A Woman's Paris ~ Joie de Vivre

Christine Loÿs, documentary filmmaker and author, lives in Paris, France. After working as a teacher, she became an independent journalist and has been a contributor to many kinds of media, including television, for more than 30 years. She developed her writing skills primarily in the medical press on health and medical topics. She has also written about current affairs and economics for women’s magazines like Marie-Claire, as well as more political ones such as L’événement du Jeudi under Jean-François Khan, Jeune Afrique and the Medef Magazine.

Christine became a filmmaker with Doctors Without Borders, encouraged by Dr. Antoine Crouan, who introduced her to the famous organization Médecins sans Frontières, and Dr. Marie-Thérèse Basse, who was the first woman to become an MD in Senegal. She has been involved in more than 50 broadcast stories for French National Television and played an important role in communications during the Transantarctica expedition led by Will Steger and Dr. Jean-Louis Etienne. This specific work was pivotal in acquainting her with many other explorers.

Christine Loÿs fulfills her desire to travel in the U.S. by writing about President Obama’s reforms, as well as Al Gore’s movements. She recently wrote a book about Will Steger and is preparing a documentary about modern exploration. Her many past assignments provide her with a personal knowledge of the polar explorers, of whom she has written many stories, and with whom she has formed strong ties. Her numerous travels and contacts in the U.S. and Canada facilitate work on various subjects concerning the history and culture of the French Voyageurs, and what is left from them through their descendants in Minnesota.

Photo: Christine Loÿs and Will Steger

INTERVIEW

AWP: You are author of The Pioneer of the Future, a book about Will Steger. What inspired you to write this book? 

CL: It is all about his motivations at the time of his first explorations and the way he lives today. The book is being amended and updated right now, and will hopefully be published very soon.

AWP: You had an important role in communications during the Transantarctica expedition led by Will Steger and Dr. Jean-Louis Etienne. What was the most surprising thing you learned about modern exploration?

CL: Modern exploration compared with the earlier times of exploration is mostly about new materials; new material for the sleds, and new materials for clothing and shoes. Sleds are much lighter and easier to pull. Clothes and shoes are protecting from the cold much more efficiently. The rest of the exploration, spirit, motivation, determination, preparation, and luck remain exactly the same as ever. Recognition and education can also be due to new technologies and Will Steger, as much as Jean-Louis Etienne, used the latest technologies at the time of the Transantarctica.

AWP: The Transantarctica expedition won great recognition worldwide. How has this experience changed your world?

CL: I was into that world already because I knew those explorers before and I had read all available books about polar explorations already. However, I have bee thrilled to realize how much the heads of every government on earth were willing to meet them afterwards and hear about what they saw and studied through well prepared scientific protocols during their long travel (six months) without any connection with the outside world.

AWP: You are preparing a documentary about modern exploration concerning the history and culture of French Voyageurs and their descendants in Canada and the upper Midwest of the United States. Tell us about the research for this work. 

CL: The research was the best possible times of my work on this project. It took a long time. It could be pursued forever since it is extremely rich, much richer than I would have thought. I have been visiting universities in Minnesota and the Midwest and their departments of history and I have read many books and documents on the subject. Alternatively, I have met many Americans with French names, including Native Americans who were the first ones that the French got acquainted with in the 1600s.

I have discovered remains in fields as unexpected as architecture, agriculture, and of course culture. Although language has mainly disappeared, you can still meet people who keep it with dedication, and that is moving. I can’t tell you more now… I want you to come and see the film when it is completed!

AWP: Why is now the right time to publish a documentary about French history in the upper American Midwest and Canada?

CL: There is no right time to observe what is left from those remote times. I can only mention that you have in this area the highest number of immersion schools in French of all the states. I believe that means something.

WRITING

AWP: What inspired you toward a life and career so dependent on words and the ability to communicate?

CL: It is only about skills. You get to know in which field you feel good at and use it.

AWP: Your career has taken you from Paris to Antarctica to the upper middle west in the U.S. How would you describe your life, on assignment, as a solo traveler?

CL: I have never been to Antarctica although I always wanted to. At the time of Transantarctica, my children were very young and I could not leave them. However, I have travelled all my life as extensively as I could. Some people like it some others don’t. I needed to see the world and meet people. That nurtured my writing to the point that sometimes, I would look odd to many.

AWP: Could you talk about your process as a writer?

CL: It is all about sensibility, curiosity, luck, encounters. It can’t be described really. It is different with every place, every subject I dig into.

AWP: Do you keep a journal? Is there the temptation to keep a journal just to preserve what you’ve experienced?

