On Location

November 15, 2024

Words and photographs by LAURA SYMONS & DAMIAN HARRIS

It may be winter, but the desert always offers sun. One of our travel correspondents, Laura Symons, takes a spin out of LA with writer/director Damian Harris to find cinematic desert vistas and quirky road trip stops fit for a Chairman and a King.

DAMIAN
Los Angeles and the desert: both exist for most of us in the movies or TV, and everyone has their own favourite moment. The first idea I had of the city and the surrounding desert was from Roman Polanski and Robert Towne’s Chinatown, when John Huston told Jack Nicholson (and which was the premise of the film) that, ‘Either you bring the water to LA or you bring LA to the water.’

road trip, laura symons, damian harris — Chinatown, 1974. Paramount Pictures/Alamy

The trip to the desert means setting off east on Interstate 10, heading towards Palm Springs on the same route as the iconic credit sequence in Paul Schrader’s American Gigolo (1980), with Richard Gere driving his convertible black Mercedes 450SL while Blondie blasts ‘Call Me’, on his way to service another wife (this time while the husband watches). US audiences went crazy when Gere first appeared on screen and a sex icon, especially a gay sex icon, was born. Seven years later in the film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ Less Than Zero, the same highway is the setting as the drug-addicted character played by Robert Downey Jr. dies in the front seat of Andrew McCarthy’s red ’59 Chevy Corvette convertible, from a beating drug dealer James Spader gave him, while Jami Gertz looks on helplessly to Thomas Newman’s lush score and the sweeping camera of director Marek Kanievska.

More recently, Palm Springs was the setting for the hilarious time-loop comedy of the same name (2020), in which Andy Samberg finds himself replaying the same day at a desert destination wedding, where he intended to off himself. Naturally he finds true love and a renewed zest for life. The opening sequence for Don’t Worry Darling (2022) was filmed in the famous Kaufmann House, and the majority of Olivia Wilde’s film was shot in and around the desert city, made dazzlingly beautiful by cinematographer Matthew Libatique. Liberace’s Palm Springs’ mansion is the setting for the final months of his life in Behind The Candelabra (2013) Steven Soderbergh’s examination of the relationship between Liberace, played by Michael Douglas, and his younger lover Scott Thorson, played by Matt Damon. Both are excellent.

Palm Springs has been a host to Hollywood legends over the years. After a string of flops and believing his career over, Cary Grant retreated to his home in Palm Springs in 1953 to live out his retirement, that is until frequent house guest Alfred Hitchcock succeeded in luring him back to the screen two years later to star in To Catch A Thief (which kick-started the huge career resuscitation that included North By Northwest, An Affair To Remember and Charade.)

Steve McQueen was a legend when it came to motorbikes (or anything over 80 mph). It was on the desert roads outside Palm Springs, where he lived, and in Joshua Tree that he would ride his beloved motorbikes on the endless empty desert roads for hours, perhaps rehearsing the ending of The Great Escape when he jumps two of the three barbed wire fences, falling at the third.

Elvis Presley was introduced to Palm Springs by his manager Colonel Tom Parker who had a home there. Elvis leased architect William Krisel’s aptly named House of Tomorrow and, with his upcoming marriage to Priscilla, renamed it Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway. He had intended to be married in the house but gossip columnist Rona Barrett’s leak in the press forced the young couple to sneak out late at night on Frank Sinatra’s private jet and instead tie the knot in Vegas. Later, in 1970, Elvis would buy his own home and spend three months a year there till he passed in 1977. The most famous Palm Springs resident was probably Frank Sinatra, (see the 2018 doc Sinatra in Palm Springs). He never made a film there, but he did perform in nightclubs and concert halls both alone and with his Rat Pack. He famously dubbed his Palm Springs home the ‘west coast White House’ in hopes of luring then-President JFK to come stay, even building a helicopter pad with the presidential seal painted on it. JFK did come to stay, but the bait was more likely house guest Marilyn Monroe.

