When real estate makes its cinema

Real estate can be a decorative element that plays the leading roles. Properties or houses which dictate the atmosphere, which are at the heart of an intrigue or which have left an impression.

We think about the film The little handkerchiefs by Guillaume Canet, with his famous holiday home, located in Cap Ferret. This wooden villa, overlooking the Arcachon basin, helped to boost the real estate market in the area. It embodies the rustic and chic family home. It translates a certain art of living.

We think about the film The swimming pool with his villa in Ramatuelle. Or the ultra-modern house of the Park family, in the Korean film Parasite who won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2019. Another Palme d’Or, in 2023, with an iconic location which is at the heart of an investigation: the chalet in the film Anatomy of a fall. This chalet is located in the village of Villarembert, in Savoie, in the heart of the Maurienne valley.

The castle of Vaux le Vicomte, seen in Moonraker (film in the James Bond series), Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola or the series Versailles.

The Château de Beynac, a Périgord fortress perched on its cliff, which embodies the Middle Ages. He was on screen in Visitors, Joan of Arc by Luc Besson and The Last Duel de Ridley Scott.

There is also the Palais Bulles which belonged to Pierre Cardin, located in Théoule-sur-Mer. This atypical residence on the Côte d’Azur has served as the setting for numerous films, as well as fashion shows.

You don’t need to live in a castle or a palace to be interested in cinema. The productions are looking for several types of properties: lofts, private hotels, architect-designed villas. Also coveted: the Haussmann-style apartment, the large country house with a garden but also something unique, like an apartment left in its original state from the 1970s, an abandoned barn or an artist’s studio. We still need space to accommodate a team of, sometimes, 30 to 50 people.

And if you want to offer your property for filming, there are specialists. For exceptional properties, it is the company 20,000 Lieux. For character properties and Parisian apartments, there is Mires. A platform also connects owners and cinema professionals, the Cast’ Things site. Without forgetting the Tourist Offices of the departments, which are in contact with the Film Commissions to help them with location scouting.

Renting your apartment or house for filming a film is therefore possible. We will be far from the cachet of a star. But as a supplement to income, and to have the pleasure of seeing your house or apartment on the big screen, that is priceless.

France Info cinema