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THE TOP 5 FILMS SET IN PARIS:
view full results see how points are awarded
| Rank |
Film |
Points |
L |
#1 |
| #1 |
A bout de Souffle (Breathless) (1960, Jean-Luc Godard, France) |
20 |
4 |
4 |
| #2 |
Les Quatre cents coups (400 Blows) (1959, Francois Truffaut, France) |
17 |
5 |
- |
| #3 |
Amelie (2001, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France) |
13 |
3 |
1 |
| #4 |
Last Tango in Paris (1972, Bernardo Bertolucci, Italy/France) |
12 |
3 |
1 |
| #5 |
An American in Paris (1951, Vincente Minnelli, USA) |
11 |
4 |
1 |
L=How many lists each film appears on
#1=How many number one votes each film recieves
With La Seine cutting a swathe through the Left and Right Banks of the city, in all its prehistoric vigour, like an arrow piercing the heart of its intended lover, the City of Paris, not only the most romantic place on Earth, is too, the veritible epicenter of Culture - art, books, music, dance, theatre and, of course, for our purposes here, the cinema.
So this week, at The Top 5 Project, the debate was over the best film set in Paris - and the winner this week, with four votes, and all of them first place votes (including a 1st place tie), is Jean-Luc Goadrd's masterful first film, A bout de souffle (aka Breathless). Second place went to Truffaut's debut, Les Quatre cents coups (The 400 Blows) - losing by 3 points. Also included, by the way, was a panelist's votes for ALL FIVE of Truffaut's Antoine Doinel in its seriesecical entirity. Third place (and I still cannot fathom the love shown to this fluffy insubstantial parlour piece) goes to Amelie, beating out Last Tango in Paris by a mere single point, followed by Minnelli's An American in Paris, just a point below that, in fifth place.
Other substantial votegetters were Charade (which missed the Top 5 by a point), Funny Face, Moulin Rouge and Before Sunset. Some questionable votes (at least in this Cinephile's opinion) went to French Kiss, A View to a Kill and Walt Disney's Hunchback cartoon from the mid-nineties. Ah well, c'est la vie.
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Individual lists:
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Albert H. Muth
Auteurophile
April in Paris. Ah, the delicate fragrance of lilac water on a Parisian whore's quim!
(tie) Breathless (Godard) -- If you were a young Francophile when this came out, your world was changed forever. It was the embodiment of an attitude of American hipness, that the fifties were beginning to expose. Belmondo electrified the screen, Seberg was all too briefly revived, and Godard became a cinema prophet. The Champs Elysee, "New York
Herald Tribune!" it doesn't get cooler than that.
(tie) Last Tango in Paris (Bertolucci) -- The tango, a most passionate yet tristesse of dances, is the perfect metaphor for this dissolution of a man's soul. Brando's performance is the best by any actor in any film ever. He eviscerates his psychological being to such an extent it is frightening to watch such a cut to the core of his humanity. Leaud is very amusing as a caricature of Truffaut, much needed as a leitmotif.
3. Antoine Doinel Series- The 400 Blows, Antoine et Colette, Stolen Kisses, Bed and Board, Love on
the Run (Truffaut) -- We follow the life of Antoine Doinel, Truffaut's cinematic alter ego, over a twenty year period from young schoolboy to divorced and slightly bruised and bitter 30ish adult, with all the joys, sorrows,
triumphs, losses, loves and estrangements in between. Again Truffaut and Leaud, it's magic.
4. Shoot the Piano Player (Truffaut) -- Take an American pulp mystery, cast a jaded cabaret singer, stir the pot by a young idolatrous Truffaut, and you have not only the nouvelle vague, but the eminence of Paris noir. Tough, black and white, dark and gritty, nobody gets away clean.
5. Charade (Donen) -- Once upon a time before the morons took over this country, France was admired for its culture, art, music, philosophy, and style. This has two glamourous stars (Hepburn and Grant) wearing glamourous clothes, in glamourous settings in the most glamourous city in the world. The slightly suspenseful plot carries us along to the next glamourous scene with that so romantic music by Henry Mancini. Is this enough glamour for you? Absolutely.
