On the screen
For decades, dozens of films have been shot here, here are a few examples: Palais Royal, by Valérie Lemercier, was partly shot on the Ile de Loisirs; the latest film featuring Yves Montand and shot by Jean-Jacques Beineix, IP5, l'île aux pachydermes, has some scenes shot in the Saint-Christophe district of Cergy, or more recently, the boulevard de l'Hautil was the location for the shooting of 30 jours max with Tarek Boudali and Philippe Lacheau. Among the locations used on a recurring basis, we also find the Place des Moineaux in Pontoise. The latter, built in the heart of the city in the early 1980s and whose stairs form a beautiful amphitheater, has been used for many cult films including P.R.O.F.S, with Patrick Bruel, in 1985. More recently, but aimed at an equally young audience, the film Radiostars by Romain Lévy was also partly shot here, in 2011. The square also hosts the entrance to one of the many underground passages: the eponymous cellar was the setting for the filming of Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate, starring Johnny Deep, or Olivier Dahan's Les Rivières Pourpres 2, with Jean Réno. Still in Pontoise, the Place de la Harengerie, and its immediate adjacent streets caught the eye of the directors of the film La Môme, starring Marion Cotillard, partly shot here in 2006. The scenes that were supposed to take place, in the adaptation, in Paris, found here a setting that was very close to it. The locals who were present at the time still remember the huge trucks, the parade of old cars and all the technique required for the shooting of what was to become one of the biggest successes of the last 20 years. More recently, the film Tout le monde debout by Franck Dubosc (and the last one in which the late Claude Brasseur played) made the rue de l'Hôtel de Ville and the Saint-Maclou cathedral into filming locations that were to become part of the history of the city of Lourdes! In Cergy, the public buildings erected during the first years of the new town, and the dedicated traffic lanes, inspired Henri Verneuil, whose film I comme Icare, written with Didier Decoin, and whose story is reminiscent of the assassination of President Kennedy, made the Cergy prefecture a virtual government palace.
Nevertheless, if there is a film that has, perhaps more than others, sublimated the place, it is L'ami de mon amie, shot here by Eric Rohmer in 1987. This story of a newcomer who falls in love with her new friend's boyfriend - hence the title of the film - and which, behind an apparently simple story is, as always with the director, more complex than it seems, was almost entirely shot in Cergy-Pontoise. Shot in the summer of 1986, it makes the city almost a character in its own right, so much so that the city-country duality and the very particular atmosphere of the new town are an integral part of the film's identity. Many people here remember and watch the work when it is replayed.
On television
Many television series and movies have also been set in the area: Josée Dayan's Balzac, starring Gérard Depardieu, was partly filmed in the Harengerie district of Pontoise; the well-known series Cordier, juge et flic and its sequel Commissaire Cordier, starring the late Pierre Mondy, have been set in many districts of the new town. In another register, the successful series Les Mystères de l'Amour, which fans have been following since the 1990s, is often set here. And the list is long...
Decor for music videos and fashion shows
In a different style, the shooting of music videos - most frequently on urban music - takes place here: camille's " Seeds ", Anis' "Sur la route", Lefa's "20 ans", Hafo's " Vamos " and even the Spanish version of Gims' "La même" are just a few examples.
Finally, it is worth noting that other shoots have sublimated the premises: the most recent one, broadcast worldwide, was for the Louis Vuitton fashion show in the sumptuous setting of the Axe majeur. For several days, and under a blazing sun, the new women's collection was sublimated by the shooting in these unique places: from the esplanade of Paris to the footbridge, dozens of models took part in a completely new fashion show.
