Pronounced on November 19, 2021 - Roselyne Bachelot 19112021 culture frequenting cultural venues | Public life.fr
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXHello Roselyne BACHELOT.
ROSELYNE BACHELOTHello Elizabeth MARTICHOUX.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUX Thank you very much for being on LCI Roselyne BACHELOT this morning. We're going to talk later about the fact that we don't talk a lot about culture at the moment in the debate, but first...
ROSELYNE BACHELOTWe will come to that.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXThe epidemic is also what worries the French first and foremost, faced with a virus that is coming back, the world of culture fears measures that penalize it, as was the case last winter, well, the government in principle does not exclude anything, Roselyne BACHELOT, we understood, but in the short term what can you say this morning, tell the world of culture?
ROSELYNE BACHELOT So what I'm saying to the world of culture is that we have the cards in hand to be resilient in this epidemic. Resilience is two things, it is first of all vaccination and the health pass, so we all have a collective responsibility to ensure that there are 6 million French people who are not yet vaccinated, who should to be, to push for this vaccination, to ensure that theater managers observe the health pass, which is a guarantee of safety for people who attend shows and who avoid being contaminated in this way, and then there is always the possibility of strengthening a certain number of measures, I am thinking in particular of wearing a mask, which for the moment is optional in the rooms, which is at the discretion of the room managers or the prefect...
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXIt's not mandatory, it depends on the rooms, in fact, it's the rooms that decide.
ROSELYNE BACHELOT That's it, and therefore there is always the possibility of making it compulsory. A very important point on which I insist is that really the measures, which we call barriers, I don't like that, but protective measures, that is to say wearing a mask of course, hand washing, room ventilation, all of this must be reinforced, well explained, we have our safety in our hands, France is able to overcome this obstacle of the new wave of Covid.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXThere is a relaxation, there has been a relaxation, we talk about it, for example in restaurants, we have noted that some no longer systematically ask for the pass, there are more checks, barrier gestures, you have just to say it, in the places of culture also one noted a relaxation or not?
ROSELYNE BACHELOTListen, I don't notice that at all. I am like any Minister of Culture, I go out practically every evening, I can tell you that I observe that the health pass is observed, really, and that it is going very well, there are no queues. wait, it's very flexible, it's fluid, and that people, really, wear the mask, well I was on Saturday evening at the Odéon, to see the KARAMAZOV Brothers, I recommend going there, it's is great, well, first the room is full, and then the health security measures are respected.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXSo it's not relevant at all...
ROSELYNE BACHELOTThis is not relevant…
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXObviously to remove the health pass.
ROSELYNE BACHELOTIt's…
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXNo, but it's important, because it's a brake, it's still a brake all the same, we'll see.
ROSELYNE BACHELOTNo, I think that between people who are afraid of the health pass and people who go to the show precisely because they know that they are protected, that there is a health pass, I think that things are balance, what allows theaters to have, perhaps not completely overcome this health crisis, is precisely that spectators feel safe.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUX But where is Roselyne BACHELOT attendance, because three weeks ago you said that almost one in two French people had not set foot in a cultural place since the introduction of the health pass, so it is much more than before the epidemic, before it was 88%, the most affected being the theater. Are you doing better ?
ROSELYNE BACHELOTIt's going better, it's not going as well as we might hope, let's say that this recovery is a little soft. At the cinema, when we look, smoothing, since the establishment of the health pass, we have about a 20% drop in attendance, with a sinusoid, weeks ago, like the week which was around the Toussaint, where almost attendance had returned to normal, there are things that vary from week to week. There are very good releases, “Aline”, the biopic from the life of Céline DION…
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXBy Valérie LEMERCIER.
ROSELYNE BACHELOTWith Valérie LEMERCIER, who is absolutely wonderful, made a very good appearance in cinemas, there is "Kaamelott", there is...
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUX “Lost illusions. »
ROSELYNE BACHELOT "Adieu les idiots", there is "Dying can wait", there are very good ones...
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXBlockbusters.
ROSELYNE BACHELOTVery good developments, blockbusters are doing well. What we observe is, obviously that's a bit boring, it's that, let's say auteur films have trouble finding their audience, there is a kind of bipolarization of attendance on films which work well and others which really don't work at all, so is it something structural because there are changes in the basic practices of the French, that's another bit difficult to deal with, or is it a comet's tail effect of the crisis, probably a bit of both.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUX But because there was almost a third, it was also a figure that you had given, almost a third of the French people who said, in your study, that they no longer frequented, or less , cultural places, they had taken other habits…
ROSELYNE BACHELOTSo, Elizabeth MARTICHOUX, I had this study done at the end of August to have a kind of, how shall I put it, a signal that allows me to follow the evolution of dating and to better analyze the differences cultural practices of the French, it is a study that is already dated, so we are going to redo it to have a kind of marker that allows us to look at the evolution of this.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUX We were talking about the pandemic crisis which has therefore heavily affected cultural places, by the way, they have experienced a lot of frustration in the world of culture...
ROSELYNE BACHELOT It's terrible, a lot of suffering.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXEnormous, but there was also a lot of public money that was paid out, in the end, do you have an idea, an assessment, of the cultural places that have definitely failed and, by deduction, of those that have resisted?
