Movies to Set the Travel Mood

Before any big holiday trip, my destination becomes my overwhelming obsession. While I try to avoid eating foods indigenous to the region – a traveler’s version, I suppose, of no sex before marriage (why eat a beignet in Austin on Thursday when you’re in New Orleans on Friday?) – I do satisfy my voracious appetite for all things regional with movies.

Sure, the unending web searches and scouring of guidebooks are a given, but ramping up to departure I immerse myself in movies set in my destination. While some locations are obviously easier to find as movie settings than others, you truly can find movies set just about anywhere in the word. Thanks to Last Holiday with Queen Latifah, for example, I have my travel movie if I ever visit Kar Valy.

In just 10 days (but who’s counting?), I leave for Paris. Thusly, I am breaking out my repertoire of favorite movies set in Paris. Film snobs please take note, you can tell me about Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows” until you are bleu in the face, but I’m not interested in the “real” side of Paris. Keep your grey and gritty. I want sparkly movies filled with art shots and pretty people sitting in cafes or strolling the Seine. Given these general parameters and, without further adieu, I give you my current top five movies to get me in the Paris mood:

Amelie. A whimsical tale of a shy waitress set in the Montmartre area of Paris, famous for its artist community – Dali, Monet, Picasso, and van Gogh all worked or lived there at some point – and, of course, for the white-domed Roman Catholic basilica, Sacre Couer which sits at the highest point in Paris. French with English subtitles.

Moulin Rouge. This is definitely a Paris of make-believe and fantasy, but I don’t care! That's how I feel about Paris and it makes me want to sing! Starring The Future Mr. Clear Plastic Bag, Ewan McGregor, and a not-yet-botoxed Nicole Kidman, this is a cherry flambé of a movie that leaves you on a sugary high.

Mon Meillur Ami (My Best Friend). To win a bet, arrogant and friendless antiques dealer Francois must produce a “best pal” in 10 days. His quest takes him through the streets of Paris with a trivia-loving taxi driver. French with English subtitles.

Before Sunset. Starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy this one is a “talkie” to be sure, but all that talking is done while Ethan and Julie stroll the streets of Paris, linger in cafes, and even take a boat trip down the Seine. I never dreamed I would be recommending an Ethan Hawke movie, but that’s the power of Paris.

C'était un Rendez-Vous (It Was a Date). A short film made in 1976, it shows about an 8 minute (fast) drive through Paris at 5:30 a.m. It was shot in a single take with a camera mounted on the front bumper of a Mercedes-Benz (the director later overdubbed with a Ferrari soundtrack). Basically, it’s a race through the streets of Paris. Watch out little bread truck! You, too, pigeons! No waiting on your Netflix mail delivery for this one, watch it right now!

-- Clear Plastic Bag