French in Action

About French in Action

There’s actually quite a fascinating backstory behind French in Action, and it explains why the series feels so different from typical language instruction.

The series was created by Pierre Capretz, a Yale professor who believed that traditional language teaching was fundamentally backwards. Instead of memorizing grammar tables and translating sentences, he wanted students to experience French the way children acquire language: through context, emotion, repetition, gesture, and story. 

That’s why the show became this unusual hybrid:

  • part soap opera,
  • part documentary,
  • part immersion course,
  • part French New Wave film homage.

The famous “Robert et Mireille” storyline wasn’t just entertainment filler. Capretz intentionally built a romantic serialized narrative because he thought students would remember language better if they were emotionally invested in the characters. One fan site joked that Capretz understood “nothing fixes the short attention span of the young like a good jolt of hormones.” 

And honestly… it worked.

The production itself was unusually ambitious for educational TV in the 1980s:

  • filmed on location across Paris and France,
  • professionally acted,
  • filled with clips from French films and TV,
  • funded by the Annenberg Foundation and public broadcasting,
  • produced by WGBH, Yale University, and Wellesley College. 

At the time, this was a huge educational media project — around $3 million in 1987 dollars. 

There’s also an older historical thread behind it. During World War II, Yale professor Jean Boorsch developed an oral immersion method for military language training. Capretz later worked with him and inherited some of those ideas — even the names “Robert” and “Mireille” came from those earlier teaching experiments. 

One reason the show became legendary among language learners is that it committed almost completely to immersion. After the English introduction in Episode 1, virtually everything is in French. No subtitles. No translation crutches. Capretz believed students should associate French words directly with situations and images rather than mentally converting from English.

And then something unexpected happened: the show developed a genuine cult following.

People became attached to:

  • Mireille,
  • Robert,
  • Marie-Laure,
  • the mysterious man in black,
  • the Paris atmosphere,
  • even Capretz himself.

There was a 25th anniversary reunion at Yale in 2010 because fans were still obsessed decades later. 

A lot of language teachers still consider it one of the most effective immersion courses ever made. Even today, you’ll find people online saying it changed how they thought about learning languages altogether. 

It also clearly influenced later Annenberg series like Destinos — though Destinos leaned more into telenovela mystery, while French in Action had more of an artsy Parisian romantic-comedy vibe.

Format
Main article: List of French in Action episodes

Each episode is half an hour long. Early episodes have four main elements:

  • a classroom session, featuring Capretz explaining the basic ideas of the episode to a group of international students
  • an excerpt from an ongoing story, filmed especially for the series, and framed as a narrative that Capretz and his students are inventing in order to practice their French. The story focuses on American student Robert Taylor (Charles Mayer) and his French love interest Mireille Belleau (Valérie Allain).
  • clips from French films and television shows, illustrating the new vocabulary words of the lesson
  • a brief Guignol-style puppet show recapping some element of the episode’s story (filmed at the Théâtre Vrai Guignolet at Champs-Élysées)[6]

In later episodes the introductory classroom segment is omitted, and the episode begins immediately with an excerpt from the ongoing story.

The series uses context and repetition, rather than translation, to teach the meanings of words. With the exception of a brief English-language introduction at the beginning of each episode, the series is conducted entirely in French.

French in Action is a French language course, developed by Professor Pierre Capretz of Yale University. The course includes workbooks, textbooks, and a 52-episode television series.

The television series — the best-known aspect of the course — was produced in 1987 by WGBH, Yale University, and Wellesley College, and funded by Annenberg/CPB, and since then, has been aired frequently on PBS in the United States, developing a cult following[1] for its romantic comedy segments interspersed among grammar and vocabulary lessons.

In 2010, Yale University hosted a 25th anniversary reunion in celebration of the programme’s success.[2][3]

Orientation

Leçon 1: Orientation

An introduction to French in Action: its creation, its components, and its functioning. How to work with the video programs and how to integrate them with the audio and print components. This is the only program in English; the others are entirely in French.

Planning and Anticipating

Greeting and leave-taking; talking about health; expressing surprise; planning and anticipating; expressing decisiveness and indecisiveness. Subject pronouns; masculine and feminine adjectives and nouns; definite and indefinite articles; immediate future; agreement in gender and number; aller; être; present indicative of -er verbs.

Leçon 2: Planning and Anticipating I

“Lesson 2 takes us from a classroom into the streets of Paris. A young woman named Mireille is hurrying to school. On her way, she exchanges greetings with several friends and acquaintances, a professor, and her Aunt Georgette, all of whom speak French.”

Leçon 3: Planning and Anticipating II

“Back in the French class, the teacher announces that we are going to invent a story of two young people: an American man and a French woman. We’ll invent friends and adventures for them. It should be fun and useful for learning French, he says. Let’s hope so.”

Leçon 4: Planning and Anticipating III

“What kind of story should we invent to learn French? A novel? A comedy? A detective thriller? In a preview of things to come, we see our young American arriving in France. His companions will take public transportation to a student dorm. He will take a taxi to the Latin Quarter.”

Names and Origins

Numbers; expressing age; giving commands; necessity; negation. Numbers 1-29; avoir; avoir in expressions of age; ne … pas; imperatives of -er verbs; il faut and infinitives.

Leçon 5: Names and Origins

“Our two characters must have names. She will be Mireille, and he, Robert. She gets working parents and two sisters, one married. Robert is an only child. His mother is French. His parents are divorced, his mother remarried. Robert just may have a few hangups.”

Physical Characteristics

Reality and appearance; describing oneself; talking about sports. Numbers 30-100; faire; aimer and faire with sports; questions with intonation, inversion, and est-ce que.

Leçon 6: Physical Characteristics I

“What will Mireille look like? On the petite side, perhaps, but healthy, athletic, strong; long slender fingers, oval face, long blond hair, blue eyes. She has a quick, lively mind and a certain fondness for poking fun.”

Leçon 7: Physical Characteristics II

“A Portrait of Robert: medium height, slim, athletic. He has a strong chin, brown hair, and dark eyes. He’s smart. Maybe just a bit less quick than Mireille, but calmer, more indulgent. What will happen when these two meet? Will they meet?”

