In the Paris region of the Abbesses, the tragic fate of Amélie Poulain – Libération

2024-07-23 13:59:55

Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s film accelerates the Disneylandization of the Parisian region, transformed into an air-conditioned shopping mall by a multidimensional struggle.

Dubrovnik Old Town (Game of Thrones), Victoria Street in Edinburgh (Harry Potter), Notting Hill to London (Love at first sight in Notting Hill) : Western tourism through the world’s imagination of industrial culture creates a strange reality, our vision of the site shaped by the centuries of history of the area through which we make history and their chimerical places. But no place has changed in such a way as the Abbesses district, in the northeast of Paris in the years since the liberation The fabulous fate of Amélie Poulain in 2001, and the exponential growth in the presence of these few streets on the outskirts of Montmartre, Blanche and Pigalle, the very real countryside, with a deeply rooted “village” identity, was replaced by a criticized double confusion, with weird and bright colors. – decisions by Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

Area dedicated to mediocre gaming

Such is the incredible power of the world sport which, on the basis of the fantasy developed by the admitted fan, can complete the deep-renovation of an entire place, from its architecture to its atmosphere with topography. The former famous stronghold, located at the end of Barbès and at the edge of the tourist area at the foot of the Sacré-Cœur, the Abbesses, and its inhabitants, has never recovered, its streets turned essentially into arteries of an outdoor mall. exclusive dedication to mediocre premium, marked with “typical” bistros with flower terraces all twelve months of the year.

Asked at his house in Montmartre by Libe On December 26, 2001, Jeunet noticed the beginnings of the transformation of the area where he lived, and the reference of the locations of the film, Café des 2 Moulins, cinema Studio 28, Collignon hardware store. Without regretting anything, on the contrary: “What pleased me was to see that the film had changed the life of the shopkeeper next door, the owner of the Deux-Moulins cafe. He wants to sell, now he doesn’t want to know, he gives interviews every day, tourists come to his cafe…”

Americans are crazy about this mythical world

Gentrification has dried up other places in Paris of course. But in a certain way, Amélie Poulain, who almost called herself “Amélie des Abbesses”, did something worse than establishing one place instead of another: this film was directed by Nance who lives in Montmartre but whose fame that it cannot be destroyed is what makes it attractive. he works all over the world, paving the way to a kind of dream empire, Americans crazy about his fictional world as well as justified talking to the streets of Paris and investing in real estate soak. This is evidenced by the popularity among tourists visiting Paris of the red beret from the series. Emily in Paris, a logical continuation and extrapolation – any homophony between “Emily” and “Amélie” voluntary and assumed. We don’t wear berets in Paris because berets are French, but because we see them on Netflix.