France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000

  • Benoît Heinrich
  • Pierre Legay
Finals performanceFinal result23rd, 5 pointsFrance in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1999 • 2000 • 2001►

France participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 with the song "On aura le ciel" written by Benoît Heinrich and Pierre Legay. The song was performed by Sofia Mestari. The French broadcaster France Télévisions in collaboration with the television channel France 3 organised the national final Eurovision 2000: la sélection in order to select the French entry for the 2000 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. Fourteen songs competed in the national final on 15 February 2000 where "On aura le ciel" performed by Sofia Mestari was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public vote.

As a member of the "Big Four", France automatically qualified to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing during the show in position 5, France placed twenty-third out of the 24 participating countries with 5 points.

Background

Prior to the 2000 Contest, France had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-two times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in 1956.[1] France first won the contest in 1958 with "Dors, mon amour" performed by André Claveau. In the 1960s, they won three times, with "Tom Pillibi" performed by Jacqueline Boyer in 1960, "Un premier amour" performed by Isabelle Aubret in 1962 and "Un jour, un enfant" performed by Frida Boccara, who won in 1969 in a four-way tie with the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. France's fifth victory came in 1977, when Marie Myriam won with the song "L'oiseau et l'enfant". France have also finished second four times, with Paule Desjardins in 1957, Catherine Ferry in 1976, Joëlle Ursull in 1990 and Amina in 1991, who lost out to Sweden's Carola in a tie-break. In 1999, the nation finished in nineteenth place with the song "Je veux donner ma voix" performed by Nayah.

The French national broadcaster, France Télévisions, broadcasts the event within France and delegates the selection of the nation's entry to the television channel France 3. The French broadcaster had used both national finals and internal selection to choose the French entry in the past. From 1988 to 1998, the broadcaster opted to internally select the French entry. The 1999 French entry was selected via a national final that featured twelve competing acts. In 2000, the broadcaster opted to organise a national final under a similar format.[2]

Before Eurovision

Eurovision 2000: la sélection

Eurovision 2000: la sélection was the national final organised by France 3 to select France's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2000. The competition took place on 15 February 2000 at the L'Olympia in Paris, hosted by Julien Lepers and Karen Cheryl and was broadcast on France 3.[3] The national final was watched by 5 million viewers in France with a market share of 23.6%.[4]

Competing entries

France 3 received 450 submissions from record companies as well as artists and songwriters themselves.[5] Auditions featuring several of the received submissions took place at the Headquarters of France 3 in Paris where a three-member selection committee consisting of Nathalie André (producer), Catherine Régnier (M6 music programmer) and Fabrice Ferment (Head of Delegation for France at the Eurovision Song Contest) shortlisted 20 entries to the next stage, which involved an alternate committee consisting of representatives of France 3 finalising the fourteen entries to compete in the national final on 6 January 2000.[4][6]

Final

The final took place on 15 February 2000. Fourteen entries competed and the winner, "On aura le ciel" performed by Sofia Mestari, was selected by the combination of public televoting (50%) and a jury panel (50%). The jury panel included Marie Myriam and Patrick Fiori who represented France in the 1977 and 1993 contests respectively.[7] The jury vote was won by Sofia Mestari who was ranked second by the televote, which was won by Jessica Ferley (ranked fourth by the jury) who received 27,000 votes out of the 43,000 registered. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Patrick Fiori performed the song "Terra Umana" as the interval act of the show.[4][8]

Draw Artist Song Songwriter(s) Place
1 Jenny Zana "Tendresses" Jean-Michel Soupraya —
2 Stéphane Godsend "Nous deux" Stéphane Godsend, M. Arraya, E. Reverdi —
3 Ebony "L'amour en noir et blanc" Thierry Gronfier, Chantal Péraldi —
4 Christophe Sarti "C'est une très belle histoire d'amour" Jean-Max Rivière —
5 ZH "Tu en fais trop" Serge Pellerin —
6 Sofia Mestari "On aura le ciel" Benoît Heinrich, Pierre Legay 1
7 Orijin "Autour de toi" Renaud Bidjeck, Thierry Bidjeck 3
8 Gildas Thomas "Pense à moi" Gildas Thomas —
9 Hologramme "Avec des gants" Pascal Mounet, Félix Nicklabon, Peter von Poehl —
10 Aïden Aleksander "Maintenant" Aïden Aleksander, Lionel Florence —
11 Jessica Ferley "Espoir" Frederic Bechecloux 2
12 Guillaume Eyango "Libérez" Guillaume Eyango, Benjamin Farley —
13 Mademoiselle "SOS" Thierry Gronfier, Chantal Péraldi —
14 Soundkaïl "Jeunes solidaires" David Selise, Sacha Stouri —

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2000 took place at the Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, on 13 May 2000.

