1
00:00:28,294 --> 00:00:31,730
An uneven coastline,
and azure...

2
00:00:31,931 --> 00:00:35,765
Azure, azure, azure...

3
00:00:35,968 --> 00:00:39,131
... constitute the C�te d'Azur,
the French Riviera.

4
00:00:39,605 --> 00:00:42,904
The English have invented
a few landmarks of the coast:

5
00:00:43,108 --> 00:00:45,269
- The Promenade des Anglais.
- Nice.

6
00:00:45,477 --> 00:00:47,172
- The H�tel des Anglais.
- Menton.

7
00:00:47,379 --> 00:00:50,439
The Eglise anglaise,
also called English Church...

8
00:00:50,649 --> 00:00:54,107
... and the British Pharmacy.

9
00:00:56,055 --> 00:01:01,789
ALONG THE COAST

10
00:01:28,220 --> 00:01:32,418
Cinematography

11
00:02:01,387 --> 00:02:06,051
Editing

12
00:02:15,067 --> 00:02:19,527
Narrated by

13
00:02:59,178 --> 00:03:01,874
The natives are not the subject
of this film.

14
00:03:02,081 --> 00:03:03,742
Cogolin.

15
00:03:04,416 --> 00:03:08,375
Fulfilling the classic clich�,
they are always old and charming.

16
00:03:09,254 --> 00:03:12,018
Let's leave them
between the donkey and the cow.

17
00:03:12,658 --> 00:03:14,649
Our subject is the crowd:

18
00:03:14,860 --> 00:03:19,490
The tourists, the curious,
the emigrants, the amateurs,

19
00:03:19,698 --> 00:03:25,261
the passengers who discover this coast
and gather there to spend their free time.

20
00:03:36,215 --> 00:03:40,584
In 40 years, Nice's population grew
from 100,000 to 240,000 inhabitants.

21
00:03:40,786 --> 00:03:45,416
104,762 extra sleepers
overpopulate it every night.

22
00:03:45,624 --> 00:03:48,252
Cannes awakes with 32,003 emigrants,

23
00:03:48,460 --> 00:03:54,126
and Saint-Tropez, a village of 4000
souls, harbors 50,000 bodies in August.

24
00:03:54,333 --> 00:03:56,961
What are they looking for
in the Riviera?

25
00:03:57,169 --> 00:03:58,864
When did they start to come?

26
00:04:00,539 --> 00:04:04,270
The first patient was maybe
Cornelia Salonina,

27
00:04:04,476 --> 00:04:09,038
a Roman empress, who had
a fragile condition and broken nerves.

28
00:04:09,248 --> 00:04:11,978
She spent the winter
in Cimiez' thermal baths.

29
00:04:12,184 --> 00:04:13,742
Nice.

30
00:04:19,658 --> 00:04:22,923
The first tourist was maybe
the Cardinal Maurice of Savoy

31
00:04:23,128 --> 00:04:24,527
who, despite his 50 years of age,

32
00:04:24,730 --> 00:04:26,561
took off his habit
in order to marry his niece,

33
00:04:26,765 --> 00:04:28,596
Princess Marie-Louise.

34
00:04:28,801 --> 00:04:30,098
She was 14.

35
00:04:30,569 --> 00:04:34,096
Their honeymoon took place
in a room still visited today.

36
00:04:34,306 --> 00:04:36,536
2 rue Jules Gilly, Nice.

37
00:04:36,909 --> 00:04:38,536
They spent the winter there.

38
00:04:38,744 --> 00:04:40,803
Inventing "swallow tourism":

39
00:04:41,013 --> 00:04:44,540
The possibility to find, in any season,
not only the sun,

40
00:04:44,750 --> 00:04:46,650
but also the wild palm tree,

41
00:04:46,852 --> 00:04:48,444
the mimosa,

42
00:04:48,654 --> 00:04:49,882
the cypress,

43
00:04:50,089 --> 00:04:51,556
the cypresses,

44
00:04:51,757 --> 00:04:52,883
the maritime pine,

45
00:04:53,092 --> 00:04:54,457
the pink laurel,

46
00:04:54,660 --> 00:04:58,619
the Indian fig opuntia, which Moroccans
call the Christian fig tree,

47
00:04:58,831 --> 00:05:04,997
and the agave which lives for 100 years,
grows flowers once, and dies.