About an hour from Palm Springs is Joshua Tree, and a totally different vibe. In the 1940s, Hollywood came to this part of the desert to make western films and TV series, due to it being both a closer and more convenient location than Arizona, Utah and Texas. Pioneertown was born, conceived as both a working set and residential area. Over 50 films and TV shows were made here during the ’40s and ’50s. The desert itself has been a location to several films, one of the more famous is Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths (2012), where Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken hide out in Joshua Tree from gangster Woody Harrelson, resulting in peyote-inspired desert wanderings and stand-offs. Less famous is the comedy horror film Crack Whore about a young girl who comes to party in Joshua Tree but instead gets into escalating trouble with drugs and gangs. As I said, it’s a different vibe in the desert.

Go directly west till you hit the sea and Laguna Beach, a favourite of Hollywood for its coastal location. In 1942 constrained by a world war, it stood in for Buenos Aires in Bette Davis’ Now, Voyager, later in 1954’s A Star Is Born, Judy Garland and James Mason picnic by the beach and Garland sings ‘It’s a New World’ (both scenes were initially cut from the released version but restored 30 years later). More recently in 2012, Oliver Stone made Laguna Beach fun and sexy in Savages as Blake Lively romped in a threesome with Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (worth seeing also for the over-the-top turns of villains Salma Hayek and Benicio del Toro).

While steeped in movie history, the areas also have plenty to offer any curious visitor. From the sweeping landscapes to extraordinarily kitsch installations, there is much to be enjoyed in the region…

LAURA

In Coachella Valley, an essential stop is Pappy + Harriet’s restaurant which originated in the 1950s as a cantina set built for the many westerns being filmed there (films like Jeopardy and The Cisco Kid). In more recent decades, while respected for its open-pit fire BBQ, the restaurant and venue has also become a celebrated live music hotspot where the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys have all played (often spontaneously choosing the venue to test out a new set). So do stop by: while you might be going for the ribs, you may just find U2 serenading you.

The restaurant sits next to the original Pioneertown film set, taking you right into an 1880-themed Main Street. Quietly sitting behind this is the 19-room Pioneertown Motel (built as a waypost for movie stars filming locally at the time). A unique boutique hotel, it’s rich in character and an ideal place to disconnect from the outside world and soak up the starriest of skies at night. The motel feels exactly as a motel should; warm and welcoming with friendly staff and better yet, no televisions!

During the day you can hike around Joshua Tree or pop into La Copine(do book) for a cool desert roadside spot (menu favourites include Beets & Burrata and Socarrat) or have a mooch around the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Art Museum, an exhibit whose beauty lies in its decades of decay.

En route to Palm Springs, you pass acres upon acres of wind farms but through the colossal turbines it’s hard not to miss the two giant dinosaurs of Cabazon. Something between a fast food amusement garden (they were, indeed, originally built by local restaurateur to attract more diners) and Jurassic Park on steroids (‘Dinny’ and ‘Mr Rex’ most famously featured in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure), these two monuments are an essential stop (albeit, just a 10-min one) while driving through.

Pulling into Palm Springs, in soaring temperatures, feels somewhat like the designer town time has left standing: exquisite architecture nestled at the foot of the mountains with that unique desert modernist design. Better to visit in winter when the temperatures become more moderate but be sure to indulge in a dinner at Mister Parker’s (the gilded restaurant of the Parker Hotel) for exquisite cuisine and a flash of that personal service touch (your tabletop candle is made of beef butter which melts ready to be spread over your freshly made loaf).

Stay at Sparrows Lodge, a small and intimate spot where the accommodation’s surround a misted pool and loungers. The rooms are stylish and well-sized with vast metal dunk-tubs. It is also recognised for the menu in their Barn Kitchen, offering delights from home-baked banana bread for breakfast to 16oz Creekstone Ranch ribeye at diner. But do rise early and take yourself for a near-two-mile hike in Tahquitz Canyon. While the trail is steep and can be rocky, the waterfall that greets you at the pinnacle is entirely worth the effort. Before slipping out of town, make sure you stop at Mitchells vintage shop, which offers an expansive range of heritage pieces from Pucci to Ossie Clark. Mitchell services the shop himself so you are assured of the history and provenance (the store supplied rare fashion pieces to TV show Palm Royale most recently).

After a few days of desert sun, it’s likely time to head to the ocean spread of Laguna Beach. Pick your timing carefully: off-season the beaches are sweeping and empty, in high season you may have to search for your spot more carefully as tourists flock to the infamous OC coastline. In the early 1920s, it began to emerge as a noted artists’ colony and still boasts a bustling creative hub (including the Festival Of Arts and Pageant Of The Masters).

