Saturday, July 30, 2016

Paris in July: Films set in Paris

The wrap-up of Tamara's blog event "Paris in July" is this weekend, obviously. I haven't been writing about Paris much this month, as I wrote quite a lot when I was there in the Spring. However, the theme this week is Paris in film, so I've decided to repeat a post from a few years ago when I also participated in her annual Paris festival. Here goes:

Hundreds of films feature action that takes place in Paris. I think you could do an entire tour of the city. I find that the following stick in my mind the most:
  • “Charade” (1963) Chase scene in the Palais Royal with Audrey Hepburn.
    The Palais Royal July 1, 2013: 
    the Buren column installation 
    is very different from what was in the movie. 
    That's me, not Audrey Hepurn, by the way.
  • “Hugo” (2011) Living inside the old Gare de Montparnasse and the 1930s neighborhood.

    Film publicity shot
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (many films) Featuring the cathedral in one form or another.
    Disney
  • “Last Tango in Paris” (1972) An apartment near the metro station Passy, as well as many other Paris scenes. I think of the two apartments with towers flanking the station whenever I ride past:
    Wikimedia commons
  • “Midnight in Paris” (2011) Scenes from the life of Gertrude Stein and her cohort from the fantasy of Woody Allen.

  • “Night on Earth” (1991) Scenes from infrequently featured areas of Paris.


  • "Ratattouille" (2007) A rat’s point of view of Paris.

    Film publicity shot
  • "Sous les toits de Paris" (1930) I wanted to see it then, still haven't managed:


  • "Zazie in the Metro" (1960) She never got to ride the metro.

    “Louis Malle shows us the church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Franz Liszt Square (10th arrondissement), the train station of ‘gare de l’Est,’ a bistro, the flea market of Saint-Ouen, the romantic bridge of Bir-Hakeim, the Galerie Vivienne, the passage Choiseul (2nd district), the banks of the Seine, a cabaret in Pigalle and of course the Eiffel Tower.” (See this post.)

2 comments:

  1. Charade and Midnight in Paris are two of my all-time favorites. Desert island movies, to be sure! Hugo, too!

    I'm also fond of "How to Steal a Million" (Audrey and Peter O'T at their most breathtakingly beautiful!), "Funny Face" (the "Bonjour Paris" number and the photo shoot montage), just about anything in "Paris Je'taime" and "Before Sunset." Oh, and what's not to love about "An American in Paris" and "Gigi" (though I wonder how much of those were filmed on back lots!)

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  2. There's so many great films set in Paris, or with Parisian aspects. I'll sit through any sort of Paris film, and will always like them much more than films set anywhere else. I only managed to watch one French movie this month - The Hedgehog, sadly there wasn't much Paris scenery as pretty much all of the action was inside. I still enjoyed it though.

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