T̨HE WORLD'S BIGGEST MUSEUM
Hello everyone.
Saint-Germain-des-Prés literary cafes are not quite like other cafes.
They have more soul and that's what's made them world famous.
We'll use three examples to show you the historic reasons for this.
The oldest of these cafes, Le Procope, of course,
and two legendary cafes: Les Deux Magots and Le Café de Flore.
Off we go.
PHILOSOPHERS AND WRITERS
FOUNDED IN 1686
I have the immense pleasure to be meeting Philippe Tisson.
It's very nice of you to come here to this legendary place.
Before we talk about it, I have a crucial question:
What is a literary cafe?
Basically, it's a cafe where people discuss literature.
They have become part of history.
They are cafes where writers, artists, bohemians, students
and intellectuals usually meet up.
They renew the concept of the salon,
the aristocratic salons that only a number of insiders had access to.
Anyone can come here and try to put the world to rights.
Yes, literary cafes belong to the people.
They are different to what literary salons are to the aristocracy.
They're not places for small talk, but for exchanging intellectual curiosity.
Where ideas progress.
That being said, we need to put it into perspective.
They weren't local bistros.
Is it true that this was the first?
Yes, it was the first big literary cafe.
It was owned by a very clever Italian, a very sophisticated Sicilian.
He was called Procopio and he came over from Italy and thought:
"I'm going to combine the cafe and literature
"to create a large literary cafe
"in a neighborhood with a lot of artists, intellectuals and students."
Procopio had an incredible stroke of luck,
because he'd barely finished renovating this place,
when the most famous troupe in France moved in opposite.
The guy thought: "It's a miracle."
So, immediately, the Comédie theater opens
and all the actors and writers we know, like Racine and La Fontaine,
attract people and the Gazette talks about the place,
and it's an instant success.
There's a second stroke of luck or miracle.
It's the beginning of the 18th century
and there's a fabulous intellectual movement called "Encyclopedism."
What do the encyclopedists do? They come here.
Diderot, d'Alembert and Voltaire, who adored this place.
He adored it here and referred to it as his "den."
They all lived within walking distance.
It was an intellectual neighborhood.
I imagine that these literary cafes were prolific places during the Revolution.
Robespierre and Danton came here.
Marat's print works were just next door.
From the 1830s, the romantics started coming here,
as did Victor Hugo and George Sand, who lived in the neighborhood.
Time goes by, and the great trend of literary cafes
in the narrowest sense, and Le Procope, is over.
Marc, I'd like you to go up to the Salon Marat
and prepare the table for the Friends of Rimbaud group.
OK. - Go ahead.
Are you Gilles? - Yes, hello.
Thanks for welcoming us into this historic house.
In this third millennium, is any of the literary spirit left
in this house where poets and intellectuals spent time?
Is it still relevant?
We still organize annual literary awards.
For ten years, the Express Bestsellers have been held at Le Procope.
SEE YOU SOON FOR THE MILLENNIUM PARTY
The far left Jean Zay awards are held here every year,
as are the Black Comedy awards and many others.
We are obliged to, as the house is so connected to literature
that we can't not organize literary awards here.
Thanks, Gilles. - My pleasure.
Where can I find the Salon Rousseau? - It's this way.
Go ahead. Have a good day, bye.
Hello, Claude Sarraute. - Hello, dear.
How are you? - I'm delighted to bump into you.
I kind of knew that you were here. It's not just by chance.
You have a bit of a routine here.
It's a very convenient restaurant for me,
because I'm always at the Odéon cinema. You can see any film you want there.
I go to a 5 or 6 o'clock showing,
and I automatically come and have dinner here at my table, number 31.
I ignore everything, even the Voltaire table.
Here's something that struck me historically.
When you arrive here after the cinema, you always need to go to the loo.
On the men's loo it says "male citizen" and on the ladies', "female citizen."
It's just a charade, because who cared about that in 1685?
I still like it, though.
Were you a literary cafe customer back in the day?
No, never.
You didn't even want to sit on the terrace of the place to be seen?
You're forgetting that I'm Nathalie Sarraute's daughter.
Nathalie Sarraute was very close friends with Sartre.
Even to the extent that he wrote the preface to her second book.
She published the first one just before the War,
and he wrote the preface of her second, Portrait of a Man Unknown.
And she was fired by the horrible Simone de Beauvoir.
Shall I tell you what happened when I interviewed Sartre?
I turn up with my pen and notepad.
He's sat there and I'm opposite.
I'm noting down what he says and hiding my gaze like this.
He was so ugly with big bulging eyes that turned inwards and rolled around.
And she's standing behind her chair like a magistrate
throughout the whole course of the interview.
I must point out that I was very pretty.
Here comes Gérard Bonal,
writer and Saint-Germain-des-Prés expert.
How cute is it meeting at Saint-Germain-des-Prés Metro!
Every time I come here, I'm moved when I think of all that's happened here.
Let's look at the 20th century and the first years of the 1900s.
Is Saint-Germain the place to be? Is it a hip place?
Maybe not the place to be,
but something is starting to happen there.
For example, here, on the first floor of the Café de Flore,
this is where Charles Maurras will establish Action Française,
which, during the first half of the 20th century,
will spread right-wing ideas throughout France.
In 1903? - That's right.
Gradually, throughout the 20th century,
we'll see different categories of writers gathering,
like the surrealists, who went to Les Deux Magots in the 1930s.
I'm very surprised, because I was sure that, in the 1920s and 1930s,
it was all happening 500 meters away in Montparnasse.
The phenomenon that started in Montparnasse after World War I,
will gradually work its way along Rue de Rennes,
finally arriving at Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
Jacques Prévert, with the October Group,
his working theater company, will move into the Café de Flore,
and gradually, actors and directors will join them.
And that's how, around 1937, everything is in place
for Saint-Germain-des-Prés to become trendy in terms of literature and art.
When 1940 arrives, the Germans are very worried
about making friends with French intelligentsia,
with Otto Abetz, etc.
Will they take Saint-Germain by storm?
Will it be a place of intellectual collaboration?
No. At the Flore, you don't see a single German throughout the Occupation.
One day, as Simone de Beauvoir tells it, a German enters.
A terrible silence falls over the cafe and, after a few minutes,
the poor guy, if I dare call him that, leaves again.
All the witnesses from back then, including Mouloudji, say
that there weren't any Germans here in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
There were some, of course, but it wasn't like at Le Dôme.
That's one of the reasons why Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir
will leave Le Dôme at the start of the Occupation.
Le Dôme in Vavin? - In Vavin, Montparnasse.
Le Dôme is chock full of Germans, or "gray mice" and it's unbearable.
So they quit.
People come to Saint-Germain-des-Prés to avoid the feldgrau uniforms.
Exactly!
Are there any differences between these two world-famous cafes?
Do their patrons speak to one another?
It's often the same patrons, so they do speak.
There are some very strange things. There are particular traditions.
Simone de Beauvoir used to say that the Flore had its traditions.
For example, at the Flore, when you enter, you don't greet anybody.
Everybody knows each other, there are no hellos,
you just sit down at a table and so it goes on.
On the other hand, if a Flore regular comes to Les Deux Magots
and meets another Flore regular there, they greet one another and chat.
Jean-Paul Sartre said that it's like when French people meet abroad.
Why are the existentialists there every day?
They must have homes to go to. They could work in an attic or anywhere.
It's not that simple. They're all staying in local hotels,
notably the Louisiane on Rue de Seine,
the main meeting point of all the Saint-Germain-des-Prés folk.
Sartre, de Beauvoir, Gréco, Vian and Mouloudji all end up staying there.
They're not at home as France is under Occupation.
They have no heating and are shivering at home
and so they also come to the Café de Flore to keep warm.
The owner of the Flore, Paul Boubal, has a bright idea.
Just before the War, he had a big wood-burner installed.
It will provide heat for all these people who have nothing,
because people are freezing cold during the winters of the Occupation.
In Saint-Germain-des-Prés, people will spend entire afternoons at the Flore
with a coffee, a cup of Oxo or a substitute tea in front of them,
but they're warm.
"I endeavored to arrive at opening time to get the best place
"next to the wood-burner's pipes where it was warmest."
THE PRIME OF LIFE
It's on the Flore and Les Deux Magots pedestal tables
where Jean-Paul Sartre will write Being and Nothingness and No Exit.
This is where Simone de Beauvoir will write Pyrrhus and Cineas.
So many things happen here. It's a real intellectual hive.
There are no more tomorrows
in Saint-Germain-des-Prés
No more days after tomorrow No more afternoons
There's only today...
