Here in the country in the Seven Valleys region of Pas-de-Calais we get some things a bit later than everyone else – one of them is films.
We do have a few cinemas in our some of our bigger country towns but otherwise it’s necessary to travel to a main town to see a film when it’s current. Sometimes the films are shown in a country town public building rather than a specific designed cinema and they’re generally very small cinema spaces anyway. Films to be shown are advertised in the windows of the Town Hall offices in the villages to give everyone a chance to arrange to go to see them. Sometimes there’s a special bus service to take villagers into a town to see a film – and it is special believe me as the bus time table shows that there is only one bus a week from our village and in the several years I have been here I have never ever seen it. I have a feeling you have to call the bus garage to let them know that you will be waiting at the bus stop!
Anyway, Tintin is to be shown at the cinema at Montreuil-sur-Mer. Actually it’s going to be shown on a screen in the gorgeous looking theatre there and I am going to see it!
I’ve always liked Tintin – I have a wooden Tintin who has moved home with me countless times. He’s missing a bit of a foot from the last time I dropped him but I’m very fond of his cheeky grin and cheerful disposition.
Tintin was the creation of a Belgian artist Georges Remi who wrote under the name Hergé – his comic album series about the young hero Tintin and his faithful dog Snowy are hugely popular in Europe and especially in France. France has a love of comic books and even holds a festival dedicated to them each year – Festival International de la Bande Desinée in Angoulême (Poitou Charente region) and Hergé himself actually attended it in 1977.
If you’ve seen it don’t tell me the plot of the film – I’ve been waiting months for it to reach me here in the sticks!
A bientôt Janine
