My love affair with modern French cinema began when I was a teenager. I went to the Lev Cinema in Tel Aviv and out of all the films that were shown, I chose Claude Chebrol's 'Night Potion', which was nothing less than a formative cinematic experience for me. After that, I watched 'Amelie' The familiar and charming ' and a little later in 'Before Sunset,' the second film in what eventually became the 'Before' trilogy, which took place in Paris.
In retrospect, there were more successful films from that time that deserve credit, but these are the films that explained to me the culture of contemporary Paris and France, and from there I just wanted to see and know more.
One thing led to another and in 2008 I moved to Paris to study film production. It's funny to say that you Paris I knew it mainly through those films and, like many, I imagined it as the sparkling city of romance, oozing with lust, the sanctuary of bohemia and the owner of timeless chic.
It's a shame that none of the films I watched bothered to mention the saleswoman at the boulangerie who thinks her mission in life is to correct the incorrect diction of her non-French customers, or the public transportation strikes that are sometimes so unbearable that they made me miss Egged's crowded buses. And of course, the biggest cat in the French bag – the administration, which is the only way to write a series of books.
Secrets of Le Marais: A Journey into the Historic and Chic Heart of Paris
Join us on a virtual journey to the most fascinating district in Paris. Together we will discover hidden courtyards, French nobility, and the true stories behind the magnificent facades.
The Latin Quarter – Clichéd Beauty
Another thing that is not talked about in the context of living in Paris is the difficulty of finding an apartment to live in the city. In the movies, the heroes always rent an apartment with a balcony overlooking the Eiffel Tower, but the reality, as you probably know, is a little different. How frustrating is it to rent? An apartment in Paris? One example is a classic French catch-22 – to rent an apartment in Paris you need a bank account, and to open a bank account you need an apartment 🤦♀️ 🤦♂️
There are other strange requirements, some of which are so annoying that I sometimes wondered if this entire protocol was created to dissuade non-Parisians and foreigners from moving into the city. But persistence pays off and I finally found an apartment in the middle of nowhere. The Latin Quarter.
It was small and functional, but its real beauty was the view from the window: to the right, the Boulevard Saint-Germain stretched out, and opposite, a row of picturesque tin roofs of Haussmann buildings. When I moved there, I was told that the Latin Quarter was one of the liveliest areas in the city. “The Dizengoff of Paris,” someone proudly described it to me. When you look at the quarter, there is indeed a high concentration of areas of interest: the Boulevards Saint-Germain and Saint-Michel, the Odeon neighborhood, Luxembourg Gardens, the Moffat district, the banks of the Seine and the Sorbonne, to name just a few.
But living in an area like the Latin Quarter is very different from staying there for a few days as a tourist. First, it is a relatively expensive area, even for locals, and requires a relatively high income to survive and enjoy the life the quarter offers.
Therefore, only the residents of the district are bourgeois, but as befits Parisians, they are bourgeois with checks who are called Bobo. The word Bobo is a fusion of the words Bourgeois-Bohème (bourgeois-bohemian) and broadly describes wealthy Parisian hipsters, and it is worth talking about them in more detail, but in another article.
Around the neighborhood's Bobos, a large American community has gathered, wanting to live the American dream in Paris, in its bourgeois version.
A little myth busting: Although some of the most important faculties of the Sorbonne are located in the district, the Latin Quarter is not a student district since the cost of living does not allow most students to survive or even leave. Most of the students who do live there are descendants of the Bobos family 🙂
In my opinion, the area that is still bustling in the district is the Odeon and the Moffat areas, and apart from them, there are really no areas where you can go out until the wee hours of the night. Unless you know someone who knows someone who is hosting a soirée in their crazy apartment in the area, it is likely that by 22:00 PM on a Friday or Saturday you will start squinting towards other, more attractive neighborhoods.
However, it is a charming district, both because some of the tourist attractions are available to locals and because it is an old district with many corners that are discovered over time. While wandering around the district, I noticed the large number of independent cinemas in the area compared to other areas of Paris. These are not just the cinemas that belong to large chains like MK2 or UGC, which are the local version of Cinema City and Colonne Lev, but also small, private cinemas, some of which are considered historic.
The cinemas of Champollion Street
The place that attracted me most was a tiny street in a central location, near Boulevard Saint-Michel called Rue Champollion. The street is located on the remains of nearby Roman baths and has changed its name several times over the years.
At the end of the street, where the Sorbonne Square is today, was a famous restaurant called Flicoteaux, mentioned in Balzac's book 'Lost Illusions', where it is described as an important meeting place for students from the Sorbonne and the local bohemia of the mid-19th century.
