Funny Faces (D'amusant grimaces)

M and I went to the Abbaye Ecole to see a filmed version of "A'bribus" (Bus Shelter) written by the actor, Philippe Elno on Friday night. It was in a little theater with modern stadium seating. Here's a synopsis of the play that I rescued from the Google translator: "At a bus shelter on a forgotten country road, a showbiz star on the brink of hysteria, Florence Foresti, and a beekeeper with attractive wisdom, Philippe Elno, wait for the bus...and more. An offbeat, very funny, romantic comedy." The theater was full! The best ticket in the area this winter Friday night, I guess.

It was a physical as well as verbal comedy, with “beaucoup d'amusant grimaces et de sons” (many funny faces and sounds) to help me with my understanding.  I had a good time and got most of the plot line, which revolved around the actress' attempts to communicate on her two mobile phones while waiting for the bus out in the boonies and her increasing interaction with this strange guy, in his beekeeper's suit. (She finally asks him to lift her up on his shoulders so she can retrieve her messages and make a couple of phone calls from up there.) Sort of a modern, broadly comic "Waiting for Godot". I was quite exhausted when we got out of the movie and walked home through the village. I think my brain was a little taxed with the translation on top of jet lag.

You can watch a good clip of the highlights here (in French and still funny):

[L'Abribus] Florence Foresti : Extraits (DVD bientôt dispo) - kewego

I went around the corner to the Utile’s little “cave”(yes, like cave in its meaning of dark, cold chamber, but here pronounced caahve and often referring to wine cellar, or seller, even) for a bottle of red wine to accompany Saturday night’s dinner for M&D. I poured over the selection, deciphering the labels to try to pick a decent red wine, of which I am no connoisseur, being mostly a drinker of white, and no expert on that. I finally chose a middle-priced (6 Euro!) 2004 Lussac Saint-Emillion from Chateau Carrieres de Grenet, as price is generally connected to quality here.

I was still puzzling, with some visible, no doubt risible, facial expression, about the quality as I walked up to the checkout counter at the front. The two “aimable” (amiable) ladies, who do most of the running of the place, seemed to have just exchanged a funny story. “Oui, c’est un bon vin,” (Yes, it is a good wine) one of them said to me smiling and I smiled back as I paid. l caught sight of their small, split-screen security monitor on the counter as I left. I suspect they’d been watching me sort carefully through their small wine stock for the while "comme je l'ai choisi mon peu de vin pour le dîner" (as I chose my inexpensive wine for dinner). 

A simple dinner it was, made cozy by the combined heat of the fireplace and the stove in the living/dining/kitchen front room. We had four courses, I guess you could say, though not in the traditional order: salad, mustard chicken w/potatoes and carrots, goat and bleu cheeses with pear slices, chocolates with coffee -- the last after we retired from table to couch. M opined, “You are a good cook” as she took seconds of the blood orange salad with home made green dressing. Quite the compliment from a French native late of Paris. It made me smile.

Bisous,
N2