Country France Selected entrant Isabelle Aubret Final result 1st, 26 points | Selection process Internal Selection Selected song "Un premier amour" 1962 • 1963► | |
France was represented by Isabelle Aubret, with the song '"Un premier amour", at the 1962 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 18 March in Luxembourg City. The song was chosen internally by broadcaster RTF and went on to bring France their third Eurovision victory in five contests.
Following its victory "Un premier amour" became a moderate domestic success, but failed to find a market outside France. Aubret would return to Eurovision in 1968, finishing third on that occasion.
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Aubret performed 9th in the running order, following the Netherlands and preceding Norway. "Un premier amour" was a gentle ballad with a hypnotic melody and a sophisticated musical arrangement which was highly praised, and was rated by observers as the stand-out song in a particularly drab line-up. Each national jury awarded 3-2-1 to their top 3 songs and France took the lead in the third round of voting, then quickly pulled away from the field to gain a comprehensive victory with 26 points against the 13 received by runners-up Monaco. Five juries – Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Yugoslavia – gave their maximum vote to "Un premier amour", and only Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands failed to place the song in their top three. The French jury awarded its top mark to Yugoslavia.
France had hosted the 1959 and 1961 contests, and RTF declined to stage a third contest in such a short period, so the BBC stepped in to host the 1963 contest in London.