Cinematic ghosts haunt Paris, with the steps of screen lovers gliding all over the streets. This history of film romance makes it a perfect destination to get down on one knee. If you’re visiting the city around Valentine’s Day with the idea of making a romantic proposal, then let the cinema be your guide to the location.
I have to declare an interest here, my husband proposed to me at the top of the Eiffel Tower, which is why I bring the 1939 Ernst Lubitsch comedy Ninotchka to your attention. “Garbo laughs!” was the tagline, and it’s worth seeing for this alone, as the siren turns from frosty Soviet envoy to skittish girl in love. In a sparkling script from Billy Wilder, Garbo eventually falls for the charms of the worldly Count Leon d’Algout, played by Melvyn Douglas, who wins her heart during a visit to the Eiffel Tower.
Another magnificent love story is Michel Carné’s 1945 Les Enfants du Paradis, set in the Boulevard du Crime, which in early 19th century was the city’s vibrant theatre district. Only one theatre remains from that period, the Théâtre Dejazet, at number 41 on the modern-day Boulevard du Temple. It was used by Carné for the interior shots in his film’s theatre scenes. The film follows the story of mime artist Baptiste, played by Jean-Louis Barrault, aching with love for the beautiful Garance, played by the inimitable Arletty. The Dejazet still presents retro shows of vaudeville and opera-bouffes.
An excellent venue for a memorable proposal is the sumptuous Paris Opera, which features in the film version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom of the Opera (2004). The foyer of the Palais Garnier, as the Second Empire building is known, was restored to its swagged and gilded glory last year, while in the theatre itself you can sit in red-velvet seats beneath the dazzling chandelier which crashes down on to the audience when the Phantom is betrayed by his diva Christine, watched from his box by her beloved Raoul.
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To the river now for two atmospheric movie locations. First there’s the love story Before Sunset (2004), Richard Linklater’s follow-up to his Before Sunrise, with the same cast. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, who had met for one day in Vienna nine years earlier in the first film, meet again by chance in Paris. They have only a few hours before Jesse (Hawke), now a successful writer, must take his plane back to the States. He and Celine (Delpy) walk around Paris, talking incessantly. They take a bateau-mouche along the Seine from the Left Bank opposite the cathedral of Notre Dame down to the Quai Henri IV near the Eiffel Tower. As they pass under bridges there is an acute sense of yearning for a lost opportunity.
One of those bridges is the Pont Neuf, the setting for the French film Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (1991), a social-conscience tale starring Juliette Binoche and Denis Lavant as two homeless lovers who live around the famous bridge while it is closed for repairs. Despite the name, the Pont Neuf is almost 400 years old, the oldest bridge in Paris, and its snug alcoves would be perfect for your big moment.
One of the finest French art movies of the 1980s was Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Diva (1981). Among its many wonderful moments is the scene in which Jules, a young postman who is a passionate admirer of a great opera singer, played by Wilhelmenia Fernandez, meets his idol. They go walking together as the dawn breaks through the Tuileries gardens off the Rue de Rivoli, to the haunting piano chords of “Sentimental Walk”.
For an unforgettable night out, just off Place de la Concorde there’s the famous restaurant Maxim’s, where Louis Jourdan finally wins the heart of vivacious Leslie Caron in the charming 1958 musical Gigi. This was the setting for some of Lerner and Loewe’s great songs, such as “The Night They Invented Champagne”. Nowadays, on the last Friday of every month the restaurant re-creates its turn-of-the-century menus and entertainments. You can sip champagne and dance until dawn – and imagine yourself back in Gigi’s Belle Epoque.
Who can think of Paris love stories without immediately thinking of Amelie Poulain and her “fabulous destiny” on the slopes of Montmartre? Here she tracks down her mystery man, the photo collector Nino, on the terrace in front of the Sacré-Coeur. From this hilltop, by day or by night, the city of Paris spreads out before you.
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The small screen gave us a new high in romantic scenes set in Paris with the very last episode of Sex and the City. After six years of an on-off relationship, during which he married, then divorced someone else, at last Big tells Carrie that she is The One. If you want to re-create the moment, it takes place at night on the Pont des Arts footbridge, in front of the floodlit dome of the magnificent Institut de France.
The final setting takes you on a trip outside the capital, 40km north to the forest of Chantilly. It was here, in the grounds of the Château de la Reine Blanche at Coye-la-Forêt, that Audrey Hepburn as a reluctant fashion model wearing a bride’s dress, declared her love for Fred Astaire’s photographer in the 1957 comedy Funny Face. Like them, you could dance together on the grass among the daisies and sing: “S’wonderful, s’marvellous, that you should care for me!”