But French has changed. When I did my school boy lessons you would only use the intimate form for you (tu) if you were talking to a family member or a lover. Not any more.
Today everyone gets Tu'ed making you wonder what the point of vous is (and it only seems to crop up in formal phrases: s'il vous plait, if you please).
I suppose a country whose national symbol is the cock and whose capital seems to be surrounded by a blue penis (judging by this map of the metro) was always going to be informal.
Jonathan Brind