Sex doesn't sell: Last erotic cinema in Paris to close its doors
The Local France - [email protected]
Published: 4 Dec, 2017 CET.
Updated: Mon 4 Dec 2017 13:18 CET
The French capital's last porn cinema, The Beverley is set to screen its final "little death" as it gets ready to close its doors at the end of the year.
It's the end of an era.
The last vestige of Paris' once bountiful erotic cinema offering is set to close its doors at the end of 2017 when its boss Maurice Laroche, aged 74, retires.
"I did not see the time passing because it was a pleasure to come to work," said Laroche, according to a report in Le Parisien.
But, Laroche, who has been the director of The Beverley in the capital's 2nd arrondissement since he bought it in 1993, said that in recent years the cinema had faced increasing competition from online porn.
Due to competition from the internet "on which 10-year-old kids can see any porn movie," the number of customers has "gone down," said Laroche.
Photo: AFP
"Today, when we sell 600 tickets a week, we are happy. Twenty years ago, we sold 1,500-1,600," he adds.
"In the early 1980s, the atmosphere was happy," Laroche said. "There were 20 porn cinemas between Republic and Opera. The National Film Center had up to 44 screens devoted to X-rated films in the capital in 1976, and there were 110 across France."
Most of the customers are regulars who have been visiting the cinema, which is discreetly positioned on the quiet Rue de la ville neuve, for more than 60 years, Laroche explains, adding that despite that the clientele "goes from 18 years to 101 years and we have all levels of society."
The veteran of the erotic cinema industry added that "a great politician once told me that he symbolically handed me the Legion of Honor for the good I do to humanity."
The cinema has also hosted infamous "couples nights".
"We are also a place of reproduction. Fifteen years ago, a couple came to introduce me to their baby, who they said was conceived at The Beverley!"
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It's the end of an era.
The last vestige of Paris' once bountiful erotic cinema offering is set to close its doors at the end of 2017 when its boss Maurice Laroche, aged 74, retires.
"I did not see the time passing because it was a pleasure to come to work," said Laroche, according to a report in Le Parisien.
But, Laroche, who has been the director of The Beverley in the capital's 2nd arrondissement since he bought it in 1993, said that in recent years the cinema had faced increasing competition from online porn.
Due to competition from the internet "on which 10-year-old kids can see any porn movie," the number of customers has "gone down," said Laroche.
Photo: AFP
"Today, when we sell 600 tickets a week, we are happy. Twenty years ago, we sold 1,500-1,600," he adds.
"In the early 1980s, the atmosphere was happy," Laroche said. "There were 20 porn cinemas between Republic and Opera. The National Film Center had up to 44 screens devoted to X-rated films in the capital in 1976, and there were 110 across France."
Most of the customers are regulars who have been visiting the cinema, which is discreetly positioned on the quiet Rue de la ville neuve, for more than 60 years, Laroche explains, adding that despite that the clientele "goes from 18 years to 101 years and we have all levels of society."
The veteran of the erotic cinema industry added that "a great politician once told me that he symbolically handed me the Legion of Honor for the good I do to humanity."
The cinema has also hosted infamous "couples nights".
"We are also a place of reproduction. Fifteen years ago, a couple came to introduce me to their baby, who they said was conceived at The Beverley!"
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