About a mile from the milling centre lies Casa Laguna Hotel & Spa; a compact and quaint design-led spot. The bungalow is the most sought-after accommodation but all rooms feature the same decorative Spanish-colonial interiors (think palettes of royal blue and vivid bougainvillea). It sits only a short walk from two essential beaches but if you want to ‘stay in’, the perched pool which overlooks the ocean and the bay-facing outdoor spa are particular highlights (although the daily freshly made cookies laid out late afternoon take a comfortable bronze position).

Words and photographs by LAURA SYMONS & DAMIAN HARRIS
All the unique accommodations featured here (and many more) can be found on the Mr & Mrs Smith website mrandmrssmith.com
American Gigolo | Less Than Zero | Behind the Candelabra | Chinatown

DOLCE VITA

August 28, 2024

Words by CHRIS LEADBEATER

Few cities come wrapped in as fine a cloak of glamour as Italy’s lady of the lagoon. Venice is a place of remarkable beauty and splendour, alive with a history that is openly apparent in its canals and churches, museums and monuments. But for the best part of a fortnight at the end of every summer, this European aristocrat becomes even more chic – via the Venice Film Festival, which brings many of cinema’s biggest actors and filmmakers to its door. The fun and games take place all over the city and its islands – but, most notably, in the grand hotels where the A-list comes to stay and play…

Da Ivo, Gritti Palace, Harry's Bar, Hotel Danieli, The Cipriani, The Hotel Excelsior, Venice

1. THE CIPRIANI
If you are looking for a hotel that encapsulates the sophistication of Venice, you need only cast your eye across the water from central San Marco to the nearby island of Giudecca. There, it will alight on the Cipriani – the gorgeous daydream of a hideaway that may be the city’s most exclusive. It has always been a perfect creation – conceived in 1958 as an escape from it all by the chef and hotelier Giuseppe Cipriani. He knew what he was doing, crafting an accommodation masterpiece that was – and still is – an oasis removed from both the tourists who crowd into Venice, and the general commotion of the film festival. But it is not so far removed as to be aloof or impractical. There it rests, at the eastern corner of Giudecca, peering across the lagoon at the belltower of St Mark’s Basilica, just a five-minute ride away by water taxi.

It’s also exceedingly luxurious – both inside, where its chandeliers of Murano glass all but make for an art museum of themselves, and out. The Palladio Suite is the jewel of the 79 sumptuous rooms, a space with 180-degree views of the lagoon, a private dock entrance, a terrace with a plunge pool, and scurrying clouds painted across its ceiling. It is not the only grand space. Somehow, in a city so busy, Cipriani found room to install an Olympic-sized salt-water swimming pool and tennis court. Both have been enjoyed over the years by a cavalcade of talent: Sophia Loren, Yves Saint Laurent, Cary Grant, Burt Reynolds and Catherine Deneuve, to name just a few. Those premiering films on the Lido often make the ‘Cip’ their home, bobbing across the water in Venice’s trademark polished-wood water taxis, or eating shellfish at Il Porticciolo, an oyster bar at the water’s edge. The hotel’s Cip Club, a wooden terrace with breathtaking views of Saint Mark’s, is a delightful place to wind down and make deals. And there are opportunities for relaxation too, at the house spa, which sits within the Casanova Gardens – so-named because the great Venetian lover used to stroll and woo within them.

Cocktails are a firm tradition in the Cipriani’s world. Giuseppe was also the brains behind the famous Harry’s Bar (see opposite page), while George Clooney, a regular guest, helped to create the Buona Notte (a mix of vodka, lime, fresh ginger, cane sugar, bitters and cranberry juice) and the Nina’s Special (a combination of elderflower and passionfruit, named in honour of his mother) on prior stays. Hollywood Authentic’s founder also has a drink named after him; ‘The Greg’ is a bowl glass filled with ice and prosecco. Saluti!

hotelcipriani.com

2. THE HOTEL EXCELSIOR
One hotel has always stood at the epicentre of the Venice Film Festival – acting as its official venue since the inaugural event in 1932. But then, the Excelsior can trace its tale back even further than that. It formally opened its doors in 1908, amid the optimism of the Belle Époque – the period of good times that preceded the First World War.

