Paris episode 1 - City of Dreams
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00:00This is Paris, a city of romance and adventure, from the buzz of its cafes to its swinging
00:16street life.
00:22Paris has natural-born style, fabulous buildings, great restaurants, charm, glamour, it's got
00:37it all.
00:39But beyond the postcard Paris, there's something else that's very special.
00:45A spirit of rebellion, energy, and endless creativity.
00:54This is the city I love.
00:56Brilliant cinema, hidden worlds, a photographer's dream, amazing fashion, unforgettable art.
01:09The way we work, rest, and play was born here.
01:23Welcome to my city.
01:45This is one of the world's great museums, and it means so much to me personally.
01:54My name is Sandrine Voilé, and it was the Louvre that first brought me to Paris, from
02:00my hometown of Nantes in Western France.
02:05Welcome to my turf.
02:07This is a quite familiar place to me.
02:09I was nine when I came here for the first time with my parents.
02:14And I think, I guess, I fell in love with the place.
02:16I came back, I was 19, studied at the Louvre school, and now I'm a curator.
02:26I've moved on from the Louvre, but I come back whenever I can.
02:36Being a student here was like a dream come true.
02:40Just imagine, this was my playground.
02:44I spent every day with some of the most beautiful artworks ever created.
02:52The Louvre used to be a palace, and only became a museum after the French Revolution of 1789.
03:01And that's when the Paris we all think of today was born, in the aftermath of the world's
03:06most famous revolution.
03:19When we talk about the revolution, we don't mean just the day of the 14th of July 1789,
03:24or even the year.
03:27The revolution was about a whole era, a period of 25 years that began with the storming of
03:33the Bastille, and saw the rise and fall of one of the greatest rulers in history, Emperor
03:38Napoléon Bonaparte.
03:39So as you can see, today is the 14th of July, one of the biggest days of the year in Paris.
03:50And this has got, all this parade has got very little to do with the people's revolution,
03:571789.
03:59And this is more about the vision Napoléon had for France, and especially Paris.
04:09Napoléon dreamt of making France a great military power, with Paris at the heart of
04:13his empire.
04:14The Garde aux Cubes d'Équine are among the favourites, because they're very dashing,
04:20of course, and the back of their helmets, you can see the horse's hair.
04:27Yeah, it's almost like a glimpse of Napoléon's time here.
04:35Those are my favourites, that's the firemen.
04:39I guess all the 14th of July, it's like, I don't know, a nice masquerade, it's a nice
04:45costume parade.
04:49The parade lasts for one hour and a half.
04:51That's not really my cup of tea, I must admit.
04:57I don't like all this nationalism, tanks and everything.
05:03But this pompe is only one part of Napoléon's legacy.
05:07Without him, Paris wouldn't have become the world's first truly modern city.
05:26In Napoléon's time, if you wanted to get a glimpse of what Paris was to become in the
05:471800s, this was the place to be.
05:50The Palais-Royal.
05:53This was where the empire's new aristocracy, the bourgeoisie, came to have a good time
05:59shopping, drinking, eating and cavorting.
06:05Paris gave the world the restaurant, and I'm going to take you to one of the very best.
06:13The first restaurants had opened just before the revolution.
06:17People didn't go there to eat themselves silly, but to get healthy.
06:21The word se restaurer means to restore oneself.
06:34Today the Grand VĂ©fours' head chef is Guy Martin, with three Michelin stars.
06:47This is a real tomato.
06:49Look at that.
06:54Do we taste it or not?
06:56Yes, of course.
06:57Always.
06:58Thank you.
07:03It's good, isn't it?
07:06The Grand VĂ©fours restaurant, 1760, the French Revolution.
07:11All these chefs, some follow the nobles abroad, but most stay in France.
07:16Some, unfortunately, are guillotined, and hence others open the first restaurants.
07:20The importance of restoring oneself and eating.
07:23Hence the importance of restoring oneself, because a day without a nice meal is a lost day.
07:35Please.
07:36Thank you.
07:37Your napkin.
07:38You're welcome.
07:39So?
07:41Breton lobster on a bed of roasted vegetables with a sariette and a curry juice.
07:46It looks very good and it's really very nice to see.
07:49Very good.
07:50Here.
07:51Thank you.
07:52It's a work of art.
07:53It's a work of art.
07:57It's really very tasty.
08:01It's just amazing.
08:02I've never experienced such food.
08:05It's what we call haute gastronomie, absolutely.
08:10To tell you the truth, it's a bit pricey, so I've never eaten here before.
08:15It's quite a privilege.
08:20Some of the decoration is over 200 years old and celebrates the delights of Parisian gastronomy.
