Les Fauvettes

Paris is not, as everybody would like to think, the City of Love.
Paris is the City of Cinema. Or, even better: the City of Cinemas.
There are more movie theatres per person in this town than in any other place on planet earth, and the most incredible thing is: they’re always crowded.
If you love cinema, you have so many choices every week that you almost get nuts about it (a while ago I even wrote a post on this subject).
Last week, there were two news, one very bad and one very good, concerning cinemas in Paris.
The bad one is that La Pagode, one of the most historical movie theatres in town, announced that it is closing down starting from today, November 11, and for an undefined time. 
And nobody knows what it will happened next.
I was particularly sad reading this.
I am in love with La Pagode, which has a hall and a magnificent garden decorated in old Japanese style, and where they always show intelligent and interesting movies:

 

 

Few weeks ago I was there for the avant-première of Umimachi Diary (Notre Petite Soeur) by Kore-Eda Hirozaku: the hall was fully booked, the film-maker was there for a debate at the end of his movie and the atmosphere was pretty magical.
I can’t believe I will not have more nights like this! 

For a cinema closing down, though, there is one opening… last week I was invited to the opening night of the cinema Les Fauvettes, a new Pathé multi-screenings set in the 13th arrondissement, which has a very particular characteristic: it shows just old movies!
Only in the City of Cinemas a dream like this could become true…
Imagine: a shiny and bright new cinema with 5 theatres showing your favourite movies from the past! 

The night I was there, together with a great cocktail, there was the possibility of choosing between these movies: Blade Runner-Final Cut (1982) by Ridley Scott, On the Town (1949) by Stanley Donen, Le Corniaud (1965) by Gérard Oury and Dial M for Murder (1954) by Alfred Hitchcock.
My friend Nico and I were very indecise, but in the end we opted for Blade Runner: we both saw the movie several times but so long ago that it felt like a previous life, so we thought it could be a good idea:

I was a bit afraid that the movie would have badly aged but, to my happy surprise, it wasn't.
Well, Rachael's dresses were too '80s, the computers of the future looked like the Commodore 74 and the Vangelis music was a bit too much, but besides these three elements, Blade Runner is still the great science-fiction movie it used to be.
This was the Final Cut version, the director's cut made by Scott in 2007, because the studios at the time obliged him to have a different final scene and, also, to add a voice off that has now been removed. 
I have to confess that I prefer the old end, but who knows, maybe it is just a sentimental thing. 

Anyway, it was so good to see the movie on a big screen and to know that, from now on, this will be the case for so many other old movies!
This is why I find Les Fauvettes' slogan particularly appropriate: Versions Restaurées, Émotions Intactes (Restored Versions, Intact Emotions).

You bet!