Mini vacances/vacation, Auvergne. Saint-Néctaire et Les Fontaines Pétrifiantes.

Français :

Aujourd'hui, nous avons visité Saint-Nectaire, la commune qui doit son nom à son église Saint-Nectaire, dédiée à Nectaire d'Auvergne. 
Il était un disciple d'Austremoine de Clermont, l'évangélisateur de l'Auvergne et le premier évêque de Clermont au IVème siècle. 
Selon Grégoire de Tours, Nectaire était un des sept apôtres des Gaules envoyés de Rome par le pape Fabien.

L'église est une église de style roman auvergnat qui se dresse sur le Mont Cornadore à Saint-Nectaire. Elle fait partie des cinq églises romanes d'Auvergne dites "majeures".

L'église de Saint-Nectaire fut commencée vers 1080 et a été édifiée principalement entre 1146 et 1178.

Malheureusement, nous n'avons pas trouvé un seul restaurant auvergnat ouvert dans la commune. Évidement ils ont changé de propriétaires, un changement qui a causé des problèmes.

Nous avons continué vers Les Fontaines Pétrifiantes de Saint-Nectaire, un endroit unique au monde. Oui, en effet unique !

Dans cette région volcanique, les profondes fractures ont permis la remontée du magma volcanique en provenance du manteau supérieur. Au sortir des fissures, les sources sont captées, canalisées dans un réseau de galeries souterraines et acheminées vers l’échelle de pétrification où elles sont arroser par des cascades d'eau. 

Ici, sont créés des moules utilisant la technique de l’incrustation sur moulage, mise au point par Jean Serre en 1821, reprise et améliorée par ses descendants depuis 7 générations (!).

Cette technique est aujourd'hui reconnue comme un métier d’art à part entière.

Vous pouvez lire bien plus si vous cliquez sur le nom Les Fontaines... ci-dessus.

Je peux chaleureusement vous recommander une visite. (Photos ci-dessous)

English:

Today we visited the town (commune) Saint-Nectaire, that owns its name to the church Saint-Nectaire, dedicated to Nectaire d'Auvergne (Saint Nectarius of Auvergne). He was the disciple of Austremoine de Clermont (Stremonius or Saint Austremonius), the "Apostle of Auvergne" and the first bishop of Clermont in the 5th Century. 

According to Grégoire de Tours, Nectaire was one of the seven apostles of Gaul sent from Rome by the Pope Fabien.

The church is built in a Romanesque Auvergnesque style and rises itself on the Cornadore Mountain in Saint-Néctaire. The church is a part of five churches in Auvergne called the "major" ones.

One started to build the church around  the year 1080 and it was erected between 1146 et 1178.

Unfortunately we wasn't able finding one sole Auvergne restaurant open in the town. Evidentally they have all changed proprietors and this has caused problems.

We continued to Les Fontaines Pétrifiantes in Saint-Nectaire, a site, totally unique in the world. Yes, actually unique!

In this volcanic region, the deep rifts or fissures have made possible the assurgent of volcanic magma coming from the superior mantle or earth crust. 
When the sources surfaces, they are captured and canalized in a network of subterranean galleries and transported towards the ladder of petrification, where they are watered by a sort of water falls.

And from this stage, they create maquettes or moulds, using the technique of inlays or encrustations of moulds, perfected by Jean Serre in 1821 and passed down by his descendants for seven generations(!).

It's today considered as an art work in its own right.

You can read more (in English) by clicking on the name Les Fontaines... above.

I warmly recommend a visit. (Photos below)

L'Église Saint-Nectaire

Une maison en pierre volcanique que nous avons trouvé chouette.

A small house made by volcanic stones that we found "cozy".

Les Fontaines Pétrifiantes

Un lac souterrain mais ce n'est pas le fleuve Styx

A subterranean sea but not the river Styx.

Les moules sur les échelles 

The moulds on the ladders

Mini vacances Auvergne : Château de Murol

Français :

Le château de Murol est situé en Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, dans le Puy-de-Dôme. 

Le château est construit sur un promontoire basaltique à près de mille mètres d'altitude.

Les premières occupations remontent probablement au xe siècle avec un premier fort primitif mais les plus anciennes fortifications reconnues remonteraient quant à elles au xie-xiie siècles. 

