EIFFEL TOWER ❘ CULTURE


saloon brawls, polar bears and sinking boats, Leslie is leading as the competitors tear through Paris but, to prove to beautiful photojournalist Maggie DuBois (Natalie Wood) that he cares more about her than winning, our hero stops short of the finish line at the Eiffel Tower and lets Fate win. Incensed by this, Fate insists they race back to New York – all part of a plot to blow up Leslie’s car with a cannon. He misses, hitting the Eiffel Tower, which buckles and comes down in instalments in a comedy pratfall that would have made Jacques Tati proud. Tower rating: 


THE 400 BLOWS (1959) François Truffaut’s debut feature film has perhaps the most famous title sequence in French movie history – one in which the Eiffel Tower plays a crucial role. The story about neglected youngster Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), who has to deal with self- adsorbed parents and brutal police officers, starts with a travelling shot through the streets of Paris.


The Eiffel Tower peeks out above rooftops at an angle suggesting it’s the point of view of a child sitting in the back seat of a car. Street by


street, the camera moves ever closer to the structure, keeping its gaze locked on the tower. Eventually we’re right under La Tour Eiffel, briefly staring up at its majesty before the car speeds away with France’s most reassuring symbol disappearing into the distance. It’s the most perfect of openings for a heartbreaking coming-of-age tale about a boy for whom a normal, happy life is out of reach. Tower rating: 


SUPERMAN II (1980) You really can’t take Lois Lane anywhere. In what is a common theme across the first two Superman movies, the Daily Planet’s best reporter, played by Margot Kidder, continually gets herself into trouble and is rescued by Superman (Christopher Reeve). And it doesn’t take long for Lois to do something stupidly dangerous after arriving in Paris in Richard Lester’s


campy sequel. With terrorists taking over the Eiffel Tower and threatening to detonate a nuclear bomb, the journalist covers the story by hanging onto the bottom of a lift containing the device. She’s soon plummeting to her death, with Superman arriving in the nick


❯❯ Aug/Sep 2022 FRANCE TODAY ❘ 93


IMAGE © M. DENANCÉ / EIFFEL TOWER


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148