The charming Paris district of Montmartre has been completely swamped by tourists after featuring in Emily in Paris and, a bit further back, cult movie Amélie.
The picturesque area has panoramic views over Paris but its residents have complained of being overwhelmed by hordes of visitors.
France’s hatred of Netflix series Emily in Paris has been well publicised after the popular series unleashed a tirade of selfie-hunting visitors on the country.
Furious locals scrawled angry graffiti across the shutters of a café used in the hit show, while an editorial in Le Monde, a French daily newspaper, even bore the headline: ‘They think they own the neighbourhood! Emily In Paris – an invasive neighbour.’
And now new traffic restrictions threaten to push them over the edge.
Residents are stressed that families will be forced out, along with small bakeries, butchers and other small businesses.
‘We’ll be left with places selling crêpes and tacos to tourists and nothing for locals,’ one protester said.
The group Vivre à Montmartre, or Montmartre Living, estimates that there are 423 tourists in Montmartre for each local.
Swamped by tourists: Residents in the charming Paris district of Montmartre have complained of being overwhelmed by hordes of visitors thanks to featuring in Netflix show Emily In Paris
The ‘Emily effect’ is driven by the hugely popular Netflix series starring Lily Collins as a quirkily dressed American marketing executive who tries to build a life for herself in the French capital without speaking a word of French. Pictured: Crowds gather at Sacre-Cur Basilica
France ‘s hatred of Netflix series Emily in Paris has been well publicised after the popular series unleashed a tirade of selfie-hunting visitors on the country
Anne Renaudie, the head of Vivre à Montmartre, told The Times that the population is 26,000 but there are 11 million visitors each year.
Fans of Emily in Paris seek out sites such as La Maison Rose, a restaurant featured in the show.
Twenty-four years on, fans of the cult 2001 movie Amélie still flock to the Café des Deux Moulins, where scenes were filmed.
Renaudie said: ‘A lot of people say Montmartre has been cursed twice, once by Amélie and then by Emily.’
She added that locals don’t object to tourists but they want their home to still be liveable.
Banners with slogans that read ‘Montmartre under threat. Residents forgotten’ now hang from balconies.
Some are purposefully written in English, ‘so tourists know we’re not against them’.
Tourists are descending, in astonishing numbers, on small Gallic streets, parks and squares, iPhones in hand.
Graffiti reads: ‘Emily get lost, South Paris is not yours’
The Montmartre neighbourhood’s famous street, Rue de l’Abreuvoir, where some of Emily in Paris is filmed at La Maison Rose
Art imitating life: Lily Collins, left, French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife Brigitte Macron, center, and Thalia Besson pose for a selfie in the series
And it’s not only Emily’s fault, as there are still walking tours offered for fans of the French film classic Amélie (pictured)
L’Esprit de Gigi in the series (pictured) is in real life is an Italian bistro called Terra Nera in Montmartre, where tourists have flocked to visit
Place Dalida in Montmartre is another location that features in the popular Netflix show
The ‘Emily in Paris pilgrimage’ follows a route hitting all the spots from the show.
They all stop at a rustic family bakery in the Latin Quarter, which has doubled pain au chocolat production to keep up with demand.
Then there’s the restaurant next door, whose 15 rickety tables are constantly occupied by tourists drinking kir royales and photographing its red frontage.
A few blocks away, there’s the art gallery where rents have soared due to hordes of visitors coming to take pictures of the building, without going inside.
A nearby bistro is deluged daily by giggling young women in berets.
The ‘Emily effect’ is driven by the hugely popular Netflix series starring Lily Collins as a quirkily dressed American marketing executive who tries to build a life for herself in the French capital without speaking a word of French.
In Paris it’s become known as ‘l’invasion des imbéciles’, which translates as ‘the invasion of the morons’.
Graffiti with the words ‘Emily Not Welcome’ has been scrawled in angry red on the side of one building.
And it’s not only Emily’s fault, as there are still walking tours offered for fans of the French film classic Amélie.
Released in 2001, it stars Audrey Tautou and went on to be nominated for five Oscars.
Set in the Montmartre quarter of Paris, it still brings tourists flocking to that part of the capital to pay homage to the movie they love.
