Е.Гришковец о француженках. «Когда я говорю о французских...

E.Grishkovets about the French.
“When I speak of French women, an image of a woman in her forty immediately appears in her head. Sometimes much over forty. You will not see young beautiful women in Paris. This must be forgotten once and for all. You need to go to the university to look at the young. You see young people mostly in motorcycle helmets, on some kind of motor scooter. This is probably beautiful, but it would be better if they did not remove their helmets. Under it is something undyed curly. Charming, wrapped in a scarf, in a sweater of an incomprehensible size, with a bag over the shoulder ...

Some of my fellow colleagues in Paris, who are much older than me, explained: “Why did I have to do makeup before the age of 30? Hair styling, wondering which salon is good, which is not very. I was so young. Even caulk. 20 kilos more - such a loaf, but I was young and could always find myself any adventures. ”

I really like the Parisian morning when a Parisian leaves home in the Sixteenth District or in Saint-Denis. No matter.
& nbsp; Looking at this woman - where she did the styling - is unclear. She is somewhat anxious. All in itself. Not looking around. Behind it is a light trail of flavor, the appropriate time of year, and, knowing the Moscow context, you think it will now pass a little bit, and a car with a driver will be waiting for her there. He will come out, open the door ...
But she comes up to some small Peugeot or Citroen, slightly scratched and bruised, not at all the latest model. It casually sketched magazines, convolutions, newspapers. Sits in the car and drove off.
And she is beautiful. She may have an adult son. Such an adult that you do not expect such an adult from her. She has a favorite grandson or several grandchildren. She is very cheerful, but not the most caring grandmother. Because she always has some affairs in her desk or gallery, or a small shop, or a small box office. But surely something small and as charming as herself.
& nbsp; She has a charming flat - clean but sloppy. There may be too many things accumulated and everything is sketched. New curtains purchased, and the old has not yet been removed. Here is something wonderful.
& nbsp; She immediately begins to communicate with you, looking somewhere off to the side, simultaneously speaking on the phone. She invites you to sit down. He immediately pours coffee and, in a hoarse voice because of smoking and eternal talk, explains something to someone and at the same time makes apologetic eyes and some charming gesture in your direction.
& nbsp; As well as she did not remove the old curtains, and the new ones have already been hung, she has a new friend, and she has not yet broken up with the old one. They have a wonderful relationship. They can have dinner together. I have seen quite strong Parisian families, but for me it is rather a rarity. At the same time, children, friends ...
She is young. Constantly talking, smoking, swearing, opening the window, with taxi drivers, laughs a lot, drinks wine. She is in communication all the time. Do not flirt. No, this is different.
& nbsp; We have a woman who smiles at a man unfamiliar to the elevator, will be perceived either as crazy or as a team to action (uncoordinated proposal. Perhaps it makes sense: We have a woman smile to an unfamiliar elevator will be perceived as madness, or as a command to action ).
& nbsp; And there she talks to everyone like this: with a friend the seller in a shop where she buys coffee or fruit, with friends in her favorite cafe, where she drinks coffee every morning or dines. She speaks loudly.
Remember, in Parisian cafes there is no music ever. There is a noise of voices. There is no music needed. There you need to shout to each other, from which the volume increases constantly. And this is great. This is the best music of Paris.
& nbsp; The Frenchwoman is struggling with something all the time. When it was possible to smoke in restaurants, Parisians were indignant that everything was smoked, although they themselves smoked. Now that it has been banned, they say: “Lord, we have to, like dogs, go outside to smoke. And then in the cafe was our favorite smell. Now it smells like detergent and kitchen. This is a bad smell. They are all the time like in the picture of Delacroix, where a woman with a semi-nude breast is on the barricades. They are all so.
This is a miracle of some kind, not women.
I'm not talking about older attractive women, which we almost do not have. Parisian women never wave their arms.
We have so many women who have given up their hands, at any age, that this is just some kind of national catastrophe. Probably no less vitality in our women. But they look different.
& nbsp; After all, they all, among Parisian women who have grown-up children, an old friend and a new friend, life is not sugar. French men, maybe, look better, know how to behave better, but not better than ours. Even more greedy, even more capricious, even more selfish, corrosive and jealous. Our women, of course, more resilient. Probably. But do not look French while elderly after their life has knocked. It is better. They probably have a tradition - do not give up on yourself. And we have a woman who looks good after 50 years or makes a feat, or, according to