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French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard’s 1959 film stars Jean-Paul Belmondo as a car thief on the run.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s 2000 sensation about a girl’s quest for love features numerous scenes in Montmartre.

The Left Bank may be the traditional home of jazz clubs but this wood-panelled, velvet-seated club is firmly on the Right Bank, in the Les Halles district (see Beaubourg and Les Halles). The poster-covered walls illustrate some of the “greats” who have played here, and the club’s policy is still to bring in the best overseas jazz artists to play alongside home-grown talent.

The “Agile Rabbit” got its name in 1880 when a painter called Gill came up with the trademark leaping rabbit: lapin à Gill became Lapin Agile. Utrillo once painted the cabaret too (see Pierre-Auguste Renoir). If your French is up to it you’ll enjoy a mixture of songs, jokes and poetry in the heart of Montmartre.

Poets and artists not only drank in this cabaret club, some such as Renoir and Verlaine also laid tables. Picasso even paid his bill with one of his Harlequin paintings.

Jazz, blues, Latin and African music are the mainstays at this tiny cellar club, which is low on space but high on volume. The Baiser was promoting World Music long before the phrase had been invented, and the eclectic approach has led to a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. It’s cheaper than many clubs, too.

Outrageous show of drag artists and a compère whose behaviour can never be predicted, this is close to the original spirit of Montmartre cabaret.

The entertainment at this club is provided by drag artists and transsexuals, and you won’t need much French to understand some of the acts.

US bebop saxophonist Hawkins (1904–69) played Paris many times in the 1930s.