Guilty Pleasure Award - The Last Time I Saw Paris
The Wish I Were Young Again Award - The Dreamers
Also deserving - Rififi, Le Cercle Rouge, The Last Metro, 'Round Midnight, Band a parte, The Tenant, Trios coleurs: Bleu, The Piano Teacher
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J.E. Snavely
Home Theatrical Cinephile
1. À bout de souffle (Jean-Luc Godard)
2. Ultimo tango a Parigi (Bernardo Bertolucci)
3. Trois couleurs: Bleu (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
4. Les Quatre cents coups (François Truffaut)
5. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater)
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C.C. Webster
Filmmaker
Les Enfants du Paradis -- Michel Carne, 1945 -- Stunning, elegiatic, Prevert wrote the screenplay, and they made it during the occupation in WWII.
Les Quatre cents coups -- Francois Truffaut, 1959 -- A touchstone, simply changed my life.
Irma Vep -- Olivier Assayas, 1996 -- "Bonnie and Clyde" at the end is the perfect send off to this meta-meta-meta magnificent pastiche of a film about a film within a film within a world of film in our minds.
Before Sunset -- Richard Linklater, 2004 -- Some think it's over-rated, and I think it's just right. A gem; small, detailed, and shimmering.
Charade -- Stanley Donen, 1963 -- Some of the best dialogue in any film ever.
Special Mentions:
Ozon's short films (specifically Truth of Dare), La Haine, Breathless (It's just TOO obvious!), L'Atlante, and Late August, Early September
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Matthew McCue
Writer
Casablanca - No, the entire film doesn't take place in Paris... but what movie more idolizes Paris and the idea of Paris than Casablanca. Though only shown as a memory in the film, Rick and Ilsa couldn't have more longing for what they had and what the world was before the war, embodied for them in Paris. Honestly with "Will always have Paris" Casablanca wins.
400 Blows - I've always said "Few movies put kids in a cage like 400 Blows" ... I've ne'er been more correct. When I think of Paris on film, it's 400 Blows -- in the ultimate list, 400 Blows will more than likely best Casablanca -- but that's what you get when you write by committee.
An American in Paris - Though I'm not going to include Gigi, I think it and American in Paris are Minnelli at the top of his game. His musicals were so rich and every element was a character -- Paris the looming supporting actor in both.
Charade - When making my list, I wished The Third Man or something nice and gritty were set in Paris -- I know there are plenty of gritty films set there, but I mean something where we're really running through the streets and there are twists and turns, a couple of good lines and some good looking people trying to stay hidden from a couple of crooks and those awful Euro-sirens. Then I remembered a little (not so gritty) film I can't believe Stanley Donen pulled off -- without Gene Kelly: Charade. Who wouldn't want to be on the run for a weekend in Paris if the end result were Charade ?
Pret a Porter - I'm one of the true members of the human race who absolutely adores this Robert Altman film. I laugh, I'm touched -- hell, I even like Julia Roberts in it (which is a big deal for me). When I think of Paris in Pret a Porter, I wish I was there partying with every last one of them, especially Richard E. Grant -- I wouldn't even mind the dog-poo.
My honorary addition would be the recent "Dreamers..." What fun that would be for a few weeks, huh? Talk about a film you'd like to live in. Shame they spent so much time indoors, not out and about enjoying their youth in one of the greatest cities in the world. I suppose weird incestual relationships that include expat students with mysterious pasts and hard to place regional accents are best kept in the house.
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Susan Norris
Premedia Specialist
1. Moulin Rouge
2. Amelie
3. Triplets of Belleville
4. Hunchback of Notre Dame
5. An American in Paris
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Julia Tilley
Poet & Artist
Amélie (2001) - Taoutou is so sweet and sassy in this charming ,feel-good flick. I saw the photo repair man taking pictures of himself at the Colonial Park mall….
Funny Face (1957) - Where we learn the importance of never wearing white undergarments. Audrey Hepburn, need I say more?
Sabrina (1954) - OK not really set in Paris but Paris is a central theme. Audrey, Audrey, Audrey!
Gigi (1958) - Gotta have one musical on my list. Paris at the turn of the century - Thank Heaven for Little Girls - I always thought it was creepy when Maurice Chevalier sang this.
La Femme Nikita (1990) - Excellent example of sublimation- Not Ok to kill cops, but OK to be a government assassin. Hum…Even with the warped political message this is a great transformation story A.k.a. Pygmalion.
