Martigues, land of cinema

Films shot in Martigues

From the 1910s to the 1950s

• Les Martigues, a documentary film by Léonce Perret (1910).
• Arènes joyeuses by Karl Anton with Alibert, Lucien Baroux and Fernand Charpin (1935) and by Maurice de Canonge with Fernand Raynaud, Danielle Godet and Jean Vinci (1958) were both shot in Martigues. The shots were taken on location. 
• Toni by Jean Renoir (1935) with Charles Blavette, Celia Montalvan, Jenny Hélia - highlights the natural setting and the pine forests of Martigues. The story that inspired Jean Renoir actually took place in the Canto-Perdrix neighborhood. However, the action was transposed to the pine forests near the Chenal de Caronte Sud. The Martigues train station can be seen not far from there.

• Orage by Marc Allégret (1938) with Charles Boyer, Michèle Morgan, Lisette Lanvin. 
• Titin des Martigues by René Pujol (1938) with Alibert, Pierre Larquey, Paulette Dubost. 
• La bonne étoile by Jean Boyer (1943) with Fernandel, Janine Darcey, Andrex - was shot in the port of Carro. 
• Rumors of Jacques Daroy (1947) with Jacques Dumesnil, Jany Holt, Henri Arius.  

From 1951 to 2000

• Le tournant dangereux by Robert Bilal (1954) with Viviane Romance, Philippe Lemaire, Armand Mestral. 
• Le secret de sœur Angèle by Léo Joannon (1956) with Sophie Desmarets, Raf Vallone, Marie Albe. 
• Action immédiate by Maurice Labro (1957) with Henri Vidal, Jacques Dacqmine, Lino Ventura - was shot on the beach of Sainte-Croix (La Couronne). 
• Amour de poche by Pierre Kast (1957) with Jean Marais, Geneviève Page, Jean-Claude Brialy; and whose outdoor sets in Martigues were favored. 
• Vacances explosives by Christian Stengel (1957) was shot at the Villa Khariessa. A film with Arletty, Raymond Bussières, Marthe Mercadier. 
• La fille de feu by Alfred Rode (1958) was shot at La Couronne. An adventure film with Claudine Dupuis, Erno Crisa, Raymond Souplex. 
• The trap by Charles Brabant (1958) with Magali Noël, Raf Vallone, Charles Vanel. 
• Les Héritiers (The Heirs) by Jean Laviron with Roger Pierre, Jacqueline Maillan, Jean-Marc Thibault (1960) whose settings echo the refinery of Lavéra, the railway bridge and the Caronte canal. 
• Normandie-Niémen by Jean Dréville and Damir Viatitch-Berejnykh (1960) with Pierre Trabaud, Roland Menard - whose landing scenes were shot on the road to La Mède (Martigues). 
• Un nommé La Rocca by Jean Becker (1961) with Jean-Paul Belmondo, Pierre Vaneck, Christine Kaufman. 
• La cuisine au beurre by Gilles Grangier (1963) was set in the districts of Ile and Jonquières as well as the hamlet of Carro and its beach for the fishing scenes. 

• Peau de Banane by Marcel Ophüls with Jeanne Moreau, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Claude Brasseur (1963); whose scenes supposedly take place in a port of Belle-île-en-Mer are in reality scenes shot in the port of Carro. The beach of Verdon (La Couronne) was also popular. Finally, the downtown Ferrières (Quai des Girondins) was used. There was an old metal bridge. 
• Le temps de vivre by Bernard Paul with Marina Vlady, Frédéric de Pasquale, Catherine Allegret (1969) was shot on the beach of Verdon (La Couronne) and in the village of Carro. 
• Dieu vomit les tièdes by Robert Guédiguian (1991) with Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Ariane Ascaride, Pierre Banderet. 
• A la vie, à la mort ! by Robert Guédiguian (1995) was shot in the Ponteau district. The shooting took place on location on the beach, the main site of the café "Le perroquet bleu" in the film. With Ariane Ascaride, Gérard Meylan, Jacques Boudet. 
• Les collègues by Philippe Dajoux (1999) with Joël Cantona, Patrick Bosso, Sacha Bourdo. 

From 2001 to 2010

• Walk and dream! Les Homards de l'Utopie by Paul Carpita (2002) took as an example the exteriors of Martigues. Many of the extras are local people who participated voluntarily. With Daniel Russo, Roger Souza, Guy Bélaïdi. 
• Les corps impatients by Xavier Giannoli (2003) with Laura Smet and Nicolas Duvauchelle was shot in the creek of Arquet (La Couronne). 
• Camping Paradis since 2006 (TV movie broadcast on TF1) is shot on the beach of La Saulce and Sainte-Croix as well as near the Camping L'Arquet-Côte Bleue on a dedicated site where the sets were built all year round. With Laurent Ournac, Thierry Heckendorn, Patrick Guérineau. 

• Les insoumis by Claude-Michel Rome with Richard Berry, Pascal Elbé, Zabou Breitman (2008) was shot at Croix-Sainte, at the petrochemical complex of Lavéra/Ponteau and along the Caronte channel. 
• MR73 by Olivier Marchal (2008).
• Alter Ego by Jérôme Nunes with Geoffrey Coppini and Laure Quenin (2010) was shot in a vacation home in Carro (Martigues), on the Côte Bleue. 
• The Immortal by Richard Berry (2010) with Jean Reno and Kad Merad. Part of the film was shot in Lavéra, the crew having stayed 6 weeks in Marseille. 

From 2011 to 2020

• Dans la tourmente by Christophe Ruggia (2011) with Clovis Cornillac, Mathilde Seigner and Yvan Attal; was shot in Lavéra, Ponteau and Les Laurons. 
• Cain, the TV series - broadcast on France 2 - was shot in Martigues in 2012. The sets of the chapel of Saint-Pierre were used as well as those of the chapel of Sainte-Croix and the sets of the coastline of the Côte Bleue in general. The series was also shot in the Korian clinic, the Villa Khariessa and in the Provence Studios. 

• Au fil d'Ariane by Robert Guédiguian (2014) with Ariane Ascaride, Jacques Boudet, Jean-Pierre Darroussin
• Père fils thérapie ! by Émile Gaudreault (2016) with Richard Berry and Waly Dia was shot in the Provence Studios.
• An episode of the series Petits secrets en famille was filmed in 2016 at the Sainte-Croix Chapel. This is also the case for the series La stagiaire which was shot the same year at Provence Studios and on the coast of the Côte Bleue. 
• Caïd by Ange Basterga and Nicolas Lopez (2017). The film was awarded the Grand Prix du Film Long Métrage de Cinéma at the Festival du polar de Cognac the year of its release. However, for lack of a distributor, the film was not released in theaters. The script was rewritten in a series of 10 episodes and returned with the same actors and still in Martigues. The series is available on Netflix in March 2021. 
• Overdrive by Antonio Negret (2017) with Scott Eastwood, Freddie Thorp, Ana de Armas. The film was shot in large part in Martigues including the beach of Sainte-Croix, the quarries of Boumandariel, Carro and of course the departmental road D5. 
• It happens something by Anne Alix with Lola Dueñas, Bojena Horackova, Serge Geairain (2018). The film was selected at the Cannes Film Festival. 
• Dream Boat by Chen Kun-Hui (2018).
• The France 3 television series Soupçons was shot in 2019 on the sets of Provence Studios and also at the Grand Parc de Figuerolles and on the premises of the Korian clinic. 
• Louis-Do de Lencquesaing's The Holy Family with Marthe Keller, Laura Smet, Léa Drucker (2019) benefited from the landscapes of the Côte Bleue. 
• Fahim by Pierre François Martin-Laval with Assad Ahmed, Gérard Depardieu, Isabelle Nanty (2019) was also charmed by the landscapes of La Côte Bleue; as well as Emmanuel Hamon for the film Exfiltrés (2019) with Swann Arlaud, Finnegan Oldfield and Jisca Kalvanda. 
• Voir le jour by Marion Laine (2020) with Sandrine Bonnaire and Brigitte Rouan was shot on the coast of La Côte Bleue, more precisely in La Couronne. This is also the case of Divorce Club by Michaël Youn (2020) with Arnaud Ducret, François-Xavier Demaison and Audrey Fleurot. 
• Olivier Marchal's Bronx (2020) with Jean Reno and David Belle was shot at Provence Studios and on the Côte Bleue. The film is available since October 2020 on Netflix.