Marseille gets a Netflix close-up
IT’S always been Paris. Paris has always been the star, the setting of novels, of films, of television programs, of vacation fantasies. But Marseille, France’s nextlargest city, is the setting of Netflix’s first French production, an eight-episode political drama, starring Gerard Depardieu, that was released earlier this year.
Watching Marseille isn’t likely to send you rushing to look up the price of flights. It depicts a dark – many would say clichéd – version of its namesake French city as violent and corrupt, and the mayor (Depardieu) has a cocaine habit. These stereotypes of Marseille as troubled by drugs and smuggling are old; see the 1971 American film The French Connection.
But viewers of the new series might also notice the very unParis-like beauty of this diverse city on the Mediterranean, especially in the beautiful shots taken from above. Even when two burglars speed away from a jewellery store smash-and-grab on a motorcycle, they disappear up one of the city’s many picturesque, steep and narrow streets.
Travellers interested in separating fact from fiction will find a city that is as friendly to the eyes as to the camera – actually, it’s just plain friendly. Marseille, which was one of the host cities for this year’s European football championship, has made significant investment over the last several years to attract more visitors, and the city they see is far more enjoyable than its reputation might suggest.
But all publicity is good publicity, it’s been said, and the Netflix series “has created a buzz about Marseille”, says Mustapha Kachetel, owner of Le Femina Chez Kachetel, which serves cuisine from the Kabyle region of Algeria. “I see it every day at the tables because I have people coming of all nationalities.”
Founded in 1921, it is one of many excellent North African restaurants in Marseille, which has long been a magnet for immigration from around the Mediterranean, particularly France’s former North African colonies. Here, the specialty is a couscous made from barley rather than the more typical wheat semolina, stewed with vegetables for three hours and served with different types of meat. The recipes, Kachetel says, come straight from his great-grandmother: He’s the fourth generation of his family to run the restaurant, and the fifth is preparing the dining room for dinner as we talk.
Nowhere is the recent investment in Marseille more apparent than in the view from the Quai de la Port, a few blocks away.
Look across the water, and you’ll see a pair of historic forts with crenellated walls guarding either side of the entrance to the harbour. The one on the right, the 17th-century Fort Saint-Jean, has been connected by bridges to the recently constructed Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations (MuCEM). The striking museum building, a cube of glass set inside an intricately lacy concrete shell, was the capstone of Marseille’s preparations for its year as a Capital of European Culture (a European Union designation) in 2013.
The museum’s core exhibition traces common practices across early civilisations around the Mediterranean, such as winemaking and bread-baking. Temporary shows this summer included a comprehensive survey of Picasso’s folk influences; exhibitions this fall include art and objects related to the history of coffee, as well as works by young Albanian artists.
The Quai de la Port is at the heart of the city’s Old Port neighbourhood (a modern, larger harbour a short walk away has taken over the industrial activity and is also the stopping point for a number of cruise lines). Mornings, you can still browse stalls selling freshly caught fish including, on one day this summer, a small shark. .
It’s just a block up from the waterfront to the Palais de la Bourse, the monumental former stock exchange building. Dating from 1860 and the reign of Napoleon III, it plays the role of City Hall in Marseille but now is home to the Chamber of Commerce.
Head up the hills above the harbour, and you can get lost in the city’s oldest neighbourhood – the Panier, or breadbasket, which today is home to many artists’ studios and restaurants. Or take a bus around the opposite side of the harbour to St Victor, a dense neighbourhood where new restaurants and boutiques mingle with examples of the region’s older traditions.
One of these is the Musée du Santon. Tucked away on a side street and not heavily publicised, this museum holds a fascinating collection of santons – “little saints” – figurines for Christmas crèches in the tradition of Provence. In addition to the traditional manger scenes, they include bakers in aprons, women in traditional skirts, fishermen and shepherds who have all stopped work and come down from the hills to see the newborn son of God in his manger.
The museum also has a collection of crèches from around the world, collected by the master santonnier Marcel Carbonel, who was inducted into the French Legion of Honour shortly before his death in 2003.
The workshop of the company he founded is next door to the museum. Still owned by his descendants, Santons Marcel Carbonel produces 130,000 clay santons a year, including animals, cradles and pigeon coops. Each is painted by hand using colours produced in-house. A few of the decorators, many of whom work from home, have been painting santons for more than three decades.
From the harbour, visitors can take a boat ride out to see the historic Chateau d’If – probably best known to Americans as the fortress that imprisoned the fictional main character of The Count of Monte Cristo. It’s difficult to reconcile Alexandre Dumas’s description of a “gloomy fortress” standing on a “black and frowning rock” with the light-coloured stone structure shining brightly in the sun, rising from the turquoise water.
It seems that the chateau is another aspect of Marseille that defies its reputation.