Rouen le Melville

A foray into cinema outside of the UK. I’m glad to say that this type of cinema is common to France, and that this arts cinema is like Britain’s used to be. No pretence, high prices, popcorn, sofas and licensed noisy auditoria; no blockblusters, just quality, international cinema. There’s an atmosphere in the foyer I wish I can capture, but it recalls Britain’s film theatres of the 1990s, sadly an atmosphere I can now only think of in Glasgow and Ipswich, perhaps at Edinburgh.  There’s sort of expectation, film loving, something about the very posters and even the presence of the box office that says – you are about to go into that room and have that experience – this is the antechamber, the gateway, this is where you learn about what you may see and make your choice. This is cinema as it should be.