France Gall Is Funny 'I'm A Pain In The Neck' [Interview With Laurent Boyer 1993, English Subtitles]

At the beginning of spring 1993, in her house near Honfleur, France Gall received Laurent Boyer and his team for the recording of Fréquenstar. The principle of this M6 show is simple: a long, intimate interview between the presenter and his guest, interspersed with brief archive images. A rather rare exercise in the career of France Gall, the artist being naturally modest and more inclined to sing than to speak.

This filming takes place in a rather particular context. Michel Berger, husband and songwriter of France Gall, died eight months ago on August 2, 1992, when they were both at the heart of musical current affairs. Their first duet album had been released a few weeks earlier and they were getting ready to join the rehearsals of their new show: a tour for two voices, mixing their respective repertoire, which would begin at La Cigale de Paris, would travel through the French-speaking world, would continue in Paris-Bercy, and would extend to other countries around the world, such as Cambodia where the couple had stayed a few months earlier.

France Gall is very affected by this disappearance and will not appear in the media for a long time. “The only thing that mattered to me was how to deal with my children's grief. How to get them to find a zest for life and find a good life again. That was just what was in my head, ”she said a few years later.

During the winter, she will reappear during a puzzle program in which a host of artists and public figures pay tribute to Michel Berger. She will also take part in the first charity concert broadcast by the Enfoirés, dedicated that year to the opera-rock repertoire Starmania. Then in the spring, she will announce her series of concerts in Bercy, followed by her tour, in the television news of Paul Amar on France 2. She will then be Nagui's special guest in Taratata, then Laurent Boyer’s in this Fréquenstar, on April 25, 1993.

The particular context of this filming is also the singer's feverish health. While she will be forced to postpone her first Parisian dates, we will learn that she had to treat herself for cancer. She will still provide the flash recording of a cover of Mademoiselle Chang *. Then she will no longer appear in the media before her return to the Bercy stage on September 10, 1993.

* Song written and performed by Michel Berger in 1981, which France recorded at the Théâtre De Paris on May 5, 1993, under live conditions but without an audience. The title is mixed the same day, and the disc pressed overnight, to be offered to the public the next morning.

[山地吉信]

Merci comme toujours！　De Tokyo, Japon.