French in Action

I'm rating this a 9/10, but that doesn't mean it's as good as Citizen Kane. It just means that it is a highly effective presentation that accomplishes exactly what it hopes to do... and then some.

I was introduced to this gem whilst flipping through PBS. "Ka-ZOWIE... who's that babe? The film budget is kinda low... it's in French... cheezy music... that means MAYBE SHE'LL GET NAKED!" Well, she doesn't get naked (although I must echo an astute observation made by a fellow reviewer: "There's a girl who really knows how to not wear a bra!"). But what's interesting is that over time, as you watch in lustful, sweaty anticipation of the famous scene where she gets water spilled on her shirt, you ACTUALLY LEARN FRENCH! La vache! C'est incroyable! Moi, un américain bête... je parle français!

Most of the comments posted so far seem to concentrate on "the babe," and those of you reading who don't know anything about the series will be ill-served by them. This is an instructional series, developed at Yale University, for learning French as it is really spoken. It is not "baby" French, nor is it vacation tourist French. If your goal is to actually be able to have a real conversation with real people, this series is (to my knowledge) without peer, and has become the model for current best-of-breed audio/visual courses for second language acquisition. It's in use at hundreds of high schools, colleges and universities in the U.S., and similar materials for other languages have been developed using "French in Action" as a model and a goal.

There's a lot of use of familiar (as opposed to vulgar) language, spoken in appropriate situations at normal native-speaker rates. After the first of the 52 episodes, you won't hear a word of English. Language is introduced at quite a good clip, but always in a situational context that allows you to figure out more-or-less what's going on. It's not necessarily a strategy which is comfortable for many learners - it's much more reassuring to be able to learn with the language broken up into grammatical "topics" which can be checked off in a day's time, or a week's. Unfortunately, most people won't be able to speak at a reasonable level after using a strategy like that. Without hearing lots of language, and producing lots of language, you'll never make it to your goal, unless your goal is to simply check off a language requirement on the way to a degree. If your goal is to be able to shoot the breeze with French speakers in a situation where the topic is not going to be limited to what a lame beginner you are, there are no better materials available.

One criticism of the materials in other comments is that the viewer must speak French before being able to understand the tapes. Not true. What is needed is a tolerance for "swimming" in partial understanding, and that's going to be the case in learning a second language for many, many years. A second criticism is that the materials are expensive. Yes and no... to buy them is costly, but they are all available free online whenever you'd like to see them from the Annenberg/CPB website if you have a reasonably fast internet connection. The associated textbook, which will enrich your learning experience immeasurably if you want to succeed, is quite reasonably priced, if compared to other textbooks, rather than airport books. (It's as well-structured for serious independent study as it is for a classroom setting, by the way.)

Over the years, I've studied 5 foreign languages formally, in contexts ranging from intensive classes of two weeks, to 8 years of classroom courses, and in addition, have gotten to the "please/thank you/may I have ..." level in a dozen others. The "French in Action" tapes are the best instructional materials I've ever seen.

I used to dabble with French when I was a kid, and I do have an interest in foreign languages. I used to love to watch this show.

However what happened later on was I took Latin (dead lagnuage) in high school and then German (a spoken language) in college.

I made an easy adjustment to German, and my instructors think I am one of the best. In fact one of them wrote me a reference letter. The only negative thing they was my listening comprehension needed some work. I noticed that part of the problem was the fact that if I heard a new word, I needed to see the word written out once so I could have it photgraphically imprinted in my head. I have seen a German language show with the similar method as this show, but it had closed captioning, so I had no trouble learning new words and understanding what they were saying.

