January 2012 FRANCE $495 TODThe Magazine of French TravelA and YCulture Close to Heaven: Val d’Isère The Artist Star Jean Dujardin Pale and Mellow: Very Rare Cognac VOLUME 27, NO. 1 www.francetoday.com Inside: 2012 Travel Study Guide France Celebrates 125 Years of a Living Symbol of Freedom This statue given by France to the great people of America can be the statue of all those throughout the world who choose freedom over dictatorship. It is not simply a statue, it is an idea, and what the French and the Americans wanted to say was that this idea of freedom isn’t just for the Americans or just for the —Nicolas Sarkozy President of the French Republic “ Liberty Island, NY - Sept. 22, 2011 French—it is for all the peoples of the world. ” ©Présidence de la République / Christelle ALIX France in the franceintheus.org United States Embassy of France in Washington CONTENTS january 2012 4 CALENDAR 18 WINE & SPIRITS What’s On & What’s Up Pale, Mellow and Rare: Early-Landed Cognac 6 A LA CARTE 21 FRENCH KITCHEN 8 BOUTIQUE BEAT Of Bakers and Baguettes Secret Corners 23 FILM PICKS 10 Constructivism à la Jean-Paul Goude 10 DESIGN NOW Top French Train Films Top Showman, Jean Dujardin 24 RENCONTRE 24 Hot Stuff in The Artist Jean Dujardin, 12 Val d’Isère Star of The Artist Close to Heaven on Earth 26 TRAVEL STUDY GUIDE 16 Fondue Savoyarde Time-Honored Alpine 38 LE MARCHÉ Treat 39 CLASSIFIEDS 12 Sunning on the slopes at Val d’Isère 4 The Foyer, by Pietro Longhi, in the Casanova exhibit at the BNF Val d'Isère©Agence Nuts-Office du Tourisme Val d'Isère; Goude©Jean-Paul Goude; Dujardin©La Petite Reine/Studio 37/La Classe Américaine/JD Prod France 3 Cinéma/Jouror Productions/uFilm; Longhi©Venezia, Fondazione Querini Stampalia Longhi©Venezia, Productions/uFilm; France 3 Cinéma/Jouror Prod Américaine/JD 37/La Classe Reine/Studio Petite Goude; Dujardin©La Val d'Isère; Goude©Jean-Paul Tourisme Nuts-Office du d'Isère©Agence Val WWW . FRANCETODAY . COM l JANUARY 2012 l FRANCE TODAY l 3 TODAY FRANCE Calendar TODAY The Magazine of French Travel and Culture Publisher Louis F. Kyle What’s On& What’s Up Editor-in-Chief Judy Fayard FOR YOUR NEXT TRIP TO FRANCE Associate Editor/Web Manager Vivian Thomas PARIS Editorial Assistant Claire Senard La France en Relief Art Direction Joey Rigg Sixteen masterpieces from the Contributors French national collection of Cécile Mouette Downs, Lanie Goodman, relief maps, dating from the Jennifer Ladonne, Alexander Lobrano, Susan Herrmann Loomis, Jean Bond Rafferty, reign of Louis XIV to Napoleon Christina Rebuffet-Broadus, Chris Redman, Ellen III’s Second Empire, and origi- Wallace. Travel Study Guide: C.C. Glenn, Emily Liedel nally intended for military use. Consulting Photographers The extraordinary, minutely Bob Peterson, Guy Marineau, detailed, three-dimensional, James O'Mara topographical scale mod- Copy Editing & Translation Martha Fay, Elizabeth Bell, Wendy Taylor els of fortified cities include Marketing and Digital Coordinators Brest, Briançon, Besançon, Gina Lorenz, 212.221.6700 ext. 100 Strasbourg and Cherbourg, [email protected]; C.C. Glenn [email protected] the largest at 1,700 square feet. Subscription Fulfillment Manager Grand Palais, main entrance Ave Ahjin Kim, 212.221.6700 ext. 103, Winston Churchill, 8th, Métro: [email protected] Champs Elysées Clemenceau. Advertising www.lafranceenrelief.fr Julie Singer, 212.221.6700 ext. 102 €5 Jan 18–Feb 17 [email protected] Account Manager - France Relief map of Cherbourg, first constructed 1813–1819, at the Grand Palais Patricia de Gramont Gaston Fébus (1331– [email protected] 1391), Prince Soleil Marie-Armande de Sparre passionate hunter, whose Book of Manon Illuminated manuscripts and MAS MEDIAS the Hunt was an important 14th- +33 (0)1.42.84.33.80 miniatures, drawings, silver A new production of Jules [email protected] century reference manual of the tableware, gold coins and lux- Massenet’s perennial favor- Classifieds animal world. ite opera whose fickle heroine C.C. Glenn, [email protected] urious objets d’art recounting Musée de Cluny, 6 place Paul is torn between love for the Subscribe to France Today the life of Gaston Fébus, a flam- Call: 800.901.6560 or boyant medieval prince, Count Painlevé, 5th, Métro: Cluny-La Chevalier Des Grieux and the log on to www.francetoday.com Sorbonne. 