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July 29th, 2009
Amelie's father lives in a place called 'Enghien' (or Enghien-les-Bains). IMDB states it's been filmed in Eaubonne, a city nearby. I can't find any detail about the choice of fictively setting Amelie's father house in Enghien but I guess the explanation may be that Enghien is one of the few suburban cities left untouched by the years which was also the whole point of the atmosphere created in the film.
There are no huge council flats towers for instance which is rare in the Paris suburbs. I assume they did take great care in order to keep the city green and tidy. When sat on the West banks of the lake, 5/6th of the sight is the sky and the rest is a long stretch of green and water. There's not a single thing that hurts your eyes. Les Bains means the Baths as it is the only Spa location in the Paris region. The other main feature is the casino. It contributes a lot to the wealth of the city thanks to the taxes collected.
Enghien-les-Bains (Val d'Oise, 11km West of Paris)
Coat of arms:
It'd take more than a single page to pay an honest tribute to the eclectic and beautiful style of Enghien (anything from Art Deco, English cottage, Scottish castle to Breuer or Normand style houses) but here's a little compilation I made yesterday:
My favourite of all, ultimate home fantasy!
This is not the famous Scottish castle though it does look very Scottish to me
The gates of the now sadly infamous Scottish castle. It's almost impossible to take a proper picture of the estate unless you're on a bark on the lake:
In the early 00's, this place was owned by a couple of business partners from Lebanon (see the Peggy Maaz and Nadim Khouri Klink case). I don't know whose property it is now. It may have been seized after they were sentenced and vanished in the Lebanese haze to never return. The value of the property is estimated at € 4 millions!
Let's have a closer look at that roof...
Yes indeed it's a horse!
The casino seen from the esplanade, they recently built some sort of window panels which unfortunately hide the architecture. It looks kind of ok inside but I think it's a shame.
An vintage advertisement poster
The Patenôtre-Desnoyers esplanade
All pics by me except the Scottish castle (http://fr.topic-topos.com), Amelie Poulain poster, casino (www.gamblingworld.com), vintage poster (www.artgalleryofgreatneck.com) and esplanade (www.wikipedia.fr)