CL: I have kept a journal for as far as I remember. I always had in mind to write about what I was feeling and seeing. I did not use all my notes yet. I keep them dearly for when I will be too old to travel any more and then I will be able to write more.

AWP: In general, what opportunities or challenges do you experience as a French writer in America?

CL: Everything and anything… Everybody and everywhere. When you look around you always find something different, some people enriching…. The only choice, sometimes might be the one your people would be interested in. Magazines could ask you some specific work and then you concentrate on it to make your living. Just like everybody else, I need to earn my living.

AWP: How did you get your foot in the door at the beginning of your career?

CL: I have always been a teacher and a writer. Writing is a way of passing on my own experiences and discoveries. As a journalist the process is very similar. As a writer, I feel that the entire world is mine.

PERSONAL STYLE

AWP: Name the single book, movie, work of art or music, fashion or cuisine that has inspired you.

CL: I have always kept three books close to me because I need to be able to read them again and again over time. They are:

• Poèmes saturniens, by Paul Verlaine, the best piece of poetry in French.

• Eloge de la Fuite, by Henri Laborit. Science and philosophy can be linked in a global view. This book keeps me thinking about life and science, which is an endless reflection.

• Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley. This is a piece of science fiction that is still ahead of its time, though it was written in 1932. It brings a flavor of modernism, craziness and frightening, unknown developments that I feel can be experienced today.

In terms of cinema, I am much less philosophical and I love Robert Redford directed by Sydney Pollack in “Out of Africa” with the divine music from John Barry. Romance, travel, love relationships, friendship, racism, illness, war… all that makes life interesting is in this great film. I keep it with me anywhere in the world. I may have watched it 20 times already… and still counting. I also cry every time I watch “Ordinary People” directed by Robert Redford.

With respect to music, I am quite versatile. I love Bach’s Brandebourgeois Concertos and listen to them for months non-stop, then switch to country music, Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan. Later I’ll go back to Vivaldi and Schubert… rock and roll over pop music… and I am open to any new piece. Recently, I have been introduced to Michael Monroe’s work, a Minnesotan singer and composer whom I would love to have in my next documentary film about the French influence in Minnesota.

Most of all, I love live concerts and dance. I won’t miss any opportunity wherever I am.

AWP: What is the last book you read?

CL: The last book I read is Champlain’s Dream, by David Hacket Fisher. I am totally obsessed with my current project and I read every book related to it. It is all about French influence in North America, and what is left today from the time of the Voyageurs in the 1600s.

I would definitely recommend this one. It is history philosophy and voyage… a great book for a great piece of French history, shared history, actually.

AWP: What is the best advice you’ve ever given or received?

CL: “Quand je m’examine, je m’inquiète, quand je me compare, je me rassured,” said Talleyrand (French diplomat in the 18/19th century). It means that you should never underestimate yourself yet remain realistic.

AWP: In your youth, what did you imagine your adult life would hold? 

CL: I always knew I was a solitary person in spite of being very sociable. I wanted to be a lawyer because I thought women were the victims of men. They were victims of their times. Society has changed. I have worked on this issue but I did not become a lawyer. Funnily enough, my two sons became lawyers.

AWP: In your early teens, what formed your romantic fantasies of adventure and love?

CL: Books—I was always a huge dreamer with every book I read… especially when there was travel and exotic people as heroes. I was curious and still am.

AWP: What were your favorite childhood things to do?

CL: Reading, and reading and reading. Later writing and writing… and I still do both and, in addition, I got addicted to cinema and started filming.

AWP: Was being stylish important to you growing up in your teens? Is it now?

CL: It has always been very important to me. It is a form of respect to the others to appear at one’s best and/or the closest to one’s own personality.

Style is what one is, regardless of fashion. Fashion is a style generally promoted commercially for the majority at a specific period of time. Fashion can fit into one’s style for short time—not forever.

My style is changing every day. Sometimes, I like being sophisticated, the following day I will only need to be comfortable regardless of fashion… And it also depends on what you are doing and where you are…

AWP: Describe your own “Paris.”

CL: Paris is my hometown, I was born there. I love it and it is always in my mind. I am part of it. At the same time I always feel happy to leave it, probably because it is so good to come back!!!

AWP: Tell us something we don’t know about Paris – its style, food, culture or travel.

CL: Paris is snobbish and I love it. I also hate it… I miss it when I am away. Isn’t that confusing?

Paris is the only place on earth where you can find great classical old architecture together with an extremely advanced buildings. And we have the Eiffel tower… our pinpoint. People are warm and cold, friendly and disposing, extremely versatile… maybe like in any big city.

