France was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 with the song "", written by Fatima Zahra Hafdi, Ahmed Saghir, Yannick Rastogi, and Zacharie Raymond, and performed by Hafdi herself under her stage name La Zarra. The French participating broadcaster, , internally selected its entry for the contest. La Zarra was officially announced by as the French entrant on 12 January 2023, and the song was presented to the public on 19 February 2023, during the France 2 programme .
As a member of the "Big Five", France automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Prior to the 2023 contest, and its predecessor national broadcasters have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing France sixty-four times since RTF's debut in . They first won the contest in with "" performed by André Claveau. In the 1960s, they won three times, with "Tom Pillibi" performed by Jacqueline Boyer in , "" performed by Isabelle Aubret in , and "" performed by Frida Boccara, who won in in a four-way tie with the , , and the . France's fifth victory came in when Marie Myriam won with the song "". France has also finished second five times, with Paule Desjardins in , Catherine Ferry in , Joëlle Ursull in , Amina in (who lost out to 's Carola in a tie-break), and Barbara Pravi in . In the 21st century, France has had less success, only making the top ten five times, with Natasha St-Pier finishing fourth in , Sandrine François finishing fifth in , Patricia Kaas finishing eighth in , Amir finishing sixth in , and Pravi finishing second in 2021 with 499 points. In , the nation finished in twenty-fourth place with the song "" performed by Alvan and Ahez.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country through . The French broadcasters has used both national finals and internal selections to choose its entry in the past. In and , the entries were selected via the national final .
Initially, announced in July 2022 that the French entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 would be selected via the national final However, on 12 January 2023, it was reported that the national final had been cancelled, and soon later the broadcaster announced that it had internally selected La Zarra, a Canadian singer and songwriter of Moroccan descent based in France, as the French entrant for the contest. Her competing song, "", written by Ahmed Saghir, Yannick Rastogi, Zacharie Raymond, and La Zarra herself, was presented to the public on 19 February 2023 during a pre-recorded showcase performance, broadcast on during the programme and hosted by Laurent Delahousse. The French Head of Delegation for the Eurovision Song Contest, Alexandra Redde-Amiel, commented on the selection:
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete in the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As a member of the "Big Five", France automatically qualified to compete in the final on 13 May 2023. In addition to its participation in the final, France was also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. This was decided via a draw held during the semi-final allocation draw on 31 January 2023, when it was announced that France would be voting in the first semi-final.
broadcast all three shows live on its channels; the two semi-finals were shown on Culturebox with commentary provided by André Manoukian and France's Anggun, while the final was aired on France 2 with commentary by Laurence Boccolini and Stéphane Bern. The broadcast of the final reached a total of 3.48 million people in France, a 10% increase on viewing figures for the and representing a 25.6% market share of television viewers over the age of 4.
The following members comprised the French jury: