This last trip I was influenced by something cafe artist Rick Tulka said in his video - how fascinated he was by the French face. And the French nose, which he compared to a Pontiac!
I hadn't noticed. I mainly go looking for things. I'd forgotten to look at the French face. This time I was going to record all the French faces I could...in posters of course, since you can't walk up to people and shoot in their faces! Here was the first French face I saw.
Isn't this a very FRENCH face!
VERY, VERY FRENCH!
Here poetic licence is taken with a bit of stretching...
Ah the romantique French face...gotta love it!
This cool cat looks alot like the romantique guy...
Kristin Scott Thomas - not French but she surely looks French here and she does live in France. Pensive...
Can you tell me who this French woman is? In the Tuilleries Metro station?
I forgot. Also pensive...
Of course President Sarko turns up everywhere...
French heads buried in wine corks in a wine shop window...
A French kid in the Metro
Can you tell me who this French woman is? In the Tuilleries Metro station?I forgot. Also pensive...
Of course President Sarko turns up everywhere...
French heads buried in wine corks in a wine shop window...
A French kid in the MetroNotice no smiling faces, no blue eyes, no blonde hair.
None of your average pretty formulaic faces we're so boringly fed in US posters. No faces that make you think "I should look like that!" Well not many...
Thinking heads in fact, not just faces.
Here's your average French kid on a notebook about to do something naughty... 
Lots of surreal faces in Paris... Yesterday I had tea with French blogger Anne Corrons of MesVitrines NYC . She said sometimes she's surprised that I show things besides Paris pastries. I'm always looking for visual patterns and trends in Paris. Some of them I just make up, like looking for French faces...
Take Adrien Brody and put him in a French Metro and he looks decidedly French doesn't he?
Thinking heads in fact, not just faces.
Here's your average French kid on a notebook about to do something naughty... 
Lots of surreal faces in Paris... Yesterday I had tea with French blogger Anne Corrons of MesVitrines NYC . She said sometimes she's surprised that I show things besides Paris pastries. I'm always looking for visual patterns and trends in Paris. Some of them I just make up, like looking for French faces...
Take Adrien Brody and put him in a French Metro and he looks decidedly French doesn't he?
You can tell that the French don't say cheese can't you? Obviously saying fromage doesn't have quite the same affect!
ReplyDeleteIntriguing post. I've noticed that you see faces in Rohmer films that you never see in the States. Its a kind of odd combination of features that taken one by one you've seen but put it all together and its something new.
ReplyDeleteFor incredible faces go to Hawaii. You'll wonder what went into making such wonderful faces.
Could it be Colette?
ReplyDelete"Infusion délirante à voir sans modération" What a good review of "The Darjeeling Limited"! (by Wes Anderson)
Kris
Love the heads in the corks!!
ReplyDeleteEileen@
www.livingtastefully.com
Oops, I e-mailed you because I didn't realise the comments box was open. The lady in the Tuilleries metro station must be Sarah Bernhardt. Do a Google image search and you'll see.
ReplyDeleteFantastic...as usual...
ReplyDeletePas Aiden Quinn, c'est Adrian Brody.
ReplyDeleteBut both are very tasty to look at.
Ooh la la...there's pastry and there's pastry....this qualifies, brilliantly. I LOVE it.
ReplyDeleteWe are "thinking heads" too, non?
All best, Jan
Lots of faces full of character. Yes--Sarah Bernhardt. Don't you think every nationality/culture has "types" too, though? The British, the Italians, etc... Makes life interesting.
ReplyDeletesue
It's always so interesting looking at the human face. Great post as usual Carol. Happy Wednesday to you! ; )
ReplyDeleteI enoyed your post today..but what does a nose that looks like a "pontiac" mean? Hmm!
ReplyDeleteMadame Paris Breakfast --
ReplyDeleteI just see what I see. I am so glad I opened your eyes to something new on your recent visit to Paris. French noses! Sarkozy and Chirac are prime examples. Perfect! As for cybee's comment - some French noses look like cars from the 1950s. It is amazing. Anyone reading this, who comes to Paris, just look the next time. From the métros to the cafés they are everywhere. Enjoy them!
