FrenchPod101.com Blog

For movie-lovers, France may be among the top favorite places to be, as France is among the countries that have the largest art-house movie theaters! They usually focus on noncommercial movies or new and talented movie directors .

But you may be more surprised to hear that in most (if not all!) of these theaters, food or drink is not allowed!

Good or bad? It’s for you to judge. However, not drinking or eating allows for these small institutions to respect their philosophy of protecting the seventh art and the ones who enjoy it. By not sitting through a movie while hearing popcorn or snacks crunching or slurping and other drinking noises, the feature presentation is more enjoyable. It sure seems that France takes the art of film making seriously!

Moreover, as these small theaters are not concerned with making huge profits but rather just covering their costs, selling food and drinks is not a priority compared to being the source of bringing film to a higher form of entertainement. One can also imagine that avoiding food and beverage consumption in movie theaters permits their managers to save on cleaning expenses. Have you ever seen what sometimes a theater can look like after a feature is over? Due to the darkness of a theater, there are many spills and it is quite unpleasant.

We believe though, that the main cause would be to save spectators the trouble of maybe ending up with a loud-chewing-slurping seat neighbor. But if you are a well-mannered spectator, you can bring your own chewable noise-free snack so you won’t get caught!

France takes their art quite seriously, we can be safe to say. That being the case, actors, musicians, and artists have quite a special situation in France, which is quite beneficial for their art; as the government allows them to receive an income through the unemployment fund in France.

This specific status is called “intermittence,” and it provides them with advantageous benefits. To claim this unemployment financial help, an artist must work a minimum of hours within ten months (it used to be one year, but has recently changed). Once the artist has met this hour threshold, the unemployment fund (ASSEDIC) will pay the artist the following year for the value of the work he or she accomplished.

For example, if the artist worked for La Comédie Française, he or she will get more money then if he or she had worked for a local theatre. That income is a monthly salary calculated on the number of hours the artist worked and how much the artist’s employer paid him or her during those ten months.

So in France, an artist’s income comes from both the institution or company that employed him or her and the government.
This special status considers that artists’ work is quite unstable and this particular profession can undergo irregular periods of work. This status is meant to maintain creation, support art, and allow artists to be freed from trivial circumstances. By living in this secure status, the artist can freely create and be more productive.

What do you think of these measures? Are they very different from your country of origin? Nevertheless, it does make for the opportunity for us to enjoy the work of these artists!