died. The French master painted right up to the end, even though he suffered from crippling rheumatoid arthritis. Works made by Renoir in the last three decades of his life are on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Feb 16th, 2010 · France is riveted by a battle between former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and President Nicolas Sarkozy. Onlookers call it a confrontation between two models of French society: the traditional vision and the modern way.