10 legendary film locations to discover in Paris

10 legendary film locations to discover in Paris

Each year, around 1,000 film crews  choose Paris as their backdrop, in more than 5,000 locations in the capital. More generally, Île-de-France is the first region in France to host filming and concentrates 40% of national productions  ! We take you on a short tour of the legendary film locations to discover in this natural setting that is the City of Light .

The Louvre museum

Obviously, the museum has been used over and over again in films, whether French or foreign: it served as the backdrop for nearly 10% of the films shot in the capital in total! The first time that the Louvre Museum appears in a film dates back to 1927 in Belphégor, the phantom of the Louvre , a famous legend that still makes you shiver!

Later, in 2006, Ron Howard moved to the Louvre for his Da Vinci Code with Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou. 10 nights of shooting were necessary for the film, in one of the most sumptuous monuments of the capital. We also remember Bande à Part (1964) where Godard staged a sprint in the Grande Galerie, a mythical scene that Bernardo Bertolucci reproduced in The Dreamers in 2003.

Le café des deux moulins

The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain , released in 2001, uses coffee as a film reference, where Amélie works as a waitress. Jean Pierre Jeunet developed the plot in the Montmartre district , which has since become even more legendary. The Café des Deux Moulins, still open today, is a tribute to the last two mills present today on the Butte Montmartre: the Moulin Rouge and the Moulin de la Galette .

Le Café des Deux Moulins - 15, rue Lepic 75018
Metro  : Blanche (line 2)
Hours  : every day from 7:30 am to 2 am (Saturday and Sunday opening at 8 am)

Hôtel du Nord

The Children of Paradise , of course, a now classic film, directed by Marcel Carné in 1945, but above all one of these films, even older, Hôtel du Nord (1938) takes the place, eponymous, as its emblematic setting. The Hôtel du Nord is today considered a masterpiece of French cinema to which we owe the famous line, " Atmosphere, atmosphere, do I have a face of atmosphere?"  From Arletty.

The small hotel located on the banks of the Saint-Martin canal has become a veritable place of cinephile pilgrimage even though the film was not shot there but made in the studio  !

Le Moulin Rouge 

The most legendary cabaret in the city has obviously hosted more than one film, but above all Moulin Rouge, with Nicole Kidman in 2001. Baz Luhrmann places the Moulin Rouge in the background, but in the same way as for the Hôtel du Nord , the film was not shot at the Moulin Rouge at all!

Bir Hakeim bridge

Although there are others, and often thrillers where the main character sinks into this bridge with the disturbing and perfect perspective, Inception remains in people's minds when we mention the Bir Hakeim bridge,  and for good reason: Christopher Nolan chose the arcades of the immense metal structure to immortalize Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard entwined in front of a unique view of the Iron Lady.

Montparnasse district

The Tour Montparnasse district remains a privileged location for filming, whether for its emblematic skyscraper or the many historic brasseries that are located there. In Robert Enrico's Le Vieux Fusil (1976), Philippe Noiret and Romy Schneider play a role at the Closerie des Lilas. Years later, Claude Berri installs Guillaume Canet and Audrey Tautou in the brasserie - unavoidable - La Coupole in Ensemble c'est tout (2007).

The Tower is obviously particularly appreciated by the cinema; François Pignon exhibits his creations to Jean Cordier in a train that sees the landscapes of the district and the Tower in the Dinner of cons (1998), Éric Judor and Ramzy Bedia play the tile washers on the 52 nd floor in The infernal Montparnasse tower ( 2001) and Last Tango in Paris showcases two lovers frozen in the 1970s… The tower was then under construction!

Le café de la Mairie 

Immortalized by Georges Perec in his "  attempt to exhaust a Parisian place " where he describes what he sees from the terrace, coffee 6 th district hosted several films of the New Wave . Zanzibar in Saint Sulpice looks back on this artistic period: shot in 1999 , this short film shows the meetings in the Town Hall café, of the Zanzibar Group made up of poets and artists from the 1970s.

Café de la Mairie - 8 Place Saint Sulpice 75006
Metro  : Saint Sulpice (line 4)
Hours  : 7 am-2am

The Alexandre III bridge

The film Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen  sees scroll lots of Parisian landscapes when Owen Wilson is reflected in the Paris of the Belle Epoque at night. The final scene on the Alexandre III bridge with Léa Seydoux, flea saleswoman from Saint Ouen, completes the magical side of the capital; a walk in the rain in a sublime setting offered by one of the most beautiful bridges in the capital.

Le Quartier Latin

Le quartier Latin represents an inexhaustible source of inspiration for cinema scenes: the number of films set in the Latin Quarter is so numerous that we could not make a complete list, but we are thinking in particular of the Louis Le high schools. Grand or Henri IV where Sophie Marceau studies in La Boum (1980) , at the panorama of the Quai de la Tournelle in Everyone says I love you (1997), but also at the famous restaurant Chez Gusto in Ratatouille ... which is none other than the Tour d'Argent, a historic restaurant in Paris which offers a panoramic view of the capital from its top floor.

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