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All my life I dreamed of journeying to Paris one day to discover all of charm and quaint romanticism that it embodies. I knew so little of the Parisian experience, having never been there myself, yet I, like to many other Americans, was fascinated by the visions of Paris that I had seen in the movies and in print. My quest to untangle the mysteries of Parisian culture began with my studies of ‘Women in French’. In this seminar Prof. Véronique Flambard-Weisbart invited students to look into the presence of gender inequality and societal perceptions in contemporary French society through relevant works of literature and cinema here at Loyola Marymount University. Our close dissection of elements of films such as ‘Vendredi Soir’ and ‘Nuit et Jour’ allowed us to discover to a certain extent the essence of Paris itself. Subtle components and artistry were utilized by the cinematographers and directors to strategically and poetically depict Paris in a very particular light. Our focus was to extract these elements in appreciation of their effect on our vision of the city of Paris. After Receiving the Honors Summer Research Fellowship, plans were made for the trip of a lifetime, to travel to Paris and discover what aspects of the culture, the life, the cityscape and the Parisians themselves, kept the romanticism of Paris alive. Having the city at my disposal was enriching to my close studies of ‘Paris Through Film’ under the mentorship of Prof. Véronique Flambard-Weisbart. The course study was constructed in a way that involved hands on interaction with the city and I was able to establish a keen connection between the material I was learning and my situation within it as a visitor and observer. Our journey around Paris through film included the viewing of French cinema, with films such as ‘Paris, Je T’aime”, “Le Vertige des Possibles” and my personal favorite “An American in Paris”. Each time I viewed a film with Veronique, I would separately visit the sites and streets where I had the opportunity to discover its historical charm for myself. Scenes and anecdotes of film quality jumped to life before my eyes the more I explored. (A few snapshots to the left.)  

Capturing the Romanticism of the City

Discovering Paris Through Film

“An American in Paris”

Explorations in the City of Lights

Another instance of the color in use as a symbolic device in French cinema, is the use of the color red in the film “Vendredi Soir” by Claire Denis. The film follows a night in the life of one middle aged French woman, Laure, who is moving out of her single apartment to transition into a new life with her lover. The film opens with a deep red sunset sky. As it sets down on the city, the city stops in traffic, as Paris was in transit strike and the metro was shut down. The streets were were jam-packed with cars. We see visions of red lights, flashing neon lights, red coats, red cars, red pizzerias, and red signs, all strategically utilized to add to the feeling of congestion, being trapped, stuck, and stopped. This type of non-movement is not characteristic of the Parisian lifestyle. Much of their day to day activities take place “en plein air”, in English, outdoors, where there is circulation, freedom, musicality and flow. This is highlighted by the discomfort that we are made out to feel in watching the film. The stagnant air and traffic are evasive and suffocating as compared to the next morning when she awakens and the taxis and cars outside are free flowing once again in circulation.

Mouvement We studied the use of movement in French cinema as it pertained to “Vendredi Soir” as well as the other films. The city of Paris is a fast paced city that embodies a movement quality somewhat similar to that of New York. The metro was used in almost every film. It plays a large role in the lives of the Parisians, a role that I may not have been able to understand had I not been situated in the bustling city myself. The metro is the lifeline for Parisian life. It runs below the city and remains in constant motion. If you are waiting in the station, every two minutes or less you can expect a train to fly past. The movement continues throughout the station as well, where crowds of Parisians push their way past one another in a ceaseless flurry. When there is a malfunction with one of the lines, mass inconvenience and mayhem ensues for all. Everyone is affected. In this way, it should seem only natural that the metro appears almost as a character itself in so many films. It acts almost as the veins of the city and it keeps the city alive and circulating. The metro gives the Parisians the opportunity for mobility in an otherwise non-navigable cluster of a city. This movement quality is unique to Paris and essential to it’s symbolic representation in cinema. Not only is the city in constant motion, but so too the city is in constant change, renovating metro stations, refurbishing art exhibits at the Louvre, modernizing and expanding La Défense. There are thousands of tourists in and out who cycle through the city everyday, pumping this vitality and romanticism of Paris as they come and go, both with their preconceptions, and with the memories they take with them.

Untangling The French Fantasy La Fin du Voyage

I had the opportunity to meet with Vivianne Perelmuter, director of the newly released French film, “Le Vertige des Possibles” in English, “Uncertain Times” and direct translation: the vertigo of possibilities. Vivanne led a discussion about her artistic vision for how she had designed and created her film. She shared about the decision making behind her artistic choices and also gave us more insight as to what images and sounds represented in the film. The film is about a writer named Anne who is paralyzed by the endless possibilities not only in her writing, but also inherent in life in Paris. Vivanne’s insight as an expert in film shed light on much of the stylistic interpretations that I had been observing all summer. For example, in the making of the movie, a sad balloon floated toward the set. Vivanne saw it, and interpreted it as one of the many endless possibilities about which her film is based. She decided at that moment to make the balloon a character in the movie. There is a long, quiet, and uncomfortable sequence that slowly zooms in on the dying balloon. This creates a very dynamic contrast to the innocence and softness of the balloon from Lamirosse’s “The Red Balloon” (pictured to the right). Vivanne talked of the boundless potential energy that you find at every corner and in every object, in every person. This is the same energy that keeps Paris alive; it is the potential energy that manifests into the flurry of motion and song that I observed all summer long. Paris is full of endless possibilities, and this was evident, not only in Vivianne’s film, but also in the making of it. Paris presented possibilities to her, and she took ideas and ran with them, creating an artistic vision while doing so that was created by Paris itself. This endless realm of possibility and potential that Paris holds is perhaps the same spirit that attracted so many young Americans as we saw in “An American in Paris”. Perhaps it is what keeps infinite tourists flooding to Paris to feel the sense of romance and magic that the city promises, to seal a lock, to take in the views, to capture wedding photos, to discover new dreams. I dream everyday of my return to Paris.

Conclusions

There was a certain clarity that came from experiencing the sites and monuments myself and the intimacy of my learning had a much more enriching and enlivened quality than perhaps ever before. Although from the outside looking in as Americans we keep the spirit of romanticism alive, it is further enlivened by the spirit and fervor of native Parisians themselves. The city is

full of movement, which makes it so suitable to be captured on the big screen. It is both the past, the present, and the future that define Paris and give it a distinctly unique and one-of-a-kind

cultured glamour. The classical Arc de Triomphe looks towards the modern Grande Arche de La Défense in a mirror like way: past and future reflecting one another at opposite ends of the city. The Grand Arche however is situated at a slight angle so that the two aren’t directly facing one

another. It is designed as such to represent the forward motion of the city towards the future and the promising optimism of Paris tomorrow.

The movement quality and nature of the musicality in the city keep the spirit alive almost as veins pumping life through the streets and beyond. The essence of magic and its universal

recognition as ‘The City of Lights’ so adequately encompasses the vivacity of Paris; the same liveliness that comes from within Paris itself pervades internationally to develop global idealization in the media and arts. Like a heartbeat, Paris keeps its romantic spirit alive.

Acknowledgments & ReferencesA special thanks to Madame Véronique

Flambard-Weisbart for organizing such an enriching and transformative research

experience and for the support and mentorship along the way.

Assistance: Vivianne Pelemuter Louise Poupée Genviève Dieumegard Dr. Sue Harris

“The Red Balloon”

Loyola Marymount University: Honors Research FellowshipTara Rodriguez

An American in Paris Summer, 2014Paris, France

As part of our study we participated in a series of journal entries each day for each film we viewed and each experience we had in relation to it. The entries served almost as an academic diary, including five sections of engaged learning: Enlightenment, Gratitude, Review, Acknowledgments, and Looking Forward. Every section was centered on our personal experience with either the film or the encounter, and highlighted its transformative affect on our understanding of Paris through film. The final project was to create a short film ourselves that was representative of one of our transformative experiences. My final piece was a letter to my Grandmother that detailed the joy that I felt while locking her love with my Grandpa on the Pont de Neuf bridge, also known as the ‘Love Lock Bridge’. While honoring their eternal love in heaven, I felt as sense of connection to the infinite locks that surrounded theirs. Thousands of people every year come to seal a lock and toss a key into the Seine, partaking in the embrace of the love that Paris exudes. Several sections of the bridge had fallen over from the weight, though they were being immediately reconstructed in order to be filled with the promise of new love. My friend Louise who comes from a suburb just North of Paris, accompanied me to the bridge. I asked her if she was ever annoyed by the tourists or the clichés given to their city and its idea of romance. Together we observed some wedding photos being taken of a couple in the bridge. She smiled and said that she deeply enjoyed how the rest of the world is fascinated by Paris’ romantic embrace. She said that she was less annoyed by the hype and more humbled by their reputation as the city of love. It’s a title she said she would love to “keep alive”.

