Cinemas, how Barrière plays its part

Everyone has their own part to play - which was true of Barrière last year when – as a nod from the mini TV screen to the motion picture - it hosted a few days’ filming of the hot series "10%" created and produced for France 2 by "Mr - I’ve - known - all - about - cinema - people  - in - France - for - thirty - years - and - never – breathed - a - word", Dominique Besnehard.

Through its relationship with the film festivals in Cannes, Deauville, Dinard and La Baule, Barrière has been an ever faithful partner to cinema.

Cannes was the first post-war Festival – held in 1946 when the casino made its movie theatre available.

In Deauville, it was thanks to a commitment made by Lucien Barrière to the Mayor Michel d'Ornano and organisers Lionel Chouchan and André Halimi that the first American Film Festival happened in 1975: Hollywood stars crossed the Atlantic, and Elizabeth Taylor was Queen of the Boardwalk from Le Royal – where a Suite created in 1985 bears her name.

In La Baule, overlooking the most beautiful natural bay in Europe, the Film Music Festival – with which Hôtels Barrière has a strong association – puts all of its soul into the moving image.

 There is a further “pioneering” contribution to add to the festivals:  holding the dinner for the Césars award ceremony at Le Fouquet's Paris. That said, Barrière has been a purveyor of images for nigh on a century. Not as a showcase for cinema, but affirming its importance in key areas of life: culture, obviously, but also transmission, the search for "a job well done" and modernity. The cinema has been an observer of the times since the beginning of the 20^th century - describing them - and sometimes even anticipating them. Group founder François André - who invented a specific concept of leisure and “modern” entertainment – identified a common ground with directors, writers and actors nearly a century ago.

This common ground has evolved into a clear line over the many years and four generations forming the basis of the Group, which is why Barrière highlights and supports the cinema in its own particular way. There is the Barrière Foundation, which gives an award for the first, second or third film of a French director every year, also providing finance to promote it. But this desire to represent and promote the cinema is also reflected in the opening of screening rooms at Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic Cannes and Hôtel Barrière Les Neiges Courchevel. And – for decades now – in the collections of signed portraits of actors and directors from the historic Studio Harcourt in Fouquet’s restaurants and Hôtels Barrière galleries. The same desire can be seen in the specially designed Suites named Michèle Morgan, A Man and a Woman by Claude Lelouch, Meryl Streep and Halle Berry – the cheerful décor creating an individual atmosphere and aesthetic.

Cinema is an observer of the times. Filming to set up, cables to lay, projectors to install, sets to design…. and inspiring locations that are home to the screen play, or that create encounters, like the one between Woody Allen and the Côte d'Azur. Or - in 2007 – the encounter between Sophie Marceau and her desire to film "Trivial" in Barriere’s Deauville hotel (title role: Christophe Lambert). And "Hotel Normandy" where Helena Noguerra and Eric Elmosnino act out a fast-paced comedy on the Boardwalk, buffeted by the salty sea air. And – because it always provides the unexpected, cinema reflects the movement of life itself, as does Barrière.