Paris (AFP)
"After three months, we couldn't wait!" : 120 Parisian moviegoers gave themselves a screening at 12:01 am, in a cinema in Saint-Lazare, to celebrate the reopening of dark rooms on Monday.
At the appointed hour, a round of applause sounded. "There is no word to describe what we feel! We have been waiting for you for 99 days," said spectators Louis Merle, director of 5 Caumartin (IXe).
On the bill: a preview of the French comedy "Les Parfums" by Grégory Magne with Emmanuelle Devos and Grégory Montel (in theaters on July 1), which recounts the adventures of a famous character perfume designer and her driver , the only one to stand up to him.
The director and the actors welcomed the spectators in person in two sold-out rooms, respecting the distance and the barrier gestures.
"It is very important to be in a cinema. I suffered from being deprived of it for three months. After a big deprivation, it is magnificent. I even missed the photocalls!", Said Emmanuelle Devos on arrival.
"The series on Netflix is very nice but cinema is something else! Being together and watching the same thing as Godard says," continued the actress, saying "very moved".
- VIP welcome and popcorn -
Night owl moviegoers were treated to a VIP welcome with free distribution of popcorn - in individual pots, sanitary measures required.
"When we knew there was a midnight session here to celebrate the day of the resumption, we booked immediately. It's a great idea to mark the event. It's not our usual schedule but it will make us a nice memory after these difficult weeks, "confided to AFP Loriane, in her forties, a professor of foreign languages, who came with Catherine, a friend.
"The situation we experienced is truly historic: even during the war, the cinemas did not close. We thought it would be nice not to wait for the usual schedule and we had the idea of proposing a session at 12:01 a.m. from legal time, "says Mr. Merle. "We looked for a film in preview and the distribution company Pyramide offered us + Les Parfums +. It is a nice and easy film: we leave the room with a light heart", he continues.
A family business, the 5 Caumartins are made up of 15 cinemas employing around twenty employees: "partial unemployment has saved us and we are waiting for the specific aid for the cinemas that have been announced. The situation is not easy", says the director.
As for the group mk2 which has 200 screens including 68 in Paris, we expect the first spectators from 9:40 am Monday, as in the UGC network and most French cinemas.
At mK2 Library in Paris, human-sized plush "minions", famous characters from "Me, ugly and nasty", will occupy the vacant places to respect the instructions: "a symbolic image and a playful wink to the distancing, "said Nathanael Karmitz, Group CEO.
© 2020 AFP