Tuesday
Apr162019
Beauty Break: Notre Dame
Tuesday, April 16, 2019 at 6:55PM 
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Leslie & Gene & Notre Dame in An American in Paris (1951)
On the set of Breathless (1959)
a random shot from Ratatouille (2007)
A matte painting (such a lost art!) for the cathedral from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939). Art by Chesley Bonestell
Philippe Petit walking between Notre Dame towers. Petit's death defying stunts feature in the Oscar winning doc Man on Wire (2008) and the feature narrative The Walk (2015)
Audrey Hepburn & Cary Grant looking at Notre Dame in Charade (1963)
"Before Sunset" (2004) about the beauty of the Notre Dame 😥 pic.twitter.com/0AcpFPW5Wa
— Aria Inthavong (@ariainthavong) April 15, 2019
Reader Comments (18)
nathaniel, this is my favorite post of the year. it makes my heart ache less, thank you!
Great work-thanks for the memories.
Was there 3 years ago this week. Such a tragic loss, but videos do seem to show that the interior isn't as bad as we might have thought (?) Hope in a strange world.
Sick and tired of the popular media's fixation on everything about white European culture, when Al Aqsa Mosque was also on fire at the same time and got no attention at all. Simple racism and xenophobia.
Wtf was that about? Nothing to do with racism and everything to do with iconography. I'm a black atheist and I still feel that the cathedral was an architectural and iconic lost.
Wtf was that about? Nothing to do with racism and everything to do with iconography. I'm a black atheist and I still feel that the cathedral was an architectural and iconic loss.
That ‘Before Sunset’ clip needed to go on about another ten seconds to feel truly poignant. 😉
@Morgan (the 1st)
What Craver says is that the media used to pay more atention to some events/tragedies based on the cultural popularity instead of the objetive importance from a notice.
I perfectly understand what he say because here in México happened a lot. The saddest (and most pathetic) to me is the evident influence in the thinking of people.
A movie awards example: the Oscar winners mexican directors are known for most of the people but is not the case of the Cannes Film Festival winners mexican directors. And worst, the majority have not even seen any movie from most of the Ariel awards (Local equivalent to Oscar) winners or nominees....in any categorie.
The photos and video of the fire are a heartbreaking reminder of how fragile the buildings, paintings, and very cities we live in and love really are. You don't have to be French to grieve at the loss of such a landmark.
Apparently the video game "Assassin's Creed" did a laser scan of the cathedral which will be helpful to those involved in the reconstruction. Odd but true. The heart of Paris will be rebuilt and live on.
That shot of An American In Paris is stunning.
The Cathedral has been mostly preserved. The gargoyles had been removed in order to do the renovation. The interior survived. All the art and Sacraments, plus I believe the stained glass windows.
I know it’s just a silly Disney cartoon, but the “God Help the Outcasts” scene in THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME had such a tremendous impact on who I became and how I continue to practice faith and politics. That song was all I could think about as I watched the news coverage of the fire.
Notre Dame...
- Is it a loss? Yes.
- Is it a tragedy? Culturally and artistically speaking, undoubtfully
- Is it bringing the best out of people, this tragedy? NO. On the contrary, it is just showing us, how putrid this world is. While thousands of Europeans die on waiting list to receive help, more than 700 million euros have been donated in less than 24 hours to "reconstruct" (recreate) the Cathedral. The very same Europe where the extreme right is winning and is letting thousands of people drowning in the sea, and the same France that doesn't move a finger on the tragedy of Haiti, and ex-colony of them. Of course, in Haiti there's no oil.
Can’t even enjoy a simple post about a tragedy without some SJW complaining
I'm an atheist, but the feelings we have about touchstones like Notre Dame are personal and based on the same kind of emotions we have watching movies. To complain about people's sadness over this fire and the desire to rebuild the cathedral based on being raised in a Euro/American culture would be like posting every day on this site something like: "why are you horrible selfish people talking about movies when people are dying in Yemen!" You just seem like asses.
What Dan H said. Nathaniel, thanks for posting these.
Jesus Alonso is right. Nobody is saying not to mourn the loss of an iconic and culturally important building, but there IS a problem when everyone wants to rush to send money to fix a building when that money is not made available for, say, healthcare, infrastructure, education, housing, etc. It shows were priority lies, not with people but with things.
That being said, there is nothing wrong with Nathaniel's post!
They actually recorded the real bells for the sound track for the 1939 classic
Hypocritical American people, as per usual. France can build it all by themselves again, but not Haiti, Palestine, or shit, your own Flint.