Paris’ Pathé Palace, Designed by Renzo Piano, Lends Unifrance Rendez-Vous a Taste of French Luxury

Once the City of Light’s newest and chicest movie palace plays host to this week’s Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris opening on Tuesday, one might hardly fault first-time attendees for the odd pangs of déjà vu.

Just steps from the iconic Opera Garnier in the heart of town, the Haussmannian unit that houses the recently opened Pathé Palace began as a vaudeville theater in 1868, before serving a more than century-long stretch as an upscale marquee, first as Le Paramount, later Le Gaumont Opera, and now, after five years of dark screens and design renewal, as Pathé Cinemas‘ flagship Parisian venue.

As with the building’s familiar Haussmannian exterior, architects from the Renzo Piano Building Workshop sought to integrate old and new, accentuating light and open space with use of glass structures and mixed-use construction techniques similar to those of the Centre Pompidou and The Shard, all while honoring existing design features like a monumental Art Deco staircase that had stood for nearly a century.

Though upper levels include both private use reception facilities alongside Pathé’s own offices, the Pathé Palace remains a premium multiplex par excellence, housing seven screens decked out with the technical and comfort amenities one would come to expect along with several more uncommon creature comforts. If many a premium theater can boast Dolby Atmos sound systems and Onyx Cinema HDR screens, few –if any – can compound that offer with an on-site concierge service and a wine wall.

“The Palace is an accessible indulgence, a haven for the world’s dreamers, those who believe that the imagination and emotions are more valuable than reason,” said Pathé chairman Jerôme Seydoux in a statement. “Cinemagoers will come to enjoy the latest films, but also to visit a place unlike any other, next to the Opéra in the heart of Paris, designed by an exceptional architect and built by masters of quality and excellence.”

Indeed, as with Pathé’s recent homegrown blockbuster “The Count of Monte Cristo,” this jewelbox multiplex stems from a similar desire to meet market forces on more idiosyncratic terms – in this case to fill that need for premium theaters with an unquestionably Gallic expression of luxury. Where else could one pair a bag of chef-crafted popcorn with one of 24 wines on offer?

“This reopening is fully in line with Pathé’s strategy to modernize and move upmarket, as the company continues to invest in its network in order to offer the best possible experience in theatres and to better meet the expectations of moviegoers,” says Pathé Cinemas’ Lucia Anglade.

Open for business, and with admissions priced at $25 per head, this haven for “accessible indulgence” certainly emphasizes that latter term, all while a number of new programs point toward the growing importance of old-school practices within the upmarket space. Alongside all the cutting-edge tech, the Pathé Palace also boasts 35 and 70mm projectors, putting both to good use with weekly retrospectives before giving titles like “The Brutalist” – which is slated for local release in February – the kind of the director-approved spotlight that can eventize each screening.

At the Pathé Palace, as in France, as across much of the current exhibition landscape, everything old is new again.