Le Paris d'Amélie
"The Fabulous destiny of Amélie Poulain"
A film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Amélie, a young waitress in a bar in Montmartre, spends her time observing people and letting her imagination wander. She has set herself a goal: to do good for those around her. She then invents stratagems to intervene incognito in their existence. Amélie's path is punctuated by encounters: Georgette, the hypochondriac tobacconist; Lucien, the grocery clerk; Madeleine Wallace, the janitor focused on port wine and stuffed dogs; Raymond Dufayel alias "the man of glass", his neighbor who lives only through a reproduction of a painting by Renoir. This quest for happiness leads Amélie to meet Nino Quincampoix, a strange "Prince Charming". He divides his time between a ghost train and a sex shop, and tries to identify a stranger whose photo constantly reappears in several photo booths.
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The Colignon House
The area around place des Abbesses, near the Butte de Montmartre, is one of the capital's most charming neighbourhoods. It's also familiar to audiences across the world as the location for Amélie, Jean-Pierre Jeunet's fantastic romantic comedy that starred Audrey Tautou as a quirky young woman playing practical jokes to improve the lives of the people around her. Much of Amélie's appeal revolves around the idyllic, picture-postcard vision of Paris that its heroine inhabits -- but that's by no means just a cinematic fantasy. Join our walking tour and discover these magical locations for yourself.
Rue Saint Vincent
And ... action! In the very first scene in Amélie, the camera follows a bluebottle buzzing along the leafy, cobbled rue Saint Vincent, behind the Sacré Coeur basilica at the top of Montmartre, on the day of our heroine's conception.
Cafe des 2 Moulins
Yes, Amélie's café really exists, hidden away on rue Lepic below the place des Abbesses. The crème brulée at this fabulous Art Deco hideaway is now named after Amélie Poulain, the cafe's most famous fictional employee.
Canal Saint-Martin
The Canal Saint Martin is thronged on sunny summer days with Parisians and tourists picnicking by the canal, but this charming bridge over one of the locks is also the place where Amélie practises skimming stones.
Notre Dame
This one needs little introduction. Perhaps Paris's most famous landmark ... and, in a splendid moment of anarchy from director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the scene of Amélie's mother's suicide. Charming.
Abbesses
Well, you can't miss this one. Abbesses metro station is where Amélie first spies Nino, the man with whom she ends up falling in love after chasing him through Paris..
Marché de la Butte
The scene where Amélie describes the mouthwatering delights of the local market to a blind man is one of the film's most touching moments ... a fact not lost on enterprising traders at the market today.
Lamarck Caulaincourt
The double staircase outside the metro station at Lamarck-Caulaincourt, where Amélie shares a moment of delight with her blind friend.
Gare du Nord
Paris's main line station and Eurostar terminal is where Amélie first claps eyes on Nino, and also where she takes the train to see her father
Studio 28
Studio 28 is one of Paris's oldest cinemas, a sacred location for Parisian cinephiles for its part in some of the capital's motion picture history: this is where Luis Buñuel's L'Age d'Or caused riots on its premiere in 1930. It's also, you may remember, where Amélie likes to go on Friday nights.
Bir Hakeim
This famous viaduct bridge across the Seine at Passy may be more familiar to viewers of Last Tango in Paris or Inception -- but, sure enough, it pops up in Amélie as well.
Costume hire shop, Boulevard Saint Martin
Amelie's Zorro costume has to come from somewhere.
Pont des Arts
Paris's beautiful Pont des Arts, which crosses the Seine between the Louvre and the Institut Français, is where Amélie first experiences "a surge of love, an urge to help mankind". If only it had the same effect on all Parisians.
Gare de l'Est
The hall of the Gare de l'Est is an important location for Amélie fans. It's where Nico, Amélie's love interest, loses his scrapbook, and where a significant plot point at the end of the film gets played out. Spoilers!
Sacré-Coeur
The Basilique du Sacré Coeur de Montmartre, or just Sacré-Coeur, is the location for an elaborate treasure hunt that Amélie sets up for her 'mystery man' Nico. Follow the blue arrows ...