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom six countries in the 1999 contest competed in the final on 13 May 2000.[9] As a member of the "Big Four", France automatically qualified to compete in the contest. On 21 November 1999, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and France was set to perform in position 5, following the entry from Estonia and before the entry from Romania.[10][11] France finished in twenty-third place with 5 points.[12][13]

In France, the contest was broadcast on France 3 as well as on delay via TV5 with commentary by Julien Lepers.[14] The French spokesperson, who announced the French votes during the show, was Marie Myriam who won the contest for France in 1977.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to France and awarded by France in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Turkey in the contest.[15]

Points awarded to France[16]
Score Country
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points  Russia
2 points  Netherlands
1 point
Points awarded by France[16]
Score Country
12 points  Turkey
10 points  Germany
8 points  Croatia
7 points  Denmark
6 points  Israel
5 points  Russia
4 points  Ireland
3 points  Latvia
2 points  Netherlands
1 point  Sweden

References

  1. ^ "France Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  2. ^ "Sofia Mestari". eurovision-spain.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  3. ^ ESC National Finals database 2000
  4. ^ a b c "La France et ses sélections télévisées : 2000". EAQ.
  5. ^ "Plein ciel pour Sofia". OGAE France (in French). Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  6. ^ Domain, Valérie. "14 candidats s'affrontent pour répresenter la France à l'Eurovision 2000". France Soir (in French). p. 20. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  7. ^ "FRENCH NATIONAL FINAL 2000".
  8. ^ Blond, Georges (15 May 2000). "Jessica Ferley chantera au théâtre". leparisien.fr (in French). Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  9. ^ "Rules of the 45th Eurovision Song Contest, 2000" (PDF). European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  10. ^ "Rules of the 45th Eurovision Song Contest, 2000" (PDF). European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  11. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 2000 Details". Myledbury.co.uk. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  12. ^ "Final of Stockholm 2000". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  13. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest : Switzerland 2000 Jane Bogaert La Vita Cos'è". esc-history.com. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007.
  14. ^ "Samedi 29 mai" [Saturday 29th May]. TV8 (in French). Zofingen, Switzerland: Ringier. 11 May 2000. pp. 16–21. Retrieved 29 November 2022 – via Scriptorium Digital Library.
  15. ^ ESC History - France 2000
  16. ^ a b "Results of the Final of Stockholm 2000". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
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Participation
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  • "À chaque pas"
  • "Allez Ola Olé"
  • "L'Amour à la française"
  • "Autant d'amoureux que d'étoiles"
  • "La Belle amour"
  • "C'est le dernier qui a parlé qui a raison"
  • "Chacun pense à soi"
  • "Le Chant de Mallory"
  • "Chanteur de charme"
  • "Chez nous"
  • "Comé-comédie"
  • "Divine"
  • "Diwanit bugale"
  • "Dors, mon amour"
  • "Echo (You and I)"
  • "Elle était si jolie"
  • "L'Enfer et moi"
  • "Et bonjour à toi l'artiste"
  • "Et s'il fallait le faire"
  • "Européennes"
  • "Évidemment"
  • "Femme dans ses rêves aussi"
  • "Fulenn"
  • "Hé, hé M'sieurs dames"
  • "Humanahum"
  • "Il doit faire beau là-bas"
  • "Il est là"
  • "Il était temps"
  • "Il faut du temps"
  • "Il me donne rendez-vous"
  • "Il y aura toujours des violons"
  • "J'ai cherché"
  • "J'ai volé la vie"
  • "Un jardin sur la terre"
  • "Je n'ai que mon âme"
  • "Je suis l'enfant soleil"
  • "Je suis un vrai garçon"
  • "Je veux donner ma voix"
  • "Un jour, un enfant"
  • "Mama Corsica"
  • "Marie-Blanche"
  • "Mercy"
  • "Mon alliée (The Best in Me)"
  • "Mon amour"
  • "Monté la riviè"
  • "Monts et merveilles"
  • "Les Mots d'amour n'ont pas de dimanche"
  • "Moustache"
  • "N'avoue jamais"
  • "N'oubliez pas"
  • "L'Oiseau et l'Enfant"
  • "On aura le ciel"
  • "Où aller"
  • "Oui, oui, oui, oui"
  • "Un premier amour"
  • "Printemps, avril carillonne"
  • "Requiem"
  • "Roi"
  • "Sans toi"
  • "Sentiments songes"
  • "Sognu"
  • "La Source"
  • "Le Temps perdu"
  • "Tom Pillibi"
  • "Un, deux, trois"
  • "La Vie à vingt-cinq ans"
  • "Vivre"
  • "Voilà"
  • "White and Black Blues"
  • Note: Entries scored out signify where France did not compete
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