The Paris Olympics are being held at the very time of year when the City of Light is least desirable as a destination, as all those inhabitants who vacate the city in August for their summer getaways well know. Cole Porter might have recommended Paris when it sizzles, but when it sweats? An acquired taste. Sometimes the city is best enjoyed from a distance – via the Olympics coverage if you wish, or the surfeit of films that have made Paris a veritable capital of cinema.
Like any tourist, there’s no shame in starting with the obvious: Parisians may roll their eyes at the airbrushed Montmartre in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie (2001), but this gaudy romantic bonbon still has its winsome charms. It’s only a shade less artificial than the Hollywoodised musical visions of the city in the 1950s. Gigi, Vincente Minnelli’s absurdly lavish take on Colette’s slender coming-of-age novella (currently unavailable to stream in the UK), used more location shooting than the same director’s An American in Paris, shot almost entirely on LA backlots, though both are delicious faux-French fancies. Ditto Audrey Hepburn swanning around Paris in Stanley Donen’s Funny Face, though it’s at least more Gallic-chic in spirit.
