• home
  • index of films
    • index of films featuring maps
    • index of films featuring photography
    • bibliography
  • blogs
    • maps in films
    • choses vues - things seen
    • l'Escalographe
    • the BlowUp moment
  • how to map a film
    • the first maps >
      • Some Maps in Gance's Napoléon
  • Paris
    • 1890s-1909 >
      • firemen in Paris, 1896
      • La Villette c.1896-97
      • Hatot-Breteau 1897
      • Place de l'Opéra
      • Paris 1900
      • French Cancan >
        • the real Paquerette >
          • Paquerettes
      • Alice Guy - Paris locations >
        • Alice Guy in the brothel ...
      • a dangerous street corner
      • Capellani in Paris
      • La Fille du faux-monnayeur
    • 1910-1929 >
      • a gateway out of Paris c.1910
      • L'Enfant de Paris (narrative of an identification)
      • Fantomas Over Paris: episode 1 >
        • Fantomas Over Paris: episode 2 >
          • Fantomas Over Paris: episode 3 >
            • Fantomas Over Paris: episode 4 >
              • Fantomas Over Belgium
      • One Place, Three Films: Fantomas and the French New Wave
      • a staircase in Belleville
      • Vampires Over Paris >
        • Les Vampires 1
        • Les Vampires 2
        • Les Vampires 3
        • Les Vampires 4
        • Les Vampires 5
        • Les Vampires 6
        • Les Vampires, 7
        • Les Vampires 8
        • Les Vampires 9
        • Les Vampires 10
      • Irma Vep posts a letter
      • Inside-Outside: space and light in Judex
      • L'Affaire Barsac
      • neon Paris c.1913
      • electric nights in Paris (and Berlin)
    • 1930-1959 >
      • Quai des Orfèvres
      • Olivia - Audry - 1951
      • Paris Noir: Becker, Dassin, Melville
      • the persistence of graffiti: Paris c.1952
      • Du rififi chez les hommes - reading topotropically >
        • Du rififi chez les hommes - locations identified
      • Het Parijs van Le Ballon rouge
    • the New Wave and after >
      • New Wave places >
        • New Wave Paris >
          • New Wave Newness: architecture in Paris
          • Eric Rohmer in the rue de la Huchette, c.1956
          • Les 400 coups: Paris locations >
            • Baisers volés
          • 'New York Herald Tribune' - Parrish and Godard on the rue de Berri >
            • A bout de souffle (narrative of an identification)
          • the Grisbi connection: Chabrol and Becker
          • Les Bonnes Femmes: sequence by sequence
          • Une femme est une femme: the places documented
          • the boulevard des Italiens
          • Jules et Jim: Paris configured
          • the place of cinema: cinema as location in Vivre sa vie
          • Godard and Melville: the view from the rue Jenner >
            • Melville: more views from the rue Jenner
          • the New Wave in Pigalle c.1963
          • La Peau douce - displaced places
          • Le Bonheur 1965
          • Paris vu par
          • Masculin Féminin
          • The Topography of La Guerre est finie
        • France
      • Le Samourai: places and maps >
        • Un flic: art and artifice
      • Bresson in Paris - Pickpocket
      • Bresson 69-71
      • Every Revolution
      • statues in Godard and Duras
      • Holy Motors >
        • Holy Motors - notes
    • banlieues >
      • Le Canal de Ourcq
      • Ville d'Avray en 1903
      • Three filmmakers in Romainville
      • filmmaking in the Fontainebleau forest
      • Feuillade's lonely villas
      • anarchists in the suburbs c.1912
      • One Church Two Cemeteries: Clouzot and Chabrol at Montfort L'Amaury
      • Feuilladian Franju - Les Yeux sans visage
      • country houses and suburban villas
      • banlieue locations in L'Amour existe
      • the Landru Villa
      • 1 place 2 filmmakers: Rivette & Chabrol in Ermenonville
      • Céline et Julie: what's the address of that house?
      • cinemas in La Petite Voleuse
    • The Stairs: Paris
  • London
    • 1890s-1920s >
      • Lumiere London >
        • Lumière London, bis
      • Robert Paul in London: tour guide and film maker
      • Ultus in Isleworth
      • Cocaine 1922
      • Fu Manchu 1923
    • London Locations >
      • Piccadilly Circus >
        • Piccadilly Circus in films
        • Piccadilly Circus in art
        • Piccadilly Circus in postcards
        • Piccadilly Circus photographed
        • Piccadilly Circus: invisible things
      • Muswell Hill
      • the Arsenal Stadium mysteries
      • Brentford streets on screen
    • the locality of London studios >
      • Early Ealing
      • straight out of Whetstone
      • Walthamstow's studios
    • Sherlock Holmes >