Kinship

Talking about family relationships; asking the identity of people and things. Numbers 100-999,000,000; dates; partitive; possessive adjectives.

Leçon 8: Kinship

“A look at Mireille’s family tree. We learn about many relatives, going all the way back to her great grandparents. On an impromptu visit to the family’s country house, we meet many of these characters, including Mireille’s ten-year-old sister, who has a mind of her own.”

Describing Others

Describing others; talking about games; expressing agreement and disagreement; talking about time; talking about the weather. Present tense with il y a … que and ça fait … que; possessive and demonstrative adjectives; stressed pronouns; venir; savoir versus connaître.

Leçon 9: Describing Others I

“Lesson 9 takes us back a few years to vacation time in Brittany. It’s raining. Mireille, her sisters and cousins decide to pass the time by playing a game of portraits. The game is interrupted by a minor accident.”

Leçon 10: Describing Others II

“It’s a rainy day in Brittany. Mireille, her sisters and cousins tire of their game of portraits and check to see what’s playing at the movies. Meanwhile, the sun has come out, and Cécile, moved by the spirit of adventure, goes for a sail.”

Encounters

Starting a conversation; talking about seasons and time of day; exclamations; talking about studies; referring to lack and abundance; expressing approval and disapproval; reacting to compliments; expressing politeness. Immediate past with venir de; direct object pronouns; reflexive verbs; imperative and pronouns; demonstrative adjectives and pronouns; interrogative adjectives and pronouns; parler versus dire; imperfect; imperfect of être and avoir.

Leçon 11: Encounters I

“In Lesson 11, the stage is set for our two heroes to meet. It’s a beautiful spring morning. Robert sets off to explore the Latin Quarter, and Mireille, relaxing in the Luxembourg Garden, has an unwelcome encounter.”

Leçon 12: Encounters II

“In Lesson 12, our American, Robert, is exploring the Latin Quarter. He follows some student strikers into the courtyard of the Sorbonne. Mireille, who is on her way to school, ends up by pure chance in the same place.”

Leçon 13: Encounters III

“Our two heroes have just caught each other’s eye and stand smiling in the courtyard of the Sorbonne. On an upper floor, Jean-Pierre, the pickup artist, reveals the tricks of his trade to a not-very-appreciative audience.

Leçon 14: Encounters IV

“Robert and Mireille meet in the courtyard of the Sorbonne. They’re getting to know each other, when Mireille realizes that she’s late for an appointment. She rushes off, leaving Robert to contemplate the spring day, and write a postcard to his mother.”

Occupations

Talking about work; degrees of assent; days and months of the year; buying and spending; approximating; talking about years and centuries. Aller versus venir; prepositions; contractions of definite article with de and à; adverbial pronouns y and en; vouloir, pouvoir; c’est versus il/elle est; ne … plus, ne … jamais; pronoun on; indirect object pronouns; formation of adverbs.

Leçon 15: Occupations I

“Robert is looking for Mireille. Just as he has given up hope, she comes up to him at a café, and they walk again to the Luxembourg Garden. Lo and behold, they discover they have an acquaintance in common. Robert then makes another interesting discovery: Mireille has a younger sister.”

Leçon 16: Occupations II

“Marie-Laure has sent her sister on a wild goose chase. When Mireille returns, Robert tries to persuade her to join him in calling on Madame Courtois. It’s just his luck that Mireille has already planned a trip to Chartres. Ever resourceful, Robert has a brainstorm – could he join her?”

Leçon 17: Occupations III

“Robert and Mireille are talking about family names, like Taylor, that are also names of trades or professions. They compare notes on their childhood ambitions, recalling their dreams of being a fireman, a sailor, a nurse, an actress.”

Leçon 18: Occupations IV

“Robert and Mireille are sharing stories of people they know who have ended up not doing quite what they had originally planned. As they muse about the twists and turns of fate, Mireille wants to know what Robert intends to do. Invite her for a drink, that’s what!”

Education

Identification and description; talking about occupations; talking back; excusing oneself; expressing incredulity. Passé composé; plaire; negation with jamais, rien, personne; mettre, boire; passé composé and direct object pronouns; savoir and infinitives; agreement of past participle with avoir.

Leçon 19: Education I

“Robert and Mireille are having an aperitif and discussing their high school days. After years of hard study at high school, Mireille is delighted to be at the university. She’s especially enthusiastic about one of her art history teachers. Robert is not amused.”

Leçon 20: Education II

“Robert and Mireille are talking about school. Robert, no doubt trying to impress Mireille, launches into a wholesale condemnation of the educational system. He has taken a leave of absence from college to ‘find himself.’ ‘Poor thing,’ says Mireille, ‘were you lost?'”

Leçon 21: Education III

“Over their third aperitif, Robert and Mireille are discussing education. Robert dismisses school learning as useless. Mireille springs to the defense of education and culture. Neither seems to notice that a strange man in black has taken an interest in their conversation.”

Getting Around

Using the telephone; receiving invitations; expressing optimism and pessimism. Passé composé of reflexive verbs; passé composé with être; agreement of past participles; future.

Leçon 22: Getting Around I

“It’s noon-time, and Mireille has left Robert to return home for lunch. After several unsuccessful attempts, Robert finally manages to place a telephone call to Madame Courtois. She’s a great talker, and Robert can’t get a word in edgewise, but he does get an invitation for dinner.”

Leçon 23: Getting Around II

“Robert has been invited to dinner at the Courtois’, and he tries to convince Mireille to get herself invited too. Mireille doesn’t commit herself, and Robert spends the next forty-eight hours wondering if she’ll be there. He then gets hopelessly lost trying to get to the Courtois’ apartment.”

Food and Drink

Talking about food and drink; ordering in a restaurant; thanking hosts. Future of irregular verbs; relative pronouns qui and que; imperative with direct and indirect object pronouns; position of en with object pronouns; ne … que; expressions of quantity; vowel change e/è.

Leçon 24: Food and Drink I

“Robert arrives at the Courtois’ apartment – no Mireille. Then a moment later, she shows up. The dinner is delicious, but Robert is a little irritated by Monsieur Courtois’ fixation on gastronomy. He’d love to take Mireille home, but all he can do is ask for her phone number.”