08:30Some of the great names in our history have been regulars here, including Napoleon Bonaparte himself.
08:40From the early 19th century, more and more of the people of Paris began to eat out,
08:45a habit which continues to this day.
08:48We just love our cuisine.
08:50That's why we've got so many words for the places we eat and drink in.
09:10Cafeteria Le Zinc.
09:11And Bistro.
09:12The word Bistro actually comes from here.
09:14The Cossacks, when they invaded the Place du Tertre, Montmartre, on 30 March 1814,
09:19they came here, didn't they?
09:21In a hurry.
09:22By saying they wanted to get drunk, they weren't allowed to drink.
09:25So they said, Bistro, Bistro, Bistro, quick, quick, quick,
09:28because they didn't want to be spotted, to be caught by their officers.
09:31And that's the origin of the word.
09:40Food was the key to Napoleon's plan to make sure the monarchy could never return.
09:48He knew the best way to a person's heart is through the stomach.
09:56He once said that what mattered most to Parisians was water, wine and food,
10:01and he called the market in Les Halles the People's Louvre.
10:09To this day, one of the great pleasures of Paris is shopping in its food markets.
10:16I recommend the one in Rue Montorgueil, once the heart of the thriving fish trade.
10:21It's very pretty, your stall. We want to buy everything.
10:24No, it's a perfume, so it's not necessary to buy perfume.
10:27That's it, yes, yes. How long have you been here?
10:29Me, it's been 20 years, 22 years.
10:3122 years here, 22 years.
10:50It's always the priority to bring fresh food to feed the population.
11:00No meal is complete without a little treat,
11:02so where better to go than the oldest pâtisserie in town?
11:08The pâtissier Storère was founded right back in 1730.
11:21And we'll think about the diet another time.
11:23The religious one is extraordinary.
11:28It's a red pétos.
11:33It looks like strawberry.
11:40What's the message?
11:42It's delicious. No, but it's strawberry inside.
11:45It's real strawberry.
12:08Before his fall from power in 1815,
12:10Napoleon determined who would be the main victor of the revolution,
12:14the middle class.
12:17He helped them on their way to new fortunes
12:19by setting up the Paris bulls, or stock exchange,
12:23a temple of big money finance.
12:29The new breed of capitalists needed somewhere to go shopping
12:32without having to brave the damned climate,
12:34filthy streets and speeding horse-drawn carriages.
12:41This was the solution.
12:43The gallery or the shopping arcade.
12:45Heavens of elegance and calm, they were sophisticated and safe.
12:52The Galerie Vivienne was built in 1823
12:55and soon there were 150 arcades in Paris.
13:02They had the very latest technology.
13:05Glass roofs, iron bars,
13:08glass roofs, iron frames, gas lighting.
13:16The shops catered for the aspirations of the bourgeois elite.
13:21They were restaurants, bookstores, clothes shops and wine merchants.
13:38It was the Paris of galleries.
13:42At the same time, it was a protected place,
13:44a place where you felt at ease,
13:47where you were covered by a glass roof that let the light through.
13:50It was a luminous place of light
13:53and a place where you could eat in peace,
13:56sheltered from the rain, sheltered from the eyes.
14:00Cheers!
14:01Cheers!
14:05There's a lot of freshness, a lot of...
14:08Very tasty.
14:16Everyday life for many Parisians was being transformed.
14:20As more people became literate,
14:22more books and newspapers were read than ever before.
14:27After Napoleon, the monarchy came back.
14:31The new kings were not above criticism.
14:35King Louis-Philippe was savaged by the press.
14:40The sharpest pen against Louis-Philippe didn't belong to a journalist,
14:44but to an illustrator,
14:46an artist whose work I love.
14:48His name was Honoré Daumier.
14:54His caricatures were cruel but funny
14:56and full of political messages.
15:02They've survived the test of time
15:04and you can still find them today in antiquarian bookshops.
15:08Though, they'll set you back as much as a thousand euros per print.
15:32This king, Louis-Philippe, decided to finish the publications
15:36and Daumier had to go to jail.
15:39Louis-Philippe appears like a very big, fat man
15:42and he holds in front of him this puppet of the president.
15:46But yeah, it's quite ferocious, actually.
15:55After his problems, he started to work for the northern newspaper
15:59for less politics, actually, which were really dangerous
16:03and much more what we call comédie demeure,
16:05so he would just depict either the bourgeois or the working class
16:12and the lawyers and the doctors.
16:15Just sharp and very well, well spotted.
16:20They're quite funny.
16:23Oui, Madame Lothès, j'aime les potages chauves.