      • some Baker Street irregularities
      • an American Sherlock in London
    • Sojourners + Cosmopolitans >
      • London in French Film >
        • Rififi in London
        • London in London River
      • maps in krimis
      • Kriminal (1966)
      • Kaurismaki's London c. 1989
    • places in Face
  • Geneva
    • Swiss New Wave - shared-world practice
    • Geneva in Swiss New Wave films >
      • SNW Geneva: collective housing
      • SNW Geneva: villas
      • SNW Geneva: bowlings + piscines
    • The Chronology of Le Petit Soldat
    • La Lune avec les dents (Michel Soutter 1966)
    • L'Inconnu de Shandigor (J.-L. Roy 1967)
  • signage, etc.
  • studios, etc.
    • Eclair
    • Eclipse
    • Gaumont >
      • Cité Elgé locations
    • Lumière
    • Lux
    • Pathé >
      • Where's Max >
        • when Harry met Max, and where
        • Max takes the train
      • Bébé victime d'une erreur...
      • Montreuil in Pathe films
      • Pathé police stations
      • Pathé filmmaking in Nice c. 1908
    • studios & the local >
      • Ealing >
        • Kind Hearts and Coronets: suburbia and other places
        • the view from Ealing
  • my local filmmaker
    • The Unfortunate Policeman >
      • Buy Your Own Cherries >
        • The Medium Exposed >
          • The ? Motorist >
            • The Fatal Hand >
              • A Little Bit of Cloth
              • Blind Man's Bluff >
                • Bill Sikes Up-To-Date
    • Walter Booth in Muswell Hill
  • my local cinemas
  • favourites
    • Agnès Varda >
      • Cleo 5-7 - Time
      • Sans toit ni loi >
        • Sans toit ni loi - the 12 tracking shots
        • Mona's postcard collection
    • Alice Guy >
      • Alice Guy + JLG
    • Chris Marker
    • Jacques Rivette >
      • a map of Out 1
      • Le Pont du Nord: locations identified >
        • topographical telescoping in Le Pont du Nord
        • Le Pont du Nord (narrative of an identification)
    • J.-L. Godard >
      • Godardiana
      • A bout de souffle: footnotes to the film >
        • A bout de souffle - the cast list
        • A bout de souffle in colour
      • photographs in Le Petit Soldat
      • Bande à part
      • Paintings in Pierrot le fou
      • sculptures in Made in USA
      • Les Fins de Godard
      • Week End - time, place and cars
      • Bukowski in Sauve qui peut (la vie)
      • Life magazine + Hdc
    • J.-P. Melville
    • Louis Feuillade
    • Max Linder
    • Robert Paul
  • cine-tourists
    • a German tourist in Paris: Le Silence de la mer
    • an American tourist in Paris
    • History Lessons in Rome
  • Nouvelle Vague
    • New Wave Christmas
    • the New Wave and modern art >
      • New Wave Braque
      • New Wave Chagall
      • New Wave Klee
      • New Wave Manet
      • New Wave Miro
      • New Wave Modigliani
      • New Wave Picasso
      • Pierre Alechinsky in Le Joli Mai (1963)
    • New Wave cameos
    • Attal et Zardi
    • Le Signe du Lion: six small things
    • New Wave films in New Wave films
    • Cahiers du Cinéma on screen
  • other things
    • assorted stamps
    • Maps in Books
    • the topographies of La Fille aux yeux d'or
    • place-time in Thérèse Raquin
    • photography >
      • 10 photographs by Brassaï in 3 Paris dancehalls >
        • painters in the rue Blomet
      • Gisèle Freund in Paris >
        • Gisèle Freund in Histoire(s) du cinéma
      • Godard's Histoire(s): photographs of women
      • the photographer as photographer: André Dino with Tati, Truffaut and Chabrol
      • some Simenon book covers
      • films playing at the Moulin Rouge
    • building sites >
      • a building site and some buildings, c.1961 >
        • Jean Ginsberg
      • 93 - Seine Saint Denis: HLM, cités, grands ensembles >
        • 93 - Seine Saint Denis: Aubervilliers to Bondy
        • 93 - Seine Saint Denis: Drancy to l'île Saint Denis
        • 93 - Seine Saint Denis: La Courneuve to Saint Ouen
        • 93 - Seine Saint Denis: Sevran to Villepinte
      • Chateau Gaillard
      • Euston Station
    • investigations >
      • A Remarkable Journey in Zigoto's New Motor-Car - 1912
      • the Hotel Bristol enigma
    • news >
      • French news
      • news from England
      • news from the U.S.
    • a picture of great significance
    • A Girl and a Gun >
      • Griffith, Shadowland, May 1922
  • efc - places
  • contact details
    • directories
    • address books
    • hotel registers
    • envelopes and postcards
    • telegrams
  • family, locality
    • a Succession of Edwards
    • Henri Grieshaber - architecte chaudefonnier
  • about this site
  • Publications
The Cine-Tourist