It does not sit among the bridges and palaces of fabled San Marco – instead, it waits on that long barrier island, the Lido, facing the Adriatic. Its location has always served the festival well, softening the cut and thrust of the event with sea breezes, golden beachfront views and a landing jetty slap-bang next to the festival’s premiere cinema. This formula has worked since 6 August 1932, when the original festival began with a screening, out on the terrace, of the horror classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with Fredric March in the dual title role. There have been plenty more star guests in the subsequent decades – such as Winston Churchill, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, who slumbered in its spacious rooms. Appropriately, there have been plenty of visits by Hollywood royalty as well – Ingrid Bergman, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, James Cagney and Joan Crawford all enjoyed scarcely needed beauty sleep under the Excelsior’s cupola-dotted roof. Nowadays, many of the festival’s contemporary artists enjoy the Moorish-design balconies during stays and junkets.

The hotel is so embedded in movie culture that it has appeared on camera pretending to be somewhere else. When Robert De Niro’s New York hoodlum eats out at a Long Island seafood restaurant in Once Upon A Time In America, he is, in fact, enjoying the pleasures of the Sala Stucchi – one of the Excelsior’s most feted dining spaces.

hotelexcelsiorvenezia.com

3. GRITTI PALACE
Like the Cipriani and the Excelsior, the Gritti Palace’s location is both desirable and on the water – but, in this case, on the north edge of the Grand Canal, in the core of the medieval city. Formerly the Palazzo Pisani Gritti, a stately mansion originally constructed in the 14th century, it still bears the name of its most famous resident, Andrea Gritti, the nobleman who held court as the Doge (Prince) of Venice between 1523 and 1538. He is not the only power player to have slept here. In the near-130 years since the palazzo was converted into a hotel (in 1895), the likes of Grace Kelly, Humphrey Bogart and Charlie Chaplin have all checked into its ornately decorated rooms (82 in total, including 10 suites), as well as Ernest Hemingway – always a man with good taste in accommodation. And the hotel became a cinematic star in its own right in Woody Allen’s romantic caper Everyone Says I Love You – the actor-director’s typically anxious New Yorker attempting to woo Julia Roberts, who is staying in the Gritti’s Hemingway Suite.

More recently, the property became a safe haven for Tom Cruise, who was in Venice when the Covid pandemic struck in March 2020, while doing the groundwork for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. He made the wholly understandable decision to lock down in the city at the Gritti Palace. Why wouldn’t he, when the Riva Lounge, a grand terrace with one of the best views of the Grand Canal, awaits?

As writer W Somerset Maugham observed: ‘There are few things in life more pleasant than to sit on the terrace of the Gritti when the sun, about to set, bathes in lovely colour the Salute.’ Its green marble and antique mirrored interior makes for one of the most beautiful bars in Italy. Order the dry martini (Hemingway’s favourite tipple while staying) from the bespoke martini cart, and relax.

grittipalace.com

4. HOTEL DANIELI
The regal Danieli has been a supremely distinguished spot on the Venetian map for more than 700 years. Set just around the corner from St Mark’s Square (with a rear facade that overlooks the quayside of Riva degli Schiavoni), its location is also superb. It encompasses another 14th-century mansion, the Palazzo Dandolo. And as with the Gritti, its name harks back to a genteel former resident – Giuseppe Dal Niel, a wealthy 19th-century local, who went by the nickname “Danieli”. It was he who purchased the property in 1824, restored it lavishly, and began its transformation into a hotel. It now houses the renowned Gritti Epicurean School and the Explorer’s Library, a sacred space for bookworms, with its collection of rare tomes.

Danieli would surely be thrilled that his passion project is still so revered exactly two centuries later. Charles Dickens, Peggy Guggenheim, Leonard Bernstein, Marcel Proust and Honoré de Balzac, as well as Steven Spielberg, have all crossed the threshold. It is a star location for The Tourist and the Venetian segment of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

It is also one of the sites to have helped to cement the alliance between Venice and James Bond – a union that began with From Russia With Love in 1963, and continued with 2006’s Casino Royale. However, it was neither Sean Connery nor Daniel Craig who strolled through the Danieli on celluloid. Its Suite del Doge (royal suite) housed a spot of horseplay between Roger Moore and Lois Chiles in 1979’s Moonraker.