Leçon 25: Food and Drink II

“It’s morning. Robert gets up, has breakfast, and sets out to explore Paris. He visits an open air market near his hotel, then crosses the Seine to the Right Bank. He ends up at a restaurant, where he is distracted by a scene between a fussy customer and a hapless waiter.”

Leçon 26: Food and Drink III

“In a good restaurant, Robert notices a young couple at a nearby table. She is blond and Robert thinks she may be Mireille, but he can’t tell. The chef has named several dishes after an old girlfriend of his, another Mireille, who died of ingestion. Touching!”

(Note: the couple in question are Mireille’s sister Cecilé and her husband Jean-Denis.)

Transportation and Travel

Expressing fear; insisting; talking about means of transportation; talking about cars; expressing admiration; making suggestions. Pluperfect; conditional; conditional and imperfect; past conditional; compound tenses and past participles; agreement of past participles; expressions of time.

Leçon 27: Transportation and Travel I

“Mireille is going to Chartres, and Robert invites himself along. Robert nearly gets lost in the Métro, on his way to meet Mireille at the station, but they board the train on time. On the way, Mireille suggest that they use the familiar tu. Progress!”

Leçon 28: Transportation and Travel II

“The train arrive in Chartres right on time. Robert and Mireille have a bite to eat, and then visit the cathedral together. Robert is deeply moved by the beauty of the place and of his companion. But when she leaves briefly to visit a nearby museum, he imagines he’s being betrayed.”

Leçon 29: Transportation and Travel III

“Returning to Paris, Robert and Mireille get seats on a crowded train, unaware that they are sharing the compartment with a mysterious man in black. Tonight, Mireille must visit a friend in Saint Germaine, tomorrow one in Provin. Robert, ever jealous, spends hours trying to find her.”

Leçon 30: Transportation and Travel IV

“Robert is determined to find Mireille. He rents a car and gets directions to Provins. But he turns to follow a sports car driven by a young woman who might be Mireille. By the time he realizes his mistake, he is 300 kilometers off course, lost in the wine country of Burgundy.”

Leçon 31: Transportation and Travel V

“Mireille arranges to borrow a car from her uncle to visit a friend in Provin. When it won’t start, the garage man lends her a lemon, which gives her all kinds of trouble. Back home, she tries to call Robert, but he’s still out doing research on the fine wines of Burgundy.”

Habitat

Asking one’s way; talking about housing; protesting; expressing satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Imperfect and passé composé; irregular imperatives; causative faire; faire versus rendre; en and present participle; ni … ni.

Leçon 32: Habitat I

“Mireille’s parents have invited Robert for dinner. He finds the Belleau apartment with a little help from someone who turns out to be a TV weatherman. He gets a guided tour. Mireille warns Robert that another friend, the super-aristocratic Hubert, is yet to come.”

Leçon 33: Habitat II

“At the Belleau’s dinner table, Hubert is doing his aristocratic number when the conversation turns to low-rent housing for workers. When Hubert says that “those people” were no worse off a hundred years ago without modern conveniences, Robert explodes.”

Leçon 34: Habitat III

“More table talk about real estate and the ruined farmhouse the Belleaus have fixed up as a country home. The doorbell rings, and Marie-Laure is sent to see who it is. She returns with a story about a fake nun with a big mustache selling raffle tickets.”

Leçon 35: Habitat IV

“The doorbell again! Marie-Laure reports that it was a man in black asking if she had a sister who looked like an actress. She sent him away, and Mireille is outraged. Maybe that was her big chance. Meanwhile, Robert tries in vain to arrange room and board at the Belleaus.

Entertainment

Talking about entertainment; calming others down; expressing restriction; expressing reservations; expressing doubt; expressing enthusiasm. Indefinite expressions; subjunctive; subjunctive of irregular verbs; subjunctive with falloir and expressions of doubt; position of souvent, toujours, jamais; verbs in -yer; personne and rien as subjects and objects.

Leçon 36: Entertainment I

“After the after-dinner drinks, everyone says goodnight except Mireille and Robert. They decide, after consulting the entertainment guides, to see the film Love in the Afternoon the following day, in the afternoon. They arrange to meet at a café near the movie theater.”

Leçon 37: Entertainment II

“Waiting at a café near the movie theater, Mireille notices a man in black behaving strangely nearby. Robert is almost on time. He’s impatient with the commercial stuff that precedes the movie, and love in the afternoon turns out to be much closer to PG than to R.”

Leçon 38: Entertainment III

“After the movie, Robert and Mireille wander toward the Champs-Élysées. Robert thinks he has lost his passport. They discuss cinema. Mireille prefers action on the screen, and she admires some of the old silents. A rude soldier on furlough falls, in a way, for Mireille.”

Leçon 39: Entertainment IV

“In a café, Mireille and Robert talk about the many theaters of Paris. Hubert and Jean-Pierre appear by coincidence, invite themselves to sit down, and contribute their strong opinions to the discussion. And here’s that strange man in black, behaving strangely again.”

Leçon 40: Entertainment V

“Our four characters discuss theatrical forms (stage versus film, immediacy versus permanence, etc.), while the man in black sends signals by Morse code with his eyes. Jean-Pierre argues the merits of the circus. The strange nun replaces the strange man.”

Getting and Spending

Talking about money; buying and selling; announcing good and bad news; expressing indifference; talking about good and bad luck; expressing preference. Subjunctive in conditional sentences with conjunctions in relative clauses; personne and rien with compound tenses; position of déjà and encore; plus rien, jamais rien; comparatives and superlatives; superlative and subjunctive; relative pronouns ce qui, ce que; demonstrative pronouns.

Leçon 41: Getting and Spending I

“Robert gets stuck with a café tab. As he is paying, the waiter’s tray drops, and Robert learns that in France broken glass brings good luck. So Robert and Mireille buy a lottery ticket that is sure to be a winner. Thursday’s paper will tell them how much they won.”

Leçon 42: Getting and Spending II

“They won the lottery – 40,000 francs! But how to spend it? Robert wants to travel around France. Mireille won’t commit herself, but she agrees to look at camping equipment. They hail a taxi, but the man in black, already inside, tries to pull Mireille in.”

