From Arletty to Greta Garbo to Audrey Tautou and Harrison Ford ... Italians, French or Americans, many directors have made us live, each in their own way, the Paris of their time. Films that have magnified the French capital by drawing the picture of a city where it is good to live. These great moments of the seventh art pay homage to him, through his monuments, his districts but also through the figure of the Parisienne. For decades, the writers have been able to "tell" Paris. Our Paris.
Courted neighborhoods
Montmartre, Belleville, the Eiffel Tower, the Canal Saint Martin ... These neighborhoods have tapped into the eye of filmmakers, who have enjoyed emblematic monuments or small streets. While in " Sleeping Paris", Albert Préjean faces a sleeping capital from the top of the Iron Lady, " At the End of Breath" is Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo pacing the edges of Seine and the famous Avenue des Champs-Élysées. More recently, Amélie Poulain, incarnated by Audrey Tautou, chose to elect domicile on the hill Montmartre, a few steps from the Sacré Coeur.
The bistro: a Parisian emblem at the cinema
But on the big screen, Paris is also a place where to enjoy small breweries has its importance. A European capital that likes to share and exchange around a coffee-growing. In short, have a good time. And the directors have understood this well since the beginning of the century. Annabella, for example, is a waitress in " Hôtel du Nord" , or Grandgil - Jean Gabin - and Jambier - Bourvil - who find themselves in a Parisian bistro in which they make a notable entry in "La traversée de Paris" . Three decades later, it was Fabrice Luchini's turn to sit at Pascal Ogier's table in " Les nuits de pleine lune" .
By love of the Paris of lovers
A symbol of romance, Paris has also inspired many directors for unforgettable love stories on the big screen. And many of them are at the origin of mythical romantic duets like Ernst Lubitsch, who in "Ninotchka " gives rise to an idyll between Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas. In " Casque d'Or" , Jacques Becker lit the flame between Serge Reggiani and Simone Signoret in the Paris of the Belle Époque. More recently, it was Roman Polanski who told us in "Frantic " the story of Dr. Walker - Harrison Ford - and his wife Sondra - Betty Buckley - on a honeymoon in Paris, in a police action film in the heart of the capital. Not to mention Woody Allen's Paris declaration of love with "Midnight in Paris " , a romantic and nostalgic feature film in which the heart of Gil (Owen Wilson) beats to that of Adriana (Marion Cotillard) .
Some scenes of cinema which prove that Paris is - and will always be - a magic city. A city whose inhabitants are happy, free and cheerful, quite simply.
