My Paris, my movie

Walking down the streets of Paris feels like you’re in the middle of a movie. And it’s not just because of the cobblestone streets, the intricately detailed architecture, the chain-smoking people on the sidewalk cafes, the couple intimately kissing on the street corner — no, it’s not because the picturesque scenes come to life. It’s because Paris is always in the middle a movie. From female favorites like The Devil Wears Prada to action flicks like Rush Hour 3, Paris has been the setting for great stories to unfold.

The movie scenes are so iconic that it’s impossible to keep them from flickering in your head. When you see the Moulin Rouge, you almost see Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman belting out “Until my dying daaaaay!” as well. When you look at the Louvre’s pyramid, you imagine that Mary Magdalene’s tomb is somewhere beneath the museum’s surface. When you go on a cruise down the River Seine, you remember a part of Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy’s tender and loquacious reunion spent on the boat in Before Sunset.

There are countless movies set in Paris, whether the lead characters take a quick jaunt to the city or Paris itself is a central character. Paris Movie Walks, a new book by Michael Schurmann, highlights different places in the city that have appeared in movies. Outlined into different walking tours with very detailed instructions that you can follow, this fun and helpful book points out the exact locations in the city spotted in the specific movie scenes. (Check it out online!)

During our Paris visit, my family and I picked the movie walk around Montmartre, famous for its beautiful bohemian history. This quaint village on a hill was home to countless artists from the mid-1800s to 1900s, including Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Pablo Picasso. Today we can still find artists and their easels in the Place du Tertre, carefully making portraits and caricatures of eager tourists.

Near the old artist commune La Bateau Lavoir, you’ll recognize a street from the movie La Vie En Rose starring Marion Cotillard in her Oscar-winning role as singer Edith Piaf. Before her legendary fame, Edith Piaf used to sing on the streets of Montmartre for money and food, drawing people to her lively, powerful voice. The same streets, in a more modern setting, were the romping grounds of Kevin Kline and Meg Ryan in the movie French Kiss, as well as Robert De Niro in Traffic.

Amélie, probably one of the most popular and beloved French movies of our age, is also set in Montmartre. In the movie, Audrey Tatou plays a precocious young woman to improve the lives of the people around her. We can still feel Amélie’s presence in real life Montmartre today. The coffee shop where she worked, Café des 2 Moulins, is still in its corner. Whether you’re looking for love (like her quirky co-workers) or just a good cup of café crème, you can feel free to drop by. Another fun spot from the movie is the stall where Amélie bought her fruits from.

We also stopped to look at remnants of Montmartre’s history during our walk: wine-making vineyards, windmills, old cabarets, even a house where Pablo Picasso used to live.

After we’ve had our fill of bohemian life, we headed to Versailles to experience another part of France’s history. The Palace of Versailles was the unofficial seat of power and playing ground the French monarchy from the 1600s to 1800s. Gossip Girls’ Upper East Side has nothing on Versailles. The political power struggles! The piercing intrigue! The endless parties and themed balls! The strict social etiquette! The expensive and elaborate clothing! The unbelievably tall hair poufs! Of course, none of that helped when the French Revolution was knocking on (and down) their gates.

Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette describes the life of the doomed young queen as she’s plucked from her happy childhood in Austria and plunked right in the middle of French court life. Versailles is the setting where Maria Antoinette throws parties in the Palace, watches the sunrise in the gardens, hides from Palace life in the Petit Trianon, endures elaborate ceremonies, and even escapes a revolutionary attack through a secret doorway of her bedroom.

After taking a train ride to Versailles, we found ourselves walking to the grand Palace of Versailles, welcomed by Louis XIV’s equestrian statue outside the gilded gates. The well-manicured gardens literally stretched to as far as my eyes could see, peppered with gorgeous flowers and bushes, wonderful white marble statues, and majestic fountains. We got the chance to hop on a golf cart to go around the grounds, and we discovered endless little gardens, the Petit Trianon, and even a Little Italy.

The inside of the Palace was even more amazing. The rooms had rich brocade wallpaper, beautiful Renaissance paintings of the members of the monarchy, and ceilings painted in honor of the Greek gods. Bedrooms, ballrooms, dining rooms, meeting rooms…it’s all so dizzying after a while. The highlight was definitely the Hall of Mirrors, an unbelievably dazzling long room filled with mirrors and chandeliers reflecting the bright sunlight from outside and beauty inside.

After getting back to Manila, my family and I all scrambled to watch our favorite Paris movies again (I chose Marie Antoinette) and gleefully pointed out all the places we had seen for ourselves. Not only have we gotten bragging rights about those spots, but we now have new scenes flickering in our heads. They’re even better than the movies because in these scenes, they’re starring us.