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Le August 7, 2024
At the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019, the biggest names in French and international cinema filmed in Angoulême under the leadership of Wes Anderson.
After casting in several French cities, the press announced at the end of August 2018 that American director Wes Anderson had chosen Angoulême to host the shooting of his new film. It was not until November 23, 2018, during the launch of the city's Christmas lights that Wes Anderson declared that Angoulême was “[his] new favorite city in France”.
His project, called “The French Dispatch”, is a film paying tribute to journalists. Wes Anderson will then bring together the biggest names in French and international cinema such as Benicio del Toro, Tilda Swinton, Thimothée Chalamet, Mathieu Amalric, Bill Murray, Christoph Watlz and Léa Seydoux. The latter, however, had the spotlight stolen by Angoulême, its 900 extras and its settings nostalgically recalling post-war France.
Even if its baptismal name was unflattering: “Ennui sur Blasé”, the Cité des Valois lent its alleys, its staircases, its squares and monuments to a huge construction site which transformed it into ephemeral studios. A huge hangar located in the Pays d'Angoulême was even fitted out on occasion to accommodate the interior sets. This ode to the New Wave of French cinema then gives us a fantasized vision of the city of Angoulême.
More than five years later, movie buffs from around the world still come to Angoulême as if they would make a pilgrimage to see the places where Wes Anderson and his team filmed “The French Dispatch”.
Thanks to the work of Pascal Lefort and certain photos by Odette Fouché, a route retraces different stages where the film was shot with texts restoring the scenes and showing behind the scenes.
Other places complete this flagship shoot such as Blomkal or the ephemeral “Studio Paradis” exhibition which looked back on the epic of this shoot.
The making-of shows wonderfully behind the scenes, the impressions of the protagonists and the feats of imagination that had to be implemented to achieve the final result.
At the end of this 3,800 km journey and its 17 stages, fans of the film will not fail to leave Angoulême with the book “Wes in town” published in Makisapa editions and everyone will want to dive back into this disconcerting film to say the least.