If you can tear your eyes away from the fondant of a balustraded internal staircase in the lobby, check out the photos of another noted guest – Elizabeth Taylor and her Pekingese pups arriving for one of her many stays.

hoteldanieli.com

APERITIVO AND DINNER?

HARRY’S BAR
A true Venetian icon, the bijou Harry’s Bar was opened in 1931 by Giuseppe Cipriani, 27 years before he dreamt up his hotel. He named it after an American tourist, Harry Pickering, to whom he lent money to while working as a bartender at the Hotel Europa. Pickering later returned to Venice with the repayment and more; enough cash for Cipriani to open his own establishment. It is a watering hole where two indulgent traditions were born. In 1934, Cipriani paired champagne and white peach juice to produce the Bellini, a refreshing delight of a drink that many festival-goers will be familiar with. And in 1963, Venetian countess Amalia Nani Mocenigo requested a light snack, adding that her doctors had instructed her not to eat processed meat. In a moment, Cipriani had invented beef carpaccio, complementing the thin slivers of pink flesh with lemon juice and salt.

To sip a Bellini, in trademark stemless glasses, at the wooden bar is to follow in the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway, Truman Capote and Maria Callas.

cipriani.com/harrys-bar

DA IVO RESTAURANT
George Clooney held his stag do this at this cosy San Marco trattoria with cheery red tablecloths, specials chalked on a gilt-framed blackboard, and its own gondola stop. With good reason. The menu takes in oysters and delights such as duck pasta, octopus ragu, Granseola crab and the Venetian desert, Sgroppino – whipped lemon sorbet, prosecco and vodka with a dash of Calvados, designed to ‘untie a little knot’ after over-indulging. Which you surely will.

ristorantedaivo.it

Words by CHRIS LEADBEATER

On Location

RIVIERA CHIC

May 9, 2024

As Cannes’ Palais rolls out the red carpet, the grift begins for everyone from bellboys to producers trying to seal a deal over a glass of rosé and the roar of the crowds lining the Croisette. This gem of the French Riviera has become a hot spot for the jet-set and Hollywood since the first festival of 1938, when France wanted to create an answer to the longer-running Venice Film Festival. However, nestled south of Nice and above Monaco, Cannes is not the only glitzy Mediterranean spot with ties to cinema. Hollywood Authentic picks the movie vacation spots worth visiting on and off screen.

the carlton hotel, to catch a thief, cannes

1. TO CATCH A THIEF (1955)
THE CARLTON HOTEL, CANNES

By the 1950s, the Cote d’Azur was having a growth spurt, and into this post-war uptick came Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch A Thief, featuring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. Grant plays villain John ‘The Cat’ Robie who, on the run, tries to clear his name. He meets heiress Frances Stevens (Kelly), who falls for the cravat-clad rat. The ensuing fun is a travelogue showing the Riviera at its finest. There’s much action in the Carlton Hotel, the classic 1913 pile designed by Nicoise architect Charles Dalmas (whose belle époque edifices pepper the coast), which is now home to much of the fest bustle during the month of May. Hitch’s film romps through the hotel, past the striped loungers at its Beach Club, along its jetty, and also takes in Nice, Cannes and Monaco – much of it in Stevens’ powder-blue convertible 1953 Sunbeam.

Grace Kelly’s links to the town and hotel are indelible – she met Prince Rainier there during the 1955 festival and married him a year later. Tragically, she died on a nearby corniche in 1982. Since 1989, the Carlton has been a historical monument and when it was refurbished last year for Regent Hotels, interior designer Tristan Auer referred to Hitch’s classic in his staff uniforms: pleated skirts for women, seersucker blazers for men.

A convenient stone’s throw from Le Palais, it offers peace from Croisette promotion in light and airy rooms (the suites are named for movie stars who have stayed), boasts the largest infinity pool in Cannes and the brioche lobster rolls at the Beach Club are justifiably famous. The perfect spot for people-watching – and when the show’s in town, what a promenade.

https://carltoncannes.com

hotel la ponche, saint-tropez, and god created woman

2. AND GOD CREATED WOMAN (1956)
HÔTEL LA PONCHE, SAINT-TROPEZ

Few films have had such an impact on a place as Roger Vadim’s And God Created Woman. The breakthrough for both starlet Brigitte Bardot and St Tropez itself, it charted the town’s Riviera trajectory from fishing village through demimonde hangout to pastel-splashed resort. Vadim’s zeitgeist film concentrated on both siren-like starlet and sexuality in the context of an awakening town. As a prurient New York Times review sniffed at the time: ‘This round and voluptuous little French miss is put on spectacular display…’ The same could be said of St Tropez’ roofs, cafes and Tahiti Beach.

