Miles Davis & Juliette Gréco: An Impossible Love in Paris | Slow French

Épisode de Feel Good French | Slow French Podcast & Stories par Déborah Pham van Xua · 14 octobre 2026 · 10 min

They fall in love in Paris without speaking each other’s language. So why don’t Miles Davis and Juliette Gréco build a life together?

In 1949, a concert at Salle Pleyel brings Miles and Juliette together. Follow their walks along the Seine, the contrast with a difficult dinner in New York, and his return to France to create the music for Ascenseur pour l’échafaud, starring Jeanne Moreau.

A story about love, recognition and the barriers between two worlds, told in slow French with French and English subtitles by Déborah at Feel Good French.

French conversation group

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Expressions explained

de fil en aiguille — one thing leads to another

se heurter à — to come up against an obstacle

porter tort à quelqu’un — to cause someone harm

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Chapters

00:00 Miles & Juliette: love without a shared language

01:00 Miles Davis arrives in Paris, 1949

01:40 A backstage encounter at Salle Pleyel

02:26 Juliette’s circle: Sartre and a different welcome

03:49 A difficult dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria

05:04 Back in France: Ascenseur pour l’échafaud

07:11 Sartre asks: why not marry?

08:22 Nina Simone and a question for you

09:22 Join the French conversation group

Music: “Cafe Regrette” by Asher Fulero; “The Jazz Messenger” by Vendla / Epidemic Sound.

Image attribution: “Parijs 1949” by René Defonseca / Family Defonseca; family archive Smiley Toerist. Cropped and animated; adapted image under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Source photograph | License

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À propos du podcast

Feel Good French is a Slow French podcast for A2, B1 and B2 learners, francophiles, expats and future expats dreaming of a new chapter in France. Improve your French listening naturally through true stories, French culture, history, travel and real places in France. Discover extraordinary lives of…

Feel Good French | Slow French Podcast & Stories

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