This Yale University-produced French-language telecourse, which pendulums back and forth between the prosaic and the surreal, gets my vote for the most mellow TV show ever. Yes, it even beats Mr. Rogers because the late and lamented Mister R. always tries to engage you, however gently. You feel obligated to pay attention. French in Action seems not to care if you're even watching. It simply pursues its merry course, almost entirely in suave, Parisian French. You are left alone to either comprehend or not and, unless you already have a bit of Francais under your belt, it will be largely not. The series' philosophy is to immerse you in French, inviting you to pick up what you can. There will not be a quiz. Tres jolie, non? The series probably works best as a classroom adjunct and, indeed, each episode does include a bit of classroom simulation, all in French of course. Watching it cold, you may pick up a few snippets but the series' true value possibly lies in showing you exactly how hard it will be for you to communicate effectively in French if you are not fluent, and to be cool and do your best. According to travel writer/TV host Rick Steves, your brave attempts to speak French will usually be rewarded with good will, at least so it was before the Iraq War. Now, who knows? You could go to Montreal but, in truth, many Canadians dislike Les Americains just as much as the French, for many of the same reasons. Just go and don't speak to anyone. You'll be fine.

The series boasts a semblance of story line. A young `American tourist', equipped with a perfect command of French (because the actor who plays him is, in fact, French), arrives in Paris and eventually crosses paths with the, evidently, prosperous middle-class Belleau family and their circle of friends. Sights are seen, excursions are taken, dinners eaten, gentle angst is released now and then, and we, presumably, learn something. French is a lovely wind-chime of a language and just to hear it spoken so beautifully, as it is in this series, especially when proffered with a feminine lilt, is worth the watching, even though barely a word is understandable because the French is spoken with native inflection and rhythm (however, you should soon be able to comprehend the word, Merde!). The conversation and narration forges ahead, swallowing Rs and packing mysterious French usage into sonorous sausages of incomprehensibility. Periodically, key phrases are extracted and repeated but, as there is no comparative context with everything being in French, you still probably won't understand much.

But hey. there are things to see as well, especially for Les Boys, primarily in the form of the Belleau ladies if you're straight, and the pretty Charles Mayer (as Robert the tourist) if you're not. From the sleek Madame Belleau through the youngest, future-jailbait daughter, Marie-Laure, all are tres charmant. Most of the action centers on the middle daughter Mireille, played by the bounteous, walking vanilla sundae, Valerie Allain, a girl who really knows how not to wear a bra. Mireille simultaneously chaperones and participates in a chaste relationship with Robert (they obviously have the mutual hots, but this is a telecourse.) Marie-Laure frequently tags along. (There is also, from what I have been able to gather, a French porn star also named Valerie Allain who, purportedly, is not this same lady. I have tried but have never succeeded in confirming this duplicity one way or the other. The Ms. Allain of this series, who, it is rumored, perished in a motorcycle accident, is/was an actor of moderate note in France, who starred once with Claude Chabrol. Hopefully she is still with us.) Several of the players have fairly stout French film and TV resumes.

Even if you are not actively trying to learn French, you will pick up a bit here and there, especially if you watch regularly and really pay attention. You'll also get a lot of exposure to the high-end French accent. I'm not a regular, yet still managed to eventually grasp that the Cecile character is actually Mireille's older sister, not just a family friend as I had previously thought. Although produced under the auspices of Yale University, the series is French in origin and is as quirkily Gallic as a Citroen 2CV. It even offers a strange trenchcoat type with a major facial tic who seems to be stalking (in a benign, Chaplinesque way) Mireille and Marie-Laure for, apparently, entirely French reasons. Just when you may be drifting off, comes the scene in which Mireille, out for a stroll with Robert, gets a passing comment from a young soldier. We don't hear it but she does. Mirielle decks the soldier with a girlie right, then plants her boot toe where the sun seldom shines. Mon Dieu. If French in Action airs in your locale (in the Frisco Bay Area it's on KCSM, channel 60), check it out, It's fun in its own way; a great show to watch when burned out, if nothing else, and certainly easy on the ears.

Remember Mireille? If you've made it this far, of course you do.

Word is she's a different Valerie Allain than the one who did everything else on her IMDb list. Rumors abound that she died, that she disappeared, that she discovered underwear.

By the way, I beg to differ with the you-gotta-know French to learn French criticism. Did you have to know English to learn it?