16:27So I like hairless soup.
16:29There is lots of humour in it and it's terribly human.
16:35I think you can still appreciate the caricatures of people
16:41because even nowadays, I mean, I don't think we've changed much.
16:51The city he was portraying was growing so fast.
16:57At the start of the century, there were half a million Parisians.
17:01By mid-century, there were a million.
17:05And Paris simply couldn't cope.
17:09The whole place was terribly overcrowded.
17:18Most people lived in dark, dank alleys where disease was rife.
17:26That was all about to change.
17:32This narrow street behind Notre-Dame is typical of the old Paris.
17:35It's hardly changed since the Middle Ages.
17:38You can't say that about most of Paris today.
17:42It looks quaint and charming now, but around 1850, it was often said
17:47people here lived like reptiles in a swamp.
17:52The solution was simple.
17:55Demolish the slums.
17:58There used to be a church here.
18:00Its footprint is marked on the pavement.
18:03Now it's a distant memory, a ghost of the old Paris.
18:09And all this was done to two men,
18:11the Emperor Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann.
18:17Together, they turned Paris into the city it is today.
18:22After another revolution, the kings were finally booted out for good
18:27and Bonaparte's nephew, Napoleon III, was in.
18:32Like his uncle, he had grand designs for Paris.
18:37Haussmann, the prefect of the Seine, was the man to carry them out.
18:42Haussmann wanted to make Paris safe, clean and easy to move about in.
18:48To do so, he had to carve through the poor, dingy back streets.
18:54Get these walls off my face, is how he put it.
18:58No wonder his enemies soon called him the demolition artist.
19:03But it's his legacy that survives.
19:06So, we are going to take a little tour of the boulevards.
19:09OK.
19:10We're going for a walk.
19:11OK.
19:12Just for a walk.
19:13Just for a walk.
19:14In the city of light.
19:15OK.
19:16So, let's go.
19:17Yes.
19:18How long have you been a taxi driver?
19:2017 years.
19:2117 years?
19:2217 years as a taxi driver.
19:23So, Paris has no more secrets for you?
19:25God, thank you.
19:26Paris has no more secrets for me.
19:29So, we are just right in the middle of Haussmann's district.
19:34It just pierced very large boulevards in Paris to ease the traffic
19:41and just transform the city into a modern city.
19:47And you've got boulevards and boulevards of this very homogenous,
19:52slightly monotonous form.
19:55What do you think of Haussmann's architecture, Lassina?
19:58It's very pretty.
19:59Yes.
20:00Paris is a very beautiful city.
20:02Thanks to Haussmann, according to the visitors, it's the most beautiful city in the world.
20:07I prefer to say Paris is one of the nicest cities in the world.
20:13The star-shaped Place de l'Etoile, with the Arc de Triomphe at its centre,
20:17was the crowning glory of the New World.
20:20Haussmann added seven new boulevards to the existing five.
20:25Today, it's one of the busiest and scariest roundabouts in the world.
20:33What do you think of the traffic in Lassina?
20:35There's too much traffic in Paris.
20:38You can't even drive in Paris anymore.
20:41I prefer the boulevards to the small streets.
20:43I prefer the boulevards to the small streets.
20:45You can't even drive in Paris anymore.
20:48I prefer the boulevards to the small streets.
20:50Exactly.
20:54Les Grands Boulevards would soon be lined with Les Grands Magasins.
21:00From the 1860s, new department stores sprung up,
21:03like Les Galeries Lafayette and Le Printemps.
21:09Everything was available and affordable.
21:12The new stores soon overtook the galleries
21:15as the place where you could shop till you dropped.
21:25You can really see from up here
21:27that Haussmann was the architect of modern Paris.
21:33In a burst of urban planning on a scale not seen since ancient Rome,
21:37it created the cityscape in front of me.
21:42He opened up the broad vistas
21:44to show off the city's buildings and monuments.
21:48He had many critics,
21:50but he gave Paris the distinctive character it still has today.
21:56Haussmann saw the modern city as an organism
21:59and the boulevards as the city's arteries.
22:02He changed the way Parisians worked and played.
22:09I'll let you into a little secret.
22:11The best way to see and to feel Paris is by wandering the streets.
22:15That was one of the favourite pastimes of the 19th century.
22:18This is the world of the flanneur.
22:25There's just no word for flanneur in English,
22:28and you don't know what you're missing.
22:32Loosely translated, it means gentleman's stroller of city streets.
22:37It used to be the preserve of dandies, bohemians and pauses.
22:42But the white pavements of Haussmann's new boulevard
22:45meant the pastime spread,
22:47and soon being a flanneur became one of Paris's great traditions.
22:53Just walk, look at buildings and places,
22:56watch the passers-by,
22:58think, be inspired.
23:01You might as well.
23:03When in Paris, do as the Parisians.
23:07It just feels too good to just sit down after a long day at work,
23:12either shopping or working or walking, any time.
23:16And, yeah, just watch the world go by.
23:20You sit at a café to look at people,
23:23but it's always to see...
23:25It's to be seen also.
23:27It's a little game, I guess,
23:30between the person who watches
23:34and the person who walks by.
23:56There were also huge new public parks.
24:00Napoleon III called them the lungs of Paris.
24:05He decreed that Paris should have more green spaces,
24:08just like in London.
24:10The Tuileries Gardens next to the Louvre had a makeover.
24:17He also gave the people the Bois de Boulogne in the west
24:21and had two pleasure lakes dug there.
24:25But one of the city's best-kept secrets
24:28is in the working-class 19th arrondissement or district.
24:36The Parc des Buttes Chaumont is a magical fairy-tale park
24:40in north-eastern Paris.
24:42It is so picturesque and down-to-earth.
24:46The park is known as the People's Tuileries.
24:50Here, you can get lost in nature,
24:52a special thing in Paris.
24:57On the top of the massive rock rising out of the water,
25:00there's a Roman-style folly.
25:08It's quite a lovely park here. I quite like it.
25:11It's quite a rare park in Paris.
25:14It's a place where you can find
25:16It's quite a rare park in Paris because it's very hilly,
25:20so it feels much more like an English park than a French one.
25:24But it's a perfect place to come here,
25:27wander, take pictures and just relax.
25:30I love it.
25:32This early photo shows the amazing change
25:35from disused quarry and rubbish dump to wonderful park.
25:47At the end of the 1830s,
25:49the new art of photography transformed the way Paris was portrayed.
25:58The photograph arrived just in time
26:00to capture the old Paris before it disappeared forever.
26:08Since then, Paris has become
26:10probably the most photographed city in the world.
26:13Belleville, just down the road from Butchemont Park,
26:16is the spiritual home
26:18of one of France's most talented photographers.
26:23Born in Paris in 1910,
26:25Villironis is the man behind
26:27some of the most iconic images of his home city.
26:31I've always admired his work,
26:33and now I have a chance to meet him.
26:44There was a very talented photographer,
26:47called Marville,
26:49who took pictures of Paris
26:53before the demolition of the Haut-Plan-Haussmann,
26:57and then during the works elsewhere,
27:00and then the new Paris.
27:03What do you think of one of the most important photographers
27:06of the summer period, Nadar?
27:08He was a man who was initially an artist.
27:12He became an extraordinary portraitist.
27:15It's his portraits that make him famous.
27:19He also worked in the Tatacones,
27:22lighting them with magnesium.
27:26He also took pictures with balloons.
27:30He took pictures of Paris from balloons.
27:33Do you have any advice for a photographer?
27:37The advice I give is not a photographer's advice,
27:40it's a humanist advice.
27:42You have to be honest,
27:44and take pictures like you would
27:47in any other job, with honesty.
27:49Don't cheat,
27:51and take life as it is,
27:55to truly show the reflection
27:58of the period in which we live.
28:03These are some pictures I took in the neighborhood.
28:06Who is this?
28:08It's from the inside.
28:10No, it's from the outside.
28:12It's the reflection of a mirror.
28:15I see the wall in front of me.
28:17That's funny.
28:19And this is another one.
28:21I don't know what you think of it.
28:25Yes, but this is also a blur.
28:27Is this your first time using this camera?
28:29Yes.
28:30Which eye do you use?
28:32I should use the left one.
28:34I took all the pictures with the right one.
28:36It's the least bad one.
28:38That's nice.
28:56This is good for fishing.
28:59In the 19th century,
29:01the place I'm going to take you next
29:03was a magnet to photographers and tourists alike.
29:06Even kings and queens
29:08took excursions to the pride of Paris.
29:12Goodness!
29:14It's as if I'm going to war.
29:19I'm going on a guided tour of the sewers
29:21with the city's unsung heroes
29:23who helped keep Paris clean
29:25and smelling of roses.
29:27Pray for me.
29:34Oh, yes.
29:36Right.
29:38You're at the SĂ©bastopol collector.
29:40Yes.
29:42How does it work exactly?
29:44Are each house or each building
29:46connected to go into this collector?
29:48Yes.
29:50I don't know if you can see it.
29:52Yes.
29:54It comes out of the building.
29:56Okay.
29:58Each building number has a particular connection
30:00where the sewage flows into the building.
