Nossiter sets the cat among the pigeons... again

From today's Le Monde:


"On ne devrait pas plus tricher avec une bouteille qu'un comédien avec ses sentiments. Je n'a pas envie d'un monde où il n'y aurait que des vins et des stars qui font de la gonflette. Le discours de Robert Parker est le même que celui de la Maison Blanche sur l'Irak..."

"One should cheat no more with a bottle of wine than an actor does with his feelings. I want no part of a world in which there were only trendy wines and winemakers who strut their stuff. Robert Parker's position is the same as the White House's on Iraq."


Two controversies for the price of one!

This all goes along with publicity campaign surrounding the release of the "full Monty" version of Mondovino - 4 DVDs...

Best regards,
Alex R.

[Robin Garr]

This all goes along with publicity campaign surrounding the release of the "full Monty" version of Mondovino - 4 DVDs...

That one ought to bring out the "human shields," all right! It would be helpful to have more context here, Alex. At a glance, it certainly seems like Nossiter is waving a red flag to get attention.

The thing I find most curious about this is that in the original release of Mondovino, Parker was barely even one of the bad guys. Nossiter took the train to Monkton, interviewed the guy briefly, without really savaging him in the way he did some others, with considerable focus on his bulldog, and then went on. I thought at the time that the Parkerites' primary objection would have to be that he dismissed their guy without sufficient attention.

Now suddenly he's "as bad as Bush on Iraq"? Either there's a lot more about The Bob in the longer version, which would raise serious questions about why Nossiter didn't think it important enough to put in the theatrical release; OR he's just trolling for publicity.

Hi Robin,

Here's the link to the full article: http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0 ... 051,0.html

Yes, I agree with you.
There are good things and bad things that can be ascribed to Parker, and I'm very much against the war in Iraq, but I really fail to see the link between the two!

This was not a tremendously responsible thing to say.

Best regards,
Alex R.

By the way, Robin, the same article says:

"Nossiter y défend la notion de terroir contre l'impérialisme du cépage. Il y oppose tolérance envers la diversité des goûts (incarnée par des vignerons français) et homogénéisation imposée par les impérialistes du goût américain (le trust Mondavi, le critique Robert Parker, le wine maker Michel Rolland, apôtre des mixtures trafiquées, vanillées, sucrées, micro-oxygénées et vieillies en fût de chêne neuf).'

"Nossiter defends the notion of terroir against the hegemony of varietal wines. He opposes a tolerance to diverse tastes (incarnated by French winegrowers) to the standardization imposed by the imperialists of American taste (the Mondavi trust, the critic Robert Parker, and the winemaker Michel Rolland - the apostle of doctored, vanilla-flavored, sweet, micro-oxygenated, wine aged in new oak barrels".

Of course, Mondavi today has nothing to do with the Mondavi of several years ago, and the comment about Michel Rolland is really hitting below the belt. The French word "trafiquer" is very strong. It means to tamper with a product in an illegal way (or to deal with illegal goods or services). Such statements could easily be construed as libel...

Best regards,
Alex R.

[Robin Garr]

I'm very much against the war in Iraq, but I really fail to see the link between the two!

Well ... simply for the sake of debate, I don't have a hard time parsing it: It has to do with a strong, single-minded (simple-minded?) world view and sufficient power to try to make it happen.

I'm very much against the war in Iraq, but I really fail to see the link between the two!

Well ... simply for the sake of debate, I don't have a hard time parsing it: It has to do with a strong, single-minded (simple-minded?) world view and sufficient power to try to make it happen.

...and the attitude that I'm right and you're wrong because I'm right.

Just popped over there, things are pretty quiet at the moment. What time does Ebobsie lighten up?!!!

What I want to know is, do the dogs provide actor commentaries in the expanded edition?

What I want to know is, do the dogs provide actor commentaries in the expanded edition?

I actually kind of liked the movie, but this just reeks of self-promotion ('wait, no one is looking at me...what can I say that gets me attention?")

PS I don't get the "opposes the tolerance" phrasing. Obviously not what he means

I'm definitely going to want to buy the whole collection. I really enjoyed Mondovino when I first saw it.

Politics aside, I really think that Nossiter captured some fine scenes in the original release, and I suspect there will be much more of the same in the full series.

Dale,

As you know, my job is to translate but I dashed my post off to quickly and one franglais expression crept in.
You're right, you can't translate "opposer" by "to oppose" in English in this context.

The better verb would have been "to compare" or "to pit".

Best regards,
Alex R.

thanks Alex, "compares" makes it clearer.

I'm very much against the war in Iraq, but I really fail to see the link between the two!

Well ... simply for the sake of debate, I don't have a hard time parsing it: It has to do with a strong, single-minded (simple-minded?) world view and sufficient power to try to make it happen.

...and the attitude that I'm right and you're wrong because I'm right.

The thing that strikes me most as a similiarity between Bush and Parker is their willingness to say they do what they do in the name of democracy. It makes me cringe whenever I hear either of them use the word.