French Weird
Forget the accordion music, the cafés and the immaculate boulevards. There is a dark, uncanny and deeply strange texture pervading modern France—and it’s time to investigate.
Welcome to French Weird, a podcast dedicated to exploring the counterculture, obscure art and bizarre anomalies of contemporary France. Channeling cultural theory, esoterica and the love of a good book this shows investigates what falls through the cracks of mainstream French culture. We are tracking the liminal spaces, the bizarre subcultures and the beautiful freak-outs from the mid-twentieth century to the present day.
What exactly is the French Weird? It is the territory where high philosophy meets the profoundly bizarre. In each episode, we trace the threads of a proudly rational nation simultaneously digesting global weirdness and exporting its own brand of the mysterious.
French Weird explores how France's hidden eccentricities reveal the truths about its politics, literature, culture and - maybe even - identity.
Subscribe now, download, and join us. When the going gets weird, the pros turn French.
For more information, or to get in touch, visit www.frenchweird.com
French Weird
Latest Episodes
Breton Folk Horror: Fairies, Found Footage and Arthur Machen
In this episode of French Weird we recall holiday travel to Brittany and explore Korriganed, a 2016 French "docufiction" film by Gaël Bizien that plays like a Celtic The Blair Witch Project.With your host Russe...
The Spy behind The Fly: George Langelaan and David Cronenberg
In this episode of French Weird, host Russell Williams explores the fascinating, myth-laden life and fiction of Franco-British author George Langelaan (1908–1972). Best known as the author of "La Mouche"/"The Fly" (1957), the short story ...
The Morning of the Magicians: Fantastic Realism, Alchemy and the Occult
In this episode host Russell Williams thinks about Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier's book Le Matin des magiciens (1960), translated into English as The Morning of the Magicians or The Dawn of Magic. This is a book t...
What's Weird about Michel Houellebecq? Lovecraft and beyond
In our first deep exploration, French Weird discovers the unexpected Weird in the work of notorious novelist Michel Houellebecq. Our starting point is his devotion to the work of a certain H. P. Lovecraft.For more information, visit
