So you want to see Paris, just like she is in the movies. Of course it’s no wonder why cinema so often chooses Paris as its leading lady, the Audrey Hepburn of film sets, but what if it really became one? Imagine all those facades were fake and when the cameras stopped rolling, all the actors and extras went home and left the fake city deserted …

A French film-making duo, Claire & Max of Melimonde decided to take this idea to the next level. In a short ultra-HD film called Apparances (Appearances), they reimagined the facades of Paris as a surreal one-dimensional film set. Check out some screenshots from the film of the French capital as a Hollywood studio set…

Max and Claire of Melimonde are crazy about Paris, and own just about every book there is on the city and its quirks. They were recently inspired to make their film by a book that highlighted some of Paris’ most thinly sliced buildings, or more poetically in French “immeubles à tranches fines”.

Spotted by Melimonde above and below, are real buildings found in the capital which look like facades with nothing behind them. I’ve seen quite a few of these myself in Paris and in other cities, almost convinced they’re an extravagant trickery left behind by a surrealist architect, until I get really close and realise they’re actually the tip of a triangular-shaped building.

And now, check out the whole of Paris, the film set, in HD ↓

Melimonde are on Instagram and Facebook.