{"id":1992,"date":"2021-02-07T19:04:44","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T00:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/?p=1992"},"modified":"2022-09-06T21:01:05","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T01:01:05","slug":"an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/","title":{"rendered":"An Evening Among Paris\u2019 Cultural Elite"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I know this is probably one of the most pretentious blog post titles you\u2019ve ever read, but hey, when you live abroad during a pandemic, the little things become the big things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was mid-October. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In just a few short days, President Emmanuel Macron would announce the start of a 9pm curfew in Paris to fight the coronavirus pandemic. But for the moment, the French \u2013 and I, were still free. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A friend had invited me out to dinner. We had steak, French fries (steak-frites<\/em>) and lots of red wine. When we found out there was a small gathering of some of his friends at a restaurant in central Paris, we weren\u2019t sure if we should go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShould we go all out on a Tuesday?\u201d<\/em> my friend asked. Of course, we both knew the answer to that question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hopped in an Uber and made our way to La Belle \u00c9poque<\/em>, an art deco style French restaurant that looks straight out of the 1920s in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris. When I got there, about 4 to 5 people sat around a few round bistro tables that were bunched up next to each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"La<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I scooted into the booth and my friend explained that we were sitting with one of France\u2019s most famous writers \u2013 Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Beigbeder. I was not familiar with Beigbeder (should I be admitting that?) but I quickly discovered that he had written many successful French novels, a few of which had even been adapted into films!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L\u2019amour dure trois ans<\/em><\/a> was one of the most famous. It tells the autobiographical story of how a young man discovers that love only lasts three years.\u00a0The book was adapted into a film some time afterwards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paris is known for its rich literary history and I couldn\u2019t help but compare this otherwise banal evening to a night that Hemingway might have during his time in Paris \u2013 at La Closerie Des Lilas<\/em>, perhaps. Yes, many American writers were known to frequent Parisian caf\u00e9s and restaurants during the early 20th century, to debate politics, discuss current events, and get feedback on their latest works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talking about literature, art and film in Paris was a dream of mine and I was finally living it! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started talking with a French music producer and a film director and we got into a friendly discussion about the differences between American and French film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, this French film director felt that American films were always so much better and if a French film is bad, it is really, really<\/em> bad \u2013 almost to death! Whereas when an American film is bad, you can just move on to another and it doesn\u2019t really affect you too much. He had a good point! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I countered that France had some really phenomenal historic cinema which influenced the world. Think about the Nouvelle Vague<\/em> (French New Wave) with its realistic depictions of life situations. Filmmakers like Jean-Luc Godard proved that French cinema was a world influence to be reckoned with!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The director agreed with me, but said that there are far too few truly great and iconic contemporary French films the way that there are American ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"La<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The rest of the conversation is now somewhat of a blur to me. We all began drinking the vodka that Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric was involved in \u2013 and my memories are fading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should have written them down sooner because this night was so special, even though on paper it probably sounds quite banal. I don\u2019t even think this blog post gives it justice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also know for sure that everyone at that table forgot about the night much faster than I did. That\u2019s part of the beauty of living in a foreign country \u2013 there are mundane moments that you can appreciate in a far deeper way than most natives could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c0 bient\u00f4t,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victoria<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":null,"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":null,"yoast_head":"\nAn Evening Among Paris\u2019 Cultural Elite<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Evening Among Paris\u2019 Cultural Elite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The French\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/frenchgirldaily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-08T00:04:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-07T01:01:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/La-Belle-Epoque-Paris-Restaurant_IMG_1027.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Victoria Petersen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@frenchgirldaily\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@frenchgirldaily\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Victoria Petersen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Victoria Petersen\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c9fe3ec9c6447786f612994d099be88e\"},\"headline\":\"An Evening Among Paris\u2019 Cultural Elite\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-08T00:04:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-07T01:01:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/\"},\"wordCount\":663,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Events\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/\",\"name\":\"An Evening Among Paris\u2019 Cultural Elite\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-08T00:04:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-07T01:01:05+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Events\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/events\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"An Evening Among Paris\u2019 Cultural Elite\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/\",\"name\":\"The French\",\"description\":\"an American in Paris\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"The French\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The French\",\"alternateName\":\"The French\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/theFrench-Logo@2x.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/theFrench-Logo@2x.png\",\"width\":691,\"height\":316,\"caption\":\"The French\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/frenchgirldaily\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/frenchgirldaily\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/frenchgirldaily\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c9fe3ec9c6447786f612994d099be88e\",\"name\":\"Victoria Petersen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b65f1e7b62bf82d993eac201bca11d8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b65f1e7b62bf82d993eac201bca11d8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Victoria Petersen\"},\"description\":\"I am an American girl from Connecticut living between Paris and Miami Beach. TheFrench.com is a place for women who love French culture and style. I hope this site inspires you to adopt a modern 'French' lifestyle and build a casual chic wardrobe that takes you through all of life\u2019s moments. If you like what you read, please consider subscribing to my weekly newsletter! Bisous...\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/victoriaptrsn\/\",\"https:\/\/pinterest.com\/victoria_ptrsn\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/author\/victoria\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"An Evening Among Paris\u2019 Cultural Elite","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"An Evening Among Paris\u2019 Cultural Elite","og_url":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/","og_site_name":"The French","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/frenchgirldaily","article_published_time":"2021-02-08T00:04:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-09-07T01:01:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":1200,"url":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/La-Belle-Epoque-Paris-Restaurant_IMG_1027.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Victoria Petersen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@frenchgirldaily","twitter_site":"@frenchgirldaily","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Victoria Petersen","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/"},"author":{"name":"Victoria Petersen","@id":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c9fe3ec9c6447786f612994d099be88e"},"headline":"An Evening Among Paris\u2019 Cultural Elite","datePublished":"2021-02-08T00:04:44+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-07T01:01:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/"},"wordCount":663,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Events"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/","url":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/","name":"An Evening Among Paris\u2019 Cultural Elite","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-02-08T00:04:44+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-07T01:01:05+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/an-evening-among-paris-cultural-elite\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Events","item":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/events\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"An Evening Among Paris\u2019 Cultural Elite"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/","name":"The French","description":"an American in Paris","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#organization"},"alternateName":"The French","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#organization","name":"The French","alternateName":"The French","url":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/theFrench-Logo@2x.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/theFrench-Logo@2x.png","width":691,"height":316,"caption":"The French"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/frenchgirldaily","https:\/\/twitter.com\/frenchgirldaily","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/frenchgirldaily\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c9fe3ec9c6447786f612994d099be88e","name":"Victoria Petersen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b65f1e7b62bf82d993eac201bca11d8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b65f1e7b62bf82d993eac201bca11d8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Victoria Petersen"},"description":"I am an American girl from Connecticut living between Paris and Miami Beach. TheFrench.com is a place for women who love French culture and style. I hope this site inspires you to adopt a modern 'French' lifestyle and build a casual chic wardrobe that takes you through all of life\u2019s moments. If you like what you read, please consider subscribing to my weekly newsletter! Bisous...","sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/victoriaptrsn\/","https:\/\/pinterest.com\/victoria_ptrsn\/"],"url":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/author\/victoria\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5907,"href":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992\/revisions\/5907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefrench.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}