48
00:05:05,204 --> 00:05:08,139
During the 18th century,
in order to travel from Calais to Nice,

49
00:05:08,340 --> 00:05:10,171
one had to travel
in a stagecoach for 16 days,

50
00:05:10,375 --> 00:05:12,639
stopping at 107 relay stations.

51
00:05:12,845 --> 00:05:14,972
Cannes, the 107th stop,

52
00:05:15,180 --> 00:05:19,776
grew in popularity due to the plague,
closing Nice's gates to Lord Brougham.

53
00:05:19,985 --> 00:05:21,384
Lord Brougham.

54
00:05:21,587 --> 00:05:23,680
Seduced by his quarantine in Cannes,

55
00:05:23,889 --> 00:05:26,585
and stayed there for 40 years
and even more.

56
00:05:26,792 --> 00:05:28,384
Following his lead, many English,

57
00:05:28,594 --> 00:05:30,824
among which, Queen Victoria,
came to the city.

58
00:05:31,029 --> 00:05:32,587
English dukes,

59
00:05:32,798 --> 00:05:34,356
the Russian grand dukes,

60
00:05:34,566 --> 00:05:37,797
many titles and even a few names.

61
00:05:38,003 --> 00:05:39,868
Dante Alighieri,

62
00:05:40,072 --> 00:05:42,563
the Italian consul in Nice.

63
00:05:43,342 --> 00:05:45,276
�mile Zola

64
00:05:45,477 --> 00:05:48,776
spent his honeymoon
in the H�tel de Paris in Monaco.

65
00:05:49,581 --> 00:05:51,208
Friedrich Nietzsche,

66
00:05:51,416 --> 00:05:54,715
the third Zarathustra
around the village of Eze.

67
00:05:55,521 --> 00:05:57,546
Lucien Guitry,

68
00:05:57,756 --> 00:05:59,951
his poultry,

69
00:06:00,159 --> 00:06:02,821
the garden in St. Pons les M�res.

70
00:06:03,762 --> 00:06:06,356
A partly sunny morning in Monaco,

71
00:06:06,565 --> 00:06:10,194
a teenager who looked
like Guillaume Apollinaire.

72
00:06:10,402 --> 00:06:11,733
And Colette,

73
00:06:11,937 --> 00:06:14,405
who looked like a cat of Saint-Tropez,

74
00:06:14,606 --> 00:06:17,803
was writing Break of Day.

75
00:06:18,443 --> 00:06:20,377
Giraudoux, in Porquerolles,

76
00:06:20,579 --> 00:06:23,844
wrote Suzanne et le Pacifique.

77
00:06:25,817 --> 00:06:28,752
Painters also idealized the Riviera.

78
00:06:28,954 --> 00:06:31,548
- In the paintings of Joseph Vernet...
- Antibes.

79
00:06:31,757 --> 00:06:34,385
... one could see the tower
of the Ch�teau Grimaldi.

80
00:06:34,593 --> 00:06:38,927
In the ch�teau,
Picasso's work is displayed.

81
00:06:39,131 --> 00:06:42,498
A painter and a ceramist,
Picasso worked year-round.

82
00:06:42,701 --> 00:06:47,161
The only serious competition he finds
to his painting and firing,

83
00:06:47,372 --> 00:06:48,464
the sun.

84
00:06:50,642 --> 00:06:53,304
The sun's carriage springs up
from the water.

85
00:06:53,512 --> 00:06:55,707
It takes humanity along
in its burning race,

86
00:06:55,914 --> 00:06:59,577
and leaves it lying in the evening,
to be born again in the morning,

87
00:06:59,785 --> 00:07:02,345
and then starts again
the cycle of a slow labor,

88
00:07:02,554 --> 00:07:05,216
which requires overcoming
reserve and boredom,

89
00:07:05,424 --> 00:07:08,120
at the risk of losing your head,
or your skin

90
00:07:08,327 --> 00:07:12,423
which is judged by its tan.

91
00:07:43,328 --> 00:07:46,354
When you get to this point,
you have to cover yourself.

92
00:07:48,133 --> 00:07:50,431
And since from the useful
comes the beautiful,

93
00:07:50,636 --> 00:07:53,298
the cover becomes an accessory.

94
00:08:19,665 --> 00:08:22,828
They came to find the sun,
they found oblivion.

95
00:08:23,035 --> 00:08:24,161
Where are they?