Il est agrandi et renforcé régulièrement entre le xiie siècle et le xve siècle, en particulier au xive siècle par Guillaume de Sam ou de Murol, avec notamment la réalisation d'une seconde chapelle funéraire.

Au xve siècle, le château devient propriété de la famille d’Estaing après le mariage de Jehanne de Murol avec Gaspard d’Estaing. 

Au xixe siècle, à la suite d’un don du propriétaire, le comte de Chabrol, le château devient propriété de la commune de Murol. (Photos ci-dessous)

English:

The Castle of Murol is located in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, in the area of Puy-de-Dôme.

The castle is built on a promontory of basalt (not surprising in this volcanic region) on almost 1000 metres altitude.

The first proprietors or occupants were probably to be found in the 10th Century with a initial primitive fortification but the oldest known recognized fortifications, dates from the 11th to 12th Century.

The castle was expanded and reinforced regularly between the 12th and 15th Century, particularly during the 14th Century by Guillaume de Sam or de Murol with the realization of a second mortuary chapel.

During the 15th Century the castle became the property of the familly d'Estaing, after the marriage between Jehanne de Murol and Gaspard d'Estaing. 
They are of course remotely related to the former French president Giscard d'Estaing.

During the 19th Century, after a donation of the proprietor, count de Chabrol, the castle became the property of the commune of Murol. (Photos below)

Un carcan, pas utilisé aujourd'hui - je pense ?

Stocks, not used today - I think?

La cage où une personne a été placé 

et où il/elle ne pouvait pas ni s’asseoir,

ni rester debout et finalement les oiseaux

commencait à manger la personne

jusqu'à sa mort. Torture médievale

The cage where the person were placed

and where he/she neither could sit down

nor stand right up and finally the birds

started picking and eating on the person

until death occured. Medieval torture.

Un gardien (mais pas un vrai)
A guard (but not a real one)

Le ou les blasons des propriétaires du château

The coat of arms of the proprietors of the castle

Des vêtements de la noblesse. Ici plutôt au quotidien.

Clothes of the nobility. Here more a daily outfit

Les armes du château, comme des hallebardes

The weapons of the castle, like halberds

Une armure de plats et des écus

A plate armour and the escutcheons

La grande salle des nobles 

avec un trône pour le Châtelain ou un roi ?

The grand hall for the nobility

and a throne for the Castellan or a king?

Un chevalier dans sa chambre

A knight in his room

Le trésorier

The treasurer

Le toit de lauze. Aurore aime les toits comme ça.

The roof of flagstone. Aurore loves roofs like this.

La chambre de la duchesse ou comtesse.

The room of the duchess or the countess.

Old, old, old

2012 has been a great musical year for me. I fell in love with Horseback, was delighted about Scott Walker's latest album and was a bit afraid that 2013 might be a dull year.
And then on the 8th January, our fantastic David Bowie released a single and announced a new album.

The day after, Scott Walker celebrated his 70.
I realized my "old" idols were still kicking ass and felt relieved.
Then came the Oscar nominations. Well, if you know me, you know I don't care much about the Academy except when the prizes help foreign films to sell better. So let's sum it up like this:

Amour + Kon-Tiki = bingo!
(ok, mainly because Amour was one of my favourite films of 2012 and Kon-Tiki is named in my free guide "66 films qui ont fait l'histoire du cinéma norvégien").

2013 began well.
Then I signed a piece of paper saying that, I as an expert - oh yeah - would talk about Norwegian comedies on the 25th January.

Being paid to talk about Kong Curling when people annoyed me so much at Haugesund film festival is a really great pied-de-nez :)
All that bragging to announce that today I turn 35 and take this opportunity to wish you a prosperous year 2013!

Knocked Up

Well, what can one say about this film? It's another turn around the theme, 'A Bachelor's life turns into something Serious' and at the same time of course a 'Bachelorette's life....' etc. 

Other examples of similar stories are of course: 'The 40 Year Old Virgin'; 'I Love You Man' and so forth.

This is Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) (more stoned sometimes), living his 'I don't want to grow up'-life (somewhat resembling Swedes) with his friends, drinking, smoking (everything) and playing around. On a club he meets Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl). She is a pretty and a (rather) sensible person, not at all likely to fall for Ben but they both fall - into bed.

After this Ben's 'status' rises among his friends but eight weeks later his spirit dips when Alison calls him to tell him - surprise, surprise!!! - that she is pregnant.

