To learn

• Knights and Ladies in Medieval France.
Upgrade your notion of romantic summer reading by delving into the personal histories of French aristocrats during the Middle Ages. Court life and love, jousting and chivalry, explore lifestyles of the rich and titled with professor Karen Christianson at the Newberry Library, Thursdays, 5:45–7:45, June 25 -July 30. 6 sessions, $155. Newberry Library. www.newberry.org (312) 255-3700

To learn to say (correctly)

• The French Correction: A Relaxed Approach to Le Français.
If your version of speaking French is anything like mine: listen hard, smile, pantomime and mumble parlez-vous anglais? Join me for what looks to be a brilliant class concept: Learn to pronounce French words accurately using the vocabulary of food and wine. My aspirations are higher but if I can just order my favorite Bordeaux I will consider it money and time well spent! Wednesdays, 5:45 - 7:45, June 3 - July 29, 9 sessions, $190. Newberry Library. www.newberry.org (312) 255-3700

To celebrate

• The Art Institute of Chicago welcomes the return of its impressive Impressionist collection.
Simply moving a painting in my living room changes how I look at it, so imagine how you will feel seeing these beloved pictures in their brand new suite of galleries. Worth a look! Don’t just zip past them while you are checking out that fabulous new palazzo for modernism. Take a friend, stay for lunch.

Continue celebrating

• L'apéro.
Summer is the perfect season to start your evening with a classic apértif. Americans tend to overdo the preview to a meal, but the French start lightly with nuts, Provençal olives, paper-thin slices of saucisson sec and a tantalizing apértif. If you must be fancy serve tapenade, or Comté (Gruyère-Comté) cheese straws, then open a classic: Lillet, Ricard, Dubonnet, a crisp white or of course, Champagne. And unwind into summer.

Celebrating fashion

• Bertha Honoré Palmer
Raise a toast to Mrs. Potter Palmer and her prescient eye for art—it was her acquisitions of daring impressionist art works by Monet and Renoir that form the nexus of our treasured Art Institute’s collection. The Chicago History Museum invites you to step inside the closet of this legendary beauty who used style, intelligence and grace to champion Chicago on a world stage. A grande dame in the truest sense. Visit the Chicago History Museum at May 23, 2009 through January 24, 2010 at 1601 N. Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60614, (312) 642-4600. www.chicagohistory.org

• Wine politics
What a pairing! Living, as we do, in a city/state/monarchy where reading the daily paper’s editorials can drive you to drink. Dr. Vino (aka. Tyler Colman) invites you to go behind the scenes of the wine industry and learn the roles politics and economics play in determining what we drink. A one-day seminar, June 27, 2:30–6:30 at the Graham School, University of Chicago; $130 tuition includes wine! www.grahamschool.uchicago.edu

Fashionable reading

• Vintage Paris Couture, The French woman’s guide to shopping
By Jessica Clayton. This guide to Paris’s incredible trove of vintage stores is organized by neighborhood and cross referenced with nearby cafes, bistros and bars—so thoughtful! Just click www.amazon.com.

• The Cultivated Life: written and illustrated by Jean-Philippe Delhomme
J’adore illustration and when it is matched with wit, it is irresistible. This is the first English translation of this well-known illustrator’s sharp penned look at the contemporary drama we call life. Très drôle. Published by Rizzoli.

To view

• Paris-Chicago: The Photography of Jean-Christophe Ballot
Sister cities side by side through the lens of a famed architectural photographer. On view at Loyola University Museum of Art from June 13 through August 16, 2009. Loyola University Museum of Art, 820 North Michigan Avenue, (312) 915-7600. www.luc.edu./luma.
Enrich your understanding in advance by attending a lecture by the photographer and Parisian gallerist and art historian, Chris BoÏcos on Thursday, June 18 at 6:00 at the Alliance Française de Chicago.
To reserve: (312) 337-1070 or www.af-chicago.org.

• Rodin: In His Own Words
See 36 bronzes along with books and letters that illuminate the art world of late 19th and early 20th century France. The coinciding photography exhibition includes photos of the Musée Rodin and the artist’s studio. Loyola University Museum of Art, 820 North Michigan Avenue, (312) 915-7600. www.luc.edu./luma

French cinema

Summer is traditionally a time for movies, so set aside time on your calendar this June for an octet of French films. The Gene Siskel Film Center presents Late Ophuls: A series of later work by acclaimed French director Max Ophuls.

CAUGHT
THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE …A consensus choice as Ophuls’ greatest film, MADAME DE... is a tragedy triggered by a trifle. To paraphrase one of the script’s most famous lines, “It’s only superficially superficial.”
THE EXILE
LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN with Joan Fontaine and Louis Jordan
LOLA MONTÈS
LE PLAISIR, based on three separate stories by Guy de Maupassant.
THE RECKLESS MOMENT, a thriller with Joan Bennett and James Mason.
LA RONDE

All in French with English subtitles. Go see at least one to see why this director is deemed so influential. www.siskelfilmcenter,org for a synopsis of each film along with show dates and times, or (312) 846-2600. Popcorn and films at 164 N. State Street.

French DVD

• Tell no one
If you haven’t yet seen this award-winning thriller, add it to your NetFlix. A grieving husband suspected of murder receives a mysterious email suggesting the “victim”, his wife, may still be alive… I say no more.

Figaro’s Newsletter · Summer 2009 Vive la vie parisienne !