If I don't manage to negotiate with the European Union, something I wish, then I will ask the French to leave the European Union. And then you'll be able to call me Madame Frexit.
American hypocrisy consists of thinking that everything is serious; French hypocrisy is to think that nothing is serious.
The French had an obvious financial interest in Iraq. That's been documented. They were involved financially in Iraq and in some cases, I think with weapons of mass destruction.
That's the whole thing: You only roast the ones you love. That's why I never make fun of the French.
There's no way New Orleans will ever be the city it was. I think it will have half the population. They may create a sort of Disneyland at the French Quarter for tourists. The rest I don't know.
Usually, jet lag is not this big of an issue for me. I'm not sure why I'm so disoriented this time. It could be due to the amount of chocolate and french fries I've eaten in the last two and a half weeks.
The recent riots in France demonstrate the problem European countries face where second and third generation immigrants still do not consider themselves French, German, or English.
I grew up in France, my first language was French, and I tend to gravitate towards French cooking.
From the sea came a boat with some Israeli commando soldiers who took me by the commando boat to the yacht and put me on the yacht. In the yacht I asked people, who are you. And they said we are Israelis, French and British.
There's always something fishy about the French.
I was living in Paris for, like, a year and a half, and I couldn't speak French, so it was just hard to get a baguette or a pastry or whatever. All the stores close at 6 o'clock, and they're not very into hospitality, so it's not a convenient city. It's so pretty, though, but I was raised in Tokyo, so it was hard to understand.
Some words, you know, it's amazing but some words would come only in French, and when I speak French, it would only come in English. And so the adjustment is very difficult sometimes.
What I think I'm perceived as in France is, like, I'm this leading man always doing strange movies because most of the movies I did, like 'Irreversible' or 'Brotherhood of the Wolf' and a bunch of others, and even in France, they always come out as a particular movie, not like the typical French kind of movies that people know most of the time.
Everyone tells me I have a funny accent. It's because I copy people. I learned English at school but have best friends who are French, Australian, English and American; a very weird mix.
I don't think it's by accident that I was first attracted to translating two French women poets.
I wanted to write about what we were doing at the French Laundry, the recipes and the stories.
Sure, I watched a lot of Hollywood movies. Maybe I've seen more Hollywood movies than French movies.
I play drums, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, french horn, piano.
I'm always feeling like I don't belong, no matter where I am. So I'm just searching for a family nonstop, and sometimes I find it in the mosh pit, sometimes I find it when I'm doing some French TV show with the president's wife.
But at the time when he wrote, Englishmen, with the rarest exceptions, wrote only in French or Latin; and when they began to write in English, a man of genius, to interpret and improve on him, was not found for a long time.
I always try to slip healthy things by my kids. I give them sweet potato French fries and fake chicken nuggets.
Here's the irony in what I do: When I go out to eat, I like classic French food. I like amazing Japanese food that has such a history that it goes back hundreds of years. And I also like really innovative food as well.
I especially love French, Italian and Japanese cuisines.
I talked about the persecution of Algerians and told about racism in my childhood. And it was as if, after that, I wasn't French anymore.
I am a Moroccan writer of French expression.
It is sometimes tougher to fight my superiors than the French.
I don't think Russia will follow the United States's way. I don't think Russia will follow the French way. I'm sure Russia will find its own way.
I was a young film student around the time of the new wave in film in the 1970s; old Hollywood was naff and over. For me, as a film student, I was going to see French and Italian cinema; American cinema was 'Easy Rider' and 'Taxi Driver.' Everything was gritty.
In France today, people no longer eat as much heavy food and fat as they did 15 or 20 years ago. These days, French cooking, through the influence of 'grande cuisine,' has become a bit lighter. And we are beginning to discover the original flavors of our produce.
In fact I enjoyed every minute of my life at King's, especially the discovery of French and German literature.
If I knew of something that could serve my nation but would ruin another, I would not propose it to my prince, for I am first a man and only then a Frenchman... because I am necessarily a man, and only accidentally am I French.
Before the scene, before the paragraph, even before the sentence, comes the word. Individual words and phrases are the building blocks of fiction, the genes that generate everything else. Use the right words, and your fiction can blossom. The French have a phrase for it - le mot juste - the exact right word in the exact right position.
The word Chivalry is derived from the French cheval, a horse.
I went into a French restaraunt and asked the waiter, 'Have you got frog's legs?' He said, 'Yes,' so I said, 'Well hop into the kitchen and get me a cheese sandwich.'
I'd always been extremely fascinated by the French Nuit Blanche, which is a weekend that they have in Paris where they keep all the museums open until dawn. You can go and hang out in Versailles in the middle of the night and watch the sun come up.
My biggest challenge is cooking traditional French dishes, which usually require very specific techniques and methods. That's just not my style... I cook from the soul.
