What to Watch, Read, and Listen to Before a Trip to Paris
From the indie movie that expertly portrays a steamy rendezvous to the album that defines ’60s French pop, here’s some of the best pop culture to consume before you go to Paris.
One of the best ways to generate excitement for an upcoming trip is to work your way through art inspired by the destination in question. It’s one thing to click through stock imagery on Google Images, but entirely another to watch an old film and see snapshots of what a city was like before globalization, to trace the footsteps of writers who’ve made the same pilgrimage, to hear the music you’ll be dancing to on nights out.
When it comes to Paris, you could spend years consuming everything set in the city. But the idea here is to get you feeling some joie de vivre, to tap into the mystique that has driven artists to those grand boulevards for centuries. From the indie movie that expertly portrays a steamy rendezvous to the album that defines ’60s French pop, here’s what to check out if you’ve already binged all three seasons of Emily in Paris.
Watch
You could really make a marathon out of movies and TV shows that pay tribute to the City of Lights. There are the old school classics (An American in Paris, Breathless); your tried-and-true rewatches (Amélie, Ratatouille, Before Sunset); and those select episodes of your favorite guilty pleasure series (Gossip Girl, Sex and the City). Below, however, are a few picks that might have slipped through the streaming cracks.
Director Jean-Jacques Beineix gives us so much in this 1981 film set in Paris: the juxtaposition of a glamorous opera scene and a criminal underworld; a moped-accelerated police chase through the metro; and, in the film’s most stunning scene, a romantic stroll through the Jardin du Tuileries at dawn. To summarize the plot, this is a movie about a humble postman who is enamored with an opera singer, records her voice against her wishes, and then finds himself embroiled in mob drama. It’s playful, colorful, and ’80s—oh la la.
This hidden gem of a Netflix series follows a former New York City jazz musician (André Holland) after he moves to Paris to run his own club, The Eddy, after the death of his son. As he struggles to protect his business, his band, and his teenage daughter (Amandla Stenberg) following the murder of his best friend, we get to see a grittier side to Paris. And if the thrill of a crime drama wasn’t enough reason to watch this eight-episode series, you should know that jazz aficionado and director of La La Land, Damien Chazelle directs the first two episodes.
In One Fine Morning, Mia Hansen-Løve manages to paint the kind of sun-drenched, green-filled Paris we’re so used to seeing, but in a way that feels lived-in. And as is the case with most French art, the story is devastatingly beautiful. Single mother Sandra (Léa Seydoux) grapples with the neurodegenerative disease that has taken over her father’s philosophical mind and, in the process, runs into an old friend whom she has a steamy affair with (spoiler alert: he’s married). It ends with a touching scene on the Montmartre.
Read
So your trip to Paris is imminent, and you don’t have time to dive into every volume of Balzac’s La Comédie humaine or Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. Or, if you’ve got plenty of time and simply don’t want to, we don’t blame you. Here’s what to look for at the airport bookstore.
The book that inspired Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, A Moveable Feast, is like an old-fashioned travel guide. Hemingway writes about his experience as an expatriate in 1920s Paris, calling out some favorite haunts, like Café Closerie des Lilas, Les Deux Magots, and Gertrude Stein’s apartment, of course. You can pass by it at 27 Rue de Fleurus on your way to another Hemingway favorite, the Luxembourg Gardens.
Because you can never have enough “American in Paris” narratives, James Baldwin, who lived in Paris for nine years, tells the story of David, an American who travels to the City of Love and begins an affair with an Italian man named Giovanni. The novel is an adventure through the city after dark in the 1950s. It explores themes of desire, homosexuality, social isolation, and masculinity.
Told from the perspective of a 17-year-old who is the daughter of a longstanding affair between a French culture minister and a famous stage actress, The Margot Affair is a coming-of-age brimming with scandal. Lemoine, who is also a cookbook author, fills the pages with heavenly food descriptions that’ll propel you to order a clafoutis the minute you step foot in Paris.
Listen
There’s one famous song you’ll inevitably hear emanating from some dinky radio on the banks of the Seine: Edith Piaf’s La Vie en Rose. But if you want to expand your sound library—or stay on top of what the Parisiennes are discussing at sidewalk cafes—listen to these tracks on your next commute.
Writer and adopted Parisian Lindsey Tramuta, author of The New Paris and The New Parissiene, keenly observes contemporary Paris. Whether you’re interested in how the Olympics are shaping the city's infrastructure, the latest sustainable fashion brands, or the state of vegan food, there’s so much to learn before you go.
Françoise Hardy became a symbol of the Yé-Yé (Yeah! Yeah!) pop movement in 1960s France, in which young female vocalists took to the sounds of English bands like the Beatles—think rock and roll but chicer. Hardy was the ultimate it-girl, serving as a muse to designers like Yves Saint Laurent and inspiring musical legends like Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger. Start with her debut album, Tous les garcons et les filles, which she released when she was just 18. In addition to the namesake track, you’ll probably recognize “Le temps de l’amour.”
There’s no disputing the legacy Daft Punk left on the French house movement. Wherever you are in the world, you’ve likely ended at least one party dancing to “One More Time.” Revisit where it all started with the duo’s debut album, Homework, which they recorded in Paris in 1997 and, according to The Village Voice, revived euro dance music. Further reading: If you’re interested in the rise of electronic music in Paris in the ’90s, stream another Mia Hansen-Løve gem, Eden (2014). It boasts an excellent soundtrack.