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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)
Wikipedia states: 'enclosed in a maze of parks, artificial rivers and lakes, leafy avenues'. With 1/5 of the town being parks, trees and greens, this is certainly one of the most beautiful suburban cities to live in. Despite I hated visiting my grand-mother like the rest of my siblings, I still have fond memories of the surroundings. The name 'Vésinet' actually sounds terrible to the ear, an endless laughing stock particularly for my elder brother ('Le petit Vésinet qui se gratte', le 'Vésimoche'...)
Le Vésinet (Yvelines, roughly 16km West of Paris)
Coat of arms:
My grand-parents'house. 6 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (maybe 3 in fact), a huge garden with a massive shed. Don't be fooled, it was plain ugly and depressing!
Edit: My parents told me that they would have bought the house when it went on sale last year (owned by my grandma who died a couple of years ago) but they didn't because it reminded them of too many painful memories! Aaargh
Built on the banks of one of the artifical lakes, this house was used in the French popular TV serie from the 60's 'Belphegor, le fantôme du Louvre' (the Ghost of the Louvre museum) as 'Lady Hodwin's mansion'.
Belphegor (that leather mask always freaked me out!)
The front side of the house, as seen in the serie
The artificial lake
I also remember a house covered with fake concrete branches but I wasn't able to find it during my virtual visit (Frangin, tu vois peut-être de quoi je parle ?). Time for a little trip back to Le Vésinet!
Pics from Google maps street view and http://www.blog-vesinet.fr
Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine, 7km West of Paris)
Coat of arms:
First house I lived in. In my street, there used to be a baker's, a convenience shop, a cobbler's, a café-restaurant with an open garden, another café, and a butcher's. Very unsual though for a residential area of that kind.
The butcher's, converted into a house. Most of the interesting architectural details have unfortunately been removed.
There used to be a railroad crossing our street with an old iron bridge and a small station house (above). Now converted into a leafy walkway (the rails stayed for a while until the path was covered in asphalt).
The small newsagent's shop on the other end of the street. Still there!
The primary school (reads 'school for girls' as boys and girls used to be split into different buildings until the 60's)
Some beautiful houses:
Enamel plate (reading the knickname of the house)
Other view of the previous house
Various interesting buildings:
A movie theatre converted into a supermarket (like most of them in the region)
My local tobacconist's (also a café), used to be called 'Le Balto'. If you click to enlarge the picture, you'll notice the 'Carotte', a typical advertising sign for tobacconists. It's meant to be the shape of a carrot but looks more like two traffic cones stuck together.
Ironmonger's: the best around. The owner ran that business all of his life with his brother (I think). They wore dark blue coats like in the good old times and the wife looked after the till locked in a small 'cage' in the back of the shop. Famously known for having absolutely 'everything' (possibly even condoms!), a first-class retailer.
A magnificent building (1930's?) with a huge square yard and the same building again behind.
I used to gaze at that building when I was visiting my grand-mother. Despite the stately outlook, these are council flats.
Below, a detail on the facade:
All pics from Google maps street view
I can't believe I forgot Snow-White house! Here it is:
The little granny who lived there had a whole set of Snow-White and her 7 dwarves in display. I was amazed!
Still, it feels like our good times came to an end and that somehow we've been torn apart. I remember when I first went to Glasgow a few weeks after my arrival (I was living by the seaside some 40km off Glasgow) it looked nothing like any other European cities I had travelled. Every street was straight, everything was angular and square. I would often get lost at first because the streets could easily be mixed up. I fell in love with the architecture. Some buildings look Amsterdamian, some others Venetian, some even Parisian and Art Deco is everywhere in high proportion.
I started to take a lot of pictures of the Art Deco buildings (or what looked like it as I'm not an expert) in the idea I could convince someone at the Lighthouse (an architecture and design venue in the city centre) to organize an exhibition about Art Deco in Glasgow. But I dropped the idea because I lacked of time and had no clue whether this was naive or sensible.
The Rogano restaurant in Exchange place, created in 1935
Building at the intersection of Queen St and Ingram st (the Glaswegian avenue Montaigne)
The Watt Bros building takes up 3 angles in Sauchiehall st, Hope street and Bath st. My favourite granny's shop, one of the best stores in Glasgow, a real maze with different uneven levels and stairs.
The Watt Brothers lift at the 'ground floor', beautiful
Dunnes Building at the intersection of Sauchiehall st and Cambridge st
The ABC venue on Sauchiehall st, was the first cinema in Glasgow
Stunning building in Gordon st
My Art Deco inspired window display during the time I was working at the charity shop.
Also I learned yesterday that November Reels is currently post-producing a documentary film about Barbara Hulanicki and Biba. Fantastic news!!
Picture copyright of November Reels http://www.november-reels.com/
It's a very very simple dress with a strap shoulder on one side and a angel sleeve on the other. Not very structured so it can be worn gathered at the waist and secured with a belt. I choosed this pattern because it reminded me of the shabby one Jane March wears in 'L'amant'.
It's really the spirit of the dress. I can't wait to have it finished!
I was quite cold today so I took the decision not to wear skirts before a while :0( (Since my 'ilness' 5 years ago my body's freaking out when the temperature drops). This was a little bit more dressed than usual and I know almost every morning I cannot walk un-noticed in this wave of rushy grey and black shadows. I felt really good. Later an old man told me I was pretty. I felt sad because he asked me if he was good looking too. He was very innocent when he asked that almost like a child (I guess he was drunk). It was so hard to say anything because he certainly was a very good looking man in his youth and the life he's been through destroyed so many hopes so many dreams. He was like a dying flower. I say old but he may have been in his forties.
I watched 'The Ice Storm' by Ang Lee last week. I loved it. I have such a strong bond with the period the film takes place (1973). But I imagine one can find it boring and uninteresting. But really it's not. It's an emotional and atmospheric film. I'm quite fascinated by the house in the woods (the Carver family's house). I have made some research and found a few leads ie Gropius and Breuer. Also a few websites about New Canaan (Connecticut) where the film has been partly shot.
A 'Breuer' house
Interior of a Breuer house
The novel by Rick Moody on which The Ice Storm was based.
Oh yeah and also another place I'd like to visit along with San Francisco (California), is Carmel by The Sea.
All pics from: http://www.carmelcalifornia.com/
- Music:The dears -oh I love them-
