Paris in film: Funny Face

 *image from Funny Face

To women everywhere:  Banish the black!  Burn the blue!  And bury the beige... From now on girls, THINK PINK!

I wanted to share a few of my favorite movies featuring Paris, since that's been one of my greatest sources of fascination about Paris.


So #1 on the list: Funny Face.

It's hard to see this movie and not want to go to Paris... I love the scene where they're flying in an airplane, showing the eager faces of the characters looking out the window at the sights of Paris below, followed by a fun number called "Bonjour Paris" where they explore all the tourist attractions of Paris.

If you like...

Audrey Hepburn
Amazing bright colors, sharp graphics and visuals
Super fun, mod style of the late fifties
Fred Astaire
Paris
Strong settings and sense of place
Fashion, and laughing at it a bit
A little bit of singing and dancing

And of course, Romance

...then you will love this movie.

And if you're interested in a double feature, that's related, but entirely different, try watching it with The September Issue for a more realistic look behind the scenes at Vogue magazine.

To quote Audrey from the film "I'd be in Paris now if I could afford it".

So I sat down this weekend and made a list of my primary planning tasks for Paris and broke them down into manageable chunks:

March
Find inspiring guide books and web resources (that are on the same wavelength as my fantasy Paris trip, very important to find resources that inspire and are my style, versus dry dull text on how to do everything the cheapest possible)
Make a list of things I want to do while in Paris (once I know what I want to do, in what parts of the city, it may be easier to decide where I want to stay)

April
Passports (ack!)
Find a place to stay (and choose a neighborhood to stay in)

May
Research airline tickets/dates (the not so fun part)
Learn more about transportation

June
Find places I'd like to shop
Start rejuvenating my French

July
Find places I'd like to eat
Make a list of what to pack/buy

I'll be sharing my "trip" with you as I go!