Thanks for the tip on tipping! I do remember hearing that once, so it's still the norm. How much of a tip is expected?

Sounds like a great experience!

bookmarking

Actually, David Sedaris mentioned (tipping the attendant) it to me after one of his shows. I don't remember the exact amount, but I remember him saying 1 euro was too much of a tip. Maybe 1/2 that?

There was no tipping of any attendant at my last visit to a theater, nor the previous. Not sure where this idea comes from..

French in Action Book 2, lesson 37:

Mireille: Tu as les tickets? Elle te les a rendus?

Robert: Oui...mais tu as entendu comme elle a dit "merci"? Son ton n'était pas très aimable...D'ailleurs, pourquoi m'a-t-elle remercié? Je ne lui ai rien donné!

Mireille: Mais justement, c'est pour ça! Elle s'attendait à ce que nous lui donnions un pourboire!

Robert: Ah, bon? Il faut donner un pourboire aux ouvreuses?

Mireille: Ben, oui, c'est l'habitude.

Well, I guess it's Pierre Capretz from Yale that's teaching Americans to tip in French theaters!

interesting. I know there was a person taking tickets, but I there was no one in front of me tipping that person. I was in the 16th, at a local cinema.

Tipping the ushers in the cinema stopped more than 10 years ago in France.

The two best multiplexes with programs in v.o. in Paris are UGC CinéCité Bercy at metro Cour Saint Emilion in the 12th and MK2 Bibliothèque at metro Bibliothèque in the 13th -- both of them are on line 14 of the metro.

Haha, Images2: I actually remember that episode!

I didn't see any tipping when I went to the movies...

French in Action is only about 20 years old:) I do love it though!

Wow, another new release I'd love to see. La môme, about the life of Edith Piaf.

I haven't seen an usher in a French cinema in a very long time, many years. The person taking the tickets is usually at the front at the door or something, and you wouldn't tip them for taking your ticket.

Of course it varies by cinema as to whether they sell food and how, and what it is.

check out the ugc website ugc.fr they show all their cinemas '(they have a lot)Personally I think the ones on the champs are some of the worst. My favorite one is cine cite les halles, it has big screens and a lot of choice.
You can also reserve with your credit card on their site, and pick up your ticket at the distributing machine next to the ticket office just before. avoids waiting on line
...

The two UGC multiplexes at Les Halles and Bercy draw a predominantly suburban clientele. I do prefer the MK2 multiplexes, the one at Bibliothèque with its "love seats", and the cute twin ones (Quai de Seine and Quai de Loire) with their attached bobo restaurants on either side of the canal de l'Ourcq, métro Jaurès, that are linked by a boat crossing the canal. Talk about "romantic"... (and yet no American tourist in sight over there, it's sooo far away from their beloved 6th & 7th, which seems to be the alpha and omega of Paris)

Thanks so very much for the cinema tips and the good advise about staying away from the champs.

Be fair about American tourist's though, I think most of us enjoy all of Paris, not just the 6th and 7th. We enjoy all of France in fact!

OK, Images, I'll give you credit for your sense of "adventure"! But you are quite a lone voice on this forum!

Arty, Me too.

I'm finding that matching a film with a theater isn't to easy. We want to see Jacquou le Croquant and La môme, between February 17-24. I found Allocine.fr where you can search for the film you want. UGC is showing Jacquou le Croquant only in the suburbs I think, and La môme at 9 p.m. and I'm not giving up dinner for a film:)

Gaumont is showing Jacquou le Croquant at the following theaters:

Parnasse, Opera, Convention, Champs-Elysées-Marignan and Aquaboulevard.

Which would be the best to see a film in?

Thanks for helping me figure this out before we arrive in Paris!

I'm hoping La môme willing be offered more that week, and the schedules just aren't out yet, since it's a new release next week.

Ok, let's proceed by elimination:
- Champs-Elysées: no way, by definition
- Parnasse: cramped
- Aquaboulevard: will you have flown all the way to Paris to watch a movie in a swimming pool?
- Opéra: why not, it's central enough.
- Convention is located on a nice little square in the 15th, feels like the provinces.

But anyway, given the high turnover of movies in Paris and the fact that Jacquou le Croquant's reviews are dismal, I would bet that half of these theaters won't be showing it from the 14th onwards. As for la Môme, it will be the tsunami of French cinema this winter, so you'd better go see it in the afternoon. The 21h function will be pretty much standard, given the length of the movie.

Jacquou le Croquant reviews are dismal, I don't want to hear that! Oh well, since I'll only understand half of it anyhow, I'd still like to try and catch it. It looked interesting to me. By the way, it's 2 1/2 hours also.

Hopefully they'll expand La môme. We do have tickets to see Piaf une vie en rose et noir at Theatre Marigny one evening. Tickets are 1/2 price the first week or so! That we can fit in before dinner.

Thanks for all your help Art!

I would never eliminate the Champs-Elysees if a movie I want to see is on certain screens there -- notably the main screen of the UGC Normandie which is the best screen in Paris since the Gaumont Grand Ecran closed -- or else the main screen of the Publicis or the Gaumont Champs Elysees Ambassade.

Hi JOdy!

Thanks for the mention. I wrote about it on my trip report (which still isn't finished):
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34760108