FRANCE – Paris, La Tour Eiffel & Restaurant “Jules Verne” // A View To A Kill (1985)
Enchanted butterflies and black parachutes: “A View To A Kill” opens weird and wild. The iconic Eiffel Tower was used to the fullest – from top to bottom.
Why Bond was here
Bond (Roger Moore) meets up with a French contact in Paris to gather intel about industrialist Max Zorin (Christopher Walken). Both meet in the push restaurant “Jules Verne”, situated on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. But the Frenchmen soon gets killed by an “enchanted papillon” – a poisoned fake butterfly operated by May Day (Grace Jones), the bodyguard of Zorin. Bond pursues her up the Tower. May Day then parachutes down, Bond has to follow via elevator.
How you gonna get there
The Eiffel Tower – or La Tour Eiffel in French – is the number one iconic landmark in Paris. Any movie with a Paris setting has to show the tower in an establishing shot, be it from a hotel room or a balcony scene. Good for you: You also are able to see the Eiffel Tower from far away and almost every Parisien is able to help you with finding directions.
Closest metro station is Bir Hakeim, operated by line 6. Also nearby is Trocadéro, via line 9. From Trocadéro you’ll have a beautiful view on the Eiffel Tower from further away. Going by bus you can take lines 82 or 42 exiting “Tour Eiffel” or line 69 exiting “Champ de Mars” for the nearby park. Coming from further away? The express train RER line C stops at “Champ de Mars” as well.
Good to know
The Eiffel Tower is one of worlds most famous icons, constructed by and named after Gustave Eiffel. With 324 metres, the wrought-iron tower is the tallest building in Paris. It has three levels, with restaurants and shops on the first and second levels and a viewing platform on the third at 276 metres. The fancy “Jules Verne” restaurant is on the second floor, but filming of the interior scenes took place at a remade Pinewood set. Bond then pursues May Day up the stairs towards the third platform, from where she jumps.
The “Jules Verne” is not your casual walk-in joint, but a rather exclusive restaurant with lunch and dinner times. We highly recommend early reservations. There are no à la carte options but menues, ranging from 135 Euro to 230 Euro. If you have a reservation, the elevator ride is uncluded – all other Eiffel Tower visitors need to book access options. The frugal option is to take the stairs up to the 2nd level for 10,50 Euro, the most expensive one is the elevator ride to the top for 26,10 Euro.
Filming the parachute stunt was a real challenge back in 1985. The jumping platform at the top is very thin, but the bottom of the Eiffel Tower slopes outwards – so stuntman B.J. Worth had only seconds before opening his parachute. He practiced with jumps from a hotair ballon, the final try from the tower then was a perfect one-shot. Within the hour after the jump producer Cubby Broccoli had delivered a case of champagne to Worth’s hotel room for a job well done.
We went to the Eiffel Tower several times during our week in Paris, mostly just sitting in the nearby Champs de Mars and enjoying the view. Our ascent was planned to the last evening and a beautiful experience: We went around sunset and enjoyed a Paris bathed in a golden evening sun. Back down, we had a dinner picknick with baguette and cheese with view on the tower. After nightfall the lights went on and illuminated the Eiffel Tower in glittering sparks.
© 2021 Huntingbond (1,3), © 1985 Danjaq S.A.