FROM BRIGITTE Bardot to Serge Gainsbourg, some of France’s most iconic stars were rarely seen without their cigarettes. But new research finds the country’s films simply can’t kick the habit.

 

How so?

A new survey, conducted to mark World Tobacco Day on Monday, reveals that French cinema is still addicted to cigarettes, with more than 90 per cent of movies made from 2015 to 2019 featuring either a character smoking, the presence of cigarettes or ashtrays or a character talking about smoking.

 

It’s big advertising for tobacco then?

According to the French League Against Cancer - who commissioned the Ipsos research - it equates to 2.6 minutes of screen time on average per movie, giving tobacco an exposure equivalent to six advertising spots. A spokesman said: “Tobacco is quasi-ubiquitous in French films. Between 2015 and 2019, 90.7% of films include at least one event, one object, or a line related to tobacco.”

 

C'est très français?

There’s no denying that French movie history is littered with cigarettes and form part of an era where smoking was glamourised on screen, with icons such as Brigitte Bardot, Serge Gainsbourg, Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu among those who lit up. The French actor, Jean-Paul Belmondo, spent much of one memorable movie - the 1960 offering “À Bout du Souffle”, puffing on a Gauloise - which is one of France’s most iconic cigarettes.

 

Of course, it’s not just French films?

Smoking is woven through cinema history, with iconic scenes in movies ranging from Pulp Fiction to Basic Instinct. The first time we met 007 in Dr No, Sean Connery uttered his iconic line, “Bond, James Bond” while lighting up, with cigarettes forming part of the character journeys in films such as The Graduate and Grease, to demonstrate the transformation of Dustin Hoffman’s Ben and Olivia Newton-John’s Sandy respectively. 

 

James Dean?

The American icon was rarely seen without a cigarette and smoking on screen was part of the package in movies such as Rebel Without a Cause, while Audrey Hepburn’s cigarette was an accessory in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

 

Smoking is on the rise in France?

The movie survey came just days after France’s health authority, Sante Public, reported that 2020 marked the end of a years-long downward trend in smoking in the country. The organisation blamed a “social crisis context” and the influence of Covid-19, with more lower-income people smoking than in 2019 and fewer smokers trying to quit. They specifically found that among current smokers, 26.7% reported an increase in their tobacco consumption.

 

Anti-smoking campaigners are concerned?

The League’s president, Axel Kahan, said, “The League vigorously denounces the glamorising of smoking in French films over the past 15 years,” and criticised “campaigns targeting young people, that are as aggressive as they are insidious”.

 

However?

Past efforts to encourage French cinema directors to kick the habit on screen sparked complaints from the arts establishment, with some questioning whether foreign films would also be subjected to a ban - including James Bond. French philosopher and commentator, Raphaël Enthoven, said in 2017 that it was “censorship under the pretext of public health”, adding, “Injecting morality into the ‘seventh art’ [cinema] is like pouring cola into a Château Lafite,” one of France’s most prestigious wines.