Page 348 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Paris

346  TR A VELLERS ’ NEEDS

Cinema
Paris can justifiably claim to be one of the world’s capitals of area. The Rue Champollion is
film appreciation. More than 370 screens within the city limits, an exception. It has enjoyed a
distributed among over 100 cinemas and multiplexes, screen revival as a mini­district for
art and repertory films.
a fabulous cornu copia of films, both brand-new and classic. Further to the south, Mont­
American movies share the limelight with home-grown parnasse remains a lively district
dramas and comedies, and virtually every filmmaking industry for new films in both dubbed
in the world has found a niche in the city’s art houses. Cinemas and subtitled prints.
change their programmes on Wednesdays. The cheapest For specific cinema venues
see the Directory on page 348.
practical guides to what’s on are Pariscope and L’Officiel des
Spectacles (see p332) with complete cinema listings and
timetables for some 300 films. Films shown in subtitled original Big Screens and
language versions are coded “VO” (version originale); dubbed Picture Palaces
films are coded “VF” (version française). Most children’s films are Among surviving landmark
shown in VF during the day. Paris’s Film Festival is held for one cinemas are two Grands
Boulevards venues, the 2,800­
week in late June/early July. The system is that you pay full seat Le Grand Rex, with its
price for one film, after which a special card gives access to Baroque decor, and the Max
unlimited films at just €3 a ticket, for the duration of the festival. Linder Panorama, which was
refurbished by a group of
independent film buffs in
Movements in Cinema same is true of The Da Vinci the 1980s for both popular
Paris was the cradle of the Code, also featuring Amélie and art film programming.
cinematograph over 100 years star Audrey Tautou. The massive 14­screen MK2
ago, when Auguste and Louis Bibliothèque cinema (plus bar,
Lumière invented the early film shops and exhibition space) has
projector. Their screening of Cinema Zones opened up in the revitalized
L’Arrivée d’un Train en Gare de La Most Paris cinemas are 13th arrondisse ment, and just
Ciotat (Arrival of a Train at la concentrated in several cinema across the river, the UGC Ciné-
Ciotat Station) in Paris in 1895 is belts, which enjoy the added Cité Bercy cinema complex is
considered by many to mark appeal of nearby restaurants well worth a visit too.
the birth of the medium. The and shops. The Champs­Elysées In the Cité des Sciences
French reverence for film as a remains the densest cinema et de l’Industrie at La Villette,
true art form is based on a strip in town, where you can see scientific films are shown at
theory of one of the world’s first the latest Hollywood smash hit La Géode (see p240). This has
film critics, Ricciotto Canudo, an or French auteur triumph, as a hemispheric screen (once
Italian intellectual living in well as some classic reissues, in the world’s largest) and an
France, who dubbed cine­ subtitled original­language “omnimax” projector which uses
matography “the Seventh Art” in versions. Cinemas in the Grands 70­mm film shot horizon tally to
1922. The title holds true even Boulevards, in the vicinity of the project an image which is nine
today. The city was of course Opéra de Paris Garnier, show times larger than the standard
also the incubator of that very films in both subtitled and 35­mm print. Along the Canal
Parisian vanguard movement, dubbed versions. Boulevard de St­Martin, MK2’s twin cinema
the New Wave, when film Clichy is home to two Pathé complexes – Quai de la Loire
directors such as Claude multiplexes with a total of and Quai de la Seine – are
Chabrol, François Truffaut, Jean­ 12 screens showing current linked by a canal boat.
Luc Godard and Eric Rohmer in dubbed, French and VO
the late 1950s and early 1960s releases. A major hub of Right
revolution ized the way films Bank cinema activity is in the Revival and Repertory
Houses
were made and perceived. The Forum des Halles shopping mall.
exploration of existential The Left Bank, historically Each week, more than 150
themes, the use of long tracking associated with the city’s intel­ titles representing the best
shots and the rejection of lectual life, remains the centre of of world cinema can be seen.
studios for outside locations are the art and repertory cine mas. For old Hollywood films, the
some of the characteristics of Yet, it has equally as many of the independent Grand Action
New Wave film. In 2001, the latest block busters. Since the mini­chain can’t be beaten.
success of Amélie Poulain 1980s, many cinemas in the Other active and thoughtful
revitalized the Parisian film­ Latin Quarter have closed down repertory and reissue venues
making scene; many of its and the main centre for Left include the excellent Reflets
locations are easy to spot as Bank theatres is now the Médicis screens in the Rue
you walk around town. The Odéon­St­Germain­des­Prés Champollion and Les

334-351_EW_Paris.indd 346 03/04/17 2:53 pm
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