A few weeks ago, while in Paris I visited the exhibit
Paris Vu par Hollywood (Paris Viewed by Hollywood ). It is held at the Paris City Hall from September 18-December 15. More than 800 Hollywood movies have represented Paris real or imagined. Iconic Parisian spots frequently featured include: Eiffel Tower, Place de la Concorde, Notre Dame, the Ritz Hotel, Place Vendome, the banks of the river Seine and Montmartre. In the Hollywood movies Paris has a certain allure representing sophistication, sex appeal and a certain "je ne sais quoi." Cliches abound about Paris in the early Hollywood movies. Often you see people drinking Champagne, attending fashion shows and partying the night away in Parisian cabarets. Starting with silent movies, Paris was the setting for major historical epics such at the
French Revolution and
Notre Dame de Paris. Then in the thirties, Paris was depicted as the high society's pleasure ground, refined and sophisticated; after WWII, Hollywood movies featured the Paris of the artists, bohemian life and French Cancan. In almost every movie romance is associated with Paris. Many of the early movies were actually shot in the Hollywood studios and only in the 50's did American productions companies come to film on location in Paris. The
Paris Vu Par Hollywood exhibit features film clips, photographs, costumes, scripts, small model of decors and posters. Directors who used Paris as backdrop include Ernst Lubitsch who featured Paris in ten different movies; Minnelli, Blake Edwards, Hitchock, Donen, Huston, Woody Allen, and Sophia Coppola to name a few.
Here are 10 iconic Hollywood movies set in Paris :
- An American in Paris (1951)
- April in Paris (1952)
- Gigi (1958)
- Charade (1963)
- The Pink Panther (1963)
- Irma la Douce (1963)
- Da Vinci Code (2003)
- Devil Wears Prada (2006)
- Marie Antoinette by Sophia Coppola (2006)
- Midnight in Paris (2011)
 |
Midnight in Paris
Paris Vu par Hollywood -Paris City Hall- 5 rue Lobeau. |
This is the largest cemetery within central Paris and the most famous. Strolling along the neat winding paths and leafy alleys you can visit the graves and mausoleums of many historical figures including Heloise and Abelard, Moliere, Victor Hugo, Proust, Chopin, Oscar Wild and Jim Morrison. (Metro: Pere Lachaise)
In Victor Hugo's novel Les Miserables, Jean Valjean tries to escape through the labyrinth of the sewers of Paris. The system dates back to the late 1300's and has been over the centuries enlarged to cover a network of over 1300 miles of sewer tunnels. A visit of the museum of the Sewers of Paris will let you explore the galleries with large displays explaining the history of the sewers, the engineering and how Paris handles waste water from elimination to purification and drinking water. It is interesting to know that each sewer street mirrors the street above. (Metro : Pont de l'Alma)