Leçon 43: Getting and Spending III

“Robert and Mireille look at camping gear. Robert stays in the department store to buy clothing, and Mireille rushes off to have lunch with Hubert. She runs into the incorrigible Jean-Pierre, and they talk about broken glass, spilled salt, and other superstitions.”

Leçon 44: Getting and Spending IV

“Mireille tells Hubert she’s won the lottery. He strongly disapproves of the lottery, although he has been known to play the horses. Robert and a shoe salesman have a misunderstanding about sizes, and Aunt Georgette tells the story of the one that got away.”

Leçon 45: Getting and Spending V

“Uncle Guillaume urges Mireille to spend her lottery money on memorable meals, but Mireille prefers Robert’s plan to travel around France. Robert continues to have misunderstandings with salesmen, this time about underwear, and he takes a hair-raising taxi ride.”

Geography and Tourism

Talking about countries and regions; exaggerating; confirming; insisting; expressing perplexity. Conditional in intentional expressions; dont; pronoun tout; possessive pronouns; irregular subjunctives; subjunctive in subordinate clauses; future in the past; penser de versus penser à; articles and prepositions with geographical names.

Leçon 46: Geography and Tourism I

“Hubert offers his little car, and himself, for the trip around France. Collette agrees to be a fourth. Then Mireille invites another friend, the leftist Jean-Michel. After a lot of fast talking, she gets everyone to accept what promises to be a crowded and argumentative quintet.”

Leçon 47: Geography and Tourism II

“Our travelers are discussing where to go and what to see in France. Sparks fly between the right-wing Hubert and the radical Jean-Michel. Bicycles might be better than a crowded car. The tentative decision? A reverse Tour de France, starting in Normandy, where the food is excellent.”

Leçon 48: Geography and Tourism III

“Our travelers continue discussing their itinerary. It’s possible to tour France by water, through coastal waters, rivers, and canals. Hubert and Jean-Michel disagree about the real France, and the man in black comes to the front door with an odd story about returning Marie-Laure’s gumdrop.”

Leçon 49: Geography and Tourism IV

“Marie-Laure has gone out and not returned. Mireille panics. She and Robert search in vain, but Marie-Laure finally comes back. She tells a wild tale of following a fugitive man in black, then losing him in the Catacombs of Paris. Mireille doesn’t believe a word.”

Leçon 50: Geography and Tourism V

“Our five travelers resume discussion of their itinerary. They need a theme: chateaux, churches, regional specialties? They fail to reach a consensus, but mention of the cider of Normandy awakens their thirst, and they adjourn to a nearby café.”

Getting Away

Referring to destination; levels of speech. Negative infinitive; imperatives and pronouns.

Leçon 51: Getting Away I

“All the bit players pass by, from Uncle Guillaume, who has lost his fortune, to Aunt Georgette, who has won a pile in the lottery. She is off to the Taj Mahal with the one that got away. The man in black leaves some tantalizing notes about Mireille.”

Leçon 52: Getting Away II

“Underway at last! But the man in black is following, and Mireille and Robert leave their friends and try in vain to lose him. Robert is hurt in a fall, and Mireille endangered by fire, but all ends well, and that’s, well, oh, good. Anyway, not bad.”

A number of educational resources are available to accompany the episodes. These materials are available here on this site.

  • Student materials
    • Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish (Student Textbook). VanPatten, Marks & Teschner. 1991. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-002069-6
    • Workbook/Study Guide I (Lecciones 1-26). VanPatten, Marks & Teschner. 1991. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-002072-6
    • Workbook/Study Guide II (Lecciones 27-52). VanPatten, Marks & Teschner. 1992. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-002073-3
    • Audiocassette tapes (Lecciones 1-26)
    • Audiocassette tapes (Lecciones 27-52)

About the Cult of French in Action

Il y a vingt ans, French in Action, an ambitious French language video course for anglophones debuted in the classroom and on public television. It was the brainchild of Professor Pierre Capretz of Yale University and was produced by WGBH, Yale and Wellesley College with funding from Annenberg/CPB. The world has never been the same for those of us who fell under its spell.

« Nous allons inventer une histoire… » repeats the gray-haired Capretz with a twinkle in his eye as the adventure begins. Robert (« Rhobehrrrr » played by Charles Mayer), an easily disoriented « American » lad in a Yale T-shirt with suspiciously good French (his mother was French, supposedly) is visiting Paris “pour se trouver.” He falls for Mireille (Valérie Allain), a beautiful blonde studying art history at the Sorbonne. Mireille lives with her parents and her sassy younger sister Marie-Laure (Virginie Contesse) at 18, rue de Vaugirard. Throughout the series they are stalked by a mysterious mustachioed man in black (Jean-Claude Cotillard, who also serves as the show’s mime and, interesting to note, is the father of Marion Cotillard who would have been all of nine years old when FIA was filmed).

There was a certain Dharmic quality to the relentless cycling on public television for 15 years or more of Robert’s clumsy, unconsummated courtship of Mireille in the summertime Paris of 1985. Whatever the year, whatever the season, and however bad your day’s been, c’est une belle matinée de printemps au jardin du Luxembourg and Mireille in her white blouse and red skirt saunters onto the scene « comme une fleur. »  French in Action succeeds by cultivating the fantasy that there’s a Mireille on a Luxembourg Gardens park bench waiting for you, too. In this way, Allain as Mireille has done more to promote French among young male English speakers than anyone since William the Conqueror. Sources say Charles Mayer as Robert has had his fair share of admirers (of both sexes), too. Capretz rightly understood that nothing fixes the short attention span of the young like a good jolt of hormones.

