Discovering France; Now Let's Look At the Real France

France is the 3rd largest country in Europe, the 5th largest economic power in the world, and the uncontested leader when it comes to snobby waiters. IVN's Discovering France, the latest in the "Video Visits" series, is a strikingly beautiful look at the land of baguettes and guillotines. Moving around the sections of an animated map, the program begins in Brittany with the Mont-Saint-Michel abbey, journeys to Paris to sample the masterworks of art on display at the Louvre (one contemporary critic, long since forgotten, remarked of impressionist Monet's work "wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished.") The Paris section also takes in the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Latin Quarter, and Versailles. Other highlights include visits to vintners (and a recounting of the discovery of champagne by the Benedictine monk Dom Perignon), watching a truffle-hunting swine in action, a stop at the Bayonne festival (where the French have their own mini-version of the Pamplona bull run--only these bulls are young and have their horns capped), and a peek inside Paul Bocuse's restaurant. Beautifully lensed, with sharp and informative narration, Discovering France is a winner. Highly recommended.Now Let's Look at the Real France, a film made by Sarah McConnell, a 22-year-old American student studying abroad, is aimed at fellow Gen-Xers who--perhaps drained by the demands of being a slacker in the U.S.--might want to take a year or so off in La Belle France. Opening with a poem about Paris, the program comments on French stereotypes and then films the Eiffel Tower, visits with cute guys at a college dorm in St. Etienne, takes an unnarrated drive into the French countryside while snippets of current French tunes (most likely copyrighted) play on the soundtrack, and makes brief stopovers at a student's house and a restaurant. On the minus side, this is an amateur film comprised of unrelated segments that is of intermittent interest. On the plus side, there are some nice spontaneous scenes in the dorm (oh, to be a twentysomething student with no thoughts about taxes or worries about Bob Dole becoming President!), and a handful of notable "facts about France." For trivia lovers, here's a gem: 55,000 pairs of jeans are sold in France every day. An optional purchase. (R. Pitman)