Several weeks ago, a couple of my friends and I hatched a great plan -- we would go see Julie and Julia together on Wednesday, September 16th, the day it opened in France, and benefit from the last day of La Rentrée du Cinéma when tickets would only be 4 euros. It sounded like sheer genius, that is until a few days before when I started trying to track down show times and theaters. Then I learned something that I still find astonishing. While Wednesday is the day when new movies come out (as opposed to Friday as is the case in the U.S.), you cannot find out until Wednesday about show times for the week ahead.
Are you with me? Here's the deal. So say I know on Monday that I want to go to the movies on Wednesday or even Thursday or Friday. I have to wait until Wednesday morning to find out when and where I can actually see the film. Now, don't tell me to check the theater chains' Web sites or even sites like Cinofil or Allocine that have information for most of the theaters in Paris. Been there, done that, and no dice. And you can't call the theater because there is no phone number posted for the theater (of course, this is no different from back home). Tuesday evening, I finally went on the site for Le Figaro, crossing my fingers that Wednesday's Figaroscope would already be posted. And bingo (finally), there were the showtimes for Julie and Julia. In the end, as so often is the case, all's well that ends well. We enjoyed the movie at the bargain price, had a few good laughs and shed a few tears, and now we know better than to try to go to the movies on Wednesdays in the future.
6 comments:
that's what makes Paris so "charming" Anne...anyway the movie was great...just like the books..I've never gone to the movies there..do they have popcorn? or is there some strange different movie snack?
-Allocine does post schedules ahead of time, if the theaters published them of course.
-If you want the phone number of a theater, you have the yellow pages.
-Schedules don't change that much.
If the movie is 2 hours long, it's gonna be along the lines of 2PM, 4.30PM, 7PM, 9.30PM give or take 10 or 20 minutes depending on actual length and theaters.
And who plans more than a day ahead when and where they're going to see a movie anyway... ;-)
Debbie: Popcorn, candy, sodas, and ice cream, but none of those gross nachos. But then I never buy snacks at the movies!
Debbie, it's too difficult to watch a French movie and to eat popcorn at the same time! One needs a lot of training and a big brain for that!
Anne: I am in Williamsburg visiting a wonderful octogenerian friend from my DC days. We saw Julie and Julia last night--loved it. I told her about your blog and am printing some pages this morning to show her. Love your blog--hope all is well. Maureen
Having lived in Paris for the best part of the last twenty years, it has always annoyed/frustrated me that you can't plan your next cinema outing until the Wednesday before.
Cinemas must know at least a week before what they will be showing, as it is published in Pariscope etc. on a Wednesday, so why aren't we allowed to know??!
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