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Rick Hunt
1. An American in Paris
2. Funny Face
3. The Dreamers
4. Paris When it Sizzles
5. Moulin Rouge
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Carter Liotta
Filmmaker
Charade - Audrey Hepburn! Cary Grant! Even better than Jonathan Pryce and Bobby Deniro!
Ronin - This movie grew on me the more I watched it. Great car chases, of course, but also Jonathan Pryce. And Bobby DeNiro. And a MacGuffin! And David Mamet on book!
Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame - Wow, I loved this movie. It was the most mature Disney Animated film I'd ever seen - which is probably why it didn't do so great with kids. Oh well.
Everyone Says I Love You - A Woody Allen musical?
Maybe the singing isn't top-notch, but how 'bout that dance scene by the Seine at the end? How fun is that?
A View to a Kill - I love Grace Jones jumping from the Eiffel Tower, and the fishhook papillons!
(this auther finds Amelie overrated, was given a two-day headache by Moulin Rouge, and hasn't seen Before Sunset)
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Bill Keisling
Writer & Investigative Journalist
1. Breathless -- Original Jean-Luc Godard version
2. Amelie
3. Day of the Jackal -- original
4. A Man and a Woman -- great score, corny film
5. French Kiss -- You make my ass twitch!
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Kevyn Knox
Film Critic & Historian
In compiling my personal list for this week, I did not just go down the line of my favourite films and pick out the first five I came to that were set in Paris - instead I decided to look only at films where the grand city of love & lights was as much a character in the film as the humans whom dwell inside it - no mere backdrops here.
So, with that statement revealed, let us move on to The Top 5 Films set in Paris...
A bout de Souffle (Breathless) (1960, Jean-Luc Godard, France) -- Some may say this is TOO obvious a choice (and one person did), but when the obvious is so glaringly bright..... When pretty & perky little Jean Seberg hocks the New York Herald-Tribune upon the Champs Elysees (possibly the most romanticly harkened street on the planet), I fell in love - with her and with the world of Jean-Luc Godard, a former critic turned filmmaker turned Auteur turned demi-God turned firebrand turned right wing radical turned Beat-sensiblities pervayor turned Film Noir homagist turned videologist turned left wing radical turned keeper of the flame turned old master turned Puritan of Cinematic Love. Godard took all the rules and (along with fellow Cahiers du Cinema staffers, Truffaut and Chabrol) tossed them on some proverbial fire manned in the darkest regions of Hades by the ugly mutation known as Hephaestus. With jump cuts and disorientingly directional chase scenes, Jean Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg play out in the classic of all Parisian films - obvious or not.
Les Quatre cents coups (400 Blows) (1959, Francois Truffaut, France) -- What Picasso did to the art world. What Joyce did to literature. What Ginsberg did to poetry. What the Beatles did to Rock & Roll. What Truffaut did to the world of Cinema. There are tons of cliche'd over-used words such as groundbreaking and/or breathtaking, but the last thing Truffaut could be called is cliche'd. Words like avant-garde, causal, causative, cherry, conceiving, creative, demiurgic, devising, envisioning, fertile, formative, fresh, generative, imaginative, ingenious, innovational, innovative, innovatory, inspiring, inventive, new, novel, originative, productive, quick, ready, resourceful, seminal, sensitive, unconventional, unprecedented, untried, unusual, exact, existent, extant, live, living, original, prevailing (not that I copied these directly from any thesauri, I'll have you know) are much better fits. A film that changed the world around it and gave lifeforce to so many filmmakers to come afterward, and the city of Paris illuminates Truffaut's film as if it - and not Antoine Doinel - were the backbone of Les Quatre cents coups.
Ultimo tango a Parigi (Last Tango in Paris) (1972, Bernardo Bertolucci, Italy/France) -- Erotically designed around the visualaties of the paintings of Francis Bacon, Last Tango is one of the most controversial films ever made and one of the most brutally honest depictions of sexuality for the sake of sexuality. Bertolucci showed us through the curtains and in the window and under the covers of what went on behind closed doors. He brought it right out into the open. Frankly, obsessively, ugly warts and all. He opened sex up to America, like they had never seen it before - at least not on the screen - and may have had something to do with re-awakening the sexual revolution (at least in part). This may be far from a love story, but Henry Miller once said, "I don't write about love. I write about fucking.". What was true for Miller, is here true for Bertolucci. Now get me the butter!
