Mega CGR, Claira

It took about twenty minutes to get to the theater from La Maison de Verotte. The one-lane road, completely flat, wound through green vineyards with the Pyrenees looming in the distance, looking much like the familiar Rockies.

The theater is in the midst of a recent big box shopping center just off the highway. I'd scoped it out while coming in by car. As I walked amidst the businesses, picking my way through traffic, I was struck by how similar it seemed to an American big box complex. There was an electronics outlet, a "Home Depot" type place, a baby store, a pet store, and a large Carrefour, which is the French equivalent to a Wal-Mart. There were also fast-food outlets and family chain restaurants, including a Buffalo Grill, and one with a pirate theme.

The most noticeable thing about the Mega CGR is that the building is decorated by huge outlines of Charlie Chaplin, or "Charlot," as the French call him.

I got there about fifteen minutes before the 13:45 showing, which I'd found using the amazing Google Movies tool, which has yet to let me down. The times were exactly right (see listings here).

Of course I was fascinated by the design of the lobby. On the one hand, it looked very different from the typical American multiplex, with little island ticket booths. On the other hand, I've seen plenty of American multiplexes that didn't look typical to me either, so what do I know? I couldn't get any good shots inside, but maybe I'll find some later.

I did, however, catch a lucky break in that on Mondays, the usual ticket price was reduced from almost nine euros to only five euros and forty cents. It is part of general trend I've noticed, that prices in France (in euros) are almost the same as in the U.S., but in dollars. Of course that means you get screwed here, but what the hell, it's France!

There were twelve auditoriums in the multiplex, with the doors arranged in a great big semicircle around the lobby. The auditorium where my film was showing was nearly empty. It was almost like my usual ventures back in the states. The seats were very cushy with straight backs.

The trailers and ads started at the advertised time, and ran about twenty minutes until the actual feature. This part was familiar. The difference was that there were many more ads and fewer trailers, and the trailers themselves were only about thirty seconds in length. While the ads were running, I remembered that this situation (of too many ads before French movies) is actually parodied in an episode of French in Action, which is familiar to anyone who attempted to learn French in the 199os. Suddenly I was hearing Pierre Capretz's voice again, after many years, and thinking of Mireille. Ah, Mireille...