StayingZen... I think your dd needs to assess her interests and to think aboutwhat would interest her in a course. She shouldn't write off literature just because she hasn't done it at A'level. Most students coming into universities nowadays are in the same boat, which means that courses are geared towards that (maybe not in Oxford... but, you know... out here in the real world!). That is certainly the case in all the places I have taught and examined (I teach modern languages, though not French, in a Russell Group institution and have experience of many institutions all over the UK...).
Moreover, the choice nowadays (again, Oxford excepted!) is not just between language and literature. Most courses worth their salt will include things like politics, history, linguistics, media studies, cinema, etc etc etc as well as literature. So, doing a French degree, it should be possible to get a really broad understanding of the culture and language of France. But equally it should be possible to specialise in, say, language studies (some places also have modules in language teaching, which is interesting), or modern cultural studies, or whatever.
The places which focus particularly on language (with more credits for that as opposed to the cultural elements - whatever they may be) tend to be (generalising wildly here) post-92 institutions, so possibly less prestigious, but they may provide just what your dd is looking for in terms of a focus on language, so don't write them off.
I hope this is helpful. I am about to turn computer off for a few days as I am decorating, but if your dd has specific questions, I'll come back to this thread and try to answer them if I can. Good luck to her.