As usual the man in this kind of situation always wonders how this could happen!!!??? Well, they've all missed the biology classes, that's for sure.

What happens now is that they both try to form a couple, trying to go along with what has happened and making the best (worst?) of it.

Will they succeed? 

There are some funny moments in the film and the comedy acting is not bad but as the film is a déja vu-story with to many forseeable moments, it tends to become somewhat less interesting along the way.

Born To Be Bad

This is a film about what is sometime called (or was sometimes called) female cunningness but I think that expression is somewhat biased from a male point of view. What happens in this film between different persons - this time a woman being the instigator - could of course just as well been the work of a man.

Joan Fontaine is Christabel, a woman coming to live with her cousin Donna (Joan Leslie).

Having installed herself there, she starts to flirt with Donna's fiancée, the wealthy Curtis (Zachary Scott) but she does so in a way making her look like a innocent victim of circumstances.

She fools Curtis to believe that it's her cousin Donna who wants his money while it's the opposite, of course.

When having outmanoeuvred Donna, she marries Curtis but only for his money as she's actually in love(?) with Nick (the fine actor Robert Ryan). He also loves her but on the same time he despises her for what she has done and for what she is.

This is no masterpiece when it comes to the idea and the very cliché-filled story and plot, implying that one describes the individuals as either being 'this way or that way'. The acting is mostly good but sometimes the American 'over-explicitness' tends to annoy us, gazes, blinks etc. in order to make the American audience fully understand the different twists of the story. The main actors - Joan Fontaine, Robert Ryan and Joan Leslie - lifts the story above the mediocre.

L'Arnacoeur

This film is in English called 'Heartbreaker' and this is exactly what the story is about.

Alex (Romain Duris) and his sister Mélanie (Julie Ferrier) runs a business where the goal is to break up relationships. Mélanies husband Marc (François  Damiens) operates the business.

This only in relationships where the women are - as they put it - "not knowingly unhappy"(!?).

When Alex, the heartbreaker interferes, he makes the women feel that they lack something in their relationships, whereby they always - up till now - changes their minds concerning their lovers, fiancés or husbands to be.

When they now are hired by a rich man, possibly being a gangster but officially a florist, to prevent the wedding of his daughter Juliette (Vanessa Paradis) to an Englishman (Andrew Lincoln), they encounter some problems.

First of all this have to be arranged within ten days, before the wedding, secondly this couple seem to be perfect for each other so why should they try to intervene? Money of course!

Normally they always find some details in the relationships pointing towards the fact that they are doing 'the right thing' but this time, no!

Alex becomes Juliette's bodyguard (after having been recommended by her father). He thereby come close to her and is able to find out things about her that he uses to tie them closer to each other.

This works up til the point when her husband to be arrives, a bit earlier than expected.

Juliette finally becomes aware of the plot while Alex is leaving for the airport, just to turn back to the wedding, where Juliette's father tries to convince her that the man she is going to marry is decent but boring.

What will happen? Look for yourselves.

In all it's a rather harmless piece of cineastic work, with some humorous scenes, where François  Damien is the one being the most clumsy, slapstick funny character while Romain Duris tries to imitate a Cary Grant in his efforts to be a charming comedian (perhaps?) and if that is the case, I can't say he succeeds. He is not bad but not a comedian, at least I can't see him that way.

Leatherheads

This is another story about football, in this case American football.

We follow the 'semi-true' story about Jimme 'Dodge' Connelly (actor George Clooney) who has the ambition to save his, not so good, team Duluth Bulldogs and American professional football in general, as it was on the verge of collapsing.
He succeeds in convincing a football star - Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski) - to join the team and as this man also is a very good looking fellow and a war hero, they can't fail can they?

Unfortuntaley there's a journalist - Lexie Littleton (Renée Zellweger) - who has discovered that the "war hero" Carter Rutherford is far from a hero, rather a coward.
She intends to reveal this and on the same time she starts an affair with Connelly, making Rutherford rather disappointed to say the least.

However, in a country like USA you don't attack a war hero just like that, even if he's not a war hero! Connelly and Littleton are making enemies and the top men within the football association takes control over the re etablation of American football a movement started by Connelly. 
In this situation Connelly threatens Carter with a confrontation with his former army friends, saying to Carter and the Commissioner  that they are standing right outside the door. In fact it's only the team, the Bulldogs being disguised as soliders.
The effect it has is that Carter admits having lied about his heroic deeds.

