Photo of the Week
Another view of the Centre Pompidou. Photo © Darren Palmer of Paris by Photo.
Wednesday, 30 May 2012 00:00
Paris Update What's New in Paris
RESTAURANT/CLUB/CAFE
Wanderlust: Finally, part of Les Docks, Cité de la Mode et Design will open to the public on June 6. Brunch on the terrace, take a yoga class, take in a concert or dance all night. 34, quai d'Austerlitz, 75013 Paris.
SHOPS
Stella Cadente: The designer of very feminine clothing and accessories has a new Paris store that's like a gold-lined tunnel. 102 boulevard Beaumarchais, 75011 Paris.
Ecolo-Chic: Pop-up store in the Marais selling ethically resourced products, from toys and design to organic wine. 90, rue des Archives, 75003 Paris.
SMOKING
A new organization, L'Union pour les Droits des Fumeurs Adultes, has been formed to lobby for the rights of French smokers
JUSTIN ON THE ROOFTOPS
Keep your eyes peeled: Justin Bieber will be filming for the Web TV program live@home in an undisclosed location on the rooftops of Paris on the evening of May 31. Click here to win a pass to the taping.
Wednesday, 30 May 2012 00:00
Paris Update Flash News
CAKE THE WAY WE LIKE IT
Goodies on display at Merce and the Muse.
Nowadays, American expatriates in Paris can easily satisfy almost all their nostalgic food cravings, from hamburgers to Reese’s peanut-butter cups or Oreo cookies. Until Merce and the Muse opened in the Upper Marais, however, it wasn’t easy to find good homemade, American-style cakes. The desserts at this homey, flea-market-furnished café are not just good, they are scrumptious and original, made from owner Merce Muse’s own recipes. The other day I shared a slice of chocolate layer cake with vanilla icing and another of pistachio cake with rose icing with a friend, but in truth I wanted to eat all of both of them. 1 bis, rue Dupuis, 75003 Paris. Tel.: 09 53 14 53 04. Open Tues.-Sun. for breakfast, lunch and coffee; brunch on Sunday. Heidi Ellison
Paris Update This Week's Events
For full details about an event, click on its name to visit the official Web site (in English when available).
 Art Saint-Germain-des-Prés
>Left Bank gallery walk. Collective opening, May 31, 6pm. May 31-June 3.
Carré Rive Gauche
>Another Left Bank gallery walk, with 120 participating galleries. June 1-June 3.
Champs-Elysées Film Festival
>A new Franco-American film festival, presided over by Lambert Wilson and Michael Madsen. Various locations, Paris, June 6-12.
Chartre en Lumières
> The town of Chartres illuminates its monuments and the cathedral with colorful light installations. Through Sept. 15.
Designer's Days
>Design shops, galleries, schools and more participate in a city-wide design event. Various locations, Paris, May 31-June 4.
Festival de l'Imaginaire
> Performances by troupes from around the world, Maison des Cultures du Monde, Paris, through June 17.
Festival de Saint Denis
> Music festival featuring both stars like Sir Colin Davis and young talents; ends with a dawn performance by horse whisperer Bartabas and oud player Mehdi Haddab, Cathedral and Legion of Honor, Saint Denis, through June 30.
Festival Extensions
> Concerts, dance, films and more, various locations, Paris and Val de Marne, through May 31.
Festival International des Jardins de Chaumont-sur-Loire
>"Gardens of delights, gardens of delirium" is the theme of this year's garden festival, Chaumont-sur-Loire, through Oct. 21.
Festival Jazz à Saint-Germain-des-Prés
>Jazz acts ranging from amateur to big names like Ahmad Jamal and Yusef Lateef (together). Various locations, Paris, Through June 3.
Le Court en Dit Long
>Festival of short films. Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris, June 4-9.
Nomades
>Cultural festival in the third arrondissement; art, poetry, concerts and more. Various locations, Paris, May 31-June 3.
Quinzaine des Réalisateurs
>The features and short subjects entered in this category at the Cannes Film Festival shown in Paris, Forum des Images, Paris, May 31-June 10
Salon du Vin de La Revue du Vin de France
>Annual wine fair. Palais Brongniart, Paris, June 2-3
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Les Amants Réguliers
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Film
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/ Drama
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Created on Tuesday, 08 November 2005 23:00
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Published on Sunday, 22 February 2009 21:45
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Written by Stéphane Piatzszek
Perfect Lovers
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| Clotilde Hesme and Louis Garrel as Lili and François. |
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Is three hours too long for Philippe Garrel’s latest film, Les Amants Réguliers? Not really, since it is time well spent in the company of these two lovers, far more so than the time wasted watching most of contemporary French cinema’s excruciatingly boring attempts to treat True Love.
Garrel, who has 27 movies in the can at the age of 58, understands amorous sentiments and films them with a grace and attention to detail that most other French filmmakers no longer seem capable of.
It’s 1968. Lili (Clotilde Hesme) and François (Louis Garrel) are 20 years old. They meet at a party and don’t leave each other until a year later, when Lili takes a plane to America, leaving François behind in his garret room to give us a last, supreme lesson in elegance.
From the beginning of their love story to its tragic end, the moments shared by Lili and François are an ongoing miracle that color the whole story with a warm, gentle irreality. These two perfect lovers move through the black-and-white film like angelic heroes in a dream we have all had.
Few of us may have experienced True Love, yet when Garrel shows it to us on the screen, we recognize it in midnight walks through Paris; in the simple, unguarded words exchanged by Lili and François; in the way François looks at her; in Lili’s secrets.
Les Amants Réguliers is not just a great film on love, but also has value as a portrait of an era of hope, quickly followed by disillusionment. In France, 1968 buried the illusions of certain leftists who believed in the revolution and thought that one evening in May could change the world, or at least French society. Well before the end of
communism and the triumph of capitalism, 1968 marked the first death shudders of a leftist ideology that stood for sharing and fraternity.
François and his friend, who man the barricades in the Latin Quarter and face the police, act out this sham revolt in a theatrical scene filmed in an almost immobile long shot. These youth are dreamers, not revolutionaries. They are much better at imagining themselves heroes of 1789 than really taking up arms against their oppressors.
Their year is not 1968, that of the fake war, but 1969, the year of love, of discovering a new way to be with other people. In the big, luxurious home of a friend, a young man who is not afraid of his wealth or his friends’ dreams, François, Lili and a few others, all of them wonderful, live together intensely. They share opium and read their poetry and show their paintings to each other.
And that’s what they should be doing. They are living the truth of their age, the age of 20, and they don’t yet know cynicism, failure or fear – only grace.
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Stéphane Piatzszek
© 2005 Paris Update
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