30:02Okay.
30:10In 1850,
30:12engineer Eugène Belgrand
30:14began work on a new sewer system
30:16to try and stamp out the scourge of cholera
30:18blighting Paris.
30:20Today, thanks to him,
30:22the tunnels run for more than 2,000 km.
30:27This is much more technical
30:31than I expected.
30:33This is really good.
30:35I mean, Belgrand was a real genius, actually,
30:37to think of all this network.
30:43I expected to smell even stronger,
30:45but I can imagine
30:47after staying here a few hours,
30:49you might have a very strong headache.
30:54It feels like very physical work.
30:56It must be really hard to work here.
30:58Yes, it's very dangerous.
31:00Yes.
31:04What's so striking is how the whole of Paris
31:06is mirrored below ground,
31:08building by building,
31:10street by street.
31:19This is the arrival of two connectors,
31:21the largest one here,
31:23and up to the top,
31:25it's three metres deep.
31:27We're carried and drowned.
31:29Because we're on our backs,
31:31with our boots, we're pulled to the bottom.
31:39There's an echo here.
31:41There's no rat.
31:43There's no rat.
31:45I'm really disappointed there are no rats.
31:48I was told they're really big, big like cats.
31:50I want to feed them.
31:52And also, what is quite interesting
31:54is that rats are necessary
31:56because they eat all the
31:58detritus, all the junk.
32:02So, again, that's quite eco-friendly.
32:06I guess you can find lots of stuff here.
32:10They found a crocodile years ago,
32:12dead cats, snakes,
32:14anything goes.
32:16Depending on the volume of the water,
32:18you can see if people had a shower or a bath.
32:22Something else.
32:26The Opera Garnier
32:28has been called
32:30an over-the-top wedding cake,
32:32but I can't resist it.
32:36It's named after its architect,
32:38Charles Garnier,
32:40who won a competition
32:42to design it in 1860.
32:44After many delays,
32:46it finally opened in 1875.
32:48It's the first opera
32:50in the world,
32:52and it's one of the oldest
32:54in the world.
33:02My friend Frédéric Weissnitter
33:04is rehearsing here.
33:16Just walking up the
33:18Grande Escalier, or Great Staircase,
33:20is a theatrical experience
33:22in its own right.
33:24It's so luxurious and decadent.
33:30I adore the multicolored
33:32marble from all over France,
33:34but it's only an appetizer.
33:36The pièce de résistance
33:38is the foyer.
33:40I've never been there before.
33:42Wow!
33:44Oh!
33:46Goody!
34:06Once again,
34:08it's a neo-Baroque style
34:10that's very charged,
34:12but not at all heavy.
34:14On the contrary,
34:16it's very colorful and festive.
34:18Exactly.
34:20It reminds me of the Galerie des Glaces
34:22in Versailles.
34:24It wasn't the gallery
34:26where young women got married.
34:28Young women would come here
34:30with their mothers
34:32and meet the beautiful
34:34parties of Paris.
34:36In a minute,
34:38I'll repeat
34:40the Dame aux Camélias,
34:42based on the story
34:44of Marie du Plessis,
34:46a popular courtesan
34:48in the mid-19th century
34:50who met the greatest
34:52artists of Paris,
34:54such as Liszt,
34:56Chopin...
35:08piano
35:20The story of Marie du Plessis
35:22is very moving.
35:24She was young, brilliant,
35:26and beautiful,
35:28but died from tuberculosis
35:30at the age of 23.
35:33Her story was told
35:35by one of her many lovers,
35:37the writer Alexandre Dumas,
35:39and set to music by Chopin.
35:43Marie was one of Paris'
35:45legendary courtesans.
35:47More than just elite prostitutes,
35:49they were muses to the great
35:51artists of their day.
35:54I'm intrigued by the role
35:56these cultured and influential
35:58women played in the history
36:00of Paris.
36:02It's partly because of them
36:04that the city earned its
36:06reputation as the sexiest
36:08place on earth.
36:23Do you take Parisians
36:25from time to time?
36:27Yes.
36:29Which neighborhoods?
36:31Pigalle,
36:33Strasbourg-Saint-Denis.
36:35These are the hottest neighborhoods.
36:37The most famous?
36:39Yes.
36:41Do you take them to the Bois de Boulogne?
36:43Yes.
36:45The Bois de Boulogne is a good
36:47place to go.
36:49But it's mostly transvestites
36:51who live there.
36:57During the second half
36:59of the 19th century,
37:01Paris was famed around the
37:03world for its exotic striptease
37:05revues.
37:07Hanky Panky was very big
37:09business,
37:13and about 30,000 women
37:15worked in the industry.
