Let’s train your ear in French with pop culture!
In the video lesson, you’ll find a real trailer for a French movie. We’ll break it down together, to take out a few sentence templates you can use to join a French conversation.
Want all the vocabulary of the lesson ?
1 - Full trailer for La Môme (La Vie en Rose)
Here is la bande-annonce (= the movie trailer) for the 2007 movie “La Môme” directed by Olivier Dahan. Its international title is La Vie en Rose.
The movie is a biopic of famous French singer Edith Piaf, nicknamed La Môme (= the kid, the child in old-fashioned French slang.)
2 - Breaking down the trailer: rise of La Môme
The trailer starts with showman’s speech introducing the young singer.
Il y a quelques jours, la destinée m’a fait croiser le chemin de celle que vous allez voir maintenant. Vous allez la voir telle qu’elle m’est apparue.
= A few days ago, destiny made me cross the path of the woman you’re going to see now. You’re going to see her as she appeared to me.
This is formal French, using pompous grammar and showmanship. It’s an introduction speech, after all, not a conversation between friends.
There’s an interesting construction here:
Vous allez la voir. = You’re going to see her.
This is le futur proche, (= near future), an easy tense that uses only “aller” and the infinitive.
You can tweak this template to use it – and to understand it in spoken French conversations. You know, without spending those 30 seconds trying to translate it in your head, and getting lost in the process!
The next sequence is:
– C’est une grande artiste.
– Parce que j’ai mis des talons !
= She’s a great artist. / Because I put on heels!
It’s a quirky joke! When a French adjective has two meanings, putting it after the noun brings out the literal meaning, while putting it before the noun is used for the metaphorical meaning.
For instance:
C’est une grande artiste. = “She’s a great artist.”
C’est une artiste grande. = “She’s a tall artist.”
Here, young Edith is too naive and humble to think they’re not simply talking about her height!
3 - Trailer Breakdown 2 : famous Edith Piaf
The compliments keep coming, with fame and troubles.
Elle est étourdissante. = She’s dizzying.
La scène, c’est un tout. = The stage is a unified whole.
T’as des mains merveilleuses. Certain. = You have wonderful hands. Sure.
Edith… (Sors !) Je suis ta mère. = Edith… (Get out!) I’m your mother.
Notice l’impératif in French, the imperative: Sors ! = Get out!
It’s short and powerful! You could also use Va-t’en ! = Go away!
Or Pars = Leave!
This is a case where Sortir and Partir can both be used.
The next lines are interesting as well:
Allez la môme ! = Come on, “the kid” is a clear example of using “Allez” for encouragement, in everyday French.
Chante-nous un truc ! = Sing us something! is in the imperative, and an instance of French everyday slang: un truc means “a thingy” or “stuff.”
Then the trailer gives us the “origin story” of her name:
Elle me fait penser à un moineau… Un piaf. La Môme Piaf !
= She reminds me of a sparrow, a little bird. A birdy! The Kid Birdy!
Un piaf is slang for un oiseau (= a bird.) It became her stage name.
4) Trailer Breakdown 3: Tragedy
The last third of the trailer gives us a glimpse into her tragic love life. Starting with love:
Tu es mon champion. = You’re my champion.
Je veux que tu sois à moi pour la vie. = I want you to be mine for life.
Tu as l’air d’une fée. = You look like a fairy.
→ When French people speak fast, they eat letters so “Tu es” is pronounced “T’es”, “Je veux” is “J’veux”…
→ They use the expression Avoir l’air !
But as her fame grows, life gets darker for Edith:
J’dois chanter, Lou, j’ai pas l’choix. / C’est du suicide. = I have to sing, Lou, I don’t have a choice. / That’s suicide.
→ Je n’ai pas le choix (= I don’t have a choice) gets shortened into “J’ai pas l’choix”
Votre voix est comme l’âme de Paris. = Your voice is like the soul of Paris.
Qu’est-ce qu’il se passe ? = What’s happening?
→ Learn this sentence, engrave it in your head, it’s very often used in spoken French!
Il faut que tu sois courageuse, Edith… L’avion s’est écrasé. / Marcel !
= You have to be brave, Edith… The plane crashed. / Marcel!
→ “Il faut que” = “There’s a need for…” is followed by the French subjunctive.
Repeating all the sentences in this video will help you understand what’s going on in a French conversation. It’s like a trick to ease your French comprehension!
And it works even better if you’re confident in what’s going on in these sentences, so click around on the other lessons I linked to in this post.
Or learn more about the real life of Edith Piaf, and one of her most famous love songs, here: Improve Your French With a Famous French Love Song
À tout de suite.
I’ll see you in the next lesson!
And now:
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I loved being able to repeat the French after you Geraldine. Merci beaucoup.
J’ai vu ce film . C’était un film très intéressant et époustouflant. J’adore les chansons de Piaf. La bande annonce de ce film comme une leçon pendant un cours de conversation sera intéressante.
Bonjour Géraldine merci pour cet leçon, c’est superbe
Bonne journée
Anne
J’aime cette leçon de tout mon cœur. C’est la meilleure méthode d’enseigner français que j’ai jamais vu.. J’aime.
Thanks Rayma!
Passe une bonne journée,
– Arthur, writer for Comme une Française
Bonjour Geraldine, j’ai une question. Où je peux trouver ce film ou les autres films avec sous-titres en francais et anglais, ce que je peux voir les deux en meme temps (comme vous les avez dans ta video)?
peut etre sur Le NetFlix
Bonjour !
Comme dit Diane, peut-être sur Netflix? Prime Video ? Ou acheter le DVD. Ou le télécharger quelque part (légalement, bien sûr.)
Ça dépend où tu es.
Pour pouvoir avoir les deux sous-titres, c’est plus compliqué. On les a rajouté nous-même dans la vidéo. Je ne sais pas comment les avoir sur un film entier.
Bonne chance et bonne journée,
– Arthur, writer for Comme une Française
Now clearly not j’ai mis des talents 🙂
On the whole mu understanding got less and less as my concentration waned…
Je préfère écouter les moineaux