Getting in the mood for Paris!

uh oh, now I'm listening to great music and missing Paris more than ever.

We watched Midnight in Paris before going to Paris. The photo montage in the first 60 seconds of the film is maybe the best Paris-scapes I've ever seen back-to-back .

Other films:
La Vie En Rose (with Marion Cotillard, who was Adriana in Midnight in Paris)
Gigi
Da Vinci Code (I'd forgotten scenes were filmed in St. Sulpice)
Phantom of the Opera
Marie Antoinette (you won't want to go to the Conciergerie after seeing this)
The Man in the Iron Mask (possible connections with Vaux-le-Vicomte)

I create great French Pop playlists on my iphone -- you can get a lot of great stuff on iTunes. I start listening to them prior to my trip.
Great, amusing books by Polly Platt will help you understand the French. And the movie "Amelie" should be required.

Nice thread!

I just now watched La Vie En Rose, with Marion Cotillard's Oscar-winning performance (the only French actress to win the Best Actress Oscar [edit] in a French-speaking role). She was also in Midnight in Paris (as Adriana, Pablo Picasso's love interest).

French Kiss - if only to hear Kevin Kline's French accent. :)

FYI - Simone Signoret, French actress, also won best actress Oscar, in 1959.

We are leaving in three weeks - I have to add these movies to my list. I would also add Amelie!

BG,
Yes, I meant in a French speaking role (but I forgot to say that and have now edited to add that qualifier).

Hi Kent -- no problem!

Two more whimsically romantic views of Paris:
Hugo, from the not-typically-whimsical Martin Scorsese, set in an 1930s train station (originally in 3-D) which a boy has turned into his playground.
Amalie, an enchanting vision of contemporary life seen through old community bistro habits, starring the enduringly enchanting Audrey Tautou. Five Oscar nominations.

I have a movie to add... Just watched it this weekend - My Old Lady - with Maggie Smith, Kristin Scott Thomas and Kevin Kline (without the French accent). It is set in the Marais and is about the ever so crazy "viager" system of French real estate.

Please don't forget the film PARIS, JE T'AIME. It's a film made up about different stories in many arrondissements. They're not all happy, but they're memorable!

THANKS! Pandora has a great station - French Classics, great station, great vibe! I have been reading The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough - loving it. Next on the list - watch "Midnight in Paris"...gotta put the kids to bed early!