The gorgeous Anna Karina dragging her nonchalance along the Treille beach in Porquerolles…the old pontoon and lovers shed are still standing, just as in the famous New Wave movie Pierrot le Fou by Jean-Luc Godard(1965).
Pierrot le fou in Porquerolles
1965 – Porquerolles
In the old Hyères stands the timeless Lion d’Or hotel, film set to scenes of Francois Truffaut’s 1983 Finally, Sunday! (Vivement Dimanche)… attentive film buffs will also recognise the auditorium of the Denis theatre where resounded the voices of Fanny Ardant and Jean-Louis Trintignant.
Could it be due to its natural light, the picturesque nature of its streets, the charm of its marinas or the diversity of its coastal line? Whatever it is, Hyères has attracted its share of movie cameras!
Impressive chronology
It all started in 1930 with the Surrealists and their intriguing films shot at the Villa Noailles: The Golden Age by Buñuel or Cocteau’s The Blood of a Poet…
It continues with the New Wave and Jean-Paul Belmondo spending his summer of love in Porquerolles, the Niel Marina and l’Ayguade (Pierrot le Fou). It was also the years when Hyères’ independent International Film Festival for Young People managed to secure Marguerite Duras in its jury and when the French actor Michel Piccoliwould head south, followed on his Hyères adventure by a swarm of Parisian journalists.
An ongoing story
Later on, Luc Besson’s classic The Big Blue (1998) shot the scene of Enzo entering the harbour in a flashy red motorboat at the Niel marina. In 2005, the French film Le Parfum de la Dame en Noir also had a scene take place near the Estissac fort and the Palud beach in Port-Cros. The popular TV series Un gars, une Fille filmed episodes in Hyères while, more recently, the film Cartouches Gauloises (2007) by Mehdi Charif was shot between Algeria, Hyères and Pierrefeu.
“Parenthèse”
2016 – Golden isles
Fanny Ardant in Finally, Sunday!
1983 – Hyères
Luc Besson’s Big Blue, at the Niel marina 1988
“Le parfum de la dame en noir”
2005 – in Port-Cros
“Le passager de la pluie”
1970 – La Capte, le Port, with Charles Bronson and Marlène Jaubert
“Le gendarme et les gendarmettes”
1982 – Some scenes shot in Hyères train station
“Le cave se rebiffe”
1961 – Hyères
“Une autre vie” avec JoeyStarr
2013 – Hyères
“Les Vacances de Ducobu”
In Giens (on Renée Sabran beach) for L’élève Ducobu
“Les coeurs brûlés”
1992 – Mireille Darc in her mini-série
“Un gars, une fille”
2007 – Giens