Nine years after Vienna, Jesse and Céline meet again in Paris for a single afternoon. Linklater's real-time walk-and-talk was filmed on the actual streets.
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Jesse and Céline met for one night in Vienna nine years earlier. Now they have one afternoon in Paris, and the film follows them almost in real time. It starts at Shakespeare and Company, where Jesse is reading from his novel when Céline appears. Step outside and you are on their first walk, past the little church of Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre and into Rue Galande, barely a minute away.
From there the afternoon follows the river. The stretch of the Seine where they talk on a tour boat, near Quai de la Tournelle, is about 10 minutes from the bookshop. Across the river, the lanes of the Village Saint-Paul and the boat landing on Quai Henri IV, where the cruise ends, are about 10 minutes apart. Keep a second morning for the 11th and 12th: Le Pure Café, where they sit and talk, the Promenade Plantée and Square Trousseau are all within about 10 minutes of each other.
To redo the boat scene, board a tour boat at Port de la Bourdonnais: the stretch near Notre-Dame matches the film. Céline's courtyard, a few minutes from Square Trousseau, is private and its gate is usually closed, so look from the street. Midnight in Paris also stops at Shakespeare and Company.
9 filming locations.
Where Jesse is reading from his novel when Céline appears. The film's opening reunion is shot inside this actual bookshop.
Access · Open shop: from 10:00 Monday to Saturday, from 12:00 on Sunday; no photos inside
The corner café where Jesse and Céline sit, used for both exterior and interior. Film fans know the rounded corner with awnings on two sides at a glance.
Access · Open café
The elevated garden walk on the old rail viaduct, where the high-line walking sequence was shot. Look for the rose arches.
Access · Public space
The leafy residential square near Céline's apartment, filmed in the closing moments. Quiet, local and exactly what the film's ending needs.
Access · Public space
The river-boat sequence, shot on a working bateau-mouche along the stretch past Notre-Dame. From Quai de la Tournelle you watch that stretch from the bank. To ride it as they do, cruises leave from other piers, for example Bateaux Parisiens at Port de la Bourdonnais near the Eiffel Tower: check the route with the operator.
Access · Quay: public. Cruise: ticket, from the operator's own pier
Leaving the bookshop, Jesse and Céline set off on the first long take of their afternoon, past the little church of Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre and into cobbled Rue Galande, finally asking each other who did or didn't turn up in Vienna. Both streets, with the Studio Galande cinema and Paris's oldest tree in Square Viviani, are unchanged.
Access · Public space
A jump cut carries the pair across the river into the Marais: they walk beside the longest surviving stretch of Philippe Auguste's medieval wall, turn into Rue Charlemagne, squeeze through tiny Rue Eginhard and pass under the arch of Rue Saint-Paul while Céline talks about her environmental work. The lanes of the Village Saint-Paul are as quiet today as on screen.
Access · Public space
The river cruise ends here on the Right Bank, where Jesse's driver is waiting and he offers Céline a lift home instead of saying goodbye. The tree-lined lower quay between the Pont de Sully and the Pont d'Austerlitz still serves as a mooring for tour boats, with the tip of the Île Saint-Louis just downstream.
Access · Public space
The car turns in through this gateway and the film ends in Céline's leafy courtyard flat, where she plays Jesse her waltz and dances to Nina Simone: 'Baby, you are gonna miss that plane.' The cobbled 18th-century cour, one of the hidden artisans' courtyards of the old furniture-makers' faubourg, is private and its gate is usually closed.
Access · Exterior only; interior restricted. People live here: keep your voice down and don't ring the bells.
They ride a working bateau-mouche past Notre-Dame.
You can watch that stretch from Quai de la Tournelle, and ride it on a Seine cruise from another pier, for example near the Eiffel Tower.
The film's boat ride ends at the Quai Henri IV.
Only from the street.
The Cour de l'Étoile d'Or is private and its gate is usually closed.
People live there: keep your voice down and don't ring.
Shakespeare and Company opens from 10:00 Monday to Saturday and from 12:00 on Sunday.
Photos are not allowed inside.
The film takes place in about 80 minutes; on foot, with stops, the walk in the Plan section takes about half a day (Roseo's estimate).
Tap a number to see the place and get directions in Maps.
suggested place, not bookedItalian€€nearby
✓ Listed as gluten-free (OpenStreetMap)
Walk ~7 min
By metro · ~15 min
Walk ~5 min
Jesse and Céline's afternoon on foot: from the bookshop to her courtyard
The film follows one afternoon in Paris almost in real time. This walk links its places in a single day, along the Seine and through the Marais to Céline's door.
To ride the river as they do, take a tour boat from Port de la Bourdonnais, near the Eiffel Tower, and check the route with the operator. The café closes early on Sundays.
On a phone, Google Maps opens at most 5 places at a time.
Walk ~7 min
Walk ~7 min
Opening walk after the book signing
Walk ~9 min
Boat conversation
Walk ~8 min
Marais walk, Rue des Jardins-Saint-Paul to Rue Saint-Paul
Walk ~8 min
End of the boat ride: Jesse offers Céline a lift
Metro to Gare de Lyon (L1/L14) · ~15 min
Walk sequence
Walk ~8 min
Café conversation
Walk ~8 min
Closing walk
Walk ~5 min
Finale: Céline's apartment
Walk ~8 min
Walk ~14 min
Walk ~9 min
Jesse tells Céline a wartime legend about Notre-Dame being wired to blow up and spared by one soldier.
Walk ~7 min
Walk ~8 min
Estimated return 17:30 · add yours in Trip preferences
Tickets in the travel card belowYour trip on the map
Open a day to see only its stops, in order.
Hotel3 nights × €310 · 1 room€930
Lunches and dinners2 people€390
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Near the story
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3 nights · 2 people
Hotels along the story's route.
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By train you emit 78% less CO₂: ~25 kg per person (round trip) instead of ~112 by plane.
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Experience of the story · GetYourGuide
Restaurants and activities near the story's places.
Before Sunset: a tour linked to the story
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Paris: all activities on GetYourGuide
The link opens the destination's catalogue, not a tour made for the story →
Production · film commissions · tourist boards · guides
We always say if it is:
Production · film commissions · tourist boards · guides
We always say if it is:
