Cinémathèque Française

I felt immersed in beauty coming here asI had the pleasure of watching Tati's "Jour de fête" at this theater.

Before and after the film you are able to peruse the exhibit, which is a treat if you are fan of the featured director. If not, it gives you an opportunity to learn more and become a fan.

The building itself being designed by Gehry is beautiful with its wonderful white curves and the theater is a cozy setting for your viewing enjoyment.

I will definitely be back to this theater when visiting Paris.

A must for lovers of cinematic art - ban on photography at its museum a big minus.

The famous Cinémathéque Francaise is a must-see for all lovers of things cinematic. Located in the pretty Paris "quarter" of Bércy (so you can combine your visit with one to the nearby Bércy Village of restaurants and small shops), it's a stunning piece of architecture that houses a smallish but important museum of movie artifacts, from early motion picture cameras to posters, costumes and the original shrunken head from Psycho - all of these items were collected by its founder, the eminent, Oscar-winning(!) Henri Langlois (there was a temporary exhibit on his life and career when I visited in June of 2014). Of course, there are also several cinemas to show the kind of movies you will never ever find at cineplexes.

The biggest minus, and one which really bugged me, was the ban on photos in the museum. Not cool!

Several aspects of cinematic art are explored on the different floors. Make sure you get the right ticket for the floor you want to visit. Sometimes, you need to pay close attention to get the right one (we're in France after all, so buckle up!).

British tourists might be delighted to find one of the city's few UK-style pubs, the prettiest of the Le Frog chain, to be just a 7 minute walk from the Cinémathéque. They make their own beer, and for Paris high-street pubs, their ale prices are moderate (i.e. about 30% higher than in London).

Bércy is the subway station, a 5 minute walk from there.

I was really looking forward into going to this museum. I work in film and love Paris but if you're a tourist or look like one I guess DON'T visit this museum! Because they will treat you like crap. First of all we came in and no one even said hello or direct us anywhere, then to buy the tickets nobody help us either(we look confused) and when I tried asking the guy who was in the counter he just spoke loudly at me in French, lucky us we didn't understand what he said but it was just rude so we just left. We came all the way down there for the museum and left disappointed.

Having spent several weeks in Paris over the last 5 years, this museum had been on my list, but only made the cut this trip. I love cinema and I love France, so one would assume this museum is a match made in heaven. Perhaps the bar was set too high? The museum is quite small and if you're not attending a screening or admiring the architecture from outside, there seems to be just three reasons to visit - memorabilia related to Metropolis, Modern Times and Psycho. After two passes through the tiny collection (mostly containing vintage film equipment), I didn't see anything related to Hitchcock. Foolishly, I dared ask the apathetic young lady working the door... While my French isn't stellar, last I checked the name "Alfred Hitchcock" isn't French and should be instantly recognizable to anyone working at a museum of cinema. No? After three tries, the name registered, but she stated there was nothing related to Alfred Hitchcock at the museum. Puzzled, I asked at the front desk on the way out and again the young man didn't know of any Hitchcock items, but good for him - he at least knew who Hitchcock was. When I showed him online that there is indeed something from 'Psycho' at this museum, he looked confused and asked a co-worker who advised that it was recently closed/under restoration. Mystery solved! (And I do love mysteries...)
I had high hopes for this museum, but sadly, I can only recommend it if you have nothing else to do in Paris. The security staff were rude as were some of the museum staff making the visit that much less pleasant. At least I can check it off my list.

I had so much fun here for two reasons--The beautifully designed building by Frank Gehry and the Stanley Kubrick exhibit we saw. The main museum I wasn't as impressed with. I definitely was a bit disappointed because English is not present in the main museum, so I was a bit lost at times.

But the Kubrick exhibit was amazing! I was so excited to see a bunch of things from some of my favorite movies. I saw the little girls' dresses from The Shining! That's my favorite!

If you speak French, you'll enjoy it more and I'm sure they have very nice exhibits on other times too and I loved the Kubrick one!

This really is a must for the Paris cinephile: a great screen (with subtitles displayed on what looks like a POS device located below the screen) at only 6 euros the place, a program of mostly art films with featured directors covered in depth and extensive book/DVD shop.