The Grand Rex in Paris
Aug 7, 2015 21:35:44 GMT
Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2015 21:35:44 GMT
This week I went to see The Little Prince at the Grand Rex in Paris. The Grand Rex is the largest cinema in Europe with 2,800 seats. Of course things have changed over the years. While 2,800 seats is now considered to be absolutely huge, Radio City Music Hall in New York City has 5,933 seats and the defunct Gaumont Palace in Paris used to be the largest cinema in the world with 6,000 seats. Anyway, the Grand Rex was built in homage to Radio City Music Hall on a smaller scale, and one thing that it has going for it is that it still screens movies most of the time, even if it is far too large for the number of spectators who go there now. Basically, it has no choice, because it has been classified a national monument and the interior cannot be modified. (The same is true of Radio City Music Hall.)
I very rarely have an opportunity to go the Grand Rex because it only shows the most appalling American blockbusters dubbed in French or else the 'Christmas' animated movie when it actually almost fills up sometimes because it usually gets an exclusive run at least two weeks before any other cinema in Europe.
Anyway, The Little Prince is a French movie, so it was completely normal to see it in French even though the English language version also has an all star cast (as I suppose is the case in most of the countries of the world concerning their own languages).
But the star of the show is the cinema itself. It has a huge orchestra with two balconies and it is decorated to look like an Italian city under a starry sky. It was wonderful when I was a tiny tot and it is still wonderful today. During the movie, clouds pass along the ceiling and hide the stars from time to time.
And then the movie ended and it was time to leave.
I very rarely have an opportunity to go the Grand Rex because it only shows the most appalling American blockbusters dubbed in French or else the 'Christmas' animated movie when it actually almost fills up sometimes because it usually gets an exclusive run at least two weeks before any other cinema in Europe.
Anyway, The Little Prince is a French movie, so it was completely normal to see it in French even though the English language version also has an all star cast (as I suppose is the case in most of the countries of the world concerning their own languages).
But the star of the show is the cinema itself. It has a huge orchestra with two balconies and it is decorated to look like an Italian city under a starry sky. It was wonderful when I was a tiny tot and it is still wonderful today. During the movie, clouds pass along the ceiling and hide the stars from time to time.
And then the movie ended and it was time to leave.
