Smiley's People - Paris Locations (Part Two)

Welcome back to this series of articles looking at the various Paris locations featured in Smiley's People. Chris is continuing his forensic examination of all the available evidence to piece together a locations map of the city.

In Part One we looked at where Madame Ostrakova might have worked and the location where we first see Oleg Kirov following her. In this article we're going to focus on the location of Kirov's first encounter with Ostrakova and the bar where they go to talk. It's important to note Chris is using the unedited UK DVD for the running times. (Those viewing the international release may be interested in my summary of the differences between the international and UK cuts, which can be found here.) I'll let Chris take up the story once again:

Firstly, a word about the choice of locations. The location managers listed in IMDb for France were Antoine Gannagé and Olivier Péray. It doesn't specify which did where. Mention too must be made of the remit of John Le Carre himself. John Hopkins was brought in first as screenwriter and then Le Carre was engaged to help with 'technical matters'. I think that technical matters refers to the interrelation between dialogue and location. In Tinker Tailor it didn't matter, they were in an office. In Smiley's People the location establishes the context and it's got to make sense. 

Today, authorities the world over have specialists who liaise with the media to encourage filming, but I suspect that then a location manager might have thought they'd include this or that location because it would show off their city or because they'd been there years before themselves. And possibly their experience might differ from the likely haunts of an Estonian emigre who works in a warehouse. When Smiley discusses the case with Toby Estahase at his Islamic Art gallery in episode 3 he mentions the Fifteenth District. Conceivably it's all meant to take place in that part of Paris but we discovered in the last article that Madame Ostrakova is compelled to walk home up and down Montmatre and explored the possibility that she works in Cergy Pontoise. Already the BBC has had her walk home several kilometers and now they're expecting her to take a bus ride. 

At 2:46 we see Ostrakova about to cross the road, behind her are a Renault 16 and Morris 1300 and a study of the blu-ray release reveals that the location is Rue Fizeau, Paris 15. In this sequence the intended area is really used.

By 2:54 we see Ostrakova at the bus stop and for those interested in locations there is immediately a lot to take in. 

So why is there a picture of a horse? I bet we've all wondered. The answer is because of the sale of horse meat from the shop at 7 Rue Fizeau as referred to on this website. Unfortunately we can't read the name of the shop, although the final letter X might indicate bestiaux, which means cattle.  I did find this silent film about the trade. The location fan will no doubt be delighted to see that the horses head mosiac is still in place after forty years, maybe it's protected.

And why does it say Chauvelot on the bus stop? It is meant to be Rue Chauvelot, which is just to the south west of this location (see the map below). 

Today there is a bus stop at Rue Fizeau, maybe there was then and I'm presuming that they located a mobile sign where they wanted to film. The base of that sign doesn't look affixed and it seems that that design of hails from the 1960's. Here's one for sale.

At 3:04 the Ginger Pig arrives and behind him we can see along Rue Fizeau with the entrance to Rue Villafranca to the right and traffic on Rue Brancion at the end of the road. Notice as before how the BBC's camera lens foreshortens the view in comparison to that of Streetview. Those trees in (Parc George Brassens) are really about 55 meters away.

We see next (3:11) a close up of the details on the bus stop and to the right at Rue de Cherbourg someone appears and then steps backwards out of shot. 

And at 3:20 the bus appears. The buses in Paris have been run by RATP (Regie Autnome des Transports Parisiens) since 1945. On it's front is a brightly coloured banner, possibly advertising a special route. There must be some French 'bus fans' out there that know more. This part of Rue Fizeau has changed a lot in the intervening years but it is still possible to match the building on the right of the bus to the Streetview image.

Now we're going to consider how much accuracy is present. We can see that although we can't read the destination, the bus displays its route code which is route 48. The bus stop sign indicates that the stop is in Zone 2 and is the ninth stop before the end of the route. Forty years is plenty of time for 'bus routes to have changed but here's the details of route 48 today.

Study of route 48 indicates that it doesn't have a Chauvelot stop but it does go as far north as Cergy Pontoise. For the record the bus routes at Chauvelot are 59, 62, 95 and TRAVERSE. It's impossible really to tease out any degree of authenticity here, but if bus people are anything like railway people, at least those in the UK, then if they'd been asked to provide a bus stop and bus for the BBC cameras back in the day, then somebody would have asked where the character was supposedly going and they'd have tried to provide something that made sense, at least to them.

By 4:12 Ostrakova and Kirov are at the bar. 

To try and locate the bar the first step was to use Streetview to try and locate the surrounding buildings. If you look at the buildings on the opposite side of the street (behind Ostrakova) you can see a cranked drainpipe, two ground floor windows with lintels big enough to accommodate advertising, windows above with railings, a central doorway and a plain facade. I looked in the vacinity of Rue Fizeau on the assumption that they'd want to economise on time spent journeying between locations. 

I've duplicated that search in other areas of Paris near to where I know that other scenes were shot. I don't think that the red sign 'Fabricant' (which means manufacturer in English) is there by chance. Gannage and/or Peray together with director Langton had hundreds of Paris bars to choose from, I think again that the signs were known by somebody and the bar opposite was chosen because of it. 

The signs are the best clue we have to the location of the bar. I've tried reverse image search, I've searched on line for Fabricant and followed up every lead. I've followed up details of Paris businesses using the term both past and present and one source has been Societe.com that I used to discover the hotel on Rue Berthe in the previous article. Searching for Fabricant led to at least 62 leads throughout France of which this is a sample.

Selecting the last one as an example:

So then I've searched Streetview for 4 Rue Borromee, Paris 15 for the correct combination of architectural features and all the others. Unfortunately even allowing for the passage of time, likely building work and the foreshortening of the camera I've so far been unsuccessful.

After they take their seats the waiter (played by Andre Penvern) serves Kirov's order and the conversation begins. We know that it's an uncomfortable one for Ostrakova. Although the BBC had every bar in Paris to choose from, in the story it is likely that they are drinking at a bar in the Fifteenth District.  

Unfortunately the writing on the windows concerns only the services and drinks offered but we soon see one shot of the outside of the bar.

Three clues here, the skyline reflected in the windscreen, the nature of the windows and the fragment of the bar's sign. It's red lettering on cream. That's a tantalising combination but unfortunately not one that's led me to a confirmed location. 

One of the purposes of writing these articles is to enlist the support of the enthusiastic reader and I am sure there's someone out there who possesses the local knowledge of Paris (of 40 years ago!) that I lack.

We want to hear from you, the comments section below 'is at your disposal Counsellor'.

In the next article we're going to follow Madame Ostrakova into the Soviet Embassy...or at least the location they used for the Embassy.