ROSELYNE BACHELOT There is something that is remarkable in our country, it is that we are the country which has devoted the most public money to safeguarding its cultural fabric which is so important for the French people and for our country, because it is a factor of individual and collective wealth, nearly 14 billion euros, where some countries have budgets ten times lower. We have no cultural disasters in our country, cultural places... we have no bankruptcy filings in the cultural sector, hardly any, there may be here or there such and such a company, of course even in times of non-crisis, companies that may be in difficulty, but we have carried it at arm's length. I take the example of cinemas, we have the best, the largest network of cinemas in Europe, more than 5,000 screens in our country, there are countries, such as the United States, for example, where cinemas have closed en masse, there has been a kind of collapse of cinema networks, in our country there is no cinema that has closed, and that is...
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUX No cinema, even independent, has closed?
ROSELYNE BACHELOT But we helped all the cinemas, including the municipal cinemas which were not under the responsibility of the State, because I want to keep the network of cinemas, it is one of the first cultural tools which are reach of the French.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUX And moreover during the crisis, it was said a lot that culture was essential, Roselyne BACHELOT, essential, some saying it moreover as a claim and contestation of the closure at the time. But obviously, it is so essential that it is very absent at the moment in the pre-presidential debate. Does that surprise you or, deep down, do you know music, literally but also figuratively? You know politics, it's the rule that we don't talk about culture.
ROSELYNE BACHELOT I can only regret this absence of culture in politics. So indeed, some have scolded the fact that we would consider culture as non-essential when we fought like no other European country to safeguard it in all its sectors. There are only two political leaders who spoke about it: Mrs LE PEN to advocate the suppression of public broadcasting and Mr ZEMMOUR to suppress the Ministry of Culture. So frankly!
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXHe said in a program a few months ago:? The Ministry of Culture does not fulfill any of its missions, so I think it should be destroyed and replaced by a State Secretariat for Fine Arts which would defend heritage. ?
ROSELYNE BACHELOT Yes, that's the vision of the 19th century, the Secretariat of State for Fine Arts, but then it is absolutely disconnected from the reality of what culture is. Culture is not a dead star. Of course, heritage must be protected and we are undoubtedly the government that has protected heritage the most, that has granted the most credit. But it's also something alive: there are people who write plays, who make films, who make... with architects who construct buildings - French architects - baptize monuments and buildings...
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXYes, but let the private sector take care of it. That they operate on private funds as elsewhere.
ROSELYNE BACHELOT But we need a Ministry of Culture! Look at the cultural and creative industries: 92 billion in turnover, 645,000 people working there, who have a job. But if the State is not there to be, I was going to say, a leader at European level to build regulations, regulatory laws that protect our market, but in the end it does not know the world of culture, this gentleman ZEMMOUR! It is not possible to say such nonsense!
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXThe question is a bit of a digression, but there are a lot of French people who are seduced precisely by the level of culture, the erudition of Eric ZEMMOUR - and he has some, it's true. Is culture a guarantee of the quality of appreciation of the solutions needed for the country? Because many say: ? But he at least knows the story, he knows where we come from so he can tell us where we are going. ?
ROSELYNE BACHELOT What is characteristic, I must say, of French politicians is that they are cultured, on the right and on the left. What is this arrogance to assume the cultural question and the fact of being cultured.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXThat's how he is perceived, Roselyne BACHELOT.
ROSELYNE BACHELOTEListen, it may be perceived that way, but I can tell you that French politicians are cultured and they are right. And I don't think I'm illiterate.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXOne word, you quoted it, from Marine LE PEN's proposal. We can clearly see the ulterior motive: why give billions of public money to a company which is fundamentally militant since it considers that public broadcasting is a company with a militant message.
ROSELYNE BACHELOT That's wrong. I can only consider that public broadcasting gives voice to all political sensitivities. He is moreover invited there and even framed by a certain number of devices, in particular the law of September 30, 1986, the creation of the Superior council of audio-visual. And the new regulatory body which will be ARCOM, from January 1, will bring together - well, I don't want to be too technical - HADOPI and the CSA, so there are regulatory phenomena and the existence alongside private audiovisual - if there were only public audiovisual, we wouldn't be in a democracy - but that alongside private audiovisual there is powerful, free audiovisual, that's all quite important.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXYes. And he can have opinions. A private company can deliver militant messages.
ROSELYNE BACHELOT Of course, absolutely.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXLo the problem, says Marine LE PEN, is that public money cannot be used for that since she perceives it that way.
ROSELYNE BACHELOTPublic service is not for that.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXYou are Minister of Communication. Five months before the presidential election that we are talking about implicitly, there are 35 journalists' companies, including that of TF1 and LCI, who are challenging you, who are challenging the government after threats and intimidation from the far right against the press. They ask you to really defend the freedom to inform. It is true that there have been incidents or exclusions during the coverage of certain far-right political events.
