Monday, April 14, 2014

Frantic (1988)

dir. Roman Polanski

Dr. Richard Walker’s (Harrison Ford) hotel – Le Grand Hotel, 2 Rue Scribe, Paris, France.

The hotel window view – Opera Garnier, 8 Rue Scribe, Paris, France.

The flower shop – 5 Rue Scribe, Paris, France. The shop is no longer there.

The bar where Walker is asking about his missing wife – 3 Rue Scribe, Paris, France. The bar is no longer there, replaced with expensive boutiques.

A bum (Dominique Pinon) showing the place where he saw Walker’s wife kidnapped – Passage Brady near Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Martin, Paris, France.

Walker going to see the hotel desk clerk in a gym – 48 Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Martin, Paris, France

The American embassy – 11 Rue Berryer, Paris, France. The real American embassy is located at Rue Gabriel.

The Blue Parrot club – 7 Rue du Bourg l'Abbé, Paris, France. The club has been closed and there’s some construction going on around the building. Polanski later used this location in Bitter Moon.

Walker going to Dédé’s apartment – 18 Rue Saint-Nicolas, Paris, France. Many thanks to Adam Roberts from the Invisible Paris blog for helping me to find this location.

The passage leading to Dédé’s apartment – Cour des 3 Frères, Paris, France. The passage is actually across the street from Rue Saint-Nicolas and not behind the door that Walker enters. Many thanks to Adam Roberts from the Invisible Paris blog for helping me to find this location

Michelle’s (Emmanuelle Seigner) apartment roof – this was filmed on a studio set

Walker and Michelle leaving the boat where they’ve been hiding – Voie Georges Pompidou near the Pont de Grenelle, Paris, France

Port Debilly looking toward the Pont de Bir-Hakeim, Paris, France

The exchange that goes awry – the yellow level of the Centre Pompidou parking garage, 31 Rue Beaubourg, Paris, France

Walker and Michelle getting out of the car with a dead driver – Rue de Rivoli at Rue Saint-Denis, Paris, France.

The bar where Walker and Michelle meet with American government agents – Bistrot Marguerite, 1 Place de l'Hôtel de ville, Paris, France

A Touch of Class club – Still searching for this location but it was probably a studio set.

Waiting for the exchange – Pont de Grenelle, Paris, France. The Maison de Radio France is visible on the right.

The exchange – Allée des Cygnes under the Pont de Grenelle, Paris, France. It's located on a narrow artificial island in the Seine, known as the Île aux Cygnes (Isle of the Swans.)

The final confrontation – near the Statue of Liberty at the westernmost tip of the Île aux Cygnes. It’s a one-fourth scale replica of the New York City landmark that was given to the city of Paris by the American community of Paris in 1889, commemorating the centennial of the French Revolution.

See also...


Marathon Man

The Fugitive

11 comments:

  1. Bonjour. The Blue Parrot club – 7 Rue du Bourg l'Abbé, was actually the Bains-Douches. One of the most famous nightclub in town.

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  2. Fantastic blog very well done for this insight it is much appreciated.

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  3. GREAT! Im a brazillian tourist spending a week in Paris and I was wondering bout the Frantic`s locations. Thank you. Congrats

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  4. Fantastic, I shall be visiting these locations (having just watched the film again). Thank you so much !

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  5. I just returned from Paris with my wife and i have to say that your blog is fantastic, we visited all the frantic places, we loved it!!! Thanks a lot...great job you did!!

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  6. Excellent work! I've been to some of the locations in recent years, but I wished I had had this list with me! I run a facebook group on the film as it's one of my favourite Ford films.

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  7. @Michael! Can you post a link to that facebook group? i'm also a big fan of frantic. i'm currently writing an essay about the film.

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  8. Just visited a few of the street locations on our trip to Paris this week. Wonderful nostalgia of one of my fav films!

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  9. Thank you for the blog,I am at the moment in Paris and always when I arrive here,I am thinking of the movie Frantic,very good movie and I was watching it first time when I was in my teens.I like the comparison old and new picture including location detail.Thanks again Tobias Germany

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    1. You're very welcome, Tobias. Glad you've found my Frantic write-up useful. I love it too.

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  10. I can't find the place where he saw Walker’s wife kidnapped, any idea? Thanks!

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