LOCATION: Marseille
FILM: Taxi

I should really title this section Taxi, Taxi 2, Taxi 3 & Taxi 4 because all of these movies are predominantly set in Marseille and just by driving or walking around you will notice many of the locations used in all four films.

 

Taxi is a great little French film written by Luc Besson and featuring some top notch performances from lead actors Sami Naceri, Frederic Diefenthal, Marrion Cotillard and Emily Sjoberg.

 

The film involves an aspiring racecar driver named Daniel (Sami Naceri), who initially works as a pizza delivery boy, but changes jobs to become a taxi driver with a supercharged engine. He eludes the police while quickly transporting his fares to their destinations. Finally caught by the police he is forced to help Emilien (Frederic Diefenthal) a down on his luck police inspector who can’t pass his driving test on the trail of German bank robbers. The film has grossed over 200,000,000 worldwide –a staggering amount for a subtitled movie- and is one of the most succesful movies in French history.

 

The entire first film is shot in Marseille so you will be able to spot locations all over the city –although I still haven’t found the shop that Emilien drives into! - But as far as specifics I would recommend taking a hire car/scooter through these routes and trying to beat some of Daniels taxi times!

 

Race to the Airport: Who can forget this scene a busy businessman jumps in Daniles Taxi and asks him to get him to the airport ASAP! The race against time starts on the Corniche sea road and Daniel completes the 45-55minute journey to the Airport Marignane in 19minutes! Try not to throw up when you reach the airport!

 

Race the Rocade!: The opening scene is played to the background of the Pulp Fiction theme and shows Daniel racing around Marseille on a scooter aiming to set a time that none of the other pizza boys will be able to beat for a very long time.

 

Filed under: marseille