PARIS: FANTASIES AND REALITIES in Fall 2019 (FR1091FB8)

Paris, je t’aime: in 2005, Gus Von Sant and the Cohen brothers, among other famous filmmakers, signed this collective love declaration to Paris, the most filmed city of the world. A few years later, in Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen revisits the clichés that nourish the imaginary Paris fantasized by foreigners. When exploring a city, our memory plays a role that conditions our perception of reality, creates expectations and sometimes provokes disillusionment. This course will encourage students to confront projected visual representations of Paris with their own experience of the city, to analyze and deconstruct the types of clichés that contributed to their romanticized visions. As capital of the arts, “Paris est une fête”, according to Hemingway. It is also a fantasy playground for the internationally famous Amélie, a mysterious and dangerous city in Polanski’s films and even provides an erotic and deadly background in the Last Tango in Paris. Each artist projects his own obsessions. Beyond the myth, however, Paris is also an ever-changing environment. Urban art is everywhere on the street. Popular run down neighborhoods have become chic gentrified districts. At the Café de Flore, tourists have replaced philosophers and, at the same time, the old warehouses of La Villette are now alternative studios that attract young artists of all kinds. Students will be encouraged to explore a multi-faceted Paris, open to all kinds of cultures.