Aug 4, 2010

My TOP 5 favourite Paris movies

To mark my upcoming trip to Paris (I'll be off TOMORROW!!), here's a list of my favourite Paris movies. This was fairly easy, as I haven't seen that many films set in Paris. (Or French films, for that matter. They are often a bit weird.) The original plan was to first post this and then during my absence publish longer posts of each movie. Well, as it happens, I recently picked up a nasty virus called lazyness, so I'll only post this now, and the others after I came back. Cured. Hopefully.

Anyway, here you go, sil vous plait, voila and a couple of stress mark thingys here and there, I don't know where.

5. Marie Antoinette (2006)
THE PLACE TO SEE: The palace in Versailles.

"This is ridiculous."
"This, Madame, is Versailles."

4. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
THE PLACES TO SEE: Notre Dame. Duh. And Disneyland, ooooooh yeah, I've only been waiting for this for twenty years!!

"Morning in Paris, the city awakes / To the bells of Notre Dame / The fisherman fishes, the bakerman bakes / To the bells of Notre Dame / To the big bells as loud as the thunder / To the little bells soft as a psalm / And some say the soul of the city's the toll of the bells / The bells of Notre Dame

3. Before Sunset (2004)

THE THING TO DO: The Seine cruise.

"I heard this story once about when the Germans were occupying Paris and they had to retreat back. They wired Notre Dame to blow, but they had to leave one guy in charge of hitting the switch. And the guy, the soldier, he couldn't do it. You know, he just sat there, knocked out by how beautiful the place was."

2. Amélie (2001)


THE PLACE TO SEE: The café where Amélie works. And its toilet.

"Let me help you. Step down. Here we go! The drum major's widow! She's worn his coat since the day he died. The horse's head has lost an ear! That's the florist laughing. He has crinkly eyes. In the bakery window, lollipops. Smell that! They're giving out melon slices! Sugarplum, ice cream! We're passing the park butcher. Ham, 79 francs. Spareribs, 45! Now the cheese shop. Picadors are 12.90. Cabecaus 23.50. A baby's watching a dog that's watching the chickens. Now we're at the kiosk by the metro. I'll leave you here. Bye!"

1. Paris, je t'aime (2006)


THE PLACES TO SEE: Everything! The Eiffel tower, Tuileries subway station, the tomb of Oscar Wilde, the mosque...

"Sitting there, alone in a foreign country, far from my job and everyone I know, a feeling came over me. It was like remembering something I'd never known before or had always been waiting for, but I didn't know what. Maybe it was something I'd forgotten or something I've been missing all my life. All I can say is that I felt, at the same time, joy and sadness. But not too much sadness, because I felt alive. Yes, alive. That was the moment  

I fell in love with Paris. And I felt Paris fall in love with me."

2 comments:

M-link said...

Ah, I loved Paris Je t'aime! Saw a whole new side of the city I love. I really wasn't that impressed with the films New York cousin which was in my opinion a whole lotta of shaitté.

Amelie is the best adult-storybook-story ever filmed. It's one of the few films I can watch over and over and over again.

Eeva said...

I didn't love New York I Love You either, somehow it just didn't capture the mood of the city it potrayted, like Paris Je t'aime did.

And yeah, Amelie is simply womderful!