It leads to him having to admit publically that he has exaggerated his war story and now he also changes team, playing against Connelly and the rest in the Bulldogs.

Finally, after some tricks by Connelly the Bulldogs defeat the contenders an Connelly and Littleton becomes a couple.

It's a film trying to mix an old charming 1930-40- film aesthetics with a sometimes documentary style, very much depending on Clooney's and Zellweger's charming personalities and of course Krasinski's. 
However it's not a film making me want to know more about American football, or a film that revolutionizes the Seventh Art in any way.
It's a charming little bagatelle, to look at when you want to see a digestible story an evening when you are tired.

Bjursell April 2012 updates

Hi there!
You know what?
Gunnar is working in a museum. Not the one which was looking for a janitor but another one which was really looking for a true guide and a curator. Meaning that my foreign husband has a more interesting job in the Center of France than when we were living in Stockholm.
Weird, isn't it?

While I read Swedish books. Unreleased. For a French publisher. I am among those people who read drafts or achieved novels and have to judge them for a specific market. Here, France. As when one watches films, there are embargos. I'm not allowed to talk, write about them or name them until they're released. So you won't read a word about them here.

Otherwise, I must inform you that I rank! Again. My professional website is on the first page of GG France. I get contacts, send offers but haven't found any serious client yet. The main problem not being my ability to rank but the lack of French credentials. Does it mean I will have to contact Scandinavian partners? We'll see...

Being occupied is nice, but not always.
We were invited to a Berry-German wedding in Berlin but won't be able to go there. That's a pity. I have known the groom since 1993 and would have enjoyed a lot going to Germany for the occasion.
And for more than a breakfast at Berlin Train Station.

The latest time we met my friend and his bride to be was during Les Rencontres de Luthiers, last year. It was too short and we are a bit ashamed to stay in Berry instead of finding a way to party in Berlin :-/

That's all folks.
If you want to keep updated with Gunnar or I, here are our main twitter accounts:
@GunnarBjursell
@cineaster

I did not graduate with a Master in Art for that!

L'Hôtel de Villaines, La Châtre. Exhibition hall.

Today, for the first time in my (Aurore´s) life, I said no to a part time job. Why?

Well, let's say that the ad was attractive and that the real tasks were not.

We're talking about a summer job at a museum.
The employment office had announced a curator job.

The real position had more to do with a janitor one.

No. Thanks.

The Town Museum:

Musée George Sand et de la Vallée Noire

(Photo Hôtel de Villaines: http://static.berryprovince.com/wp-content/uploads/wpetourisme/hotel-de-villaines-vd-2-700x525.jpg)

(Photo Musée de George Sand et de la Vallée Noire: http://webmuseo.com/ws/musee-de-la-chatre/app/file/download/Musee.JPG?key=a57075zc27tl6z1tyy29mic00iao0168i)

Déjeuner avec les chasseurs Sarzay

Près du Château de Sarzay (ci-dessous) nous avons mangé avec les chasseurs (les amis de mon beau-père) aujourd'hui. Quelque photos.
Close to Château de Sarzay (below) where we ate with the hunters (friends of my father-in-law) today. Some photos.

Il y avait plus de viandes dans l'assiette que ce que révèle la photo.
Malheureusement, nous avons oublié de prendre une photo
avant j'ai mangé le chevreuil.
And it was much more meat on the plate than this photo reveal.

Unfortunately we forgot to take a photo before I had eaten the deer.

Babycall

A short film where Noomi Rapace stood in the center of the action, although she had already been worldwide recognized in the Millenium trilogy. Before the Millenium series she had already been spotted as an interesting actress in the Danish film Daisy Diamond, directed by Simon Staho.

Kurt Josef Wagle og legenden om Fjordheksa

A Norwegian comedy built to some extent on traditional sagas but this time with a humoristic twist. The word Fjordheksa is built upon the words fjord=the  long rivers in Norway or the long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier.  Heksa=witch. A sort of Norwegian siren perhaps?

The Son of Monte Christo

Alraune/A Daughter of Destiny

While the City Sleeps

The Hitch-hiker

Asylum

The Moon and Sixpence

Lured

The Strange Woman