In 2001, people all over the world fell in love with the French romantic comedy "Amélie," which depicts the life of a young and imaginative yet lovelorn Parisian waitress. The film was so popular that tourists started coming to Paris specifically looking to live the fairy tale. Here are some of the more important locations listed in the order of appearance in the film.Plot spoilers are ahead!
Instructions
1. Start at Enghien-les-Bains, the spa town in the suburbs northwest of Paris, where Amélie grows up and where her father still lives. Head southwest to Chatou, just west of Paris and Nanterre. Here, at the Maison Fournaise, is where Renoir painted "Le déjeuner des Canotiers," the painting Amélie's neighbor, Raymond Dufayel, the "Man of Glass," copies year after year. The Maison Fournaise is now Restaurant de la Maison Fournaise at Ile des Impressionnistes, 3, rue du Bac. Proceed into Paris proper to the Cathedral of Notre-Dame on the Ile-de-la-Cité, where Amélie's mother is killed by a tourist who falls from one of the towers.
2. Go south across the Seine down to 27, rue Mouffetard, where Dominique Bretodeau, the first beneficiary of Amélie's good deeds, lives. From there, head to the Pont d'Alma across the Seine. The tunnel under the bridge is the site of Princess Diana's fatal 1997 car crash. This tragedy sets into motion Amélie's campaign of doing good for others. From here, head east along the north bank of the Seine and you'll see the Pont des Arts, which Amélie crosses with the Institut de France behind her and the Louvre up ahead.
3. Continue going east, on to the Twentieth Arrondissement and the cemetery of Pere-Lachaise. When Amélie is seen at home fantasizing about her selfless life and lavish funeral, the tomb that is shown in the newsreel is actually that of Sarah Bernhardt in Père-Lachaise. Go northwest to the Canal Saint-Martin, where Amélie skips stones at a canal lock by rue de la Grange-aux-Belles and rue des Vinaigriers, southeast of the Gare de l'Est and southwest of Belleville's Hôtel Saint-Louis. Head northwest to the Gare de l'Est, at 2, Place du 11 Novembre 1918, where Amélie discovers the identity of the mystery man and takes the Zorro pictures.
4. Proceed northwest to the Gare du Nord, at 18, rue Dunkerque, from which Amélie takes the train out to see her father and where she first sees Nino Quincampoix (whose surname is taken from a street in the Beaubourg district). Nino works at Porno Video Palace, a generic version of the numerous adult-related businesses located throughout Pigalle, west of Gare du Nord. Nino grew up in the Square des Batignolles, which is just west of Montmartre in the Eighteenth Arrondissment.
5. Take rue Caulaincourt north from Boulevard de Clichy into Montmartre, then follow it around to the east. Rue Caulaincourt is the street down which Amélie takes the blind man before stopping at the entrance to the Lamarck-Caulaincourt Métro station. Proceed southeast to Sacre-Coeur, the white stone basilica at the top of the hill overlooking Montmartre. The Basilica appears in several scenes in the film, especially in the sequence where Amélie tricks Nino into running up to the top of the hill, while she returns his scrapbook to his scooter. The final motor scooter sequence takes place all over Montmartre but especially around Sacre-Coeur.
6. Ride the funicular railway down the hill to Place Saint-Pierre, where the carousel is located. Head west to the Place des Abbesses; the Abbesses Métro station appears several times in the film. From here, go north to Au Marché de la Butte at 56, rue des Trois Frères, the grocery where the cruel Collignon and his kindly assistant Lucien work. One of Amélie's fantasies indicates that the door to her apartment is just around the corner to the left as you face the shop, but the apartment scenes were actually filmed in a studio. Finish a few streets to the north at the Café des Deux Moulins at 15, rue Lepic, where Amélie works and much of the film's action takes place.
Tags: Maison Fournaise, across Seine, appears several, From here, Gare Nord