Destination: Paris

Movie: Amelie (2001) (English subtitles)

But surely you have seen Amelie? Have a listen to a piano version of the sound track:

I had indeed seen Amelie, when it first appeared, but what a delight it was to see it again on a DVD, and particularly to follow along with the director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet as he discussed the making of the film. Jeunet drew my attention to many things that had escaped my attention the first time around, plus answered questions I would have asked if I had met with him in person.

First the irresistible Audrey Tautou makes the movie unforgettable. The casting is one of those rare moments of bringing together the perfect actress with the part. The huge brown eyes, the whimsical smile, the dreaminess she portrays make it impossible to imagine anyone else in the part.

Then there is the equally picture-perfect setting of Montmartre with its village feel. While many movies that we are watching as a prelude to our trip to France  give only fleeting glances of Paris, or soundstage recreations, this one sticks to the narrow streets and shops and parks of Montmartre.

Some movie goers get impatient with whimsy, but the layers of Amelie keep everyone interested. As Amelie flits through life fixing other people’s lives like a fairy godmother, we see her own sometimes ridiculous attempts to direct her own destiny.

It is hard to pick perfect scenes, but the very old painter who lives in Amelie’s apartment building and recreates ancient masterpieces intrigues me.  Amelie gives him helpful hints and in a sense paints herself into his picture as her little romance develops.

So if you have not seen Amelie, take a trip to Montmartre with the movie. If you saw it long ago, take another look and check out the fascinating director’s notes. Me–I’m off to see if I can find a copy of the soundtrack to add to my I-pod.

What is your perfect French movie? Is it set in Paris, like most movies that want to say FRANCE, or elsewhere? Period or contemporary? American-made, French or from somewhere else?

See more French movies in these posts:

Province

Julie and Julia

The French Resistance in World War II

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Paris Movie Walks by Michael Schurmann

Destination: Paris

Book: Paris Movie Walks: Ten Guided Tours Through The City of Lights! Camera! Action!, by Michael Schurmann

I was going to say “You don’t have to be a movie fan to enjoy this book.”  But who among us is NOT a movie fan? And who has seen a movie set in Paris and NOT wanted to glide right over the Seine?

It might have been the breathtaking chases of the Bourne Identity. Or perhaps you swayed to Gene Kelly’s dancing in American in Paris.  Or romance, ahh, romance, with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton in Somethings Got to Give (2004) or Keven Kline and Meg Ryan in French Kiss (1995) And the camera made love to Audrey Hepburn in many Paris films and I not only wanted to BE Audrey Hepburn, but I wanted to be Audrey Hepburn IN PARIS.

I can not list all of the movies made in Paris, and even Michael Schurmann, himself an American in Paris, does not try to list every movie ever made in this popular location. There are too many.  But Schurmann’s book Paris Movie Walks give you ten ambles through neighborhoods, and each route crosses paths with several movies.

The tours cover much more than just ‘this chase scene took place on this street,’ or ‘this kiss on this bridge.’  Schurmann packs the book with value added.  Although he promises “there will be no endless lists of French monarchs and their annoying mistresses, no stories about poets and painters about whom you know little and care even less” the book does include some references to history and the usual ‘Hemingway slept here’ kind of information. Inclusion of plenty of information beyond movie sets makes the book useful to more people and makes it more useful to all readers.

The book includes

• Tips on dining in Paris without going bankrupt. (Maxims charges €35 for a mousse au chocolat.)
• How to adapt to French culture
• A list of movies with Eiffel Tower shots. (Every apartment in a movie set in Paris has a view of the Eiffel Tower, he says.)
• The evolution of the use of locations rather than studio sets, with an aside on American in Paris. (Did they or didn’t they?)
• The student riots of the 1960s.
• Movies with scenes in or outside the Louvre.
• The best view (and most photographed view in movies) in Paris.

I love this book.

1. I love the useful index that shows which of the walks show scenes from which movies.
2. I love that each walk starts and ends at a metro stop and a metro map is included.
3. I love the list of movies to see before you go.
4. I love the depth of research that went in to the book.

I would love it even more if the maps of each walk showed where the stops are, if the photographs had captions, and if there were not quite so many French language movies included which are unfamiliar to me. Sigh! I guess I’d better spend more time at the Loft Theater, Tucson’s foreign and indie film house.

But on balance, this is a valuable book for the movie lover traveling to Paris, or even the person who just wants to find interesting walks in the city of Lights! without the camera!action!

So I am off to put Amelie on my Netflix queue. I did see it when it came out, but have forgotten much about the Paris background.  And how about you?  Do you have a favorite Paris film? Please recommend it here.  And if you think others would like this book, please share with the share buttons below.

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.