La Petite Chinoise : LPC

Paris, je t’aime. Paris, I love you. This phrase, especially in French, evokes the Paris of legendary, extraordinary romance captured in photographs by Willy Ronis , Robert Doisneau and Henri Cartier-Bresson.Paris is the love we all hope to experience some day…

Ben and I saw ”Paris, je t’aime” last week. We liked it immediately. Paris, je t’aime is a piecing together of 18 court métrages (short films) about loves and lives of people in Paris. The movie is directed by 18 different directors and showcases 18 very different realities, all existing in Paris. The caption is “1 city, 10 million hearts, 1 story, 1 film”. The producers are Claudie Ossard (who produced Délicatessen in 1991 and The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain in 2001) and Emmnauel Benbihy, brought together the directors from all over the world and an eclectic casting that includes Nathalie Portman , Willem Dafoe , Juliette Binoche , Gérald Depardieu , and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Each director chose the quartier that represented the ideal framework for his/ her story. Bruno Podalydès for Montmarte, beneath the Sacré Cœur (and my SIL’s apartment building on Rue Giraldon) for a love encounter and Wes Craven for the cemetery of Pere Lachaise and the meeting of Oscar Wilde. Every producer had his/ her idea of representing Paris… and I realized so did I.

I liked this movie because it showed singularly and collectively a passion for Paris. Everyone has a Paris of his/ her view. I also liked the fact that they featured non-French people living in Paris. Usually “foreigners” are glossed over or omitted from French movies. The movie showed that it could be the Paris by birth right, by adoption, a passing through… at the end of the day we can say “Paris, je t’aime”.

I enjoyed most of the movie, except for two segments. The segment I absolutely hated was “Porte de Choisy”. What is Christopher Doyle on about? It completely grossed me out when Monsieur Henri kissed Madame Li. What’s an old wrinkled man’s fetish? A young Chinese woman? Yucks! Gross! Puke! I wonder if I am so out of touch that I don’t see the many young Asian women in Paris dyeing their hair blond to be more “French”.

The segment “Quartier de la Madeleine” aka Vampire Paris, was way too scary for me. Am I glad I am never out that late at night! These days when I Elijah Wood in a movie, I’m expecting something evil to happen soon. Run Elijah, Run! However, artistically, I like it as the twist to the rest of the Paris humans-only love story.

The story I liked most is “The lady in the Red Trench Coat”, directed by Isabel Coixet. Coincidentally, it is also the poster for the film. Apart from the fact that it was filmed in my Sunday morning quartier, the less-trendy side of Bastille that is a mix of the working class and the bourgeois, I found the story very touching. It turned the Parisian extra-marital affair on its head, through the kindness shown by the husband, played by Sergio Castellitto.

The feature restaurant in the Bastille segment is a Belle-époque bistro called “Le Square Trousseau”.

Le Square Trousseau is located on the corner of Rue Théophile Roussel and Rue Antoine Vollon, and overlooks a leafy Parisian square. The atmosphere at Le Square Trousseau is convivial and low-key, despite being a haunt for the media crowd.

There is ample opportunity for celebrity spotting: Jean-Paul Gaultier is a regular at Le Square Trousseau, as his workshop is near-by. Claudia Schiffer orders the same pâté when she eats here. The menu features the usual bistro fare, simple but well-prepared, like pâté campagne (country pâté), rôti de poulet à la moutarde ancienne (roast chicken with mustard seeds), bavette de bœuf (beef steak) and escargots by the dozen and half dozen.

The lunch menu is €20 for 2 courses, €25 for 3 courses, not including beverages. La Cave du Square Trousseau is located next door and sells wines that are on the wine list in the bistro and other wines.

Le Square Trousseau
1 rue Antoine Vollon
75012, Paris
Tél : 01 43 43 06 00
Mon-Sat : noon-2 :30p, 8p-11 :30p
Métros: Bastille (ligne 1), Ledru-Rollin (ligne 8)