French cinema fans flock to look behind the cameras

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-01-15 17:01

PARIS - Thousands of French cinema fans flocked to a fair at the weekend to learn some of the secrets behind Italian actress Monica Bellucci's seductive gait or the pastel splendours of Marie Antoinette's Versailles boudoir.

France's first Salon du Cinema, an event designed to give cinema goers a glimpse behind the cameras, had attracted close to 50,000 visitors by midday on Sunday, far surpassing the expectations of the organisers.

"The idea was to break down the barriers between the public and the people that make the films," said Moise Kissous, one of the event's organisers.

The event, which the organisers claim to be the first of its kind in the world, saw some of France's top cinema professionals reveal at least some of their secrets to the public with demonstrations of software, set design and sound effects.

Kissous said he had to overcome some fears that allowing filmgoers too close a look would spoil the magic of cinema.

But if anything, there seemed to be an extra interest in the sight of the bespectacled Jean-Pierre Lelong, one of the world's leading sound effects editors, using an old boot to create the voluptuous sound of Bellucci's high heels clicking along a Sicilian pavement.

"It's a bit of a French speciality, sound effects," he said, amid a collection of objects from leather gloves to brooms and bags of rice that he uses for the sounds of roaring flames, galloping horses or penguins marching across the snow.

France has always considered itself one of the homes of cinema and even in years like 2006, with no major international French blockbusters, a string of popular local comedies and romances have drawn in millions of spectators.

French actors, technicians and locations have also featured in several top international productions including "The Da Vinci Code" or "Marie Antoinette".

"I'm mainly interested in passing some things on to young people," said Anne Seibel, the chief French decorator of Sofia Coppola's sumptuous portrayal of life in the court of the Austrian-born princess.

"It's all about working to create a look for the film with the director of photography, the director and the others," she told Reuters. "For Marie Antoinette, it was all pastels."

As well as the opportunity to see Marie Antoinette's pink carriage up close, the Salon du Cinema also gave visitors the chance to take part in a film with director Nils Tavernier picking out extras for a short musical set in a railway station.

As far as could be judged, for long stretches they seemed to be experiencing the notorious longueurs of work on a film set.

But the professionals themselves were keen to dispel any notion that their work was all glamour, saying that the red carpets and flashing cameras of the premieres made up only a tiny fraction of the process of film making.

"When I see the final film, all I'm thinking is 'please let it work, please don't let anyone see it's a set'," said Seibel.