I asked French friend, Louise Poupée to take me to her favorite place in all of Paris. Her choice: the top of the Arc de Triomphe. She believed that from atop the structure, one could get a whole vision of the city of Paris: the streets, the architecture, the monument below, Sacré Cœur Basilica, and of course the Eiffel Tower. It was a breathtaking view, but also a vision into Paris’ past. While taking in the sights, Louise explained to me how Parisians such as herself continually celebrate and appreciate their cities past as a means of embracing their present. She noted the architectural design of the rooftops, which brought us to a discussion about Haussman’s renovation of Paris. Under Napoléon III, Georges-Eugène Haussman commissioned a restorative reinvention of Paris to remove the overcrowding and disorganization of the medieval past. 1 He created Paris’ architectural façade that gives it the uniquely ornate, idyllic, and picturesque character and distinction known worldwide. Our viewing of the short film “The Red Balloon”, by Albert Lamorisse coincided coincidentally with Bastille Day and Holocaust Commemorations in Paris. The Film captures the beauty and innocence of a post German occupation Paris and poetically embodies the sense of Paris’ beauty and the embrace of it’s cultured and distinctly French past.

To the left is an image of the Musée Brignole Galliera, of which I visited to explore the celebration of 50 years of fashion in French cinema. The museum is a perfect example of one of the buildings that captures Haussman’s romantic envisioning of classical Parisian architecture. The building itself as well as the exhibit inside were two striking examples of how Paris has kept the vision of its past alive in the present. The exhibits and maintenance of the stylistic designs of the past are both instruments in enriching the presence of a cultural past in the city. I was able to see in real life, some to the dresses that had appeared in the French cinema that I studied, including one of the gowns from “An American in Paris”.

July fourteenth, Bastille Day, Independence Day for France, and the commencement of the French Revolution is perhaps one of the biggest holidays in France. 2 To the left is an image I took of an officer dressed in a very traditional and elaborate uniform. All military personnel were clothed in a similar manner, truly honoring the costuming and historical significance of the day. The celebrations are not so much a party in Paris as they are a remembrance.

Perhaps most influential to my experience in discovering the sources of Paris’ romantic essence, was the film “An American in Paris”, which mirrored my journey as an American in Paris myself. Before viewing the film, Prof. Véronique invited Dr. Sue Harris of the University of London to come discuss the historical depths of the film and its situation in French history. The film was directed by Vincent Minnelli in 1951 and depicts the inspiring wave of optimism that filled the Lost Generation of young Americans flocking to Paris after the Second World War. Paris was an idealized haven for potential, the realization of dreams, and the promise of creation. As Art Buchwald put it:

… the young Americans in Paris were “the stepchildren of of Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry Miller, and Ezra Pound. They carried

hardly any luggage, but if they’d ever declared their dreams to customs, they would have been worth thousands of dollars in duties.”

The film highlights the fact that Paris is an ‘imagined’ place, utilizing only painted sets rather than shooting on location in Paris, as seen in the images above. Walking down the Champs-Élysées, I found that the flower shops lining the streets to be full of just as much vibrant and lively colors and exuberance as those depicted in the painted sets, as captured in my photo above. It plays further on this fact by making Paris seem small scaled, leisurely, elegant, and profoundly romantic yet artificial in its Broadway adaption. The Hollywood film was shot in Los Angeles, yet the 44 sets used adequately captured the light, color, and quaint charm of Paris through the eyes of Americans. Characters came to Paris to realize their artistic relevance. In the largest musical number of the film, they danced in the streets and in doing so mixed the classical art of French ballet with tap, jazz, and American style, mixing the two styles into an artistic heritage blend. My encounter with the same phenomenon was my attending a showing of the San Francisco Ballet at Théâtre du Châtelet. The theater was filled French audience members who came to admire the stylistic interpretation of contemporary ballet by the American company, while I admired the beauty of the ornate and opulent theatre and its picturesque situation just beside the Seine River. Being a ballerina myself, and enrolled in dance classes while I was in Paris, I was enthralled by the distinctly American style of the ballet and was taken by the Parisians fascination and appreciation for it.

