"Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain"
The movie "The fabulous destiny of Amélie Poulain" takes place in its majority at the neighborhood of Montmartre, in Paris, where we can find some of the places which the wonderful movie photography transforms into pure magic. The first mandatory stop is in the "Cafe des Deux Moulains" that is on Lepic, 15, right on the corner.
This place has almost the exact environment that is shown in the movie, even though the tobacco shop which Georgette felt suffocated is not there. It is possible to observe the predominance of the colors yellow and red, to enter in the restroom and imagine the place where Georgette and Joseph made love, besides appreciating two posters of the movie and some photos in Polaroid with the gnome’s trips, held behind the coffee counter.
Tourists are welcome in the place and there are no problems in taking pictures. Moreover, the food is excellent and they make a wonderful "crème brulée" for you to appreciate; one of Amélie’s small pleasures that was to break the hard topping of melted sugar from the sweet, very cutely dessert.
Going through Lepic street, turning the first street on the right, go straight on rue des Abesses (Abesses's street) and rue de la Vieuville (Vieuville’s street) till the Abesse subway station from the Paris subway, that appears sometimes in the film and has one of the remaining Art Nouveau metro entrances. The subway station has a lot of staircases, full with decorated walls and paintings from the district of Montmartre, what makes it a pretty pleasant journey.
That was the place where Amélie meets the blind man. You can imagine his transcendence experience as Amélie describes the mouthwatering sights of the bustling market on rue Lamarck until you reach the beautiful metro station Lamarck-Caulaincourt with the double staircase. marck.
Next, by the street of Trois Fréres and rue Gabrielle, we reach the grocery’s store named "Au Marche de la butte" and Collignon’s house. Although there is no grain bag at the door that we can sink our hands in and appreciate their textures, which was another pleasure from Amélie, you may buy some post cards and posters from the movie that are sold there in the grocery shop.
Keep climbing the up hills of Montmartre until you arrive at the "Sacre Coeur" Catedral and at the corner of Saint Michel, from where we can enter into the park scenario from the love meetings between Amélie and Nino, where she raised an amazing atmosphere of mystery and drew seven blue arrows on the floor. Unfortunately, there is no sign of the phone booth, but the place holds a very beautiful view from Paris and a carrousel that is full of charm: that is, a perfect place to feel the atmosphere of the movie.
It is also possible to take a look at Gare du Nord, one of the train stations that appears in the film and where Amélie goes to her father’s house and also at Gare de l’Est railway station where Nino loses his collection book of automatic photos and where Amélie and Nino finally discover the secret of the photo-machine.
It is even possible to appreciate the Channel of Saint Martin, where Amélie throws rocks into the water and you can have an idea of how genius the photography of the movie is!
Do not forget, finally, to visit one of the booths of automatic photos that are the essence of the film!
Au revoir!