Bistrot La Renaissance

Bistrot La Renaissance is a traditional Parisian bistro on Rue Championnet in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. The restaurant is known for its preserved early twentieth-century atmosphere, with a classic bar, tiled walls, stained glass, mirrors and old bistro details that make it especially useful for period films. Because the interior has changed very little compared with many modernised Paris restaurants, it can work both as a contemporary location and as an older Paris setting.

Bistrot La Renaissance has been used in several films, most notably Inglourious Basterds (2009). The bistro also appears in Le Mouton enragé (1974), Le Sang des autres (1984), My New Partner (1984) and Animal (2005). Its film history is especially interesting because Quentin Tarantino discovered the location through Claude Chabrol’s Le Sang des autres and later used it as the only genuine Paris location in Inglourious Basterds.

In Le Mouton enragé (1974), Bistrot La Renaissance appears as part of the film’s Paris setting. The bistro’s traditional interior and street-corner character fit the film’s urban world, where cafés, restaurants and social spaces are part of the rhythm of Parisian life.

In Le Sang des autres (1984), Bistrot La Renaissance is used as one of the Paris locations in Claude Chabrol’s wartime drama. The film’s period setting makes good use of the bistro’s preserved interior, which later became important for Inglourious Basterds. Quentin Tarantino noticed the restaurant in this film and chose it because it had retained the same look, making it a rare real Paris location that could convincingly stand in for occupied Paris.

In My New Partner (1984), Bistrot La Renaissance appears as part of the film’s Paris location work. The bistro’s classic interior gives the scene a recognisable local setting, suitable for a crime comedy rooted in Parisian streets, cafés and everyday city spaces.

In Animal (2005), Bistrot La Renaissance is used as a Paris bistro location. The restaurant’s unchanged interior and strong visual identity make it suitable for scenes that need an authentic, lived-in Paris setting rather than a generic café.

In Inglourious Basterds (2009), Bistrot La Renaissance appears in the scene where Shosanna Dreyfus, now living under the name Emmanuelle Mimieux, is reading alone in a Paris bistro. Fredrick Zoller, the German soldier celebrated as a war hero, notices her through the window and enters the restaurant to speak with her. The conversation becomes an important turning point, because Zoller’s interest in Shosanna eventually brings Joseph Goebbels and the Nazi film premiere to her cinema. The scene is also significant because it is the only scene in Inglourious Basterds that was actually filmed in Paris; most of the film’s other “French” locations were shot in Germany.

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