37:18There is an amazing number
37:20of words in French for
37:22prostitute.
37:24Many date from this time.
37:47What about
37:49libertine,
37:51food,
37:53wine?
37:59La Seine takes me to the Left Bank,
38:01to what was then one of the
38:03hottest places in Paris.
38:09Today, the La Perouse is a very
38:11chic and expensive restaurant.
38:13Perfect for a romantic
38:15meal Ă deux, or more.
38:25It's quite a charming
38:27place here, and famous for those
38:29boudoir lounges, those little
38:31private salons where, in the
38:3319th century,
38:35slightly before that,
38:37all the politicians,
38:39aristocrats, I mean wealthy men
38:41of all sorts,
38:43just see some courtesans
38:45in the privacy.
38:47Actually, that's a perfect illustration
38:49of this famous
38:51French libertinage,
38:53which started in the 18th century,
38:55and it's about this art
38:57of love and flirt
38:59and seduction,
39:01and really not making sex
39:03like a big deal.
39:05Yeah, it's lovely.
39:13Here's one of those mirrors.
39:15They are known for the scratchings,
39:17and the story goes that
39:19the courtesans used to scratch,
39:21actually, their diamonds,
39:23the presence of those messieurs,
39:25to check if they were real.
39:27One of the most outrageous
39:29courtesans was English,
39:31Emma Crouch from Plymouth.
39:33Her lovers knew her as Cora Pearl.
39:35They included princes, dukes,
39:37and she claimed the emperor.
39:39All is revealed in her
39:41memoirs.
39:43Apparently, she had the fancy
39:45to just present herself
39:47as a dessert
39:49at the end of the meal in front of the dukes,
39:51the princes, and among
39:53meringues and fruit.
39:57With that deafness and artistry
39:59for which she was so famed,
40:01the chef, Sally,
40:03began to decorate my naked body
40:05with rosettes and swathes of creams
40:07and sauce,
40:09which carefully composed so that
40:11the heat of my body would not melt them
40:13before I came to table.
40:15That's really the artistry
40:17and the haute cuisine
40:19with a haute prostitution, too.
40:21Well, that's quite sweet
40:23and quite funny,
40:25but then I must admit
40:27that all those courtesans and petites femmes de Paris
40:29just stigmatized the image
40:31of French women, even abroad,
40:33when we, again,
40:35believed to be always very seductive
40:37and very pretty and very charming,
40:39which is not always true.
40:45The courtesans of Paris
40:47inspired many artists.
40:49A little further along the left bank,
40:51there's a converted railway station,
40:53now the Orsay Museum.
40:55It boasts
40:57the world's finest collection
40:59of 19th-century French masters.
41:03One of the most erotic works
41:05is this sculpture
41:07of a courtesan called Apollonie Sabatier,
41:09clearly in rupture.
41:13If you find this offensive,
41:15please look away now.
41:23This is
41:25The Origin of the World by Gustave Courbet.
41:27As you notice, it's a bit
41:29slightly in-your-face,
41:31but let me tell you it wasn't meant to be
41:33in-your-face.
41:35It was meant to be hidden away behind shutters
41:37which the viewer could open
41:39for a discreet and private peek.
41:41Much more mysterious that way.
41:47The world was not ready
41:49for such realism as
41:51Edouard Manet found out when his
41:53DĂ©jeuner sur l'herbe outraged Paris
41:55in 1863.
41:57That was another
41:59truly shocking painting for the time.
42:01People were absolutely appalled by it.
42:03The main reason
42:05is because it's portraying
42:07a naked lady with a dressed man.
42:09The first reaction
42:11for people was that they thought it was
42:13a prostitute. In the 19th century
42:15the only accepted
42:17nudes had to be
42:19goddesses or anything to do with
42:21mythology. But just to show
42:23a modern-day lady
42:25naked like that, that was truly
42:27shocking to them.
42:31Manet sparked a revolution
42:33in art.
42:35A new generation of painters
42:37known as the Impressionists
42:39broke through.
42:41They included Claude Monet,
42:45Edgar Degas
42:49and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
43:01The Impressionists
43:03wanted to celebrate the new Paris
43:05as it took shape
43:07before their very eyes.
43:11The steam engine
43:13embodied this extraordinary new age.
43:19The railways changed
43:21the way Parisians lived, worked
43:23and played.
43:27Paris' famous
43:29railway station
43:31was the Gare Saint-Lazare.
43:35Monet loved to paint here,
43:37delighting in the way the light
43:39danced through the steam.
43:43Stations were the cathedrals
43:45of their day, symbols of freedom
43:47and progress.
