About France...

2007 Result
History (1956 to 2006)
This year's entry
What I predicted...
What you thought...
What actually happened

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2007 Result

Points in Semi Final: N/A
Position in Semi Final: N/A

Points in Final: 19
Position in Final: 22nd
More about the 2007 result for France

2008 Contest: Big 4 - Directly qualified to Final

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History (1956 to 2006)

France's previous appearances: 50 year(s) out of 51 [note]
Years participated: 1956-1981; 1983- [note]
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.
Get 'The Eurovision Song Contest: The Offical History' at Amazon.co.uk

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This year's entry

Position in Semi Final draw: N/A
Position in Final draw: 13

What I said prior to the Semi Final:
"Les Fatals Picards will represent France in Helsinki, performing 'L'amour à la française'. It's yet another song from the "middle aged men acting silly" genre that has proved so popular of late (I blame those Lithuanians from last year), and is quite droll as far as it goes. I'm getting a bit weary of all this kind of thing though, and much prefer it when countries enter songs for Eurovision on musical merit rather than for their comedy value. As well as appearing to feature the intro from Koldun's 'Work your magic' (listen carefully, it's there!), the song ploughs a similar musical furrow to Todomondo's entry for Romania - lucky for them that the two weren't drawn side by side in the Final."

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What I predicted...

My prediction for Semi Final: N/A
My prediction for Final: 21st to 23rd
What I predicted prior to the Semi Final:
"Hmmmm… try as In might, I just can't see this song doing anything to improve France's recent run of form. It's just so ho-hum, and anything better than 20th would be a surprise as far as I'm concerned."
Want an alternative prediction? See Simon Hylands' 'Je t'adore, Eurovision!' site

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What you thought...

View the final leader board

In the run up to the Contest, 1,274 visitors to this site awarded points to their favourite songs in the Soult.com Eurovision Jury Vote 2007, voting as a representative of their own country's 'jury'. The votes awarded by representatives of each country were totalled, with each of the 42 participating countries (plus the 'Rest of the World') then awarding points - 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - based on the overall voting preference of its representatives. The points awarded to the entry from France are shown in the tables below:

Points awarded to France overall:
AL	0	AD	0	AM	0	AT	0	BY	5	BE	4
BA	0	BG	0	HR	0	CY	4	CZ	0	DK	0
EE	0	FI	0	FR	X	GE	4	DE	0	GR	3
HU	0	IS	2	IE	3	IL	0	LV	2	LT	0
MK	0	MT	0	MD	0	ME	0	NL	0	NO	0
PL	0	PT	0	RO	0	RU	0	RS	0	SI	0
ES	3	SE	0	CH	5	TR	0	UA	0	UK	0
WO	0	Last updated: 12 May 2007 Next scheduled update: None
Total points: 35, from 10/43 juries
Position: 20 out of 42

Points awarded to France in the Semi Final:
AL	0	AD	0	AM	0	AT	0	BY	0	BE	0
BA	0	BG	0	HR	0	CY	0	CZ	0	DK	0
EE	0	FI	0	FR	X	GE	0	DE	0	GR	0
HU	0	IS	0	IE	0	IL	0	LV	0	LT	0
MK	0	MT	0	MD	0	ME	0	NL	0	NO	0
PL	0	PT	0	RO	0	RU	0	RS	0	SI	0
ES	0	SE	0	CH	0	TR	0	UA	0	UK	0
WO	0	Last updated: 12 May 2007 Next scheduled update: None
Total points: N/A, from N/A/43 juries
Position: N/A out of 28

Points awarded to France in the Final:
AL	0	AD	0	AM	0	AT	0	BY	6	BE	4
BA	1	BG	0	HR	0	CY	4	CZ	2	DK	0
EE	0	FI	0	FR	X	GE	4	DE	0	GR	3
HU	2	IS	4	IE	4	IL	1	LV	3