France to stub out on-screen smokingScreengrab Jean-Paul Belmondo was barely without a cigarette in Breathless. Jean-Paul Belmondo with a Gauloise permanently hanging from his lips in Jean-Luc Godard's classic movie Breathless is a perfect example of the romantic image the cigarette is given on the big screen in France. That was back in 1960, when far more people smoked, but even today more than three quarters of French-made films still show people smoking, according to figures compiled by a French senator. Health Minister Agnes Buzyn says this needs to come to an end as part of her plans to "denormalise" smoking, which kills around 75,000 people every year in France. "I don't understand the importance of cigarettes in French cinema," she said.

Source: Stuff November 21, 2017 00:00 UTC