In what must be one of the world’s most culturally renowned urban enclaves, this brief but informative documentary traces the 19th and early 20th-century history of Paris’ Montmartre district, a place as infamous for its sleaze and sin as much as a one-time hotbed of artistic innovation and rampant creativity, producing everything from scantily clad showgirls dancing the Can-Can to serving as the inspirational backdrop to modern art icons like Pablo Picasso and Toulouse Lautrec.
Known as La Butte for its steep elevation, Montmartre’s upper bastion was associated with the artistic side of Paris, while Lower Montmartre in the early 20th century quickly became the city’s red-light and entertainment district (“a hotspot of forbidden pleasures” as the voiceover lustily describes it), with venues like Le Chat Noir and the Moulin Rouge quickly gaining a global reputation for risqué entertainment.
This film by Jean-Pierre Beaurenaut, using some fascinating early stock footage of the area, not to mention some beautiful contemporary shots of the district, tries to get at the heart of what makes Montmartre so rich in bohemian history, associated almost from its suburban beginnings with a sense of freedom and independent thinking.
Probably the flashpoint of it all, as we learn, was the population of Montmartre played a starring role in the 1871 Paris Commune uprising, a bloody rebellion that brought death and destruction to the neighborhood. Then there was another deadly rising not long after—only this time it was architectural. The iconic Byzantine structure Sacre Coeur was built on top of La Butte, took 38 years to build, and killed three architects in the process.
With such a rich collection of film and images, the history documentary resource shows us Montmartre’s transformation from a quiet, assuming country village to a vibrant creative bohemian party district. Although obviously not meant to be any sort of comprehensive documentation of this unique Parisian geographical space, this educational documentary is an informative and enlightening highlight reel of sorts that captures the most culturally vibrant moments in Montmartre’s history. Recommended for French history collections or art history professors specializing in this Parisian time period.