43:51Suddenly, people could
43:53take day trips out of town
43:55and found new ways to have fun.
43:59Riverside party venues
44:01known as guinguettes
44:03became all the rage.
44:05You could swim, dance,
44:07pose and flirt.
44:09A tradition
44:11which continues to this day
44:13with Paris plage every August
44:15when the banks of the river
44:17are covered with sand
44:19and turned into beaches.
44:25In 1869,
44:27Monet painted one of the
44:29great Impressionist paintings
44:31at a guinguette called La Grenouillère.
44:41With the Impressionists
44:43leading the way,
44:45Paris was fast becoming
44:47the art capital of the world.
44:51To me, there was one man
44:53who stood out in the 19th century,
44:55his name was Auguste Rodin.
44:57What I like about his work
44:59is that you have
45:01the feeling of life,
45:03a real masterpiece of drama
45:05and effect.
45:09This is The Thinker.
45:11It shows Rodin's incredible
45:13grasp of body language.
45:15From the head right down
45:17to the toes,
45:19every inch is taught
45:21with concentration.
45:25The Thinker was meant to be
45:27part of a hugely ambitious work,
45:29The Gates of Hell.
45:43It was unfinished
45:45when Rodin died in 1917.
45:55This house on the left bank
45:57is where Rodin lived and worked
45:59at the end of his life.
46:01It's now a museum
46:03devoted to his work.
46:05It's where you can find
46:07his best-loved
46:09and most sensual sculpture.
46:13So now this is The Kiss.
46:15This piece was originally
46:17made for The Gates of Hell
46:19and then after that
46:21removed from the museum.
46:23What I really like
46:25in this piece
46:27is that you see some parts
46:29are left unsculpted,
46:31untouched.
46:33It's as if the whole sculpture
46:35was just born from the mass.
46:37From any angle,
46:39it's a real masterpiece.
46:41You can really see the embrace,
46:43the two characters
46:45being in fusion.
46:47It's almost like a swirl.
46:49I really like this piece
46:51because it reminds me
46:53of a story when I was a teenager.
46:55A friend of mine,
46:57a girlfriend of mine,
46:59sent me the postcard of this piece
47:01and initially she wanted
47:03to send the postcard
47:05to her boyfriend
47:07but apparently she got too shy
47:09and then I ended up
47:11with the postcard of The Kiss.
47:13This was a century
47:15of innovation on every front.
47:17Sculpture, painting,
47:19photography, boulevards,
47:21department stores
47:23and even sewers.
47:25Napoleon III
47:27presided over this modernisation
47:29of Paris
47:31but in some ways
47:33he was stuck in the past.
47:35You can see that for yourself
47:37in the Louvre
47:39where he renovated a wing
47:41for his own use.
47:47Wow.
47:49These are Napoleon III's apartments.
47:51They are sumptuous,
47:53ostentatious.
47:55For one minute you think
47:57you could be in Versailles.
47:59It means that
48:01Napoleon III was a true monarch
48:03in the line of the others.
48:05It's quite
48:07incredible actually.
48:09It looks like a theatre.
48:11It's a real fantasy.
48:15It makes me think that
48:17Napoleon III was living
48:19in a world of his own.
48:23Napoleon III led France
48:25into its most turbulent time
48:27since the Revolution.
48:29It all began when he declared war
48:31on Prussia in 1870.
48:35It was a big mistake.
48:37The French army
48:39was duly crushed.
48:41Napoleon left the country
48:43and the Prussians took Paris.
48:47When they left,
48:49there was a political vacuum
48:51in the capital
48:53because the French government
48:55had fled to Versailles
48:5724 km away.
48:59Then in March 1871
49:01a riot broke out
49:03between local people
49:05and the communards.
49:09Two generals
49:11were shot dead here,
49:13prompting the government
49:15to withdraw the army to Versailles.
49:17A popular left-wing movement,
49:19the communes,
49:21took control of Paris
49:23but their experiments in social democracy
49:25would only last for 10 weeks.
49:29The communards were a mix
49:31of socialists, anarchists
49:33and revolutionary men and women.
49:37Among them was Louis Michel,
49:39a schoolteacher
49:41who famously manned the barricades.
49:47The communards
49:49literally set Paris alight,
49:51burning down some of its most important buildings.
49:55But the government in Versailles
49:57responded with a vengeance.
50:03In 1871,
50:05the communards
50:07took over Versailles.
50:11Driven by government forces
50:13to the Père Lachaise Cemetery
50:15in northeast Paris,
50:17the communards made their last stand
50:19among the tombs.