01.53.73.78.16. temptations of luxurious life $45/one year in the U.S. of Foix and Lord of Béarn, www.musee-moyenage.fr $80/one year outside the U.S. with richer suitors. Staged by To subscribe, renew your subscription, submit change politician, poet, author and €8.50 Through Mar 5 of address or report missing issues, contact: film director Coline Serreau, France Today Subscription Services: 333 with French star soprano Natalie West 39th Street, Ste 702, New York, NY 10018, Tel Dessay in the title role and Italian 800.901.6560, [email protected]. Major Gaston Fébus, The Book of the Hunt, c. 1387- Map © RMN-René-Gabriel Ojéda; Gaston Fébus © Bibliothèque Nationale de France credit cards accepted. Allow 6 to 8 weeks for first issue 1407, at the Musée de Cluny tenor Giuseppe Filianoti as Des to arrive and for change of address. To order back issues and for all other inquiries, contact: Grieux. FrancePress , LLC, 333 West 39th Street, Ste Opéra Bastille, Place de la Bastille, 702 , New York , NY 10018 , Tel 212.221.6700, Fax 12th, Métro: Bastille, 08.92.89.90.90 212.221.6997, [email protected] France Today (ISSN #0895-3651) is published (from abroad +33.1.71.25.24.23) monthly except bi-monthly in July-August by www.operadeparis.fr €15–€180 FrancePress, LLC, 333 West 39th Street, Suite 702, New York, NY 10018. Periodical postage paid in New In repertory Jan 10–Feb 13 York, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send address changes to France Today, Les Masques de Jade 333 West 39th Street, Ste 702, New York , NY 10018. Copyright 2010 by FrancePress LLC Mayas All rights reserved. France Today is a registered trade- Elaborate funerary masks made mark of FrancePress LLC. This publication may not be reproduced in whole of jade mosaics, some with inlays or part without prior authorization of the publisher. of other semiprecious stones, France Today occasionally makes its mailing list available to carefully screened companies whose were created for the governors products and services may be of interest to our read- of important Mayan cities to ers. If you do not wish to receive these mailings, send instructions along with a copy of your mailing label insure them eternal life. Fifteen to the address above. have been discovered, most of Cover: Bud vase, 22 22 Editions, Photo © Jean- them included in this show of François Fanet 4 l FRANCE TODAY l JANUARY 2012 l WWW . FRANCETODAY . COM Musée Unterlinden, 1 rue d’Unterlinden, Colmar, 03.89.20.15.50. www.musee-unterlinden.com €8 Through Feb 19 AND DON’T FORGET these events and their closing dates: PARIS Giacometti et les Etrusques Pinacothèque de Paris, Jan 8 Edvard Munch Centre Pompidou, Jan 9 La Cité Interdite Louvre, Jan 9 L’Espagne Entre Deux Siècles Musée de l’Orangerie, Jan 9 Francesco Guardi, The Doges’ Palace Seen Beauté, Morale et Volupté Musée from the Sea, c. 1780–1790, at the Bibliothèque d’Orsay, Jan 15 Nationale de France Paul Klee Polyphonies Cité de la Musique, Jan 15 Napoléon III et l’Italie Musée de more than 100 Mayan objects Bibliothèque Nationale, Site François 03.69.06.37.27. www.musees.stras- l’Armée, Jan 15 never before shown outside of Mitterrand, Quai François Mauriac, bourg.eu €6 Through Feb 19 Au Royaume d’Alexandre le Grand Musée du Louvre, Jan 16 Mexico. 13th, Métro: Bibliothèque F. Mitterrand. www.bnf.fr Sous les Tilleuls, Les Matisse, Cézanne, Picasso: La Pinacothèque de Paris, 28 €7 Through Feb 19 L’Aventure des Stein Grand Palais, Modernes: De Monet à Jan 16 place de la Madeleine, 8th, Métro: Soulages Fra Angelico Musée Jacquemart- Madeleine. 01.42.68.02.01. PROVINCE André, Jan 16 www.pinacotheque.com Tomi Ungerer et Ses The Musée Unterlinden (un- Des Jouets et des Hommes Grand €10 Jan 26–June 10 Maîtres der the linden trees, or sous les Palais, Jan 23 tilleuls) is renowned for its Sempé Hôtel de Ville, Feb 11 Funerary mask in jade mosaic, 660–750, Subtitled “Inspirations and Pompéi–Un Art de Vivre Musée splendid collection of medieval at the Pinacothèque de Paris Dialogues”, a major exhibit Maillol, Feb 12 and Renaissance art, including The Wyeths Mona Bismarck of some 300 works celebrat- Matthias Grünewald’s magnifi- Foundation, Feb 12 ing the 80th birthday of the L’Hôtel Particulier Cité de cent 16th-century Issenheim artist, illustrator and cartoon- l’Architecture, Feb 19 altarpiece, but it also has a solid Henri-Edmond Cross Musée ist by documenting the many modern and contemporary col- Marmottan Monet, Feb 19 artists who influenced him, Cézanne et Paris Musée du lection, on show for the last time including Dürer, Grünewald, Luxembourg, Feb 26 before it moves to a new exten- Le Peuple de Paris au XIXe Siècle Holbein, Casar David Friedrich, sion in 2013: Monet, Renoir, Musée Carnavalet, Feb 26 Daumier, Goya, Ernst, Dix, Et Lutèce Devint Paris Crypte Rodin, Bonnard, Dix, Soutine, Grosz and Ensor. Archéologique Parvis Notre Dame, Dubuffet and a unique tapestry Feb 26 Musée Tomi Ungerer, 2 ave of Picasso’s Guernica. Expressionismus & Expressionismi de la Marseillaise, Strasbourg, Pinacothèque de Paris, Mar 11 Fantin-Latour, Manet, Baudelaire Musée Delacroix, Mar 19 No Kiss for Mama, 1973, Kremer Collection, L’Age d’Or by Tomi Ungerer,