96
00:08:24,369 --> 00:08:25,961
They are far away.

97
00:08:26,171 --> 00:08:28,071
Far from the coast.

98
00:08:28,273 --> 00:08:29,535
Far from everywhere.

99
00:08:29,741 --> 00:08:31,333
This is what we call exoticism.

100
00:08:32,644 --> 00:08:35,078
A pagoda-shaped shop,

101
00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:37,714
- it is Sunday in Beijing.
- Fr�jus.

102
00:08:39,251 --> 00:08:41,515
A Sudanic mosque,

103
00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:44,086
- Africa talks to you.
- Fr�jus.

104
00:08:44,556 --> 00:08:47,354
- A bulb, it is the Orient Palace.
- Menton.

105
00:08:47,826 --> 00:08:50,693
A Persian building, the Arabian Nights.

106
00:08:50,896 --> 00:08:52,056
In Monte Carlo.

107
00:08:52,664 --> 00:08:54,461
A Russian church,

108
00:08:55,033 --> 00:08:57,058
a carriage:

109
00:08:57,269 --> 00:08:59,669
- Moscow, 1900.
- Nice.

110
00:09:00,305 --> 00:09:02,205
A swimmer,

111
00:09:02,407 --> 00:09:04,375
a subway entrance:

112
00:09:04,576 --> 00:09:07,409
- Paris, 1900.
- Cannes.

113
00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:14,783
Finally, the most exotic of all:
The exotic gardens.

114
00:09:25,297 --> 00:09:27,231
A favorite place for lovers of nature

115
00:09:27,432 --> 00:09:30,424
who long for the silence
of vegetation.

116
00:09:44,983 --> 00:09:46,416
Despite the guide's explanations,

117
00:09:46,618 --> 00:09:48,848
they don't try to remember
the names of the plants.

118
00:09:49,221 --> 00:09:52,088
They'd rather have the plants
remember theirs.

119
00:09:54,659 --> 00:09:56,058
Write one's own name,

120
00:09:56,261 --> 00:09:59,321
or the name of a woman,
hoping to see her appear.

121
00:10:06,605 --> 00:10:09,733
For want of seeing Bardot,
talking to her, touching her,

122
00:10:09,941 --> 00:10:12,341
they come to drink in Saint-Tropez.

123
00:10:13,578 --> 00:10:18,447
Through a natural compensation system,
appetites change.

124
00:10:18,650 --> 00:10:20,049
They come to eat in Cannes,

125
00:10:20,252 --> 00:10:22,618
for want of meeting Sophia Loren
at the Festival.

126
00:10:27,726 --> 00:10:30,923
For want of seeing Matisse,
they come to see his grave.

127
00:10:31,129 --> 00:10:33,825
Alive or dead, famous people
have an audience,

128
00:10:34,032 --> 00:10:37,559
like Cro-Magnon, the first famous man,
and the oldest dead,

129
00:10:37,769 --> 00:10:40,932
receiving the tribute of the visitors before
they go see the Troph�e d'Auguste...

130
00:10:41,139 --> 00:10:42,163
La Turbie.

131
00:10:42,374 --> 00:10:44,274
...the Roman aqueduct...
- Fr�jus.

132
00:10:44,476 --> 00:10:46,171
... and the 13 moth-eaten
marble blocks

133
00:10:46,378 --> 00:10:48,710
intended for the August temple
in Narbonne,

134
00:10:48,914 --> 00:10:51,610
engulfed during a storm.

135
00:10:51,817 --> 00:10:53,717
Saint-Tropez.

136
00:10:55,287 --> 00:10:58,188
Let's return to the museum
that which belonged to Caesar.

137
00:10:58,390 --> 00:11:00,688
Let's leave the antiquities,

138
00:11:00,892 --> 00:11:04,658
and rehabilitate the inhabited relics,
the most precious of the Riviera:

139
00:11:04,863 --> 00:11:06,228
The age-old trees.

140
00:11:09,267 --> 00:11:11,963
A gigantic elm,
planted in the time of Sully.

141
00:11:12,170 --> 00:11:13,865
In Ramatuelle.

142
00:11:14,072 --> 00:11:17,041
A 1000-year-old olive tree.

143
00:11:17,242 --> 00:11:18,300
In Beaulieu.

