{"id":17830,"date":"2017-09-18T14:00:36","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T14:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tiqets-blog-staging.local\/paris-on-film-2\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T09:44:41","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T09:44:41","slug":"paris-on-film-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/blog\/paris-on-film-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris on Film","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2013\u00a0This post was written by\u00a0Peter \u2013<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Paris has long enjoyed a close relationship with cinema. Thanks to the Lumi\u00e8re brothers, France is arguably the birthplace of film, and its capital city is etched into the imaginations of cineastes around the globe.<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the Arc du Triomphe to the Pont Neuf, we all know what Paris \u2018feels\u2019 like, if only from seeing its countless depictions on the silver screen. In true Gallic spirit, we\u2019ve compiled our favorite films that capture the inimitable essence of this iconic city. Take it as inspiration for your next city break, or an opportunity to do a spot of traveling without ever leaving the couch… <\/strong><\/p>\n

An American in Paris<\/span> (1951)<\/span><\/h2>\n
\"Paris<\/a>
If you look closely, you’ll notice that this is not actually Paris…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gene Kelly was never going to be particularly convincing as a troubled painter, but that doesn\u2019t matter at all. The slender plot is just enough motivation to allow Gene to do what Gene does best \u2013 dance. His bullish ballet is the perfect counterpoint to co-star Leslie Caron’s more nimble footwork, and their charming relationship is developed almost without words.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Gershwin-scored musical numbers are a head-spinning technicolor marvel, and director Vincente Minnelli pulls out all the stops in set-piece after spectacular set-piece. A huge influence on the recent <\/span>La La Land<\/span><\/i> (even the poster apes Kelly and Caron\u2019s moves), <\/span>AAiP<\/span><\/i> is one of the all-time great musicals, and helped to establish Paris as a city of chic exuberance \u2013 even though it was shot entirely on a Californian soundstage!<\/span><\/p>\n

Rififi <\/span>(1955)<\/span><\/h2>\n
\"Paris<\/a>
The darker side of French cinema<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A world away from AAiP<\/span><\/i>\u2019s rose-tinted dream world, <\/span>Rififi<\/span><\/i> is a slice of hard-boiled film noir set in the ugly underworld of downtown Paris. Adapted from Auguste le Breton\u2019s novel, the exiled American director Jules Dassin crafts a murky atmosphere of shadows and betrayal that came to represent the flipside of the French capital \u2013 the brutal violence simmering beneath the picture-perfect facade.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first real heist movie, <\/span>Rififi<\/span><\/i> sees Jean Servais\u2019 aging ex-con assembling a crew of double-crossing felons to mount an impossible assault on a fortified jewel vault. The standout scene is the heist itself, which stretches over 20 minutes in agonizingly tense real time. Even as the sweat drips from his characters\u2019 (and audience\u2019s) brows, Dassin maintains his trademark witty flair \u2013 an umbrella is put to ingenious use catching falling masonry while drilling through the vault ceiling.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c0 bout de souffle <\/span>(1960)<\/span><\/h2>\n
\"Paris<\/a>
There’s cool and then there’s ice-wouldn’t melt cool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Perhaps <\/span>the <\/span><\/i>archetypal French film, <\/span>\u00c0 bout de souffle<\/span><\/i> (commonly known as <\/span>Breathless<\/span><\/i>) broke every rule in the handbook and ushered in the <\/span>Nouvelle Vague <\/span><\/i>(\u2018New Wave\u2019) filmmaking movement. <\/span><\/p>\n

In a career-making performance, Jean-Paul Belmondo plays a small-time crook, joyriding along the banks of the Seine and into the French countryside. Along the way, he picks up the much younger Jean Seberg – and they begin a relationship which as frictive as it is fawning. <\/span><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not so much the <\/span>what <\/span><\/i>as the<\/span> how<\/span><\/i>. <\/span>\u00c0 bout de souffle <\/span><\/i>established Jean-Luc Godard\u2019s signature style and spawned a thousand imitators. Even 60 years later, it\u2019s still a woozy, dreamlike rush, mixing jump cuts with documentary techniques to build a constant, driving rhythm. And while we can never recommend stealing cars or murdering policeman, you\u2019re always encouraged to stroll along the Champs Elys\u00e9es shouting, \u201cNew York Herald Tribune!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

La Haine <\/span>(1995)<\/span><\/h2>\n
\"Paris<\/a>
As brutal as it is heartbreaking<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jumping forward some 35 years, it\u2019s still possible to see the echoes of Godard\u2019s energy and crackling menace in Mathieu Kassovitz\u2019s <\/span>La Haine <\/span><\/i>(\u2018The Hate\u2019). Taking an unflinching look at a reality diametrically opposed to the squeaky-clean fantasy of <\/span>An American in Paris<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>La Haine <\/span><\/i>is mostly set among the Parisian housing projects \u2013 ominous tower blocks of concrete and poverty.<\/span><\/p>\n

Set over 24 hours in the aftermath of a riot, Kassovitz zeroes in on three youths grieving the death of a friend who was killed by police. The standout is a young Vincent Cassel, whose Vinz simmers with a barely suppressed rage that is a terrifying as it is pitiable. Much as Belmondo self-consciously mimics the mannerisms of Humphrey Bogart in <\/span>The Big Sleep<\/span><\/i>, Cassel idolizes De Niro\u2019s Travis Bickle, rehearsing the infamous \u201cyou talkin\u2019 to me?\u201d scene in front of his bedroom mirror.<\/span><\/p>\n

As you can probably imagine, it doesn\u2019t end well, but Kassovitz treats his characters with humanity and respect, shining a light on a generation conveniently ignored by the French government. For those looking for a depiction of the \u2018real\u2019 Paris, it doesn\u2019t get much rougher and tougher than this.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cach\u00e9 <\/span>(2005)<\/span><\/h2>\n
\"Paris<\/a>
Who watches who?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From the ghetto to the bourgeois suburbs, Michael Haneke\u2019s masterpiece is a different breed of horror movie, picking apart the atrocities we suppress in \u2018civilized\u2019 life. Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche play a well-to-do Parisian couple whose domestic life is torn apart by the arrival of a stalker\u2019s videotapes \u2013 someone is watching them, but who? And more importantly, <\/span>why<\/span><\/i>?<\/span><\/p>\n

Those looking for action and adventure will be disappointed, but no other film builds such an uncompromising sense of dread by saying and showing so little. As Auteuil\u2019s Georges tries to trace the origin of the tapes, he is forced to confront the fact that his (and by extension, our) comfortable middle-class life is not \u2018deserved\u2019, but merely the product of societal subjugation and inequality. It\u2019s not an easy watch, but it\u2019s never less than gripping, and features one of the most shockingly unpleasant moments ever committed to film (you\u2019ll know it when you see it). <\/span><\/p>\n

Feeling inspired? Check out everything there is to see and do in Paris with Tiqets<\/h2>\n

Start planning your next Parisian getaway with Tiqets.com<\/a> or check out our favourite parks in Paris.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paris has long enjoyed a close relation with cinema – read on to discover our favorite films set in the French capital!<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[26,28,27],"class_list":["post-17830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","tag-amsterdam","tag-europe","tag-the-netherlands"],"acf":[],"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"link","format":"url"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17830"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20808,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17830\/revisions\/20808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}