Yanis Darras 4:56 p.m., March 8, 2024

Nearly 50 years after its opening to the public, Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport has since become an essential hub in Europe.

If passengers flock there to go on a trip, advertisers and French cinema are also fond of this extraordinary infrastructure.

Bright halls inviting you to travel, moving reunions or heartbreaking departures.

Airports are ideal locations for French, but also international, cinema.

Since its inauguration in 1974, the airport stations have continued to amaze tourists and filmmakers.

Films, series, documentaries... Every year, around sixty films are filmed in the corridors of Paris airports, including around thirty in Roissy alone.

This is evidenced by certain feature films such as “Taken” with Liam Neeson, several shots of which are taken in the road network of the terminal, or more recently, “A Difficult Year” with Pio Marmaï and Jonathan Cohen.

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An airport with many faces

The world of advertising and that of music are also represented in the history of the airport, like the music video "Beautiful day" by U2 in 2016. Bono then strolled through the aisles of Terminal 2, putting highlight the architecture of Roissy and the comings and goings of the thousands of passengers who frequent the terminal every day.

It must be said that the raw architecture of Terminal 1 or the futuristic spirit of Terminal 2 appeal to directors, Anne Robert, communications manager for Paris Charles-de-Gaulle, confides to Europe 1.

“Charles-de-Gaulle is so varied in terms of architecture. We have directors who will want something vintage, so we will direct them towards terminal 1. Those who are looking for a more 1980s atmosphere, it will be more on the side of terminal 2 ABC and for more modern times, it's more on the side of Terminal 2 E and K", she explains. 

Do with sustained traffic

“When they (the directors, editor’s note) come, they realize that ultimately, it’s a bit of an open bar. They can make their dreams come true a bit because we have so many different atmospheres,” continues the communications manager of the airport.

A single watchword: do not disrupt traffic.

Europe's second largest airport platform behind London Heathrow, Roissy airport saw more than 76 million passengers pass through in 2019.

“We do not disrupt airport operations for filming purposes, because that is not our core business. (...) We manage to do filming at certain times, sometimes at night. always manages to dedicate a space. (...) Or, we cheat, that is to say we take advantage of a runway repair, a plane parking being rehabilitated to film" , she confides to Europe 1. 

Roissy also inspired a feature film: "The Terminal", a dramatic comedy directed by Steven Spielberg and released in theaters in 2004. The film tells the story of Viktor Navorski (played by Tom Hanks), a tourist from Krakozie (editor's note : an imaginary state in Eastern Europe) who, after a coup d'état in his country, remained stuck for several years in John-Fitzgeral-Kennedy airport.

A true story, directly inspired by that of Mehran Karimi Nasseri.

This man, an Iranian refugee, lived between August 1988 and August 2006, almost 18 years, in Terminal 1 of Charles-de-Gaulle airport.