Film: A Prairie Home Companion (2006)
Screens: 3 Ticket price: 9.50€
Now this is a cinema. Founded by Claudes Lelouch, Miller and Berri with Jean-Jacques Beineix (the rogue whose Betty Blue was responsible for introducing that law where a quad for the film had to adorn every 80s/90s student hovel), this 3-screener, situated in Clichy and just across from the Pathé Wepler, really means it. Don't come here unless you want to watch the film, as chatterboxes and text/facebook/twitter addicts will not be suffered at all, let alone gladly.
With an ambitious programme that annually includes a generous helping of stuff hot from Cannes, as soon as you walk in here you can sense the purposeful -- yet not at all pretentious -- atmosphere. The auditorium we were in was quite modern and minimalist in terms of its decor, which is how I understand the other two to be. As you'd expect, the presentation of the film was superb, and Robert Altman's hugely enjoyable swansong, retitled as the less unwieldy (and rather poignant) The Last Show for French audiences, was well-received by the impeccably-behaved audience.
I really wish I'd visited the bistro (located upstairs - you have to enter from within the cinema, but a ticket isn't needed) as I've since read several rave reviews about it. That said, on a cold December night the crêpe stand just over the road made for an ideal post-film stop to grab an ambulatory bite to eat. That reminds me: if by any chance you bought a pile of stuff to make crêpes with (say, on holiday last summer in Brittany), isn't it about time you used it? If that doesn't sound like you, please ignore.
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