An American in Paris (1951, Vincente Minnelli, USA) -- Gene "Fucking" Kelly dancing along the Seine - does it get any cooler!? Sure it may be a frivolous flick, but then that is what the Musical genre is all about, right!? But I must admit, no matter how many Parisian street scenes Minnelli showed, it was truly the prenultimate dance sequence that firmly sealed the deal on this one for me.
Charade (1963, Stanley Donan, USA) -- Audrey Hepburn. Cary Grant. The streets of Paris. Put theses things together and you have one of the most gloriously dizzying colourfests of the thriller genre - even if the thrill aspect was rather tame and predictable - you still had Cary "Fucking" Grant and Audrey "Fucking" Hepburn - what more could you ask for. I'm sorry for getting a bit outbursty there toward the end, but I refuse to rewrite my thoughts - for all of it's storyline flaws, Charade is one fucking fun movie.
Special Jury Award:
L'Atalante (1934, Jean Vigo) -- This film, one of my all-time favourites, is left off the Top 5 only for the fact that only part of it takes place in the city of Paris - otherwise it would place number one.
Special Animated Brilliance Award:
The Triplets of Belleville (2003, Sylvain Chomet) - Whence nary a word be spoken, an animated mime poem brought to life through the hums, buzzes, grunts, groans, woofs and songs of a bygone era of filmmaking.
Special Avant-garde Award:
Toute une Nuit (1982, Chantal Akerman) -- Footseps echo upon darkened streets of nighttime Paris, as lovers to and fro through a cascading symphony of near soundless post-coital bliss and agony.
Special Jury Award (Slacker d'or):
Before Sunset (2004, Richard Linklater) -- Simply walking around the labrynthian streets of Paris, talking, thinking and more talking - all with Linklater's steadi-cam to capture it all. A talkie for the slacker in all of us.
There are so many great films set in Paris, I just can't stop. I could probably make a Top 100 List for this week's topic, so keeping with those thoughts, below are some more Parisian-set films for your consideration (and yes, i did have to physically restrain myself from listing TOO many more).
Special Mentions (in chronological order): Sous les toits de Paris (Under the Roofs of Paris) (Clair), Love Me Tonight (Mamoulian) - at least the beginning of the film, Tirez sur le pianiste (Shoot the Piano Player) (Truffaut), Belle du Jour (Bunuel), Irma Vep (Assayas), On connaît la chanson (Same Old Song) (Resnais) - one I regrettably forgot when compiling my Top 5 Musicals, Late August, Early September (Assayas), La Fille sur le pont (The Girl on the Bridge) (Laconte), L' Anglaise et le duc (The Lady and the Duke) (Rohmer), Moulin Rouge (Luhrmann), Vendredi soir (Friday Night) (Denis), Irreversible (Noe) - the ugliest portrait of Paris and pretty much anything in the oeuvre of Monsieur Godard (Une Femme est une Femme, Masculin/Feminin, Band à part, Vivre sa vie et cetera)
The Should-have-been-better Award:
The Dreamers (2003, Bernardo Bertolucci) -- This film had such great potential (even if Michael Pitt was the star), but unfortunately fell kind of flat on impact. The only reason I am listing it is for the sheer love of Cinema and the oft-maligned cinephile and the sheer love of what may be the greatest film city in the world.
The momentary lapse of the space/time continuum (aka born unto flashbacks) Award: Casablanca (1943, Michael Curtiz)
and finally, The Wait-Until-Next-Week Award: Le Dernier métro (The Last Metro) (1980, Francois Truffaut) -- In order to keep from overlapping genres, I have decided to wait until next week's more appropiatly-Genre'd Topic - The Top 5 Holocaust Films - to place this late Truffaut piece.
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*points are given as follows: for numbered lists, first place recieves 5 points, second place recieves 4, third place 3, fourth place 2 and fifth place gets 1 point; for unumbered lists, each film will recieve 3 points; total points are then tallied up and a comprehensive Top 5 list is created
The Next Topic is:
Name The Top 5 HOLOCAUST FILMS (non-Documentary)
e-mail me at
kevynknox@thecinematheque.com
with your picks for week #9,
no later than 6pm on Sunday, August 21st.
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