I have a theory that if you were to group Agatha Christie fans and Paris lovers in respective circles, you could create a Venn diagram with quite the overlap. Okay yes, Agatha is celebrated for cosy murder mysteries that mostly unfold in quaint ivy-sprawled, rose-scented, quintessentially English villages … Bear with me here … It’s […]
Paris in the Movies
In Search of the Paris of Diane de Poitiers
Diane de Poitiers wears the bejewelled crown of France’s most intriguing, and infamous, royal mistress. The chief lover of Henri II, who ruled from 1547 to 1559, an all-powerful Diane made many enemies, and such was her dominant status that she has detractors to this day — many historians write her off as greedy and […]
In Search of the Paris of Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette — a villain to some, victim to others — is endlessly fascinating. The ghost of France’s last queen has haunted myriad books, countless hours of screen time. The latest quest to understand this much-maligned but also much-admired woman is Marie Antoinette, an eight-part television series co-produced by the BBC and Canal+. Read on […]
What to do in Paris When it Rains
‘Actually, Paris is the most beautiful in the rain.’ So says Léa Seydoux’s character Gabrielle to Owen Wilson’s Gil at the end of Midnight in Paris, before they walk away from the Pont Alexandre III, toward a glimmering future together. If you’re as similarly misty-eyed in your Paris outlook (well, if you’re a regular visitor […]