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Sébastien Tellier scores "nul points" at home
French entry divides the nation
Paris
23/05/2008 -
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But then along came Finland in 2006, shaking up the hallowed rules of Eurovision and winning the contest with Lordi, a heavy-metal band who dress up as extra-terrestrials. At last, it seemed someone had dared to see the funny side of things! France immediately changed its tactics and chose comic duo Les Fatals Picards as its entry last year with a "hilarious" song about French lovers. Needless to say, France scored only a handful of points - and Serbia won!
In 2008, France Télévision (responsible for selecting the French candidate each year) decided to play the "trendy" card, designating electro-pop wizard Sébastien Tellier as their entrant this year. Tellier has just released his third album Sexuality, co-produced by one of the French dance aristocracy, Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. And Divine, one of the better tracks on Tellier's (otherwise fairly mediocre) album, was approved as France's Eurovision entry. The nation could sit back and pat itself on the back, congratulating itself for such musical audacity.
One month later, however, a previously little-known French MP, François Michel-Gonnot, decided that this year's Eurovision entry was an insult to the nation. Imagine, the very nerve of Tellier singing most of his song in English, the language of perfidious Albion! Never in 52 years of Eurovision had France received such a slap in the face! The government swiftly moved in to take action and Eurovision - the Saturday night farce that caused such merriment in France only a short time ago - became a bloody battleground for the defence of the French language. Christine Albanel, the French Culture Minister, was called upon to intervene and Alain Joyandet, the secretary of state for the French language, publicly berated France Télévision. The matter was even referred to the executive producer of Eurovision, Svante Stockselius, so that the lyrics of Tellier's songs could be modified at the last moment.
But all in vain. It turns out that Divine is to remain unchanged and unabridged for this year's Eurovision (although rules governing the French entry are to be altered next year). As for Sébastien Tellier, the bearded wonder behind all the controversy, he's having a field day. One day he's promising to include more French in his song to pacify his compatriots, and the next he's joking that he intends to perform live on stage with a "bunch of bimbos in bikinis" - or, better still, "completely naked with a feather up my bum!" Tellier is also enjoying his moment in the French headlines and relishing the free media exposure. "This has certainly helped raise my profile," he told a reporter from Agence France Presse, "And the more exposure your music gets, the more people remember what you do. Hitting the mainstream means extending your life cycle by 20, 70 or even 150 years!" And who knows? Maybe Sébastien Tellier can even gain immortality if he triumphs at Eurovision on Saturday night. Come on now, everybody, cross your fingers and pray for the sound of… "France, douze points!"
Ludovic Basque
Translation : Julie Street
26/02/2008 -
20/04/2006 -