CUISINE

AWP: Tell me about your cooking and eating habits and traditions.

CL: Cooking is important socially. Eating habits are changing with better knowledge of what is good for our health. As a French native, I never realized how traditional I was until I started traveling. I am open-minded and love new life styles. However, it is when foreigners try to understand my culture and traditions that I know how attached I am to them. Over time, I am creating my own traditions culled from people I have been happy with from countries I love. I am becoming more exotic with age.

My most memorable meal to date was probably the first time I ate camel in Africa… It was good…

ART OF LIVING

AWP: What do you live for? What do you love above all?

CL: I want to be there for my grandchildren and help them understand that life can be very different in other parts of the world, despite the fact that people are the same. Some are good, some are bad, everywhere. I can’t wait to take them with me in my travels. I hope they will want to come. I love writing and creating. It is how I am.

AWP: What natural gift would you most like to possess? What talent are you most thankful for?

CL: I wish I were more patient. I also wish I could speak more languages. I keep learning. I am actually refreshing my German and Russian in view of a future trip to visit friends.

My best talent is probably to be adaptable. It comes with the love of traveling and my attraction to exotic people who open my mind.

AWP: What question are you tired of being asked?

CL: I am tired of explaining that my love of traveling and discovering places and people who will later nurture my writing does not mean that I am not happy to be French. It is the opposite. The more I nurture my mind with other countries habits and cultures, the more French I feel.

AWP: Your passion for life is extraordinary. What’s next?

CL: My passion for life and discoveries is my strength and my weakness. I am never at the right place at the right time. I miss people and places and I can’t help leaving and visiting other places and meeting new people. I can’t explain more. I don’t feel like an explorer like my friends but I feel close to them in their spirit. I have more projects than years to live.

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS by Christine Loÿs

Champlain’s Dream, by David Hacket Fisher

Voyageurs, by Grace Nute

The History of Minnesota by Theodore C. Blegen

French influence in Minnesota, ancient history or alive today?

As Christine Loÿs and Jim Brandenburg are working on their documentary EN AVANT, they invite us to discover what remains of the French in Minnesota with this panel discussion. The French were the first Europeans to move across the Midwest and to establish their political domination for over two centuries, from the 1600’s to 1803 when Napoléon sold the Louisiana territory to the Americans.

You may also enjoy A Woman’s Paris® post French Impressions: Joan DeJean on Paris through the Ages: 400 years of Parisian living. While Baron Haussmann is usually credited as being the architect of the Paris we know today, with his major redevelopment of the city in the 19th century, Joan DeJean reveals that the Parisian model for urban space was in fact invented two centuries earlier. In her new book, HOW PARIS BECAME PARIS: The Invention of the Modern City, DeJean uncovers that the first full design for the French capital was implemented in the 17th century, and with her characteristic verve and careful research fully brings to life a city in the midst of reinvention.

French Impressions: W. Scott Haine on the origins of Simone de Beauvoir’s café life and the entry of France into WWII. “Café archives” seldom exist in any archive or museum, and library subject catalogs skim the surface. Scott Haine, who is part of a generation that is the first to explore systematically the social life of cafés and drinking establishments, takes us from the study of 18th century Parisian working class taverns to modern day cafés. A rich field because the café has for so long been so integral to French life. 

French Impressions: Valentin Petit on multimedia, the artistic process and the sensory experience. Valentin Petit, French cinema director and designer working in various multimedia, particularly music, fashion, and the extreme-sport sector, shares the inspirations behind his work. (French) 

To the South of France with Love. Sara Horsley invites us into her world to share six weeks in Arles, France, during a study abroad program. There, she learned about the French culture and their respect and admiration of artistic expression.

“To Catch a Thief” on the Côte d’Azur by Barbara Redmond who brings us a story of travellers who had come to the French Riviera, like her, to indulge in the sea and glitter by night. Reading until the professeur de natation was folding the last beach umbrella, then to dress for the evening.

A Woman’s Paris — Elegance, Culture and Joie de Vivre

We are captivated by women and men, like you, who use their discipline, wit and resourcefulness to make their own way and who excel at what the French call joie de vivre or “the art of living.” We stand in awe of what you fill into your lives. Free spirits who inspire both admiration and confidence.

Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening. — Coco Chanel (1883 – 1971)

Text copyright ©2014 Christine Loÿs. All rights reserved.
Illustrations copyright ©Barbara Redmond. All rights reserved.
barbara@awomansparis.com