La France profonde ("Deep France") is a phrase that denotes the existence of "deep" and profoundly "French" aspects of the culture of French provincial towns, of French village life and rural agricultural culture, which escape the "dominant ideologies" (Michel Dion's expression) and the

hegemony Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one State (polity), state over other states. In Ancient Greece (8th BC – AD 6th ), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of the ''hegemon'' city-state over oth ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. It was made familiar to English readers in Michel Dion's radical critique, ''La France profonde'', predicting a union of de-Communised

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

with a reformed

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. ''France profonde'' was popularized in

Celia Brayfield Celia Brayfield is an England, English author, academic and cultural commentator. Biography Brayfield was born in the north London suburb of Wembley Park and decided to become a novelist around the age of nine. She was inspired by the headmast ...

's ''Deep France: A Writer's Year in La France profonde'' (2004) retitled in paperback ''Deep France: A Writer's Year in the

Béarn The Béarn (; ; oc, Bearn or ''Biarn''; eu, Bearno or ''Biarno''; or ''Bearnia'') is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Bas ...

''. "Deep France" is seen to be profoundly

localist Localism describes a range of political philosophies which prioritize the local. Generally, localism supports local production and consumption of goods, local control of government, and promotion of local history, local culture and local identi ...

in outlook and to be receding in the face of international

mass culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

. Albert Kahn's photographic and cinematographic studies at the beginning of the 20th century possibly for the first time helped depict French provincial life and in doing so gave some vision into ''France profonde''.

See also