place and time in Olivia (Jacqueline Audry 1951)

​
Picture
Thirty-nine minutes into Jacqueline Audry's Olivia, based on Dorothy Bussy's 1949 novel of that name, we leave the febrile atmosphere of a girls' finishing school near Fontainebleau for an excursion to Paris. The headmistress Mademoiselle Julie has brought Olivia there as a stage in her épanouissement, her development. The eight-shot Paris sequence lasts just over three minutes and takes in five places. Three are exteriors -  the Place de la Concorde, the Quai du Louvre, looking towards the Pont des Arts, and an entrance into the Louvre:
And two interiors, both studio constructions: inside the Louvre and inside a fashionable tea rooms.
The three exteriors are glimpses of a Paris untouched by modernity, addressing the difficulty of filming in 1950 scenes that are supposed to occur in the early 1880s, while remaining faithful to Paris locations evoked in the novel (right). It is true that the novel speaks of 'giddy streams of life' in the Place de la Concorde, while the film shows just the one isolated corner with its 'figure of Strasbourg', a solitary policeman, a passing horse-drawn cab and a woman with two small children. And it is true also that by the river the film only looks east towards 'the towers of Notre Dame', because if it turned west it might anachronistically glimpse the top of the Eiffel Tower. In 1943 Claude Autant-Lara's Douce had used a model of a half-built Eiffel Tower to indicate precisely the date of its action:
Picture
There are no other landmarks in Douce, since Autant-Lara's solution to rendering 1880s' Paris is to film entirely in studio-made interiors, many of them dark and claustrophobic.

​Audry's Paris, by contrast, bathes in 'incomparable light'.

Curiously, each of the Olivia's three Paris exteriors is marked by a question of chronology. The 'crêpe-shrouded figure of Strasbourg', as described by Bussy, points specifically to the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, where Alsace-Lorraine was annexed and the city of Strasbourg taken away from France. The aspect of the statue in mourning, covered more in wreaths than crêpe, is approximately reproduced:
Picture
Picture
Le Petit Journal, 07.02.1904
The motto on the round panel - 'Alsacien Lorrain Français quand même' isn't the same as the one in the Petit Journal illustration above,  bearing the initials L.D.P. This might not have been an anachronism in the film, since Paul Déroulède's Ligue des Patriotes was founded in 1882, but it would probably have been too obscure a historical reference for a 1950s audience.
Picture
The narrator's comment on this sight in the novel is transposed in the film to Mademoiselle Julie: 'Always remember this poor city of Strasbourg, symbol of death and defeat in a place teeming with life.'
​

The film's second Paris exterior, looking across the Seine towards the Pont des Arts, is a well-chosen vantage point in that there would be no anachronistic motor traffic crossing a bridge reserved for pedestrians. However, the view includes the distinctive tower of the P.J. headquarters, Quai des Orfèvres, which dates from about thirty years later:
Picture
Above are views of the Quai des Orfèvres from films made around the same time as Olivia. (See here for more appearances of this building.)

Olivia's last Paris exterior, an entrance into the Louvre, would seem to be sure of avoiding anachronism, but after Mademoiselle Julie and Olivia have entered the museum the camera makes a point of panning upwards to show the name of the entrance:
Picture
Henry Barbet de Jouy was a curator at the Louvre whose efforts helped save the museum from being destroyed under the Commune in 1871, so to see his name is to connect with the period evoked by the statue of Strasbourg in mourning. However, this entrance, originally known as the Porte Jean Goujon, was only dedicated to the memory of Barbet de Jouy, 'le sauveur du Louvre', in 1930, more than forty years after the visit of Olivia and Mademoiselle Julie.
​

Inside the Louvre Mademoiselle Julie tells Olivia about Watteau's 'Pélérinage à l'île de Cythère', from 1717:
Picture
Picture
The film summarises Mademoiselle Julie's words in the novel: 'In the ​Embarcation for Cytherea there is nothing solid, nothing fleshly. Watteau was a sick man. Nothing but a play of lights, of colours...'.
Picture
The last Paris setting is a studio construction. I don't have the competence to tell whether it is modelled on anywhere specific:
Picture
The setting for the rest of the film is Les Avons, a finishing school near Fontainebleau, south of Paris. The opening credits play over a tracking shot through rocky woodland, and do appear to show the forest of Fontainebleau:
The location used for the school itself, however, is nowhere near Fontainebleau:
The Château de Flins-sur-Seine is now the mairie of that town, which is in the Yvelines, north-west of Paris. I haven't visited yet so cannot tell for sure if any interior scenes of Olivia were filmed there, but I very much doubt that. Here is a photograph taken in the mairie, in a décor that doesn't match anything we see in the film, and a 2016 notice celebrating the use of Flins as a film location:
Picture
Picture
Place and time are of only minor concern to readers of Audry's film. The obvious interest lies in the transposition of what made the source novel's reputation, the depiction of lesbian desire. Even if the film tones down that aspect of the book, there are moments of sensual contact that are clearly rendered with erotic enthusiasm:

The excellent feminist film journal Another Gaze will be presenting a screening of Olivia this coming Tuesday, March 10th, at the Regent Street Cinema in London, with an introductory essay by Emma Wilson. 

I am indebted to Brigitte Rollet for guidance in identifying the location used for the school, and strongly recommend her book Jacqueline Audry, la femme à la caméra (Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2015).

See also the detailed commentary (in French)  and dossier of materials compiled for the Cinémathèque française by Tania Capron, here.