We'll always have Paris: post-apocalyptic projections of the City of Light | Jacqueline Dutton

Summary: Changing the Climate: Utopia, Dystopia and Catastrophe | Jacqueline Dutton In the classic 1942 film, Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart assures Ingrid Bergman in his inimitable way: ‘We’ll always have Paris’. Perhaps it is precisely because of its reputation as an enlightened Mecca of beauty and the arts that Paris has fallen victim to a significant number of post-apocalyptic projections. Cinematic representations are prevalent in the twentieth century, beginning with René Clair’s Paris qui dort (Paris Asleep) (1924) and Jean Renoir’s Sur un air de Charleston (Charleston Parade) (1927) and continuing through to Chris Marker’s La Jetée (The Jetty) (1962). Through analysing the transformations of post-apocalyptic Paris in these three short films, I will attempt to identify the defining social and environmental characteristics of each futuristic projection of Paris. I will then examine some more recent examples of French cinema to ascertain whether contemporary French filmmakers consider it more or less likely that we’ll always have Paris... Jacqueline Dutton lectures in French Studies at the University of Melbourne and has published widely on utopianism in French literature and thought.