144
00:11:19,244 --> 00:11:22,179
A bald cypress
from Canada and Louisiana,

145
00:11:22,380 --> 00:11:25,372
cutting made
by Monsieur Robert in 1797.

146
00:11:25,584 --> 00:11:27,347
In Toulon.

147
00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:32,578
- A century-old oak.
- In Saint-Cassien.

148
00:11:33,592 --> 00:11:36,322
And hackberries,
whose shadow is salutary.

149
00:11:36,528 --> 00:11:38,325
In Cogolin.

150
00:11:41,032 --> 00:11:43,023
Opposed to this dark color,

151
00:11:43,235 --> 00:11:45,863
there is the bright color
of the markets.

152
00:11:50,575 --> 00:11:56,946
But the tourists prefer the trendy
colors, yellow and blue.

153
00:12:09,327 --> 00:12:13,286
Passing fancies, hotels are painted
yellow and blue.

154
00:12:16,568 --> 00:12:18,695
Blue wins.

155
00:12:18,904 --> 00:12:20,462
All women want to be fashionable.

156
00:12:20,672 --> 00:12:23,266
All women wear blue,

157
00:12:24,976 --> 00:12:27,467
except the English,

158
00:12:28,747 --> 00:12:31,113
those learning to swim,

159
00:12:31,816 --> 00:12:34,751
and the Germans,
who are dedicated to green.

160
00:12:52,203 --> 00:12:55,172
Camping being the airiest form
of freedom,

161
00:12:55,373 --> 00:12:57,739
and the most ceremonial,

162
00:12:57,943 --> 00:13:02,004
it is very comfortable,
in the majesty of antique chairs.

163
00:13:02,213 --> 00:13:04,875
They retire under their tents.

164
00:13:07,586 --> 00:13:12,080
These parks, overpopulated with merry
people attracted by the Latin shore,

165
00:13:12,290 --> 00:13:16,852
foreshadow the dead people
seeking eternal rest there.

166
00:13:17,796 --> 00:13:22,358
In both cases, space is limited
because of its good quality.

167
00:13:23,335 --> 00:13:26,429
It is a well-rated coast.

168
00:13:27,439 --> 00:13:30,806
The Riviera is France's
most beautiful cemetery,

169
00:13:31,009 --> 00:13:35,810
with a great view
and a perpetually-renewed sea.

170
00:13:36,014 --> 00:13:38,482
The Riviera's deceased is of quality.

171
00:13:38,683 --> 00:13:41,948
The landscape welcomes him
with a well-deserved rest.

172
00:13:42,153 --> 00:13:44,781
He is discreet like a saddened heart
with no tears,

173
00:13:44,990 --> 00:13:47,618
humble like a hoop without roses,

174
00:13:48,193 --> 00:13:51,424
quiet like a field without honor,

175
00:13:51,630 --> 00:13:54,292
childish like a cradle,

176
00:13:54,499 --> 00:13:57,593
silent like the nearby forest,

177
00:13:57,969 --> 00:14:02,565
and surprising like, behind this wall,

178
00:14:02,774 --> 00:14:04,833
the giant Virgin.

179
00:14:05,043 --> 00:14:06,977
Saint Jean Cap Ferrat.

180
00:14:09,581 --> 00:14:12,072
The Holy Mother missed
her entrance in the Church,

181
00:14:12,283 --> 00:14:13,841
the cock has fallen from the bell tower,

182
00:14:14,052 --> 00:14:18,580
tipped by a bowl,
in the manner of this game of boules.

183
00:14:25,864 --> 00:14:28,162
Fortune turns with the roulette,

184
00:14:28,366 --> 00:14:30,334
as well as the wheel.

185
00:14:30,535 --> 00:14:33,504
- Death took Isadora Duncan.
- In Nice.

186
00:14:34,039 --> 00:14:37,031
Jean-Gabriel Domergue is ready
in the front of his tomb,

187
00:14:37,242 --> 00:14:40,006
which he built
like others build houses,

188
00:14:40,211 --> 00:14:43,703
less eternal, but full of the charm of life.

189
00:14:43,915 --> 00:14:45,143
The Charmer

190
00:14:45,350 --> 00:14:46,612
tenderness

191
00:14:46,818 --> 00:14:47,807
FRENZY

192
00:14:48,019 --> 00:14:49,509
FINALLY

193
00:14:56,828 --> 00:14:58,762
The villa

194
00:14:58,963 --> 00:15:01,625
embodies the craziness of design.

