Point de Vue

[CaliforniaDreamin]

Originally Posted by kalnel

Sometimes I think Point de Vue has been trying to remake itself into a magazine more like Paris Match, with more celebrity, entertainment, and political figure coverage.

When Point de Vue devoted an article on the wedding of Eva Longoria and Tony Parker my heart sank. I completely agree that the magazine has been leaning more and more toward celeb news....and I can also read it without a dictionary and my French is FAR from perfect!

[Carminha Stalker]

You know, I have always enjoyed Point de Vue, but after they decided to change into a magazine I cannot explain what it is, I hardly ever buy it. I´m truly disappointed with them, because in the end they´re neither fish nor fowl.

[TheTruth]

Bad news for us, readers of Point de Vue : Mr. Sarkozy is apparently having a nice time with former model and singer, Carla Bruni. I bet it's going to make the front page ....

[Marengo]

I saw the front page of Point de Vue on the television journal too, so it will be Carla Bruni on the cover for the years to come, unless Albert of Monaco will marry any time soon. sigh.

The last time I bought the magazine was a few months ago when they had two articles on the fortune of the late Count of Paris.

[norwegianne]

Originally Posted by Marengo

I saw the front page of Point de Vue on the television journal too, so it will be Carla Bruni on the cover for the years to come, unless Albert of Monaco will marry any time soon. sigh.

The last time I bought the magazine was a few months ago when they had two articles on the fortune of the late Count of Paris.

I subscribed for a while, but in the end found that it wasn't worth it - I got much more royalty related news from other magazines.

[kalnel]

Originally Posted by TheTruth

Bad news for us, readers of Point de Vue : Mr. Sarkozy is apparently having a nice time with former model and singer, Carla Bruni. I bet it's going to make the front page ....

Too bad you didn't make that bet at Monte Carlo, because you win -- just looked at this week's cover and there's Carla.

There's not a big royals article in the magazine this week. There's a story about Queen Elizabeth's former dresser and an historical profile of the Bourbons, but that's about it. Other than that it's Carla, Nicolas, Oprah Winfrey, and Al Gore. ;-(

Fifteen or 20 years ago, the December 25 issue of Point de Vue would have had stories about all the pre-Christmas events the various royal courts were attending, maybe an historical piece on traditions in different royal families, and an "inside" story on the Christmas preparations at some famous castle somewhere.

Even the most banal pictures of Caroline of Monaco handing out presents to Monaco's children, Princess Benedikte lighting a Christmas tree, Princess Elena attending her children's school events, and a story about how the Tsar visited Queen Victoria one year beat Carla, Nicolas, Oprah, and Al any day!

Also, I meant to ask everyone -- what do you all think the best royals magazine is now that Point de Vue is covering celeb news? Here in the U.S., I think our other choices seem pretty much limited to Hello, Majesty, and Royalty. (And I'm not even sure if Royalty is around any more.)

In big newsstands in major cities, you can sometimes find Point de Vue, but it's hard. Here in the Washington, D.C. area, I know of only four stores that carry it.

[CaliforniaDreamin]

The problem with Hello! is that although they usually have at least one good royalty related article, the lion's share of the mag is devoted to British TV stars who, if you don't reside in the UK you have no idea in hell who most of them are!

These starlets are invariably posed on the cover, spouting the good news about their "miracle" pregnancies or babies after years of "heartache" blah blah blah. There are lovely photos of some nice mansion or another in the Cotswolds or someplace, and oh yeah. The starlet will be planning a huge white wedding with all the trimmings as soon as she gets her post baby figure back. (Does ANYONE get married FIRST anymore, then have a baby??!)

I am sure I sound like a terrible snob but it's the way I feel. There is no safe haven for those of us who have no use for tabloid celebs and like to read about the world of Royals and high aristocracy. We are a dying breed. Royals don't sell as well as Britney, Paris et al as much as it pains me to admit this.

[Liz]

LOL That's so true, CaliforniaDreamin I subscribe to Hello and usually I have never heard of about 75% of the celebs that are featured in the magazine. I consider myself pretty "up" on most things across the pond but when it comes to British television programs I haven't a clue. And I have found that most of the Royal news is already reported here on the board, so when there is an article on one of the Royals in the magazine, it's old news by the time it reaches my door.

[kalnel]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaDreamin

These starlets are invariably posed on the cover, spouting the good news about their "miracle" pregnancies or babies after years of "heartache" blah blah blah. There are lovely photos of some nice mansion or another in the Cotswolds or someplace, and oh yeah. The starlet will be planning a huge white wedding with all the trimmings as soon as she gets her post baby figure back. (Does ANYONE get married FIRST anymore, then have a baby??!)

I am sure I sound like a terrible snob but it's the way I feel. There is no safe haven for those of us who have no use for tabloid celebs and like to read about the world or Royals and high aristocracy. We are a dying breed. Royals don't sell as well as Britney, Paris et al as much as it pains me to admit this.

I know just what you mean! I get a few of the British TV shows here, but apparently very few of the ones that have celebs who appear in Hello.

It's probably just as well. I like several of the sitcoms, but I have a really hard time following the British soaps because of the accents. My British friends tease me mercilessly, because Eastenders makes no sense to me at all unless I turn on the closed captioning. Might as well be in Greek as far as I'm concerned.

I always laugh at the way all the celebs in Hello pose in their bare feet -- you'd think England in February was like Malibu in June. This week there's a spread about Fergie (the duchess, not the singer), and there she is, sitting next to her shoes...