In 1867, the street name was changed for the last time to Champolion Street (we'll explain why soon) and towards the end of the century, the same number was filled. CabaretsAfter World War I, when cinemas became popular, they slowly replaced the aging cabarets and over the years no fewer than three cinemas opened on the street. When you pass by it, at first glance the street looks a bit neglected and less eye-catching than the two major avenues adjacent to it (Saint-Germain and Saint-Michel). But when you look for a moment, you realize that there is a treasure there.
It took me a while to realize that the Champollion, after whom the street is named, was none other than Jean-François Champollion, whom I had studied in high school art history classes. Jean-François was the child prodigy who deciphered the hieroglyphics engraved on the Rosetta Stone, which Napoleon brought back to France as part of the loot he found during his plundering expeditions in Egypt. Champollion later founded the theory of Egyptology with his own hands.
Years after his death, Champollion has become a street that houses a Parisian gem – three mythical independent cinemas that present 7 days a week, 3-4 shows a day. Locals don't refer to them as regular cinemas, but as arthouses.
What does that mean? You won't find new, commercial films there, but you will find retrospectives, screening festivals with esteemed directors, special screenings of lost copies, and just plain cinematic nostalgia. Everything in the original version, not dubbed into French.
Over time, the street has become my secret corner, the one that everyone passes by and only a few know what's inside. But now I feel like I can share the secret and tell you what's inside:
Le Champo – Espace Jacques-Tati
Le Champeaux, founded in 1938, replaced an old bookstore that stood on the site. The name “Le Champeaux” is an abbreviation of the street name, and Jacques Tati’s name was added in 1988 as he was the most famous and significant patron of the place for many years.
François Truffaut said that Champeaux was his headquarters at the time, and Claude Chabrol said that it was his second university. In 2000, the place was recognized as a historical site and was saved from a real estate deal that was supposed to throw out the cinema, in order to open another luxurious and unnecessary store in its place. The justification for the status of “historical cultural property” is the facade of the place and the halls, which have not changed a bit since the place was founded.
Reflet Médicis
The cinema replaced an old and famous cabaret called Théâtre des Noctambules (in Hebrew: Cabaret of the Party People), which stood there until the early 1960s.
In 1964, the modern cinema opened with three screening rooms, each of which was designed differently. Today, it hosts several significant cultural events every year, such as the Polish Film Festival, a retrospective of the Un certain regard category of the festival Cannes And more.
Opposite the cinema is a café of the same name, Café le Reflet. A place where you can wait for the film, discuss it after the screening, or just sit and talk about cinema or listen to the filmmakers who come there. The decor of the place is unique and combines contemporary art and old movie posters. Even the lighting is old cinema lighting.
Filmothèque du quartier latin
The place was founded in 1966 by two successful young bankers named Jean-Marie Rodon and Jean-Max Caus.
Jean and Jean met through work and discovered they had a lot in common – both are called Jean M., both hate their jobs and both are cinephiles. Together they founded the independent cinema chain Action, whose goal was to create cinemas that specialized in heritage films (yes, the French like to sound dramatic).
Towards the end of the 2006s, the partnership ended for one reason or another, and in XNUMX, Jean-Max and his son acquired control of the Quartier Latin cinema and added the word Filmothèque, which means film archive, to its name. Since then, they have been jointly managing the programming, special screenings, and can sometimes be found at the box office selling tickets themselves.
If you arrive for a noon screening well in advance, you can chat with them and hear interesting stories that happened there. The venue hosts 7 international film festivals throughout the year in addition to special screenings.
Visiting cinemas – the way to truly get to know the city
Now, some of you will say – why would I go see a movie while on vacation?
When traveling, I always try to get a glimpse of the local culture. I've come to the conclusion that culinary experiences, museum visits, and guided tours provide this to a certain extent, but they lack a bit of authenticity since they are engineered to sell us the most appealing version of the city.
I realized that if you do everyday things that locals do, you can experience something deeper. My favorite everyday act is going to the movies. Even small talk with the ticket seller or someone in line can give us added value to the unbiased reality of life there.
This recommendation is not relevant to everyone and certainly not inFirst visit to the cityIt takes time and you probably won't come away with a selfie for Instagram. But you will come away with an experience, you will also watch a movie you never thought you would watch (and enjoy), and the brief interaction will leave you with a beautiful story.
So if you're in the area, come for a movie or coffee, for a short chat with Jean-Max and don't forget to pick up a stylish Le Champeau.