195
00:15:38,737 --> 00:15:42,605
Abandoned gardens, forgotten villas...

196
00:15:42,807 --> 00:15:43,933
This is cinema.

197
00:15:48,980 --> 00:15:54,941
Blasco lb��ez' friends enjoyed
coming to this retirement home for writers.

198
00:15:55,153 --> 00:15:57,348
Others liked hotels.

199
00:15:57,555 --> 00:16:02,549
What touches them and attaches them
to a particular hotel,

200
00:16:02,761 --> 00:16:04,251
is the greeting of the doorman.

201
00:16:05,997 --> 00:16:08,932
According to the barometer
of his familiarity,

202
00:16:09,134 --> 00:16:12,001
you are somebody or you're not.

203
00:16:58,349 --> 00:17:00,340
Doorman for 20 years
at the Grand H�tel...

204
00:17:00,552 --> 00:17:02,144
Cannes.

205
00:17:02,353 --> 00:17:04,218
... this one continues the game,

206
00:17:04,422 --> 00:17:06,185
greeting the lesser wallets

207
00:17:06,391 --> 00:17:10,691
with an irritating nostalgia
for the bigger ones.

208
00:17:20,638 --> 00:17:23,072
Where is the former Grand H�tel?

209
00:17:25,977 --> 00:17:28,070
Where is the Eden Roc?

210
00:17:28,613 --> 00:17:30,137
Where is Eden?

211
00:17:31,316 --> 00:17:33,614
The entire coast longs for it.

212
00:17:34,152 --> 00:17:36,518
The entire coast writes its name.

213
00:17:49,534 --> 00:17:52,503
Pedal boats on the other
side of EDEN.

214
00:17:54,305 --> 00:17:56,967
You always lack a penny
to make one franc.

215
00:17:57,175 --> 00:17:58,164
CLIMB OF THE DREAM
DEAD END

216
00:17:58,376 --> 00:18:00,310
The forbidden Eden sparks off a cry.

217
00:18:01,913 --> 00:18:04,074
The carnival is born from nostalgia.

218
00:20:34,599 --> 00:20:36,533
The carnival burns.

219
00:20:36,734 --> 00:20:38,292
The earth shakes.

220
00:20:38,503 --> 00:20:41,529
The sun goes mad.
The water takes its shape.

221
00:20:41,739 --> 00:20:45,800
The carnival is dead,
silence is golden.

222
00:20:46,344 --> 00:20:50,838
Silence as an answer to so many
questions, to volcanoes, to swirls.

223
00:20:51,049 --> 00:20:52,744
Eden exists.

224
00:20:53,051 --> 00:20:54,678
It is a dawn.

225
00:20:54,886 --> 00:20:57,582
Eden exists,

226
00:20:58,189 --> 00:21:00,453
it is an island.

227
00:23:40,918 --> 00:23:46,447
Heaven was a beach, and a pine cone.

228
00:23:46,657 --> 00:23:50,149
But the nostalgia of Eden is a garden.

229
00:23:54,999 --> 00:23:57,331
It is no longer the C�te d'Azur,

230
00:23:57,535 --> 00:23:59,935
but a transplanted garden.

231
00:24:00,137 --> 00:24:04,938
It is an idea of a garden
with flowers, grass and columns.

232
00:24:08,045 --> 00:24:10,377
Forgetting the sea nearby,

233
00:24:10,581 --> 00:24:13,015
the pond is a regret,

234
00:24:13,217 --> 00:24:17,347
the water lily is a lingering sigh.

235
00:24:24,996 --> 00:24:27,487
These are fake Eves,

236
00:24:27,698 --> 00:24:29,256
fake Adams,

237
00:24:29,467 --> 00:24:31,094
fake Cupids,

238
00:24:31,302 --> 00:24:33,361
misleading Venuses,

239
00:24:33,804 --> 00:24:38,138
fake caves and fake nymphs.

240
00:24:39,210 --> 00:24:41,440
Reveries are shared,

241
00:24:41,646 --> 00:24:44,547
but not the garden.

242
00:24:44,949 --> 00:24:47,110
The fake Eden is not for us,

243
00:24:47,318 --> 00:24:49,684
neither is Eden.

244
00:24:50,454 --> 00:24:52,854
And worse,

245
00:24:53,057 --> 00:24:56,083
the summer season comes to an end.