Capretz’s more widely recognized innovation was the « immersion method »: students hear nothing but French spoken at natural cadence from the second lesson. A bit scary perhaps, but after each dialogue the charming professeur himself is on hand to dissect it with the aid of entertaining animations, video clips from French cinema and TV, and, of course, a mime. Without hearing a word of English, we get it.  After 52 half hour lessons we are changed forever and as a happy accident we can speak French. (Ou presque.) Says John Walker on the Cool Tools website « Simply by watching this series of videos through two times, you could parachute into Abidjan and get along in day to day life from the moment you hit the ground. It’s that good. Really. » (Walker assumes that you could make it to the ground without taking a bullet.) As a language course, French in Action is unparalleled. But twenty years on, it is clear that FIA is much more. It is a monument to Mitterand-era Paris and French culture, to the breathtaking splendor of then 20-year old Valérie Allain and to the genius of Dr. Capretz. Merci, professeur. Du fond du coeur merci.

Until 2007 there was a blog by New York City writer Liliana Segura at fancyrobot.com. A 2003 post about Valérie Allain shamelessly repeated untruths about the actress and engendered a four-year comments thread about FIA that became the de facto fan site. Over this period anyone Googling information on Allain or FIA landed there. Even Charles Mayer, the French Canadian actor who played Robert found the thread and contributed his recollections to the delight of all. A link to fancyrobot on Wikipedia’s Valérie Allain page referred to it as a “cult page.” The link is still there, mais helas, Fancy Robot the blog is no more. I had thought that four years of conversation had vanished into the ether until a visitor here put me onto web.archive.org. The Fancy Robot FIA discussion is available from this site from the link above, and is also reproduced as a separate page on this blog for easier reading.

As an expression of my desire to resurrect the spirit of the Fancy Robot thread, I submit this site to you, dear FIA fan, as a place to enjoy the camaraderie of your fellow cultists and to keep the conversation going. I will add posts to site when I have time, but I hope my role will take a back seat to yours. One thing I will ensure is that our discussion remains civil and respectful. If you’re looking for vid caps of Mlle Allain sans son pull blanc there are places on the internet to go, but one of them won’t be here. The rude behavior that now characterizes the formerly more respectable Yahoo! Valérie Allain fan group you will find nulle part here at FIA fans.

Alors, commençons!

Publicité
 
  1. Laura Why, on 18 octobre, 2021 at 10:29 said:

    Bonjour,

    I would like to use FIA but cannot find reasonably priced audio tapes, downloads or even transcripts of the recordings. Do you have any guidance, would love to join the fan cult but wish that I could access the whole course if possible.

    Thank you for your time and consideration!!

    Merci, Laura

     
  2. jpsullivan, on 18 octobre, 2021 at 8:18 said:

    Salut Laura ! I’d recommend checking eBay every couple weeks. Complete sets with cassettes or CDs do show up occasionally, but the practice tapes/CDs are indeed hardest element of the complete course to come by second-hand. Bonne chance !

     
  3. FiAFan, on 12 avril, 2021 at 3:45 said:

    Charlie, there is much more to French in Action than just the videos. There are the audio tapes, the instructor’s guides (parts 1 and 2), the workbooks (also parts 1 and 2), The French in Action book. I have them all, I just need the time to spend doing it all… LOL… I have watched all of the videos at least…

     
  4. Charlie, on 21 janvier, 2021 at 2:17 said:

    Every single episode there is FREE to watch whenever and however times you want to. Especially during this pandemic.
    https://www.learner.org/series/french-in-action/orientation/

     
  5. Charlie, on 21 janvier, 2021 at 2:14 said:

    The are actually FREE to watch online 🙂 just click the link here (or copy and paste.
    https://www.learner.org/series/french-in-action/orientation/

     
  6. Geoffrey Mayer, on 1 août, 2019 at 7:18 said:

    There are a couple of ways to get access to the audios. I bought cassettes on eBay and played them all into my computer, turning them into mp3’s. Long process, but I can put them on my tablet or other device and play them without internet access. Another option, with internet access is to go to these websites — part 1: https://www.cod.edu/it/streamingmedia/academicaudio/French01/french_01.html ; and part 2: https://www.cod.edu/it/streamingmedia/academicaudio/French%20in%20action%2002/french_02.html . These sites seem to be open to anyone. It doesn’t seem possible to download the audio clips from the site though.

     
  7. Julie, on 16 septembre, 2019 at 6:23 said:

    Geoffrey-thanks for your reply about accessing FIA audio (specifically for Part 2) through the internet links you sent. I can access the links and see every episode, but unfortunately clicking on them does nothing. If you think of anything else, please let me know. Otherwise, I’ll keep searching. Again, thanks for trying!

     
  8. Geoffrey Mayer, on 18 septembre, 2019 at 7:31 said:

    I think when I posted my response the pages at College of DuPage were still working. Then I noticed they no longer played the audios. There was a way to use a command to play individual audio clips that came out of the old html programming of the page but that seems to have stopped working in the past few weeks, too. Perhaps they have found a way to restrict it to students. I notice that the Yale website has the audio clips (example: yalebooks.yale.edu/book/resources/french-action-resources) but I haven’t investigated to see what it takes to get an account with access. Otherwise, the best I’ve found so far other than buying the CDs, was to buy the cassettes and digitize them. Takes a while and then it’s still useful to break up the recordings into sections for each workbook exercise. Still cost a fair amount of $ to buy the cassettes.

     
  9. Julie, on 6 avril, 2019 at 6:02 said:

    I am trying to find Part II of the Digital Audio program (a 2-CD set that accompanies the workbooks), but Annenberg has discontinued selling any FIA material. Does anyone know where I can find just this one missing part of my FIA material?

     
  10. Matthew Lindsey, on 15 mars, 2018 at 7:27 said:

    I am a high school French teacher, and I have been using FIA for about 18 years. I was one of the lucky people to have had the great opportunity of attending the FIA reunion at Yale. What a great experience! My French students just remade one of my favorite lessons- lesson 15. I am proud. I wanted to share 🙂

    Matt Lindsey

  11. jpsullivan, on 16 mars, 2018 at 1:43 said:

    Formidable, Matthew ! Vive French In Action !

     
  12. How I learnt French in just 10 months: My top 14 tips – Chamelle Photography, Travel and Expat Life, on 4 février, 2017 at 3:56 said:

    […] became quite popular in the US, there is even a website for French in Action fans, which follows the lives of the actors after the series […]

     
  13. MBA, on 22 juin, 2016 at 2:04 said:

    MireiIle was the only reason we took french. So phenominally beautiful then, and now. Roll Red Roll!