During filming the cast and crew, including Bardot and her director beau Vadim, stayed at the Hôtel La Ponche, a block from the water since its opening in 1938. Anyone looking for their own work/play haven can now enjoy its refurbishment by designer Fabrizio Casiraghi as a 21-room Provencal townhouse that boasts A-list monikered suites (the ‘Jack Nicholson’ gazes over La Ponche beach) and the Prestige, that was favoured by Bardot back in the day – perhaps because it promises guests the ability to sunbathe on its hidden balcony ‘out of sight’. French novelist and playwright Françoise Sagan was so enamoured of the view she sped there in her Jaguar X/440 and wrote: ‘I got up from my bed, I opened the shutters, and the sea and the sky threw the same blue, the same pink, the same happiness in my face.’ If you drive, the hotel has a car park away from the sea, but guests are ferried to reception via the cute cream Petit Piaggio scooter, and you can swap your motor with a boat for a nautical day trip complete with a picnic created by the hotel’s celebrated chef. Run by Simone Duckstein (whose parents established the hotel), La Ponche has always lived up to the promise of Vadim’s trailer, which described Saint-Tropez as ‘the pagan paradise of the French Riviera’. Duckstein attests that at its most pagan the hideaway was host to ‘men only loyal to their room key’.

https://laponche.com

hotel du cap-eden-roc, antibes, under the cherry moon

3. UNDER THE CHERRY MOON (1986)
HOTEL DU CAP-EDEN-ROC, ANTIBES

F Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night describes a fondant of a hotel for his central couple to frolic in and the jewel in the crown of Riviera luxe hotels, the 1870 Hotel du Cap, was his inspiration. He’s not the only artist to have been bewitched by it: Marlene Deitrich conducted a love affair with Joseph Kennedy under its roof in 1938, the menu was sketched by Picasso in 1955, Ernest Hemingway sipped nightcaps looking at the sea, Rita Hayworth met Prince Aly Khan over dinner and most Hollywood players have sat in the famous restaurant or dived into the pool carved into the craggy basalt cliffs.

Discreet, chic and timeless (idio-syncratically, the ‘Cap’ only started taking credit cards in 2006), it’s little wonder it was the perfect location for Prince’s 1986 cinematic French fancy, Under The Cherry Moon – a monochrome doomy romance that saw the purple one as a gigolo out to seduce then-newcomer Kristen Scott Thomas out of her family cash. He teased her, wooed her and whisked her round the balcony at the Eden-Roc restaurant – the venue for many a Cannes Film Festival party, including the first in 1946 when a host of film stars (including Norma Shearer, Douglas Fairbanks and Gary Cooper) were brought from America on a liner that dropped anchor in the bay.

Part of its appeal is the approach to the hotel, a driveway through the lush gardens and a breathtaking descending path – la grande allée – to the sea (and hideaway cabanas) through the palms and wisteria. There’s also the privacy: the Cap has a private shoreline, hidden villas and is far enough away from the Cannes hubbub to feel like a retreat. Though behind its gates lies every amenity for tennis fans, gastro-geeks, wild swimmers and those who seek the recalibration of a wind-down. Order the house cocktail, the Eden-Roc Splash, and relax.

https://www.oetkercollection.com/hotels/hotel-du-cap-eden-roc

testament of orpheus, welcome hotel, villefranche-sur-mer

4. TESTAMENT OF ORPHEUS (1960)
WELCOME HOTEL, VILLFRANCHE-SUR-MER

Polymath Jean Cocteau came from a difficult background in Paris and flew south to reinvent himself as the dandy of the Cote d’Azur. The town of Villefranche-sur-Mer was his favourite spot and it plays a part in his final film, Testament of Orpheus,starring his muse Jean Marais alongside cameos from Charles Aznavour, Brigitte Bardot, Yul Brynner, even Pablo Picasso.