Hello, Philippe. - Hello.
It's Philippe Vandel under that helmet. - Hello.
One day you said that this little cafe is your second home.
Is the brash literary cafe spirit still alive?
Or is it now just like any other cafe?
No, it's not an old ladies' cafe, it's a real literary cafe.
The Flore prize has been around for 15 years
and does a lot to keep the spirit alive.
Lots of writers are here for that.
The prize was founded by jury member Beigbeder 15 years ago
to reward authors who nearly all represent modern day literature.
Houellebecq, people like Nicolas Rey and Virginie Despentes,
who almost won the prize one year earlier,
but her book was called Rape Me
and Miroslav didn't want "Rape Me" plastered all over the windows.
She didn't win, but she did a year later with Les Chiennes savantes.
What you're telling me is the opposite of what many people say.
They say that this brash Saint-Germain-des-Prés spirit has gone.
Not at all! It's still the same. Some places stand firm and are full of it.
There are places where people ponder and exchange ideas.
The criticism that some friends have about literature
is that the Saint-Germain-des-Prés spirit is not brash anymore
and people are just Saint-Germain-des-Prés literary bigwigs.
I don't agree. If there's still one place where they break the rules
and accept sentences without verbs, it's at the Flore.
What kind of people hang out in a place like this?
Rich, poor, young, old. People from all walks of life.
That's what I like. There are tourists who are lost,
regulars, people meeting up, people who hate each other.
Lots of things are left unsaid or implied.
Isabelle Adjani might be here but people never bother her.
That's why she comes here. Even famous people don't chat together
unless they're authorized by a third party.
Anywhere else in Paris, if you're alone at a table, people take pity on you.
Here, it's the done thing. - Totally.
Thanks a lot, Philippe. - Thanks. I'll be on my way.
Now let's go meet the owner, Miroslav.
Here's the boss. Hello, Miroslav.
How are you? - Very well.
This is one of the rare places where the owners are just as famous
as the visitors.
There was one called Boubal. - What an extraordinary character.
Why is the magic here and not elsewhere? There must be some jealousy.
I don't want anything to change. We do a great a facelift.
When we repaired the broken mosaics,
we closed for a week
and when we reopened,
people said: "Why did you close? You haven't done anything."
CAFE OWNER
That's the best compliment.
The former owner, Paul Boubal,
always told me: "Don't change a thing."
Are there still people who come here and ask you: "Where was Jean-Paul Sartre?"
Or Simone de Beauvoir. - Does that happen?
Oh yes, all the time. So, what does the waiter do?
He shows them an empty table!
Who are the best people you've met here?
Meeting a beautiful woman like Sharon Stone made an impact on me.
A journalist friend was with her
and she introduced us: "Miroslav, this is Sharon Stone."
I kissed my friend
and Sharon Stone said: "Don't I get a kiss?"
I was quite taken aback.
Thanks a lot, Miroslav. - See you soon, my friend.
Time to meet Philippe.
Hello there, in the rain. - Hello, Eric.
We're in Rue Visconti, quite an important local street.
Near the literary cafes and Le Procope.
It's normal that the literary cafes opened in this neighborhood
because lots of writers lived here, the most famous being Racine,
who lived here for seven years, until his death.
He died here on Rue Visconti.
It was either at number 21 or number 24.
Were there no numbers on buildings then? - No, not at all.
RACINE DIED HERE APRIL 21ST 1699
Others lived here. Mérimée lived here in the 19th century.
And then there was Balzac's famous print works,
that went on to become Delacroix's workshop, which is here.
It was Balzac's printing workshop.
He wanted to be in business but never succeeded in his ambition,
and he set up a kind of print works where he made advertising leaflets.
Where the plaque is? - Yes.
LOCATION OF BALZAC'S PRINTING WORKS
This is where he set up his print works between 1826 and 1828.
Balzac was no Bill Gates.
He wasn't exactly Richard Branson or Alan Sugar.
It was cobbled together, but nice.
Here we are at 31 Rue de Seine.
It's all written above the door: George Sand.
George Sand was a real nomad.
She changed apartments every six months.
HOME OF GEORGE SAND AND WHERE RAYMOND DUNCAN CREATED THE ACADEMY
She adapted her furnishings to suit her love life and sexual preferences.
Let's continue.