     
  14. MK, on 30 août, 2015 at 9:37 said: The pdf has been removed, anyone have it somewhere else?
     
  15. Mary Hoekzema, on 10 février, 2014 at 10:33 said:

    I actually bought the entire program from Anneberg/Yale University Press, and think it’s worth the price. I don’t mind that the publishers are realizing some profit for having created such a great product. You can get textbook and workbooks from Amazon, etc., at lower prices. DVDs and the 62 or so CDs–I don’t know. I’m always excited to run into someone else who knows about FIA and thank my friend for alerting me to this site.

     
  16. truvianni, on 21 mars, 2013 at 3:21 said:

    I thought French In Action was great. I used to watch it on PBS and it did help me learn French.

     
  17. Harry, on 28 décembre, 2012 at 5:32 said: Man I took this course in college. I still look at it. I am going to use it for my own kids. If your from the creole speaking Caribbean, this course helps with the transition and increasing your knowledge of creole and where words come from. En-Avance !!! Bonne Annee.
     
  18. Mohammad Beheshti, on 30 novembre, 2011 at 3:09 said: First, I love you all and all the program. I love to see French in Action continue with Robert and Mireille and the rest of the cast.

    A French in Action tour is an splendid idea. I am old, but I will take the tour!!.
    With love for French in Action
    Mohammad « Mike » Beheshti

     
  19. Richard, on 24 septembre, 2011 at 1:07 said: Aside from the obvious reasons to love FIA, I myself was in high school in 1985. At 18 years old, I went to Paris by myself, and without knowing it from FIA, I happened to stay at Hotel Home Latin, while friends of mine stayed at a hostel on R.Vaugirard. We spent many hours in Jardin dLuxembourg (as I have in every return visit). Since then, when I have watched and re-watched FIA, Robert’s stay at Home Latin and the park have been magic transport to 1985 Paris.
     
  20. Mary Faluszczak, on 28 juin, 2011 at 10:55 said: I’ve visited many of the sites of FIA on visits to Paris, even the family residence on Rue Vaugirard. A friend and I spent an uncommon meal at the Grande Cascade where Mireille once had lunch with her tonton Guillaume. Although we had a reservation months in advance and confirmed it, they still couldn’t find it then seated us next to the kitchen – even though the restaurant was still not crowded at an early hour. The nine course meal wound up being amazing and the restaurant is gorgeous. There is even a pool of gold at the foot of the interior stairs where molten gold was pooled during the time of Napolean.
     
  21. John, on 3 avril, 2011 at 10:44 said: I heard Virginie Contesse was found and the knowledge is public! Can anyone confirm this?
     
  22. John, on 2 avril, 2011 at 11:29 said: I have heard that Virginie Contesse has been found working at sales store in NYC. Is this true? Can someone verify the store that she works at for me?
     
  23. Max Reddy, on 13 mars, 2011 at 6:41 said: jp: I am planning a trip to Europe now that I am home for a while. I think I will emulate your photo tour of FiA locales.
     
  24. Stephan Thomas Vitas PhD, on 7 mars, 2011 at 8:33 said: Haven’t heard from FIA in months; are you still on the wire??
     
  25. GeeJay, on 6 mars, 2011 at 5:04 said: I took Destinos for Spanish and jumped eagerly onto French in Action. It is a good course but a verbatim transcript is sorely missing. None of the sites googled seem to work for it and Learner does not have it….
    Anybody has any ideas?
     
  26. Chris, on 4 mars, 2011 at 9:58 said: My friend Dan and I were in the 8th grade when FIA was first on PBS. His French class was watching « Telefrancais. » I took the trouble to convince him that it was better to learn French from a hot French girl than from a talking pineapple.
     
  27. drew, on 27 février, 2011 at 8:50 said: why wasn’t marie-laure caught by the man in black?
     
  28. nore, on 2 juillet, 2010 at 10:35 said: It’s none of my business but I hope she’s doing well. that myspace of hers seems unreal. It’s the same student I saw so many years ago with a touch of gray in her hair
     
  29. peers the cat, on 27 novembre, 2009 at 3:08 said: as i have previously written, entire course is available on video files at:
    http://www.monova.org/details/1693371/FRENCH%20IN%20ACTION%20%2852-EPISODE%20COURSE%29%20%5BV1.0%5D%20%5BWMV%5D%09.html
    MAC users will have to do a google search: « how to play .WMV files on MAC ». there are several programs you can download to enable you to watch « windows media » on your MAC.
     
  30. peers the cat, on 27 novembre, 2009 at 3:01 said: the written material for the course can be downloaded here: sometimes the dialogue is hard to hear.
    if you still can’t understand what has been said, you can copy the text into « google translate »

     

     
  31. Madame, on 11 novembre, 2009 at 8:21 said: Monsieur, On Safari, did you remember to *un-block Pop-Up windows* before starting, as someone posted earlier? That’s the first step. That’s easy to do; it’s right there on the Safari menu; you don’t even have to go inside Preferences.

    After un-checking « Bock Pop-up Windows » option, click on any one of the FIA videos listed on the learner.org web site. A square will pop up saying:

    Some content on this page requires an Internet plug-in that Safari doesn’t support. The application “Windows Media Player” may be able to display this content. Would you like to try using “Windows Media Player”?***

    There will be « Cancel » and « OK » buttons. Click « OK », then wait. It’ll take a little while, but soon a Windows Media Player screen will show up. After some buffering, it should start your video.

    Hope this helps, Madame

  32. Monsieur, on 3 novembre, 2009 at 8:27 said: Madame,
    I have a relatively new mac and I wasn’t able to open the learner.org files with Safari. If there is another site or way, please let me know. Merci comme meme!
     
  33. Madame, on 13 octobre, 2009 at 10:04 said: Monsieur,
    Have you tried watching the episodes at learner.org using the Safari browser? I have a 3-year-old Macbook and I can’t watch them with the Firefox browser, but it does work with Safari. Bonne chance!

    M. Breen, that’s a fantastic deal. I don’t remember what I paid for my DVDs on eBay but I know it was a lot more than that! And the trouble with using eBay is that many sellers sell homemade copies rather than the original DVDs. So I did spend too much, but at least I avoided that fate and got originals in the original cases. Just a warning for other potential buyers.

