Plot summary

Put the word 'French' before 'woman' and who do you see? The 'chic' ideal of fashion and beauty campaigns? The female protagonist of a French film? Or the woman written about in endless media articles who has become the subject of dozens of books that sell in their millions around the world? 'She's French' asks where this obsession with French women originates and how our thinking about her might be a foreign invention: has the French woman become falsely imprisoned by a myth? Pitching real, French women in London and Paris alongside professionals from the worlds of fashion, film, education, politics and journalism, 'She's French' plays with and strips bare our assumptions about la femme française. At a time when populist movements have gained political prominence for looking back to an era when national identity was largely homogenous and social movements such as #Metoo and #TimesUp are challenging Western societies to revise their values, 'She's French' makes a timely contribution to the global debate about female identity and empowerment.

Put the word 'French' before 'woman' and who do you see? The 'chic' ideal of fashion and beauty campaigns? The female protagonist of a French film? Or the woman written about in endless media articles who has become the subject of dozens of books that sell in their millions around the world? 'She's French' asks where this obsession with French women originates and how our thinking about her might be a foreign invention: has the French woman become falsely imprisoned by a myth? Pitching real, French women in London and Paris alongside professionals from the worlds of fashion, film, education, politics and journalism, 'She's French' plays with and strips bare our assumptions about la femme française. At a time when populist movements have gained political prominence for looking back to an era when national identity was largely homogenous and social movements such as #Metoo and #TimesUp are challenging Western societies to revise their values, 'She's French' makes a timely contribution to the global debate about female identity and empowerment.

October 26, 2022 at 10:10 AM