ROSELYNE BACHELOT I am completely in solidarity with the journalists who made this call. I can only deplore and revolt against the attacks that are made against journalists in the exercise of their profession. This is not new, we have also seen it during certain demonstrations where editorial offices were invaded, journalists molested, journalists forced to hide their membership of an editorial office on their microphone. I mean that there, there are texts which make it possible to protect, that is to say that it is necessary to lodge a complaint. I know very well that journalists are often reluctant to file a complaint because it is not in the journalist's DNA to file a complaint. But there it is necessary, because it is also a way of fighting for democracy. We need protected journalists, I am at their side in this area. So there is a second point which is denounced in the appeal, and that is the fact that they are prohibited from entering certain meetings.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXThere are exclusions.
ROSELYNE BACHELOTThere are exclusions, it's also totally inadmissible. And in the same way it is appropriate, if a journalist is prevented from entering a public meeting - if it is a private meeting, everyone does as he wants in a private meeting...
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXA meeting.
ROSELYNE BACHELOT But in a meeting which is a public meeting, where everyone can enter, it is also a question of filing a complaint.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXCulture is language, and vice versa, so to speak. A debate for or against the “iel. So we recall that the online version of the Le Robert dictionary has included this neutral pronoun which is claimed by those who admit that one can be neither a boy nor a girl or and a boy and a girl to sum up. People who say: Am I non-binary?. So when we talk about them, they want us to talk about “iel”, a contraction of he and she. There is debate. What's your opinion ?
ROSELYNE BACHELOT So there are two things. Should it be in Le Robert? And should we use it? Le Robert is a language observatory and it observes that some people use this expression. And of course, it allows anyone who wonders? but what does "iel" mean? ? to find the meaning in Le Robert. He does his job. On the other hand, there is the question of inclusive writing and inclusive reading. I think that this way of proceeding is something discriminatory. There are about 25% of our fellow citizens who do not master the French language, little or badly, and this way of proceeding is a factor of exclusion of the most fragile and the most modest, so I am against inclusive writing.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXYes, but is Le Robert… Some are worried about it, believe that it is giving in to a fashion and that it validates the “iel” as if it were a custom when it is still very rare .
ROSELYNE BACHELOTIt is rare.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXYes, it's rare. So if it's rare, when we talk about rare we're not talking about a phrase that is, like that, very rarely used.
ROSELYNE BACHELOT There are all sorts of expressions in Le Robert that you will never use and which are repugnant to you, and therein lies the meaning. The existence in Le Robert is absolutely not a validation.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXSo for you Le Robert does not give in to a claim, but it anticipates a use…
ROSELYNE BACHELOT No, it's an observatory, that is to say it looks at what use we make and which precisely allows us to find the explanation, to find the meaning of phrases or words adopted by some people.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUX So we mustn't block this type of evolution of the language on the pretext that...
ROSELYNE BACHELOTNo, but wait…
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXBecause you say inclusive writing, no...
ROSELYNE BACHELOT There is a use of a dictionary, which gives you a certain number of keys, including on terms or expressions that you are fighting, there are two things.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXYes, but which in a way legitimizes the term.
ROSELYNE BACHELOTIt's your opinion, it's your opinion, it's not mine.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXThat's not your opinion, so you're in between.
ROSELYNE BACHELOT No, I'm not between the two, I'm not between the two...
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUX Between Le Robert and Jean-Michel BLANQUER who says, who is against him.
ROSELYNE BACHELOT No, no… listen, you're misrepresenting my words, I said I was against inclusive writing, I'm not between the two.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUX You are against inclusive writing, but you are not struck by the fact that Le Robert validates the “iel”, that's how things are clear.
ROSELYNE BACHELOTThat's it...
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUX There are many ministers who publish books, so you are going to publish one on Verdi.
ROSELYNE BACHELOTAh no, no, no, my book is written on Verdi…
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXWill it be published?
ROSELYNE BACHELOTIt has been written for 10 years and it appears in a paperback edition.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXAh, okay! What does Verdi tell us, he is popular, he is a great great popular composer?
ROSELYNE BACHELOT What he tells us is that he is a composer who brings together all audiences, we can love Verdi, this popular opera, and then he is also a magician of composition, and we can find his honey there when one is a musicologist. Verdi is the reconciliation of all audiences.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXHe's popular, he's not populist, as we say today, isn't that so?
ROSELYNE BACHELOT But why, truly, from the moment when a composer, a great artist is popular...
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXHe makes hits.
ROSELYNE BACHELOTWe think that… we devalue it? But pleasing the people is also the goal of the artist name of a dog, the artist he reconciles, and truly we can admire the extraordinary creation, the capacity of Verdi to make a certain number sing… I went back see for the ninth time "Rigoletto" sung magnificently by Ludovic TEZIER, you watch the last act, the composition of the last act is absolutely extraordinary, but... you also find the hits.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXThe prescription of Roselyne BACHELOT in cultural matters, Verdi…
ROSELYNE BACHELOTVerdi.
ELIZABETH MARTICHOUXTo appreciate opera above all else. Thank you Roselyne BACHELOT for being with us this morning on LCI, have a nice day.
ROSELYNE BACHELOT Thank you.
Source: Government Information Service, November 23, 2021
