JOIE DE VIVRE

I once directed an arts series called Extreme Africa. It was a co-production for Channel Four & Canal Plus & as part of the deal, I spent a summer editing in a small regional French TV station.
 
On the first day at one o’clock, I went to the canteen, bought a sandwich & returned to the edit suite where I intended to eat my sandwich as we worked. The older, French, male editor looked at me with disdain, threw his arms up in alarm, shouted at me in French, downed tools & went for his leisurely, long, sit-down lunch.
 
The French concept of joie de vivre, the joy of living is central to French culture. The idea that an opportunity to eat, drink, talk & connect with colleagues would be lost to a working lunch, surrendered for a sandwich was, back then, alien to the French.
 
Yet in the last 10 years, 52 'Pret A Manger' shops have opened in France as slowly but surely the cultural concept of a lazy lunch & joie de vivre comes under attack.
 
I was recently in Paris, navigating the power of French workers' collective action... the piles of rubbish on the streets. I saw the protests that have continued & recently exploded with Macron’s use of constitutional executive powers to push through an unpopular rise in the pension age from 62 to 64 without a vote.
 
To me, it seems the pension issue has become symbolic of so many other issues & concerns we all share. The French are revolting not only about the pension age but about the lack of respect for democracy, the widening gaps between rich & poor, respecting worker’s rights, surveillance society & a fundamental right to joie de vivre, to enjoy life & to hold sacred the purpose of life, to be happy.

#beinghuman #france #joiedevivre