"Nos pères avaient un Paris de pierre, nos fils auront un Paris de plâtre." Victor Hugo.

Unlike what one of my friends said, Paris is neither wretched or grimy. I am sorry to disappoint you, but this city is far from the romantic idea of a dirty Paris full of poets from the Beat generation. The Paris that you can see in movies, full of life, of little flea markets, of Les Halles, had disappeared to give birth to the world's capital of fashion, luxury and clubbing, but also of stressed and agressive people, of uninteresting and boring tourists and of dog poop.

Paris - 20/02/2012

Of course, you can still find many typical cafés and Paris is still the bright city of the arts. But never overestimate this. With its indecent rents, and its 2€ coffee, you need to be rich to fully enjoy Paris. And, when you can afford to live here without any troubles, you are far from a romantic image of the depressive poet or lost artist.

This is why you are more likely to meet German tourists with Disneyland Paris caps, young Italian teenagers with a bag with the Eiffel Tower, or rich Arabian Cheikhs buying hotels on the Champs Elysées. Or, if you are lucky enough to meet real parisians, you can recognize them easily. A depressive looking person, checking its Iphone 5, holding a Fauchon bag? No doubt, that's a Parisian.

Actually, the Paris of the movies has not completely disapeared. It is still agonizing for the enjoyement of the rest of the world. You have the real Paris, of people living, working, wandering here everyday, calling the police for 2 youngsters being too loud at night, running in the Subway corridors, and rushing for their train. And you have the other Paris, the Touristic Paris, the fake Paris.

And I love this Paris. I love to walk by the Seine, by the Cabarets in Pigalle or on Mouffetard Street. I love to be amused by the fascination that foreign people have for Paris, even if I know I have exactly the same kind of fascination. I love how it is an outside museum. I love how it is just a big cliché, a great amusement park with Piaf and Tiersen Music, how it tries sometimes to be just like in the movies, but fails, for it can't be authentic enough, or at least as it used to be. 

Paris 20/02/2012

" Que faire de ces clichés que nous renvoient le cinéma Hollywoodien ? Certains s'en sont offusqués, au nom de la France, de sa fierté de vieux pays civilisé menacé par l'américanisation de sa culture et de son mode de vie. Cette exposition trouve plus stimulant de considérer que cette vision de Paris renvoie moins à la ville elle-même qu'à une pulsion projetée par sa fabrication. Autrement dit: Paris, dans ces films, parle autant du désir américain que de la capitale française."
Exposition Paris vu par Hollywood, à l'Hôtel de Ville, jusqu'au 15 décembre 2012.