I adore your emails!!! But I noticed at the bottom that you wrote Aidan Quinn instead of Adrian Brody. Still adorable and looking very French!
ReplyDeleteParis Breakfasts Rocks
I love your daily emails!!!
ReplyDeleteYou are sooo talented.
The last picture today is Adrien Brody. I am in love with him!!!
Thanks millions.
By the way, your last pix on today's entry is of Adran Brody, not
ReplyDeleteAiden Quinn,"
who is also one of my favorites.
a bientot to a fellow francophile- I love looking at your pix and
knowing just
where you are walking, even down to the Paul near rue de Buci where I
often have breakfast with my dog in tow.
Leslee
Fun Post!
ReplyDeleteHi, Carol! I enjoy your daily Paris Breakfasts; they help enhance my "sweet" life here in Paris. I also enjoy the occasional branching out of topics. You have a very keen eye...and in Paris, it's all about the Eye Candy, n'est pas?
ReplyDeleteTwo things: (1) it's Adrien Brody, not Aiden Quinn,
(2) if no one gets back to you re:the lady in the poster in the Tuilleries station (and if you really want to know!), I work very close to there and could easily find out for you. Let me know...
A la prochaine!
Actually, it's Adrien Brody, from your neck of the woods.
ReplyDeleteI think he's a Queens boy.
Bonjour Carol,
ReplyDeleteI am so enjoying my morning jaunts in or thinking about
Paris as I read your emails.
I am about to go off to France myself and I am EXACTLY
suffering as you described it, not wanting to get on the plane
and go- stay here, rake the yard, chill a bit. Why go all the
way there to do the same, etc etc!
Had to smile when I saw "The Pianist" among your French guys (doesn't Sarkozy also have Hungarian roots?).
ReplyDeleteI think it would be difficult to nail down a "typical" Viennese face, Austrians tend to have roots all over Europe.
That's a really funny post! Of course, you had Sarko! These faces are fabulous!
ReplyDeleteNot pastry, that's true. But still French. Enjoyed the variation!
ReplyDeleteJust like in Austria with Austrian faces, finding typical French faces in Paris is difficult :
ReplyDeleteSarKozy with Hungarian roots,
Sarah Bernhardt with a Dutch mother,
Raphaël- the cat looking guy, (I LOVE this singer!)with an Argentinan mother and a Russian father..
But I do not think Carol's aim was to trace back all those people...
Her eye caught them all pinned up on Paris walls and all these faces express the same feeling and give some moroseness to the capital.
(AND this matches the atmosphere in the country)
(to cd&m: I like your comment!
The "fromage" is rather bitter at the moment- and difficult to swallow up...)
Marie-Noëlle
It's like in New York perhaps...
ReplyDeleteYou can be a "NEW YORKER" and be born somewhere else.
I wasn't struck by the "moroseness", Marie-Noëlle, as by so much humaness represented.
No phoney happy, happy faces.
Maybe phoney moroseness...qui sait?
Maybe phoney seriousness..
But certainly a humaness present. And that touched me.
So much more than the carbon copy happy faces I see in US posters.
I agree parisbreakfasts. Humaness is beautiful when the soul reflects intelligence and compassion. I believe these two to be a part of the French collective subconscience... Nice poste! I enjoy your blog very much!
ReplyDeleteYesterday I got a search on my blog for "French+nose+as+sexual+symbol". I was surprised by this and then I cam to your blog and found this lovely post that explains it all.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know there was such a thing as French faces, but by posting them for our viewing pleasure I can see a difference...most of them are very attractive
ReplyDeleteAdrien Brody looks totally French... he reminds me of Vincent Cassel although they don't look much alike, he has that air... you know what I mean?
ReplyDeleteThe French woman in the Tuilleries Metro station is not Colette, but she looks a bit like Lina Cavalieri, only the hair is a bit different. Same era, though.
ReplyDeleteThere is definitely a French face that is typical, but it seems to change in different areas of France.