A movie about each of the Paris arrondissements? Yes, it’s been done, and it’s finally being released in theaters across the U.S. And the good news is, it’s doing well!
Moviegoers Fall in Love With Paris Over and Over Again in PARIS, JE T’AIME
LOS ANGELES, May 28 /PRNewswire/ —
First Look Pictures’ portrait of love, from the city of love, PARIS, JE T’AIME, recently opened the weekend of May 4th to $40,000 on two screens in New York, expanding by two additional screens in the Big Apple the following week. The film opened May 18th in Los Angeles to $161,000, and expanded to 25 additional markets this past weekend. This Memorial Day weekend the film has continued its success with a four-day take of $537,474.00 on 58 North American screens. The three-day total is $419,697.00. The four-day per-screen average is $9,267.00. The estimated cume is $883,486.00.
“I am thrilled with the early box office success of PARIS, JE T’AIME,” says Co-chairman, Henry Winterstern. “First Look always believed in the film and the May release date proved to be good counter-programming to the summer blockbusters. I am confident with our continued support, along with positive reviews and word-of-mouth; the film will continue to attract audiences nationwide throughout the summer.”
In PARIS, JE T’AIME, celebrated directors from around the world, including the Coen Brothers, Gus Van Sant, Gurinder Chadha, Wes Craven, Walter Salles, Alexander Payne, Olivier Assays and more each portray Paris in a way never before imagined. This postcard view of Paris and love boasts an outstanding host of actors including Maggie Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Elijah Wood, Nick Nolte, Bob Hoskins, Emily Mortimer, Fanny Ardant, Juliette Binoche, Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazarra, Miranda Richardson, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Steve Buscemi.
Copyright © 2004 PR Newswire All rights reserved.
Love him or hate him, Sarkozy (”Sarko”) has defeated Segolene Royal (”Sego”) by 53% to her 47% today in France’s Presidential elections. He hopes to realign France with the United States, eliminate the 35 hour work week, and rid the suburbs of crime.
The most impressive thing about this election, and something Americans can learn from and hopefully emulate one day, it’s their voter turnout. 86% of the French people voted in today’s election. That’s impressive.
Photo of Place de la Concorde celebration from Le Figaro:
The exquisite George V has been named the world’s top large hotel by a Zagat survey of travelers and travel agents. For anyone who has been there, or even looked in the front lobby, you don’t have to wonder why. If you get a chance, put on something nice and go for a drink or tea at the very least, it’s simply dreamy.
A standard room runs about 730 euros, so staying might be more difficult!
The best restaurant in the world? Another French jewel, La Maison Troisgros in Roanne, France.
From “Expatica”:
Left Bank is right wing in Paris political dividePARIS, April 30, 2007 (AFP) - Japanese tourists queuing at the Eiffel Tower or Americans admiring the ultra-modern Bastille opera might not realise it, but they are on either side of a political divide that splits Paris down the middle.
Of the city’s 20 arrondissements, or districts, 10 plumped for right winger Nicolas Sarkozy in the first round of the presidential election, while the other half came out for socialist Segolene Royal.
The wealthy 16th arrondissement, stretching westwards from the Arc de Triomphe monument, gave Sarkozy his best score in the French capital, a whopping 64 percent of the district’s total vote.
At the far end of the city, the socially and ethnically mixed eastern 20th arrondissement, whose best known landmark is the Pere Lachaise cemetery, gave Royal her best showing at 42 percent.
On the national level, Sarkozy, who is the favourite to win the second round on May 6, took 31 percent of the vote, with Royal at 26 percent and Francois Bayrou, who is now eliminated, at 19 percent.
The dividing line in Paris runs roughly north-south down the centre of city.
The 18th arrondissement marks the northern frontier in the left-right split. It is home to tourist hotspots such as the Moulin Rouge and the Sacre Coeur basilica, both of which are in the picturesque Montmartre district.
“Historically the 18th has always been on the left,” said Sebastien Ramnoux, political correspondent of Le Parisien newspaper. “The north of Paris was the revolutionary and left-wing base of the capital.”
The population has changed dramatically over the years, he added. Today Montmartre is trendy and expensive and apartments there are much sought after by media, advertising, and showbiz types.
But in northern areas rarely visited by tourists, there remains a large working class and lower middle class population.
The arrondissement as a whole voted 42 percent for Royal in the first round, against 23 percent for Sarkozy.
Further south, on the other side of the river Seine, lie the fifth and sixth arrondissements of the Left Bank, epicentre of May 1968 riots by students who wanted to overthrow the bourgeois order.
Despite the history of left-wing rebellions in the universities on the Left Bank, it is today, and has long been, on the right.
“It has always been very rich people who lived in those districts, these are the historic quarters of the city. If you read Balzac, Saint Germain is where the aristocracy lived,” said Paris novelist Luc Lang, referring to 19th century writer Honore de Balzac.
Just north of the river again, the fourth arrondissement, home to the Pompidou Centre and the Hotel de Ville, headquarters of the socialist mayor of Paris, saw a slight majority for Sarkozy — 34 percent against 32 percent for Royal.
But head westwards and most arrondissements are firmly on the right, including the areas surrounding the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysees, or the Opera.
And to the east the majority of Parisians voted left.
This divide is quite a transformation from 1989 when Jacques Chirac, the outgoing president, was mayor of the capital, said Ramnoux of Le Parisien. Back then, thanks to Chirac’s formidable political machine, every single arrondissement in the city was on the right.
“There are two reasons why some arrondissements have come back to the left,” he said.
“On the one hand there is a working class population which has never left, and then there is the new petite bourgeoisie who are now called bobos’,” he said, referring to a supposedly new and relatively affluent social class of “bourgeois-bohemians.”
The 10th arrondissement, in particular the formerly working class area around the Canal Saint Martin, and the areas around Bastille in the 11th, are ‘bobo’ bastions.
These bobos are contributing to the rapid gentrification of Paris, said Luc Lang, which is pushing the working classes and teachers or civil servants on modest incomes to the suburbs that lie on the other side of the “peripherique” highway that rings Paris.
It was in these suburbs, many of which have a high concentration of immigrants and are generally much poorer than Paris, that the riots began in 2005 that spread across France.
The population of Paris, which administratively is defined as the area within the ring road, is around two million, while the population of the greater urban area is around 10 million.
“In Paris there is a radicalisation of the extremes,” said Lang.
“There are more and more rich people who live here and on the other hand there are those who live in social housing where there remains a poor class, often of foreign origin.”
Sarkozy’s overall first round score in Paris was 35 percent while Royal got 32 percent.
Copyright AFP