And, yes, it is depressing to realize that Paris, Britney, et al, all sell better than the royals. There's just no glamour to today's stars -- the royals are the only ones who even come close.

kal

[CaliforniaDreamin]

I am so happy I am not alone and that others can commiserate. I don't want to read a blow by blow account of how some dippy starlet "made a baby" with her live in lover...and then an equally tacky description of labor and delivery and how many pushes it took to get the newborn out! I want to poke my eyes out with a fork when they print those articles!

Point de Vue was my safe haven from all the tackiness and I think the days are coming to an end...at my local library you can read back issues of PDV going back to the 80's and it was SUCH a quality Royals mag in those days. It's like all the Royalty mags threw in the towel after the death of the Princess of Wales because they feel there are no other newsworthy, glamorous or interesting Royals. WRONG. I want to pick up Point de Vue and read about what went wrong with the Count and Countess of Paris. I want to read about the lives of their children and grandchildren. I want an insider's view of the day to day lives of Their Majesties Juan Carlos and Sophie of Spain. I want a retrospective article on the love story of Baudouin and Fabiola of Belgium, and how they overcame the heartache of infertility to form one of the 20th Century's most enduring Royal couples.THIS is what I will subscribe to in Point de Vue!

[kalnel]

Yes, yes, yes, on the "old" Point de Vue. Years ago, PDV used to *suggest* scandals and overtones in a way that fascinated me -- I'd get the drift of what they meant, but everything was sort of discreet.

(These days, rather than talking about Baudouin and Fabiola's love story, we'd probably get ovulation schedules and sperm counts.)

But, I wonder if today's younger royals even have enough glamour or mystique to create the stories we saw years ago. I think that the generation born after, say, the mid-1960s has grown up with such a sense of being "like everyone else," there's nothing special about them at all. They just don't have the "presence" their elders had.

I've had a chance to see several royals up close in real life. Elizabeth and Philip, Charles, Farah Diba, Beatrix, Grace, Henrik, Anne-Marie, Sophia and Juan Carlos, Felipe, Pavlos, Noor, and Silvia all had *magic* -- they truly changed the electricity in the rooms they were in, even though several of them were "off duty" and dining or shopping in private circumstances. By contrast, I literally didn't notice that Mary, Laurent, Zara, or Willem-Alexander were in the room or at the event until someone pointed them out. They seemed like nice, charming people, but they didn't have the presence their elders have.

(But, I'd bet they'd still run rings around Britney Spears!)

[Alison20]

I have had an order for PDV through my local newsagent for about 7 years. The problem is that it can be quite erratic. The shop tells me it is the distributer's problem, not theirs. The distributer, when I eventually managed to get someone to respond, said it was that they often didn't get enough magazines themselves.

Now, I know I am one of a very small minority in Scotland who orders/reads PDV (most people are into awful, shoddy celebrities), but business is business, and you would think the publishers would be keen to publish more and sell more magazines.

It is also impossible for me to get a back copy once I discover that it has not been delivered (rather than just being delayed!). I would say that one does not arrive about every couple of months. Since I also get a German magazine through the same system, and it practically always turns up, I feel it is not so much the system at our end (poor though that may be) but something at either PDV's end, or the French distributers. Frustrating! I must try the website, though.

[kalnel]

Originally Posted by Alison20

It is also impossible for me to get a back copy once I discover that it has not been delivered (rather than just being delayed!). I would say that one does not arrive about every couple of months. Since I also get a German magazine through the same system, and it practically always turns up, I feel it is not so much the system at our end (poor though that may be) but something at either PDV's end, or the French distributers. Frustrating! I must try the website, though.

I had that problem years ago with both Hello and PDV from time to time here in the U.S. Any time either magazine had an issue that was a big seller at the newsstands in Europe or the UK, I'd either get my copy late or not at all. For about a month after Diana died, I didn't receive either magazine, then I got about 6 back issues and special issues in mail all on one day.

If you're looking for a recent back issue, both Hello and PDV have past issues going back to around 2004/2005 available online. It won't get your money back, but if you're interested in the articles, you can find them.

kal

[Alison20]

Thanks, Kalnel. I will look at the online option in future.

But you are right - they don't seem to produce extra copies of issues which are likely to sell well, so people outside of France (or the UK in the case of Hello) are likely to be dropped off the circulation.

Currently my last issue of PDV is week 51, so I am a couple of issues behind already. Here's hoping they come eventually!

[TheTruth]

Guess who's on the front page of Point de Vue ? Carla Bruni ... again ! "Is she going to say 'yes' ?". What a bunch of tabloid writers !

[Hannelore]

It's pure selling technique. PDV is a very well selling mag. Suppose you could only place royals on the cover, it would have to be reduced to the Grimaldis and the Windsors, the ones the big public knows ... That would get on our nerves too. I don't mind they use persons like Ingrid Bettancourt (after all big issue for France) and someone glamorous like Cécilia Sarkozy or Carla Bruni, who'se in the news and hangs around in a royal/presidential atmoshere. PDV has always been a mixture of royalty-aristocracy, moviestars, fashion, art, glamorous news and history. One issue is better than the other, but on the whole I'm satisfied.

I do notice that they try to reach a younger audience. I don't know how it is in France, but in Belgium it's an old ladies magazine.

[TheTruth]

Well in France it's a "serious" magazine, not considered as a tabloid. It's the upper class of celebrity magazines and most readers are old women lol. But I'm 16 and I read it so I believe there are exeptions

[sirhon11234]

When I was in Paris in July Grace Kelly was on the cover of Point De Vue but I couldn't read it since it was in French.