We're 50 meters away from Beaux-Arts and Rue Bonaparte.
That's another legendary place. - Yes, legendary and tragic.
This is the hotel where Oscar Wilde wound up.
He'd been released from prison three years earlier.
He'd shown up in France in a terrible psychological state.
OSCAR WILDE, POET AND PLAYWRIGHT, DIED HERE
He died here in November 1900.
You can imagine the decline of this tremendous writer.
When I walk past, I'm always moved.
Many writers lived in this neighborhood, in almost every building.
Duras lived here at 5 Rue Saint-Benoît for almost 50 years.
Opposite there was a hotel, whose name I've forgotten,
where Jacques Prévert lived during the War.
Every house holds a literary memory.
You follow the streets and you always arrive in a central location
which is the literary cafe where all these people from each era met up
to chat, drink and exchange ideas. It's wonderful.
What's great is, it still goes on today.
How are you, Raymond? - I'm fine. Same as ever.
I'm delighted to be here in this legendary place.
You've been here a while, haven't you? - Around 30 years.
Do I detect an Aveyron accent? - Exactly!
This lobby belongs to the people of Aveyron.
They corner the lemonade market in Paris. - Indeed.
You must have had some fabulous customers and experiences here.
Yes, but I can't tell you everything. - Just one or two stories.
A customer came here one New Year's Eve.
He was waiting for a woman and they were going to spend the evening together.
At 1:30 AM, after he'd been here since 8 PM...
She didn't show. - No, she didn't.
He asked me if I was married and I said: "Yes."
He says: "Wait five minutes."
He goes to his car and comes back with a fur coat.
It was meant for the love of his life who didn't show?
Exactly!
WAITER
I was a little surprised and I didn't really know what to do.
I spoke to the manager and he said: "If he's offering it to you, take it."
So, I took it.
Thanks a lot, Raymond with the French moustache.
Forever a custodian of French tradition. - Absolutely!
Thanks, Eric. - Goodbye.
Hello, Catherine Mathivat. - Hello.
You're the general manager of this cafe.
You're the fourth generation of your family to run this place.
That's right. I'm lucky to have a great-grandfather
who bought Les Deux Magots in 1914.
He used to be a waiter near Gare de l'Est,
in another neighborhood entirely.
He crossed the Seine and had the chance to buy this place in 1914.
Is it a literary cafe or just an ordinary Parisian bistro?
Quite a lot of writers and artists met here: Verlaine, Rimbaud...
Your great-grandfather... - Got to know them.
He was just a simple waiter in a cafe near Gare de l'Est.
When he buys this place, he's not just buying any old bistro.
He's buying a place that's already in the Paris equation.
Yes, a place that is part of Parisian cultural history.
CAFE MANAGER
They gradually try to perpetuate this literary tradition.
The years go by, and in 1933,
a group of journalists and writers meet up here regularly
and, on the same day that Malraux wins the Goncourt prize,
they decide to have their own literary prize.
Without hesitation, they send out the message
with their decision that Raymond Queneau will win
the first ever Deux Magots prize in 1933 for Le Chiendent
When it's announced by the press the following morning,
my great-grandfather says: "From now on, Les Deux Magots
"will sponsor this literary prize."
You're great-grandfather was smart.
So, since 1933, the prize is awarded to a writer every year.
We have a well-known list of prize winners.
Some books also end up being turned into movies.
Like Touchez pas au grisbi, One Deadly Summer or The Story of O.
So, Touchez pas au grisbi... - It won the Deux Magots prize in 1953.
So, the location, the service
and the literary soul are attached to the place.
Thanks, Catherine. - Thanks a lot.
The 70th Deux Magots prize is awarded to Bernard Chapuis
for his book, Le rêve entouré d'eau.
Of course, some of the intellectuals who rule Saint-Germain-des-Prés,
who are nostalgic for bygone times,
have decided that Saint-Germain-des-Prés is over
and that now, it's all about clothes.
They're not completely wrong.
Although, we can also consider that today,
even if Maurras, Breton, Sartre and de Beauvoir are no longer with us,
it's full of new writers here.
Nicolas Rey, Beigbeder and Bernard-Henri Lévy hang out here.
There's a new generation.
Thanks for watching the show.
If you want to see it again, visit www.france3.fr
Bye.
Subtitles: Babel Subtitling - babelSUB.be