    Madame

     
  34. Monsieur, on 29 septembre, 2009 at 11:30 said: I’m wondering if anyone can help me find all the episodes available for mac? both the monova.org and the learner.org don’t seem to work. can someone help out a fellow FIA enthusiast? merci beaucoup!
     
  35. Frank Breen, on 3 septembre, 2009 at 7:45 said: For those asking about FIA on DVD, let me implore you not to toss your hard earned money to Annenberg/CPB for their exhorbitant $500 set. Instead check out: http://www.dvdhunters.com/french.htm
    They sell the entire series on DVD for under $100. I have them and they are excellent. They come boxed as 12 DVD’s with Annenberg/CPB on the cover.
     
  36. Gianni, on 25 août, 2009 at 1:24 said: I think it would be nice to have a section (thread) where people could ask what someone said in French in Action. Something titled like, « Que’st-ce qu’il a dit? ».

    For example, someone could post something like this:

    In episode 3, what does the man say at 17:30?

    And then maybe someone who has a very good understanding of French can help out.

     
  37. peers the cat, on 19 août, 2009 at 1:04 said: salut ! someone has put the whole 52-part « french in action » video course on a peer-to-peer website ! you can download the entire series. the video course is in .wmv format (so mac users, don’t even think about it). the course is available free at learner.org, but only if you live in the USA or canada. but the peer-to-peer site is 
     
  38. Divadabs, on 18 août, 2009 at 4:18 said: I have been watching FIA since 1985, which would make me the same age as Virginie Contesse! I still watch it and everytime it comes on I always say I want that blue dress! I have been on the hint for a dress like that since the show came on!
    Seriously though, FIA sparked my love for all things French! I still have not been to France but I feel I have lived then for over 20 years thanks to the adventures of Robert and Mirelle! It has helped me with my French studies and entertained me when I am down!
    I am so greatful to this site for letting me share my passion for this wonderful series!
    Merci,
    Diva Dabs!
     
  39. amy, on 14 août, 2009 at 3:44 said: Actually, I found the whole series in wmv files at ebooks30.com
     
  40. Freddy Farkle, on 9 août, 2009 at 6:56 said: Amazingly, the entire video series appears to be available, gratuit, at http://www.learner.org/resources/series83.html?pop=yes&pid=733. You need to, at least temporarily, allow pop-ups in your browser.

    For example, check out http://www.learner.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=733
    FF

     
  41. Andrew, on 28 juillet, 2009 at 3:47 said: Very good idea. Since he has posted here before, he may still be interested in FIA, although he has clearly moved on to much more serious theater and movies.
     
  42. oldfiafan, on 28 juillet, 2009 at 3:20 said: I was thinking of reaching out to Charles Mayer via his website to see if he’ll be interested in doing an interview with us, similar to the Demandez au Professeur format. Once the interview is done with Professeur Capretz, nous pouvons envoyer un courrier electronique a Charles Mayer. Et apres ca, Valerie? It will be great getting input from the cast of FIA.
     
  43. Andrew, on 24 juillet, 2009 at 6:37 said: Nice pictures. Valerie has grown young, in a lovely French way.

    Charles Mayer’s site covers his professional life as an actor, from French in Action through recent years, although nothing recent. He has not aged much either.

    Is Valerie aware of this site? She has never posted, but Charles did once a couple of years ago.

     
  44. peers the cat, on 21 juillet, 2009 at 12:44 said: hey fellow fans ! from valerie allain’s myspace.
     
  45. Douglas Sharpe, on 16 juin, 2009 at 11:10 said: Try facebook for Virginie Contesse. I don’t know if she is the real one from FIA yet. Her photo looks like possibly a 35 year old version of the actress.

    I sent her a message: Êtes vous le Virginie Contesse du  » ; Français dans Action » ; série sur PBS ?

     
  46. Don Barton, on 17 Mai, 2009 at 3:13 said: Where can recent photos be viewed of Valerie, and Virginie Contesse
     
  47. Vicki, on 22 mars, 2009 at 2:53 said: You can also try your luck with amazon or ebay. The links to both are on the home page of this site. You can acquire used copies for a lot less than the learner.org prices. Good luck.
     
  48. Old FIA Fan, on 21 mars, 2009 at 6:51 said: John,

    Vous pouvez acheter less FIA course DVD’s on http://www.learner.org. Be warned, they cost close to $500.

    Bonne chance…..

     
  49. John Slade, on 21 mars, 2009 at 5:04 said: Is it possible to buy the FIA course on DVD? If so could someone let me know how this can be done.
    Thankyou.
     
  50. lawrence, on 10 janvier, 2009 at 2:09 said: I am trying to get informatiobn on Virginie Contesse « Marie Laur « i « French in Action Program
     
  51. Gianni, on 1 janvier, 2009 at 8:21 said: Valerie with her kid:
     
  52. Andrew, on 27 décembre, 2008 at 4:29 said: If Gianni is right, Valérie is still young in 2008, at 43 and French, and Charles at 50 is now middle aged, as are most of their audience. Perhaps they would kindly post current pictures to this site.
     
  53. John Sullivan, on 22 décembre, 2008 at 10:46 said: The weight of the evidence seems to indicate 1965 as Ms. Allain’s birth year. I am sure she would get her age right on her own MySpace page. I was also born in 1965, just five weeks after Valérie. Would have been nice to have been her playmate growing up. 🙂
     
  54. Gianni, on 22 décembre, 2008 at 9:04 said: Charles Mayer posted at that fancyrobot site that they filmed the series in the Summer of 1985. He said that Valérie was 20 and he was 27 at the time of filming. So if that’s true, then she would have been born in 1965, not 1966.
     
  55. Emile, on 15 juillet, 2008 at 8:46 said: My heart aches for miss Allain.
     
  56. Ivan Johnson, on 12 avril, 2008 at 6:57 said: I am very curious why there is virtually NO photo documentation of Valerie Allain’s almost unmatchable beauty (in her prime) online. This girl was so much more beautiful than hundreds of girls who were more famous, I just don’t get why she got so little exposure. Usually girls that beautiful get hired A LOT.

