Are you looking for popular films shot in Paris?
Paris is known for its prestige and historical landmarks making it the reason to be the setting of a wide variety of movies; from romance, actions, and horrors to comedies. Thanks to the movies that use different locations in Paris. It feels like we’ve been to Paris many times in our lives.
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It feels like traveling to Paris with a free pass. The places featured in the films are giving the audience reasons to visit Paris. Aside from the popular landmarks in Paris, the films also pave the way to discovering the beautiful places that are rarely featured in other forms of media.
Are you curious about the locations in Paris that have been in numerous popular films over the years? Listed below are the popular films shot in Paris.
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5 Popular Films Shot In Paris
1. Before Sunset (2004)
Before Sunset is a sequel to ‘Before Sunrise’. It is a 2004 American romantic drama film directed by Richard Linklater. The film is about a couple, Jesse and Celine, who meet in Paris nine years later. But this time, they are both in a relationship.
However, upon seeing each other after nine years, they start realizing their feelings for each other. The film revolves around Jesse and Celine spending the day together and strolling around the city of Paris.
The film features cute spots in the city such as the Marais district of the 4th arrondissement and the Shakespeare and Company.
Marais district in the 4th arrondissement also known as SoMa (South Marais) is a beautiful neighborhood in Paris. It is a place where historic and modern architecture can be found. It is filled with medieval buildings, bars, coffee shops, boutiques, and other places to stay and relax.
Shakespeare and Company is an important setting of the film. This is the spot where Jesse was reading his best-selling novel entitled This Time, which was inspired by the day he spent with Celine in Vienna.
The bookstore is also where the movie started when Celine and Jesse met unexpectedly. It is highly recommended that you visit the Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris, which can be found at 37 rue de la Boucherie in the 5th arrondissement, close to Notre Dame Cathedral.
2. How to Steal a Million (1966)
The American heist comedy film “How to Steal a Million,” which was released in 1966, is considered to be a classic, starring Audrey Hepburn.
The film tells the story of an art collector named Charles Bonnet, who was portrayed by High Griffith, and his business of producing replicas of famous artworks and selling them for a luxurious price. The problem, on the other hand, started when one of his artworks was stolen and sold to a museum in Paris.
The museum featured in the movie is called the Musée Carnavalet located at 16 Rue des Francs Bourgeois, Paris, France. It is a museum that everyone can visit for free. Musée Carnavalet features several works of art dedicated to the history of Paris.
To avoid revealing his secret and tarnishing his reputation, Charles’s daughter, Nicole (Audrey Hepburn), pays the cat burglar Simon Dermott (Peter O’Toole) to steal the sculpture back before it is too late.
The film is set and was filmed in France so numerous architectural landmarks were utilized in the production. These included the Elyse Palace and the Carré Marigny, which is the location where Simon first thinks of using a boomerang.
3. Inception (2010)
What if you have the ability to steal other people’s secrets? This is the rare ability that Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) has in the movie ‘Inception’. Dom Cobb has the ability to enter people’s dreams and steal their secrets from their subconscious.
Because of this, Cobb was given a task that is challenging and seemed impossible. He was asked to plant an idea in someone’s mind. Cobb assembled a group of people to help him achieve his goals, one of whom was the architect Ariadne, who was portrayed by Elliot Page. They crafted intricate “dreamscapes” in the form of labyrinths.
One of the things that Ariadne did to demonstrate her abilities was to fold the streets of Paris into a 90-degree angle and then build a bridge that never seems to end.
The bridge featured is the Bir-Hakeim Bridge in Paris which became one of Inception’s filming locations. Bir-Hakeim bridge is a bridge that crosses the river Siena and links the 15th and 16th arrondissements. It is a beautiful bridge in the city, and one of its most famous features is the breathtaking panorama it offers of the Seine River and the Eiffel Tower.
4. The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
The famous novel “Le Fantôme de L’Opéra” by Gaston Leroux served as the inspiration for the musical “The Phantom of the Opera.” The musical film tells the story of the masked figure, Gerard Butler who lives beneath the catacombs of the Paris Opera House.
The story began when he fell in love with an innocent young soprano, Christine. Gerard Butler devoted himself to nurturing Christine’s talents and turning her into a new star. The story of love, a love triangle, and a number of intense and emotional scenes are portrayed in the opera.
The Phantom of the Opera was filmed in the famous Paris Opera France, commonly known as the Académie Nationale de Musique or Palais Garnier in France.
The settings in the film such as the backstage area, Grand staircase, dressing rooms, and cellars were all shot on the Palais Garnier. Palais Garnier is one of the symbols of Paris and is known as a famous opera house in the world. Visiting the Palais Garnier will make you appreciate more the French and Parisian culture.
5. The Da Vinci Code (2006)
The answer to a religious conundrum is found after a murder is committed at the Louvre Museum in Paris, as well as through the discovery of cryptic clues hidden in several of Leonardo da Vinci’s most well-known paintings. A covert organization has, for the past two thousand years, jealously guarded a set of secrets that, if disclosed, had the potential to shatter the fundamental foundations of Christianity.
Paris is the filming location of The Da Vinci Code. The suspenseful film takes place in Paris and features a number of the city’s most famous landmarks, such as the Louvre, the Ritz, and the Church of Saint Sulpice. In fact, the character of Robert Langdon, played by Tom Hanks, makes two trips to the Louvre.
Louvre Museum is a famous historic landmark in Paris, France. The museum is considered to be the world’s most-visited museum. The Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo are just two of the well-known works of art that can be found in the Louvre Museum.
For those who want to visit the museum, admission is free, provided that they are residents of the European Economic Area. This includes those living in the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
However, the Louvre Museum is also featured in many popular films such as the Funny Face by Audrey Hepburn, Jean-Luc Godard’s Bande à Part, and The Age of Innocence by Scorsese.
Hi, I’m Christine – a full-time traveler and career woman. Although I’m from the Philippines, my location independent career took me to over 40 countries and lived in 4 continents in the last 10 years, including France. A self-proclaimed Francophile, I love everything France.