5 Movies You Must Watch Before Going to Paris
The French took the innocence right out of kissing by making it mandatory to shove your slimy tongue down someone’s throat. All that frou frou L’Amour has its charm, but Paris is just as gritty as the next guy—this is, after all, the place where the guillotine got famous. Dark humor, revolutionary history and scenic landscapes, combined with a hefty sprinkle of lovey sap and drool, are unique elements of Parisian culture. Put it all in perspective with film by checking out OTP’s List of Movies You Must See before hitting up Paris.
Watch the trailer (really a strange montage but you’ll get the idea)
Bashed for being pornographic when it was released in 1972, this hot and heavy flick earned Academy Award nominations for best actor and best director (Bernardo Bertolucci). Pretty Parisian young thing Jeanne (Maria Schneider) meets an American sleazebag (Marlon Brando) twice her age at an apartment they both want to rent. She’s about to marry a loser and he’s dealing with his wife’s suicide. Awkwardness eventually gives way to a series of strange sexual encounters as they continue to swap bodily fluids without exchanging the insignificant details. Then emotions come in and screw everything. A sexy look into Parisian love scandals, this film is also a study of how sometimes, emotions creep into the most raunchy of situations.
This simple and oddly moving tale was originally titled The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain. Lonely, but captivating, Amélie(Audrey Tatou) begins a series of good deeds meant to fix the lives of the people around her, not realizing the impact it would have on her own fate. Working as a waitress in a Parisian cafe, she spends her free time playing practical jokes and laying out elaborate plans to help her eccentric friends. It’s a quirky portrayal of Parisian life, in the even quirkier Montemartre neighborhood, guaranteed to fill you with a new-found appreciation for the little things. Amélie preps you for the oddities of French culture: they practically live in cafés, have a kooky, dark sense of humor and give tiny preferences a ridiculous amount of importance.
This film is a series of 18 shorts and can feel a bit hectic. Keep up for some mind-blowing moments. Je T’aime is pieced together by directing heavyweights like Wes Craven, The Coen Brothers, Alexander Payne and Gurinder Chadha and has an eye candy cast —among them Natalie Portman, Elijah Wood (who still looks a little like a hobbit) and Olga Kurylenko. The film is like a bag of assorted Halloween candy, touching on class struggle, divorce, vampires and random ridiculous predicaments (one of which includes our favorite so-ugly-he’s-sexy actor, Steve Buscemi). While all of the film’s parts are set in Paris and each teaches you a little something different, pay special attention to the last bit about the middle-aged postal worker from Denver who travels to Paris alone. She is the anti-backpacker and her story will make you think twice about putting off travel to Paris until next year.
A party of snotty Parisian professionals gets together every Friday and each member takes turns bringing the biggest idiot to dinner. Pierre, a seasoned yuppie, stumbles across Francois, a sloppy bonehead who takes building architectural models out of match sticks too seriously. Pierre injures his back and can’t make the party, but Francois manages to stick around and set this comedy of errors into motion. If you can get past what Americans would consider callous, this one’s a riot. Released in 1997 while we were all begging Jack to never let go, this is a superbly funny introduction to the French way of life, with its typical nonchalance and the idea that every Frenchman keeps a mistress. And yes, Steve Carell and Paul Rudd starred in the 2010 American remake, Dinner for Schmucks.
Based on Gilbert Adair’s novel, The Holy Innocents, the story is set against the backdrop of the 1968 Paris student riots. Matthew is an American film fanatic who comes to study in Paris for a year. Still friendless after a few months, he becomes a regular at the cinema frequented by sultry and mysterious twins Isa and Théo. As things get steamy and Matthew begins to fall in love, he realizes the siblings share an unconventionally intimate relationship. A ménage à trois (of the incestuous variety) forms between them and they move the party to Isa and Théo’s parents’ apartment while Paris crumbles around them. A long, weird and wild trip, the French sure know how to have a good time during civil uprisings. With this film, not only do you get a peek into important historical affairs (youth protestors fought to get their rights in 1968 and in 2006 to keep them) but it’s served up with a nice slice of hedonism.
Watch these films to get a feel of all things Parisian. Watching these films can help you feel up a Parisian?
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I like the analysis… like the style & choice too!thanks
Well, one of these is going to be bumped, cause Midnight in Paris HAS to be on the list.
“Midnight in Paris”… I really enjoyed this film! It blends film noir with Stardust Memories, The Purple Rose of Cairo, and a bit of Annie Hall. The scenes of Paris were enough to make one just fall in love. The music was superb! Having all the artists and writers show up was the ultimate name dropping contest! Their caricatures were hysterical! Casting Adrien Brody as Salvatore Dali was unbelievable, combined with the surreal discussion about a rhino.
I think Owen Wilson is the ideal Woody Allen by far. He has some sort of naivete that seems to fit perfectly with who Woody seems to be and the combination of Owen’s good looks with Woody’s humor is riveting!
Of course the “nostalgia” theme and the -I really want to be somewhere else because it’s too boring here- give the story a whole other layer of meaning. For we artists and writers it’s one of the things that sparks our creativity, so I loved this discussion and the never ending unraveling the story provokes. While he’s entertaining you, getting you to laugh hysterically about it all, you’re actually discovering the right point he’s trying to make! There is no one who is so brilliant! Have fun!
Have a lovely time!
Sara @