    I got hooked by FIA only because I happened to flip past it once and
    saw her for just a second and said « Dang, she looks pretty hot » so I watched for a few minutes and another shot came on – I’ll never forget it – she’s in a navy blue summer dress with her hair down meeting some people and I realized that she was one of the hottest, most attractive women I had ever seen in my life, and she seemed to have that crucially important thing that is so rare in beautiful women – self-posession.

    There are only a few others for me that have all the physical, interpersonal and expressive elements like that: Romy Schneider, Grace Kelley, young Lauren Bacall…etc.

    So: who agrees with me that the shots you really want to see of Miss Allain are the ones where her hair is DOWN?

    It’s almost always tied up in a ponytail on FIA and when it is, you can’t really tell how super-gorgeous she is, right? Only once in a long while do they have a shot of her with her hair down and THAT’S when you see the heavens open before you.

    Where are all the FIA photos of her looking super-hot WITH HER HAIR DOWN??!
    THOSE ARE THE MIND-BENDING ONES WE WANT TO SEE! ENOUGH WITH THESE INFERIOR PONYTAIL SHOTS ALREADY!

    If we were a respectable cult we’d have the really super-hot ‘hair-down’ pix online. Unfortunately I’m not enough of a nerd to go do it myself.

    Cheers to all my co-cultists!

    And Cheers to Valerie: You were the most beautiful woman of your time.

    ij

     
  57. Keith Deininger, on 18 janvier, 2008 at 9:31 said: I loved the video segments so much over the years. I took French while in High School for 3 years and was awarded Outstanding Foreign Language Student for all 3 years. However this was well before the show debuted. The professor who I had for 3 years was using the full immersion technique for learning language since 1980. I used to be completely fluent for many years but not using it I have lost much.

    While watching public access TV one evening, I saw the beauty of the series Mireille and began watching the series every time it was on, and even went as far as downloading the files from the website to re familiarize my mind with the language. I have friends in Grasse and Paris whom I still speak with on occasion. When I travel to Paris for business, after about 48 hours being surrounded by the language, I am back to speaking it again and within a week, I sould as if I am native to the country. Cheers, KD

     
  58. aloysiushorn, on 1 octobre, 2007 at 2:05 said: Simon, I’ve noticed that VA’s Wikipedia page lists her birthday as April 3, 1965 while her IMDb page has it as April 3, 1966. Know which it is? Her MySpace page has her age as 42, which would make 1965 correct. If 1965 is correct, then she was 20 years old, not 19 as I first had it in the above article, during the shooting of FIA. (My birthday is in May of 1965, so I’d like to know if I’m her senior, or her junior!)
     
  59. Simon Le Bon, on 23 septembre, 2007 at 10:54 said: Hi! You have said: « A link to fancyrobot on Wikipedia’s Valérie Allain page referred to it as a “cult page.” » Well, let me tell you, I was the responsable of that comment, or at least the firts person on the Wiki in say that FIA has become in an object cult.

    As probably you know the Wiki’s page over VA (in English and in French!) always has been a stub, because it doesn’t have the right info, missing important dates, links, etc.

    In short words, I decided to put the link to the Fancy Robot stuff in a hope that someday VA will have a decent Wiki page, full of true facts and knowledge over her life and work. It (still) doesn’t work, at least on Wikipedia. But after read your article, I feel that a new era has begun, with a truly and strong cult community now for FIA and someday for VA.

     
  61. Allan, on 19 août, 2007 at 3:42 said: Latest pic of Valerie and family?

French in Action

Best way to learn French at home

French In Action is a video-based course created by Pierre Capretz of Yale University. I know of no better way to rapidly obtain a knowledge of day-to-day French. This course is so excellent it almost justifies the invention of television.

The French in Action course is focused around 52 half-hour video lessons which assume you have no prior knowledge of the language. The course starts in French from the first instant. You may feel like an idiot at first, but the fact is you can mess up genders, adjectival forms, and much of verb conjugation in French and still be understood perfectly well on the street.

Get this course and play one video per day, each and every day, week in and week out. Just pick a 30 minute time period in your day, and work your way through the videos from number 1 through number 52, one per day. When you get to the end, go back to the beginning and start over again. Repeat until you understand perfectly and have ceased to improve. Even if you don’t have time to read the accompanying text, or practice with the workbooks, or use the audio cassettes, make the 30 minute slot for the video a permanent part of your life. The first time through you’ll probably miss about 90% at first hearing. The second time, you’ll get about half, and by the third time you’ll understand almost everything. Your very progress provides strong reinforcement as you follow the course. Simply by watching this series of 52 videos through two times, you could parachute into Abidjan and get along in day to day life from the moment you hit the ground. It’s that good. Really.

— John Walker

French in Action

Historical Preservation: This content was originally hosted on Wikipedia but was subsequently removed. We include it here to ensure students have access to the series’ complete origins and character details.

Back to Home Page

Clarification about the audio files ....

There is only one set of audio files for both the textbook and workbook/study guides. Each audio file is used for both. The textbook contains the “script” and reading that goes with the audio file. The Workbook (Manual de actividades) contains the actual blanks to be filled in while listening to the audio file.

The audio is specifically designed to “talk” you through both the textbook and workbook activities. For example, a narrator will say, “Lección uno. Comprensión. Ejercicio A…” and then provide the audio content used to respond to the workbook questions & activities. 

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Recent Updates & fixes

3 May 2026:

The Q&A content needed attention. Originally (a long time ago) I included two different sets of questions from various sources. But the questions were redundant, some answers were wrong, and the number of questions was overwhelming. With a little AI help I went through every episode and combined the Q&A sets, grouped the questions, and checked the answers. It took three long, tedious days to complete. I hope you like the results.

13 Apr 2026: 

  1. Received feedback that a user did not know how to access the videos. I moved the “ticket” image from the right sidebar to the center on each page.
  2. Added a pop-up to explain that there is only one set of audio files for both the textbook and workbook/study guides. When the headphones icon appears in either the textbook or workbook, it refers to the single audio file for that episode.

Please send suggestions and ideas. I will continue to update the site based on feedback.