Eurovision 2008 - France

Divine
Sébastien Tellier

Music: Guy-Manuel de Hommen Christo
Lyrics: Guy-Manuel de Hommen Christo


History (1956 to 2007):

France's previous appearances: 51 year(s) out of 52
Years participated: 1956-1981; 1983-
Best result: 1st (1958, 1960, 1962, 1969, 1977)

France is one of Eurovision's most successful nations, winning on five occasions and appearing in all but one of the 49 contests to date. However, these statistics hide a stark contrast between the country's early form (with five victories in a 20 year period between 1958 and 1977) and its more recent performance. It is now nearly thirty years since France's last Eurovision victory; perhaps, more worryingly, Celine Dion in 1988 was the last time an artist representing any country won Eurovision with a song performed in French.

France ought to have won a deserved victory in 1991, when Amina performed the unusual and beautiful 'C'est le dernier qui a parlé qui a raison'. Unfortunately, France and Sweden were tied not only on points, but on the number of 'douze points' that both countries had received; in the end, Sweden's Carola clinched victory due to her entry receiving the highest number of second-placed 'dix points'. Today, the system is slightly different in that ties are resolved by counting the number of countries awarding an entry any points at all - interestingly, this rule would have delivered victory to France and Amina, given that her song received votes from 18 of the 21 other countries, compared to 17 for Sweden. Hindsight, I would suggest, has favoured France's entry; while Amina's song remains fresh and interesting, Carola's 'Fangad av en stormvind' sounds very much of its time.

Frustratingly, France has never come close to another victory, though it maintained an impressive run of top ten finishes in the early 1990s, before slumping to an undeserved 18th place for Dan Ar Braz's beautiful and unusual Breton-language 'Diwanit Bugale' in 1996. Subsequently, the country had to rely on its 'Big 4' status to avoid relegation, with poor results in 1998 (24th), 1999 (19th) and 2000 (23rd). More recently, France had a brief spell of doing well with Celine Dion-esque power ballads, finishing 4th in 2001 and 5th in 2002, though one senses that the country's dogged insistence on performing in French - beautiful language though it is - may not have helped its Eurovision prospects. The last four years have seen further disappointing results, with the pleasant but lightweight 'Monts et merveilles' finishing in 18th place in 2003; Jonatan Cerrada's 'A chaque pas' gaining a better 15th in 2004; Ortal's 'Chacun pense à soi' equalling the country's worst ever result by finishing 23rd with 11 points in 2005; and Virginie Pouchain's 'Il était temps' scoring even fewer points (5) but a marginally better placing (22nd) in 2006. Fortunately, being in the 'Big 4' means that France joins the UK, Germany and Spain - all under-achievers in both 2005 and 2006 - in qualifying for the Final anyway.

In 2007 France was represented by Les Fatals Picards.


This year's entry:





My prediction & opinion:

France is one of the countries with no worries; they will always be in the Final. This year’s entry makes me think about Bob Sinclair.

My prediction for the Semi Final: N/A
My prediction for the Final: 20th to 22th