Movie Locations in Paris

Everyone it seems has his or her own image of Paris and most of the time these images have come from films.

There are many From Audrey Hepburn to Matt Damon, a million different characters have wandered the streets of this fascinating city and shaped our images of the city of lights.

Over the years lots of directors have chosen to film movies in Paris to there are lots of locations to choose from!

Behind all the myths and glamour directors have strived to portray the different sides of Paris for years but not many have succeeded. From the winding streets of Montmartre to hallowed halls of the Louvre here is a list of some of the films that show Paris in the best light.

    The Bourne Identity
  1. The Bourne Identity
    The first installment in the high-paced Bourne Trilogy sees Matt Damon fight his way around Paris as Jason Bourne. You can see the site where Bourne and Marie spent their first romantic night in Paris sleeping in the car, parked on the Quai de la Tournelle, on the Left Bank opposite Ile Saint-Louis. The palatial mansion of dictator Wombosi, in which he's assassinated, is the former townhouse of Marie-Laure de Noailles, that has since been redesigned by Philippe Starck into the HQ of Baccarat at 11, Place des États Unis. Less glamorously, you can trace Bourne's footsteps to the Gare du Nord as well, where he leaves his precious red bag in the luggage lockers.
  2. Amélie
    Amélie is one of the most internationally successful French films of all times, thanks to the charming, whimsical plot as well as the enchanting picture-perfect image of Paris that it presents. Notre Dame de Paris is top of the Amélie sightseeing list as the spot where Amelie's mother dies under the weight of a Parisian committing suicide from atop the cathedral. The streets of Montmartre, where director Jean-Paul Jeunet was brought up, become a multi-paletted fantasy. You can relive the buzzing bluebottle's flight at the start of the film by walking down rue Saint Vincent. Amélie's apartment is at 56 Rue de Trois Freres and from there, you can visit the star attraction Café des Deux Moulins at 15 Rue Lepic. Still decorated in exactly the same way, the crème brulée is now named after Amélie. Yep, of of the most successful movies in Paris.
  3. Charade
  4. Charade
    Film fans of a slightly older generation, or just those who love the classics, will remember the all-star thriller Charade. The heroes meet at the Theatre Vrai Guignolet which is located at the junction of avenue Matignon and avenue Gabriel in the Jardins des Champs Élysées. You can even catch one of the Punch and Judy show as the original is still running!
  5. A Bout de Souffle (Breathless)
    Jean-Luc Godard’s iconic 1960 French New Wave film stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg as a very attractive couple on the wrong side of the law in Paris. Belmondo is the epitome of the sexy, cigarette-smoking bad boy. The Champs Élysées sets the scene for the viewer's first taste of Belmondo and Seberg together. Montparnasse's rue Campagne Première is the location for the last scene of Godard’s classic. Number 11 is the building where the French small-time crook and American wannabe-journalist spend their final night together and the dramatic final scene is played out the next morning on the street below.
  6. The Da Vinci Code
  7. The Da Vinci Code
    This enormous Hollywood blockbuster was awarded the rare privilege of actually being allowed to film inside the Louvre, the sacred Louvre. Granted it was in exchange for a large amount of cash but nevertheless it is something to be proud of. The film darts around several European locations as the symbologist and the pretty girl chase after the truth but the church in which the Opus Dei monk Silas (Paul Bettany) searches for the ‘keystone’ is Église Saint-Sulpice, Rue St-Sulpice in St Germain-des-Prés. After all the high-jinx it’s neatly back to Paris for the final sequence, which finds Langdon staying, rather unbelievably, at the hugely extravagant Ritz hotel. Previously the haunt of Ernest Hemingway, Coco Chanel, the Princess of Wales... Career hunting? One word: Symbology.
  8. Sabrina
    This 1995 remake of the Audrey Hepburn original might not live up to the original film in terms of success but it sure is a good advert for Paris. Sabrina is the ugly duckling who undergoes a transformation in Paris and returns to the States to steal the heart of her former crush. Sabrina's stay in Paris takes the viewer through the Who's Who of tourist attractions: the elaborate Pont Alexandre III; the Place du Trocadero at the foot of the Eiffel Tower; the glass pyramid in the Louvre and the Sacre Coeur. The final clinch which takes place on the Pont des Arts must have boosted visits to that bridge tenfold.
  9. The Day of the Jackal
    How to best tell the story of a professional hitman in 1963 who has been hired by the OAS to assassinate French president General de Gaulle? Well, in Paris. The climax of the movie was shot there, in a hotel window (still intact at 150 rue de Rennes on the place du 18 Juin 1940) opposite the Montparnasse Bienvenue Métro Station..
  10. Marie Antoinette
  11. Marie Antoinette
    In Sofia Coppola's second film, she essentially took the plot of Lost in Translation and moved it to Versailles. Follow in the restless young queen's footsteps by visting the Hall of Mirrors or playing at being a peasant girl the Grand Trianon..
  12. Paris, je t'aime
    A compilation of 18 movies in Paris, directed by the Coen Brothers, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven and many others. Each of the 18 short films represent one of the Paris arrondissements so there really is no better tour of the city. In the Marais, a young man tries to declare his love to a shop assistant, in the Tuileries an American tourist breaks a cardinal rule of the Paris metro and in Pigalle an aging couple act out a fantasy to re-ignite the spark in their relationship.
  13. Paris When It Sizzles
    This is another movie that is basically a love letter to Audrey Hepburn, but unlike in the original "Sabrina" this film was actually shot in Paris. Writer Richard Benson (William Holden) suffers writer's block so secretary Gabrielle Simpson (Audrey Hepburn) helps him. Be prepared to see a terrace of the Chalet de la Grande Cascade by the Second Empire artificial waterfall near the Longchamp Crossroads in the Bois de Boulogne.

Other movies in Paris:

  • Woody Allen has filmed two of his movies in Paris: comedy "Everyone says I love you" in 1996. The director returned to the City of Lights in 2011 for his latest's feature film: "Midnight in Paris".
  • Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris" was filmed in the French capital in 1972.
  • Meg Ryan and Kevin Cline featured in 1995 comedy shot mostly in Paris: "French Kiss".
  • Nicole Kidman was the star of Baz Lurman's hit that depicted the life at "Moulin Rouge", the most famous cabaret in the city.

There is quite a long list of movies in Paris. Can you think of anymore?