France participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the song "Monts et merveilles" written by Hocine Hallaf. The song was performed by Louisa Baïleche. The French broadcaster France Télévisions in collaboration with the television channel France 3 internally selected the French entry for the 2003 contest in

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. "Monts et merveilles" was officially presented to the public by France 3 as the French entry on 7 March 2003 during the France 3 programme ''Le Fabuleux Destin de...''. As a member of the "

Big Four Big Four or Big 4 may refer to: Groups of companies * Big Four accounting firms: Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PwC * Big Four (airlines) in the U.S. in the 20th century: American, Eastern, TWA, United * Big Four (banking), several groupings ...

", France automatically qualified to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 19, France placed eighteenth out of the 26 participating countries with 19 points.

Background

Prior to the 2003 Contest, France had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-five times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in . France first won the contest in

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with "

Dors, mon amour "Dors, mon amour" (; "Sleep, My Love") is a love song written in French by Hubert Giraud, composed by Pierre Delanoë and performed in 1958 by André Claveau as France's entry and the winner of the pan-European Eurovision Song Contest, gaining o ...

" performed by

André Claveau André Claveau (, 17 December 1911 – 4 July 2003) was a popular singer in France from the 1940s to the 1960s. He won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1958 singing "Dors, mon amour" (Sleep, My Love), with music composed by Pierre Delanoë and l ...

. In the 1960s, they won three times, with "

Tom Pillibi "Tom Pillibi" is a song written in French by Pierre Cour, composed by André Popp and performed in 1960 by Jacqueline Boyer as 's entry and the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1960, gaining other versions including covers by other Eurovisio ...

" performed by Jacqueline Boyer in

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, " Un premier amour" performed by Isabelle Aubret in

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and "

Un jour, un enfant "Un jour, un enfant" (; "A Day, a Child") is one of four winning songs in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969, this one being sung in French by Frida Boccara representing . The other three winners were Salomé representing with "Vivo cantando", L ...

" performed by

Frida Boccara Danielle Frida Hélène Boccara (29 October 1940 – 1 August 1996) was a Moroccan-born French singer of Italian descent, who performed and recorded in a number of languages, including French, Spanish, English, Italian, German, Dutch and Russia ...

, who won in

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in a four-way tie with the

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and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. France's fifth victory came in

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, when Marie Myriam won with the song " L'oiseau et l'enfant". France have also finished second four times, with

Paule Desjardins The Eurovision Song Contest 1957 was the second edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (HR) on behalf of ARD, the contest, originally known as the (English: Euro ...

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, Catherine Ferry in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

Joëlle Ursull Joëlle Ursull (born 9 November 1960) is a French singer. She performed "White and Black Blues", composed by Georges Augier de Moussac with lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg, in the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 of 5 May 1990. She scored 132 points an ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

and Amina in

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, who lost out to Sweden's Carola in a tie-break. In the 21st century, France has had less success, only making the top ten two times, with Natasha St-Pier finishing fourth in

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and

Sandrine François Sandrine François (born December 1980 in Paris) is a French singer who represented France at the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest. Biography She was discovered singing in a pub and invited to sing on the television show of Mireille Dumas. This appe ...

finishing fifth in

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. 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. The

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and 2000 French entries were selected via a national final that featured several competing acts. In

and

, the broadcaster opted to internally select the French entry, a procedure that was continued in order to select the 2003 entry.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

France 3 announced in early 2003 that the French entry for the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest would be selected internally. On 13 January 2003, the broadcaster opened a submission period in order for interested artists and songwriters to submit their proposals. On 7 March 2003, France 3 announced during the France 3 programme ''Le Fabuleux Destin de...'', hosted by Isabelle Giordano, that the French entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 would be "Monts et merveilles" performed by Louisa Baïleche. The song was written by Hocine Hallaf. The selection committee of France 3 considered two entries, "Monts et merveilles" performed by Louisa Baïleche and "Un jour, je t'emmènerai" performed by Thibault Durand, before finalising their decision internally on 28 February 2003.

At Eurovision

As a member of the "Big 4", France automatically qualified to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 on 24 May 2003. During the running order draw on 29 November 2003, France was placed to perform in position 19, following the entry from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and before the entry from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. France placed eighteenth in the final, scoring 19 points.ESC History - France 2003
/ref> In France, the show was broadcast on France 3 with commentary by

Laurent Ruquier Laurent Hugues Emmanuel Ruquier (; born 24 February 1963) is a French television presenter, radio host and comedian. He is also a lyricist, writer, columnist and impresario; he has been co-owner and general manager of Théâtre Antoine-Simone Be ...

and Isabelle Mergault, as well as via radio on France Bleu with commentary by

Laurent Boyer Laurent Boyer (born on 23 January 1958 in Paris, France) is a French radio and television host. He is the companion of singer Alice Dona. He worked on M6 since its creation and presented programs such as ''Graines de star'', ''Nos meilleurs Mom ...

. The French spokesperson, who announced the French votes during the show, was

who represented France in the 2002 contest.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to France and awarded by France in the contest.

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2003

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Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...