Just as the characters in the movie dance through the street in their musical sequences, I too danced around Paris, enjoying the music that exuded from every street corner and every music hall. There seemed to be song everywhere I went, be it the unbelievably talented singers taking advantage of the acoustics in the subway, the marching band in the parade precession of Bastille Day, the penniless flute player under the Eiffel Tower, or the Symphony performance at the Opera House, the musicality of Paris never escaped me. I felt the rhythm and artistic expression even when there was no music at all. My American friend Megan joined me in twirling about in front of the Eiffel Tower, we couldn’t contain our joy for the opportunity for a European adventure. We felt ridiculous, but nonetheless it was totally acceptable for us to be doing this. Le Petit Danseuse de Quatorze Ans, in English the Little Dancer of Fourteen Years, is an iconic piece of art made by French artist Edgar Degas in the late 19th century. The little dancer of the Paris Opera Ballet stands not only in the Musée D’Orsay in Paris, here on the left, but also sit on every shelf in every souvenir shop. She has come to represent much more than just a French ballerina. She is an iconic work of Degas and has come to symbolize much of his creation of the Impressionist movement in art history. Degas had an obsession with depicting dancers, dance scenes, musicality, and movement. 3 His analysis of motion lent a hand in denoting a particular movement quality to the city of Paris, where his art was displayed at exhibits for years to come, and now lines the streets and shops and museums as celebrated Parisian culture.

Musicalité

Les Couleurs Another component of Paris that is presented in the film “An American in Paris” is the use of a vibrant color scheme and color enhancing filters and lights that give the city its glamorized glow. One scene takes place at the Moulin Rouge, where cancan dancers flourish their wildly vibrant layers of tulle skirts and satin ruffles in a dynamic array of brilliant colors. This depiction of the Moulin Rouge captures the romantic idealization of the Dance Hall at the Bordello from the 1920s, a shared vision of many directors such as Baz Luhrmann, director of “Moulin Rouge!” Today, the Moulin Rouge is no more than an expensive Gentlemen’s Club on a dirty street full of adult shops. Yet, thousands of tourists a day, such as myself, nonetheless flock to Montemartre to take in the sight of strikingly red windmill and all of the spectacular enchantment it has come to represent in its cinema depictions.

“Vendredi Soir”

“Paris”The film, „Paris“, directed by Cédric Klapisch, tells the story of a French man who is terminally ill, and spend his last days watching the city of Paris live, while his life comes to a close. He stands at his balcony holding his café, and below in the streets, the cars seem to circle around his cup. (Image below)He is stationary but life goes on. This vision of Paris from above, from the outside looking in, is a concept that seems to intrigue directors in French cinema, and also Parisians themselves.

The very first thing that I wanted to do in Paris was take in the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower. My French friend Louise said that catching the sunset from atop the Eiffel Tower would be one of the most breathtaking views of my life. This shot to the left was taken during my dinner at the Jules Verne on the third tier of the Eiffel Tower. She said it was a sight I could not miss and she was right. When visiting Family friend Geneviève Dieumegard, I asked her what places and things in Paris would be essential for me to do and see before my departure. She insisted I go with her to the Tour Montparnasse, a skyscraper just as tall as the Eiffel Tower, but with a view of the Eiffel Tower itself. (Bottom Image)

One thing I gathered from both of these recommendations was a sense of pride and admiration for their city and their home. Both Parisians mentioned their favorite things in Paris to be viewpoints, somewhere from the outside looking in. When you go to San Francisco or New York, structures such as the Golden Gate Bridge and the Statue of Liberty, respectively, are icons of admiration and appreciation, yet one does not climb the Statue of Liberty or the Golden Gate Bridge in appreciating its symbolism and momentousness. The French seem to feel great joy in looking into their city or looking over it. This may connect back to the rest of the world’s vision of Paris and how we characterize all of its splendor and sparkle. The film “Paris” plays on this concept as well, the idea that Parisians themselves play a role in the romanticism of their home.

Whether it be the sparkling of the lights on the Eiffel Tower at the top of every hour, or the rippling of the French flag in the wind, the city is always in motion.

“Le Vertige des Possibles”

Sources: 1. . http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/architecture/Haussmanns-Architectural-Paris.html2. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/55627/Bastille-Day3. http://www.impressionniste.net/degas_edgar.htm

Film Images: Google Images Photography: Tara Rodriguez