50:25The cemetery had been
50:27one of the great achievements
50:29of Napoleon III's era.
50:31But now it was the scene of slaughter.
50:43Some of the heaviest fighting
50:45was here,
50:47among the graves of the great and the good.
50:51The soldiers were ordered to show no mercy.
50:57It's quite sad to see that
50:59in such a beautiful, sacred place
51:01such violence took place.
51:07But worse was to come.
51:11On the 28th of May,
51:131871,
51:15147 communard rebels
51:17were mashing guns
51:19against the eastern wall of Père Lachaise.
51:25Alain Dalotel and Marise BĂ©zagu,
51:27members of the Commune,
51:29regularly pay their respects to the dead.
51:57When we go to Père Lachaise,
51:59we often find a lot of flowers
52:01brought by strangers.
52:17After the Commune had been crushed,
52:19the government decided that Paris
52:21would repent.
52:23So they built this.
52:27The Basilica of Sacré-Cœur
52:29was built in Montmartre
52:31to atone for the sins of the communards.
52:41Nowadays,
52:43tourists flock here,
52:45attracted by its romantic aura
52:47and panoramic views of the city.
52:53The Basilica of Sacré-Cœur
52:56Many Parisians really hated it.
52:58It was seen as
53:00the symbol of repression.
53:02Although it's really beautiful,
53:04knowing the history,
53:06I feel rather saddened by it.
53:11Its Romano-Byzantine architecture
53:13and bright white stone
53:15were out of keeping with the rest of Paris.
53:17Everything about it was wrong.
53:22In 2004,
53:24the Commune won a small victory
53:26when this square,
53:28in the shadow of the Basilica,
53:30took the name of Louise Michel,
53:32the communard heroine.
53:44She also had a song dedicated to her,
53:46one of the many
53:48inspired by the uprising
53:50which remain popular today.
53:55When we sing
53:57the time of the cherries,
53:59the sea, my heart,
54:01will cry much better.
54:21Long before it was completed,
54:23Sacré-Cœur had a rival
54:25as the most hated building in Paris.
54:29This one.
54:39When the Eiffel Tower was proposed,
54:41it was attacked
54:43as a truly tragic street lamp
54:45and a bell-free skeleton.
54:48A group of leading writers
54:50and intellectuals
54:52put together a petition
54:54to try to stop it being built.
54:56Thank goodness they failed.
54:58Today, it's the most famous monument
55:00in the world,
55:02visited by 200 million people
55:04and counting.
55:08I joined Chief Engineer Yves Camaret
55:10on an early morning inspection.
55:17We know that the Eiffel Tower
55:19was built for the 1889
55:21Universal Exhibition,
55:23which also marked
55:25the 100th anniversary
55:27of the 1789 French Revolution.
55:29At the time,
55:31the Eiffel Tower was the highest
55:33monument in the world.
55:37Named after the engineer
55:39who designed it,
55:41Gustave Eiffel,
55:43the 300-metre tower
55:45is now on the second floor
55:47of the Eiffel Tower.
55:51The view is superb.
55:53It's extraordinary.
55:55The classic view of Paris
55:57is truly breathtaking.
56:01The tower is a huge mechano.
56:03It's light,
56:05contrary to what you might think.
56:07It's like lace.
56:09A simple image
56:11is enough to show it.
56:13If you melted the Eiffel Tower
56:15with your feet,
56:17the height of the metal
56:19would be 6 centimetres.
56:29Alberto, how are you?
56:31Good.
56:33How long have you been
56:35working on the Eiffel Tower?
56:37More than 20 years.
56:39I've never come up this high before,
56:41with good reason.
56:43I've got vertigo.
57:09Hello, hello.
57:11Reaching the very top now.
57:13Oh, goodness.
57:15There's someone here.
57:29I'm quite afraid of heights,
57:31usually, but
57:33what feels good is all those grids,
57:35so it's not as if you were
57:37in the void, really.
57:43Hold on to it.
57:49It's beautiful, really.
57:53It's great.
57:55I feel great,
57:57but I'll be able to talk about it
57:59once I'm down on the
58:01plateau des vaches, as we say,
58:03on the cow's floor.
58:05VoilĂ .
58:11The tower was due to be dismantled
58:13after 20 years, but was saved
58:15when they made it a radio mast.
58:19The Eiffel Tower has become
58:21the very symbol for Paris itself.
58:23It's not bad for a building
58:25which wasn't supposed to last.
58:27Back in 1889,
58:29it proclaimed Paris a new city
58:31for a new era.
58:36Next time, chocolate.
58:38Fashion, cafés,
58:40sex and revolution.
58:42The story of how Paris was born.