Nice at home

Who said you had to walk down the sunshine road to feel like you were in Nice?

The city with a blue heart comes to your home, in print, on screen and even with music. A trip to the bottom of your bed or snuggled up on your sofa. Starting with the suprising Tomas and his Merry Boys, undoubtedly the first boy band of the French song which made swing the evenings of the municipal casino and the Palais de la Méditerranée of the crazy years 1930. And, twenty years later, signed the official anthem of the Nice carnival.

Of course, we don’t forget Jean Dujardin waiting for the wave on the beach of the Bains militaires in the Brice de Nice series to bingewatch on his sofa, nor, for the aficionados of decoration, some cult scenes shot at the Negresco – from Marcel Ophüls’ Peau de Banane, with Belmondo and Jeanne Moreau, to the second opus of La Cage aux folles via Georges Lautner’s Ne nous fâchons pas, starring no less than Mireille Darc and Lino Ventura.

You will not forget to have tapenade and mini focaccias delivered by the Niçois for a TV set with a Promenade des Anglais atmosphere, or even a carnival atmosphere if you get your hands on the untraceable La Vie à deux by Clément Duhour, with all the necessary floats and the 1958 vintage. Very chic, the press will thank you, the subscription to Nice Matin is doubled with the regular listening of France Bleu Côte d’Azur and the local and more confidential Radio Nice.

Whether you are a casual reader or a fan of books, immerse yourself in the incredible adventures of Jacques Merenda and his companion Loulou Crystal. Joann Sfar, the author of Le Niçois and Farniente, knows the city well. Which is omnipresent in his detective stories: he was born and raised there, with a father who was the deputy of the legendary mayor Jacques Médecin, who could well have inspired the petulant Merenda.

The humour is reminiscent of some of the funny thrillers written by San Antonio, the pseudonym of the delirious Frédéric Dard: Sucette boulevard, La Pute enchantée (The Enchanted Whore) and L’année de la moule (The Year of the Mussel) all have in common the fact that they take you to the Côte d’Azur.

The same goes for the latest Patrick Besson film, whose title, Nice-Ville, is already quite a programme. And if you are interested in linguistics, you will find on the Web a recording of the Francis Gag theatre company, founded in 1936 to keep the flame of the Nissarde language alive.

Playlist…

… of course, a little Tino Rossi, preferably the joyful “de Nice à Montecarlo” released in 1939. Sixties fans, get your hands on Le Mistral, an ultrarare album signed by the Teddy Moore and Dom Dominic orchestra, evoking the luxury train that linked Paris and Nice in the 1950s and 1960s. You will of course have Jenifer and Dick Rivers, both from Nice, and, side by side, Claude Nougaro and the rapper Gambi, both singing (but in two different styles) “La Côte d’Azur”. Even more targeted, Julien Doré signs a track called “Baie des Anges”, which is reminiscent of Dick Rivers’ 1984 track (the clip, with its cream-coloured double-breasted suit and smoke bombs, is a monument in itself). Finally, an Italian disco: the border is just next door…

Book

Set on the Paris-Nice night train, the plot of this Terminus by Boileau-Narcejac, published in 1980, is a little masterpiece of the genre. Or how an employee of the restaurant car (we are not yet at the time of the TGV) discovers that his wife is not exactly who he thinks she is… A totally addictive old-fashioned thriller.

Film

Come on, if we only needed one, it would be this Bay of Angels signed by Jacques Demy in 1963. Casino atmosphere and gambling addiction for an imperial Jeanne Moreau in platinum blonde, in a “silly existence made of luxury and poverty. And also the mystery of numbers, chance…” Costa-Gavras and Claude Zidi both collaborated on this black-and-white gem where love triumphs over the vertigo of roulette and baccarat tables…