Fashion for everyone

at the Utopia cinema.

This cinema is nestled underneath the Palais des Papes in the old centre of Avignon and needs another set of my unfathomable instructions to find - but what a find and what a completely delicious and divine way to watch a film. Forget home cinema and private screenings - this must win hands down as viewing heaven. To compare this experience with that of the cinema complexes in the big cities is impossible - and it is true, there is no pop corn, diet coke or pick and mix.

Nobody eats or drinks inside the cinema, nobody talks during the film and I have never heard a mobile ring tone to shatter my mood. The seats are generous and comfortable - plush red velvet velour and screen curtain to match - and the salle is small, maybe one hundred people at most. There are three different salles at Utopia showing a variety of films at different hours of the day.

There are no advertisements at Utopia; no sneaking in twenty minutes after the published time  - if the movie starts at 9.15, it starts at 9.15. The curtains part with a swish and the movie rolls. The first time I watched a film at Utopia I missed the opening few minutes - I couldn't adjust my concentration and register the lack of advertising. Even with DVD's there are minutes of previews and random bits to watch before you settle into the show.

The other strange, but very charming, difference with this cinema experience is that when the film finishes nobody moves. There is no rustling, applauding, whistling or racing for the exit - we sit and we watch every last credit fill the screen. In my past life - impatient woman that I was - I would have my bag at the ready, my coat buttoned and be up and out of my seat to beat the rush. I took my daughter last night, her first time, and was amused to see that she did exactly the same thing. When I thought about waiting until the end I realized it is the polite thing to do and it does enable those interested in the technicalities to learn more. This is what I love about French ettiquette - what is another five minutes? What is the big rush? Have patience with what you are doing, do it well and enjoy it to the fullest.

Ok, so maybe you are thinking this all sounds a little serious - no food, no drink, no snacks - but let me tell you about the best part of Utopia. The bar and the restaurant....

Last night it was drizzling and raining ( even in Provence) so the perfect night to dine, wine and watch a movie. We had dinner before the movie and then settled in to watch Clint Eastwood's, Gran Torino. I think I enjoyed it - the problem was it was so cosy and I was so contented after our dinner that I fell asleep and missed the last few minutes of the film...

The interior of Le Grande Cafe is gorgeous - the walls are left in their untreated and shabby state and five over-scale painted mirrors dominate the room. To crank up the ambience there are fabric panels lining the back walls - which provide some subtle colour - and loads of candles and soft lamps. We were the first to arrive but by 8.00pm the place was packed.

Utopia publishes a newspaper each month with the times, details and critiques of their films - I love this magazine - browsing through and planning what I might like to see. Movies come fast and often to Utopia - Hollywood blockbusters, with French subtitles, are released in original form and a wide choice of foreign films are always playing. Buying tickets is the 'first in best dressed' system unless you have bought a carnet or little book of tickets and then it is just a matter of stepping up to the counter, tearing off the right number and settling in for the evening.

Utopia - 'an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect' - sure is, xv