THE WORLD'S BIGGEST MUSEUM
There’s an atmosphere to some places
and you have to acknowledge that the spirit of Saint-Germain-des-Prés
lingers here in particular, in the walls of the Lutetia,
the grand hotel of Paris.
This historical hotel is on the Left Bank of Paris.
It came into being in the early 20th century with the Boucicaut family,
already owners of a famous department store,
who wanted a hotel right next to the store to welcome its prestigious clients.
During the 20th century,
this legendary house will have some exciting times
with ups and downs matching the madness of the century.
But around here, there is the sweet scent of Saint-Germain-des-Prés
and today, I’m inviting you to join me in a Saint-Germain adventure.
Let’s go!
Hello, Mr. Cousty. - Hello.
So, you’re the general manager of this renowned house.
When does the story begin?
Building started in 1909...
GENERAL MANAGER
...but it officially opened on December 28, 1910.
The opening was a little behind schedule as, in early 1910,
there were the great floods of Paris, blocking some areas of the capital
and delaying building works.
What makes this place stand out among the grand Parisian hotels?
It's location. It was built within the North-South axis
when Boulevard Raspail was created.
In terms of the facades,
the architects want to break away from Haussmann facades,
which are very classic and flat.
So, they built this facade to look like a wave
and it still has its specific charm today.
So, why César and why such an emblematic sculpture for the Lutetia?
Maybe because the hotel was built using an Eiffel technique
and so, having Gustave Eiffel right here creates an interesting link to legacy.
Without going into any third-rate sociology,
do you think that your clients might have a slightly different mindset
to those who go to grand hotels on the Right Bank of Paris?
Yes. Our clients obviously want discretion
and, to coin a barbaric phrase, we’re not at all "bling bling."
What about the intellectual and literary dimension, is it legend or reality?
No, it's reality.
This hotel used to be a meeting place for very famous authors,
be it James Joyce or Albert Cohen, who wrote Belle du Seigneur here.
Every publishing house was founded in this neighborhood.
Secondly, there’s also the fact that, for years,
we’ve continued to host literary prize awards,
whether it be the Prix Medicis, the Prix Décembre
or the Prix des lectrices Elle,
a number of awards are hosted in this hotel.
LITERARY SUITE
Ladies and Gents, one of the most literary bars in the capital
and one of the most literary barmen in the capital, Gilles.
Hello. - Hello, Gilles.
Are there people who come to this bar just for its atmosphere,
for you, or for its different mindset? - Absolutely.
People come for us because apparently they like us,...
HEAD BARMAN
...whether they know us or not, but also for the vibe and entertainment.
There's a new show here every day.
Serge Gainsbourg was a client who knew more than us
about 1920's and 1930’s cocktails.
He had a collection of books on American cocktails
and he took a lot of pleasure in making his own cocktails here, behind the bar.
We're not talking about the bawdy, drunken Gainsbourg.
It's more about love of the culture of this place
which is a very specific setting. - Exactly.
It's an open window to the world. There are about 45 to 50 nationalities
in this hotel.
It's a legacy. We're no longer in a classic bar.
This bar turned you into a passionate reader.
Absolutely. Jacques Laurent gave me an insight into the great classics
and he's the greatest person I've met in this job.
Then there’s the incredible story of the deportees
who came here for first aid.
It’s a beautiful story. - Absolutely.
The Taittingers offered the Red Cross this hotel to look after deportees.
A client, after having read Pierre Assouline’s book,
said her mother was pregnant in the camps and had given birth a few months later.
One day, she came to tell us about it all, it was incredible.
She was in her mom's belly in 1945? - Absolutely.
These are daily anecdotes from anonymous people
who are moved by these places.
Right next to us, but let’s not bother them,
there are two of France’s most famous actors.
Do you often have
celebrities or stars in here? - Yes.
What's their mood when they come here?
They come for the peaceful atmosphere and to be anonymous
and even if clients do recognize them, they hold back
and respect their privacy.
That’s what they like, I think.
Thank you very much, Gilles. - My pleasure, Eric.
Muriel!
Hello, Muriel. - Hello, Eric.
Is everything OK? - Yes, fine.
CHAMBERMAID, LAUNDRY SUPERVISOR
I wanted to show you a room
because we don’t always have to stay in the parts the public can see.
How many rooms are there? - 230 rooms.
Everyone says that in these luxurious hotels on the Left Bank,
there is a friendlier mindset than in the palaces on the Right Bank.
Yes. - Less snobby.
True. I also worked on the Right Bank, but I prefer the Left Bank.
What do you do when one client leaves in the morning
and another is arriving at noon?
My role is to make up the room for the next client.
I clear things out and check that nothing has been left behind.
Sometimes they forget things like a shoe or a sock.
And then I start working.
Have you ever found any valuables or things which are downright funny?
Funny, yes. And worse still.
Let's make the bed.
Muriel has to check my work, though.