When he stayed and subsequently lived in Villefranche, he holed up at the peach-coloured Hotel Welcome, writing that these were the ‘best moments of my life’. That quote is rendered in mosaic in reception and the auteur’s favourite room, number 22 (he smoked opium in another), is decorated with one of his murals and an armchair showing one of his signature profiles. Opposite the hotel is the Cocteau-decorated Saint-Pierre des Pêcheurs Chapel – for which he was given a gold sardine by the local fishermen – and a car trip away, the Jean Cocteau Museum in Menton has a 1,000-strong Cocteau collection. But will you want to tear yourself away from walks to Cap Ferrat and tipples at the hotel’s wine pier? Dean Martin, Jeanne Moreau, Jack Warner, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor enjoyed its quiet charm – and Cary Grant and Debra Kerr filmed An Affair to Remember in town, while Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas blew up a yacht in the bay for scenes for The Jewel of the Nile. Both couples’ autographs are in the Welcome’s lobby.

https://www.welcomehotel.com

5. DAY FOR NIGHT (1973)
HOTEL BOSCOLO, NICE

Nice’s legendary Victorine Studios have been home to numerous films, including François Truffaut’s film-within-a-film classic dedicated to the Gish sisters. The auteur wanted to make the movie in ‘the spirit of friendship for all the people in the movie industry’, showing the tribulations of cast and crew in making a project (and starring as the director onscreen). Steven Speilberg loves it so much he programmed it during his TCM residency, saying it is ‘one of the most accurate portrayals of what it’s like to make one movie, telling one story, casting one film, where nothing goes right – which is so often the case’.

Though the interiors were filmed at Victorine, external shots travelled around the area: movie star Julie (Jacqueline Bisset) conducts a press conference at the entry point for most Cannes Film Festival visitors, the Côte d’Azur International Airport, and the cast of the fictional film stay at the Atlantic Hotel on boulevard Victor Hugo. Another Neoclassical wedding-cake by Charles Dalmas, it is now the Boscolo Nice and like Cannes’ Carlton, a listed national monument.

Julie and her cast would likely enjoy the loungers and view at the private Ruhl Beach, a ten-minute stroll from the hotel. Some of their mid-production angst might be tampered by the hydromassage tub and treatments in the 500-square-foot spa.

https://boscolocollection.com/nice/en

la piscine, villa ramatuelle, ramatuelle

6. LA PISCINE (1969)
VILLA RAMATUELLE, RAMATUELLE

The Cote d’Azur is one of the world’s finest backdrops for scenes of jealousy and lust, and this film steps up, making the swimming pool of a swanky villa the focus of a Gallic crime of passion starring Romy Schneider, Jane Birkin and Alain Delon. Capturing a fashion moment, with costumes and swimsuits by designer André Courrèges, it has been homaged by an ad campaign for Dior’s Eau Sauvage. The acting boasts a certain intensity, no doubt assisted by the fact that Delon and Schneider had been lovers – and that Delon’s infamous bodyguard Stevan Marković was found dead during the shoot. But part of the appeal of La Piscine is the role of the glamorous villa and pool as a setting for beautiful people misbehaving. A big hit, the film was so tantalising that Luca Guadagnino loosely based his A Bigger Splash on the project.

It was filmed almost entirely at a villa, Domaine de l’Oumède, in Ramatuelle, complete with covetable mid-century furniture and a view of the twinkling sea from beyond the ledge of the pool. The languid charm of toasting in the French sun wearing shades, a hand trailing the water like Delon, can be reenacted at various villas nestling on hills around the village. The Villa Ramatuelle has seven en-suite rooms and a large terrace and gardens, and the heated pool has a wine fridge in the pool house so lounging does not have to be disturbed.

https://www.akvillas.com/villa-ramatuelle

Words by OLIVER BENNETT and JANE CROWTHER
TO CATCH A THEIF
AND GOD CREATED WOMAN
UNDER THE CHERRY MOON
TESTAMENT OF ORPHEUS
DAY FOR NIGHT
LA PISCINE

On Location

ON THE ROAD

November 15, 2024

On Location

DOLCE VITA

August 28, 2024

On Location

RIVIERA CHIC

May 9, 2024

All photographs by Greg Williams

2023 © hollywoodauthentic.com