There's nothing behind the bed.
Keep it nice and square.
Then the pillowslips.
We lay the plaid at the end of the bed.
This is the centenary cocktail. - Thank you, sir.
I need to talk to you about this place and the Parisian intellectual milieu.
This is a Left Bank luxurious hotel
and it was rapidly colonized by the intellectuals.
Let’s start in between the two World Wars.
Russians come here.
They've been chased out of their country by the October Revolution.
They have no money, but they come here anyway.
A few years later, the Germans come too for the same reason:
They're fleeing the Third Reich and Hitler.
Thomas Mann and Heinrich Mann meet up here
when they've settled down in the neighborhood.
And then there are Americans here too.
When Hemingway comes to Paris, he doesn’t go straight to the Right Bank.
He sits down here with James Joyce and some of the Anglo-Saxon intellectuals.
The adventure will continue after the War, because someone like Jacques Laurent,
this brilliant intellectual, comes here every day
driving his big American convertible.
He'll drink soda here and, especially, whisky straight up,
famously sniping at Jean-Paul Sartre in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
I'm in the gourmet Michelin-starred restaurant, with chef, Philippe Renard.
It’s adorable of you to welcome me because this is not just a taster.
This dish is a bit difficult.
HEAD CHEF
Sommeliers hate choosing wine to go with asparagus.
It’s very difficult to complement it. We have truffles and lobster,
and truffles have a strong taste. It’s now the end of the season
and you’ll notice that the lobster has this salt water flavor.
For this work session, let’s call Philippe Sochon,
sommelier in this grand restaurant for almost ten years.
Sit down here, Philippe.
No protocol, we’re working.
You should try this. You'll notice the salt water taste
and this persistent taste of truffle
which will overwhelm the asparagus which I know is a problem to you.
That was pretty mean. It's tough to match a wine to asparagus.
We’re in the middle of asparagus season, he’s going to have to help us out.
So, please have a go.
That’s why we first thought of champagne and a blend of vintage wines.
TO BE CONSUMED IN MODERATION
The interest of good wine-tasting and a perfect match..
HEAD SOMMELIER
...is that the wine doesn’t overwhelm the meal and vice-versa.
When you’re tasting your dish, if you want to get the full flavor,
you need to hold the wine in your mouth for a moment and then taste it.
That's when the palate is at its best. Then afterwards, taste your dish.
TO BE CONSUMED WITH MODERATION
It will bring out flavors that you couldn't taste before.
Try it. You just tasted the white, bingo!
Can you taste the salt water coming out of the lobster?
That’s when you see if it's a good match: if one flavor is stronger.
What do you think, Philippe? Which one is best?
Tell me about this sweet wine,
This one’s from the Var. It's a 2007 vintage.
It has a nice roundness to it, with lots of fruit and elegance.
It could go well with the truffles. - Fantastic.
It’s not overwhelmed by the asparagus. They go well together.
Exactly. That’s the point.
This menu has three very different flavors.
Anymore and it's overkill and you can't taste what you're eating.
Gastronomy is part of our heritage. - Yes.
People come to France to have fun.
They come here because of the extraordinary things we have here.
Philippe Sochon, are you doing this just because I’m here?
Or does this kind of session really exist?
Does the chef say to you:
"We need to find a good match come and taste this with me"?
After ten years, the chef and I have a lovely bond.
The chef often calls me, as soon as he creates something,
to taste something with it or find a new wine.
He's always eager to find something new and I really appreciate that.
Can we see your cellar later on? - I’m told it's huge.
Of course, we’ll go and visit it.
It’s an honor. Thank you both Philippes.
We not in a corridor in Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining,
with Jack Nicholson and huge corridors.
No, this is our legendary hotel.
But as you can see, the prevalent style is Art Deco.
The hotel was built in 1910, but, a few years later,
Art Deco will give it its style and personality.
If you don’t believe me, just watch these images.
Since the hotel was created in 1910, Art Deco has always been very present.
There are works of art in the gallery but also on the landing of every floor.
GENERAL HOUSEKEEPER
Like here, for example, we have Philippe Perrin’s flick knife.
He also decorated a room
with a huge razor blade on the door.
We also have the literary suite on the sixth floor
which looks like a Parisian flat,
with a superb view of the Eiffel Tower and les Invalides.
Sonia Rykiel stayed here
for several months.
THE PARISIENNE SUITE
Before I came to work at the hotel,
Pierre Berger stayed in the Parisienne Suite for a long time.
We also have the South America Suite,
which was decorated by Vik Muniz.
SOUTH AMERICA SUITE
You can admire his paintings of Brigitte Bardot,
Marilyn Monroe, the Mona Lisa and Jacqueline Picasso.
ARMAN SUITE
The Arman suite has a very prominent musical theme,
as you can see from the sofa.
I'm sat on a sofa made out of violin cases
and in the bedroom, the headboard is violin-shaped.
The artist had free rein to decorate this suite
with sculptures, paintings
and works of art which he created
especially for this suite.
In fact, it can happen
that one of our regular clients,
who drops in once a year,
asks me to completely empty the suite. She only wants the paintings on the walls,
but does not want to sit on this sofa or armchair or use the dining table.
So, we rearrange the suite according to her wishes.
How long have you been sommelier here? - Ten years.
Ten years, that's nothing.
But you’ve been a sommelier for longer. - Indeed, around 17 years.
You're 33, so you must've started young. - Exactly.
Well, it’s a big cellar. - Yes, it’s one of the largest in Paris.
We’re lucky enough to work with such a fine tool.
We have around 28,000 bottles.
There are 28,000? - Yes.
How many different varieties? - Around 750.
Not bad.
So, here’s an open door.
Here are the white Burgundy wines.
It's is one of the best appellations in France.
We also have Saint Véran, Chablis and Corton Charlemagne wines.
We have wines from every appellation.
Do you take pride in being here?
Yes, the Lutetia is like that.
We’re very attached to this hotel
in terms of its history, its surroundings, its clients,
our Saint-Germain regulars.
It’s really superb.
Is this cellar as old as the hotel? - Yes, it dates back to 1910.
All the racks are the original ones, everything was numbered.
We've kept things as they were
because there were many appellations, many wines
and it made it easier to find them.
Are there still any original vintage wines?
No, not many. The oldest is from 1964.
The older ones were drunk to celebrate the World War II liberation.
Were the bottles protected from the German Occupation?
Yes, the head sommelier and head bursar
hid the bottles in a tunnel and then bricked it up during the Occupation.
The Germans were probably wondering how such a grand hotel had so few bottles?
Exactly.
At the end of the winter in 1945, we were wondering:
where will France house the thousands of deportees
returning from Germany in the coming weeks?
General de Gaulle knew this place
because, on April 6, 1921 he’d spent his wedding night here.
Together with some volunteers who were dealing with deportee cases,
he chose these premises and from April onwards,
the first trains start coming home from Germany.
The hotel sets up cubicles everywhere
and French military security staff welcome the deportees,
giving them first aid, listening to them, questioning them,
giving them food and a bed for a few days.
The moment is both tragic and filled with emotion and French history.
Every morning, thousands of Parisians, people from the countryside
would flock to the hotel entrance to look at notice boards,
trying to find out if any of their relatives had come back from Germany.
This is how Juliette Gréco, as she describes a few years later,
on a beautiful spring morning of 1945,
finds her mother and sister
who had been deported in 1943.
Good morning, sir. - Mr. Jean.
Do you know that you’re the star of the hotel?
When I was preparing this program, I was told about “Mr. Jean”.
How long have you been here? - 40 years.
That’s no mean feat. - I'm so proud of it.
How would you qualify this hotel
in comparison to the other grand hotels in Paris?
It’s on the Left Bank, the same side as the heart.
HEAD CONCIERGE
I compare the Lutetia hotel to a big cruise liner.
It's like the start of a cruise, something magical, a long trip.
Which VIPs have stayed here who affected you the most,
because of their humor or your relationship?
Humor is a big word, but I remember Coluche.
After a trip to the West Indies, he stayed with us for many weeks.
The hotel has a no-parking policy and his car was always right in front.
The traffic wardens stuck fines on it. As his room was front-facing,
he would chuck yoghurt pots at them.
The press relayed the information the next day,
saying that a small, fat man wearing round glasses and overalls
was chucking yoghurt pots out of the window. It was funny.
So, he was throwing yoghurt pots? - Right at the traffic wardens.
It caused some problems in the neighborhood
but it was always resolved.
Anyone else?
César, the sculptor. - He stayed a long time, didn’t he?
He stayed here for six years.
TORSO
We were the best of friends.
We went on a diet together, competing to lose the most weight.
We never managed as we both liked our food too much.
Did he make this? - Yes, he did.
He asked for items so he could make something for us.
It represents the concierge golden keys.
The concierge symbol.
What brings important guests here rather than anywhere else?
It feels like the provinces in Paris.
Thank you very much, Mr. Jean. - My pleasure.
What a story! A French story.
This legendary place came into being in 1910
according to the wishes of the owners of a famous Left Bank department store
who wanted their clients to stay here.
A few years later in 1921, General de Gaulle comes here
to spend his wedding night with Yvonne.
And then in 1940, the Germans requisition it
to set up the terrible Abwehr, their counterintelligence unit.
Eventually, there's a very nice chapter in French history
when, in 1945, deportees heading back from Germany were welcomed here.
A little later on, it’s the golden years of Saint-Germain-des-Prés
and artists like the Arman sculptors and César settle here.
These walls contain a century of Saint-Germain-des-Prés history
and I’m told, it’s not over yet.
You can see this show again on the France 3 website:
www.france3.fr
See you!
Subtitles: Babel Subtitling - babelSUB.be