Marseille: city of the real French Connection

Thanks to a new movie released this weekend, Marseille has just made that list. The capital of Provence takes a starring role in The Connection, a taut thriller which tells the French side of the story at the centre of William Friedkin's classic 1971 The French Connection, the real-life tale of how Marseille was instrumental in flooding the USA with heroin in the 1960s and 70s, which starred Gene Hackman. It follows both the gangsters who ran the operation and the investigators who tried to bring them down. The two leading men in the new movie, French stars Jean Dujardin and Gilles Lellouche, are joined by a third main character - Marseille itself.

The southern port city, which, incidentally, is twinned with Glasgow, is a constant presence in the film, shimmering in the Mediterranean sunshine, its dirty streets teeming with multi-cultural buzz and edgy Gallic charm.

The prominence of Marseille is down to the director, Cedric Jimenez, himself a proud Maseillais and the son of a city nightclub owner who was on the fringes of the gangster life portrayed on screen.

At the centre of this true story is the battle between two men on different sides of the law. One, 'Tany' Zampa, played by Lellouche, is the mafia kingpin who runs much of the Marseille underground and has the police either in his pocket or cowering with fear. The other, played by a suitably sideburned and polyester-dressed Oscar winner Dujardin, is investigating magistrate Pierre Michel, who relentlessly pursues Zampa and his gang around Marseille.

It's a great story, well told with a pounding soundtrack and a retro flourish, clearly influenced by the likes of Martin Scorcese's Goodfellas, The Sopranos and The Wire. Dujardin makes a lasting impression as Judge Michel, who is driven by his own flaws to break the mafia hold on France's second city. We see much of the story through his eyes. Zampa, meanwhile, is played by Lellouche as a complex family man rather than an out and out villain.

I've travelled to Marseille to speak to Jimenez, 38, and get a feel for the city at the centre of the film, and its director makes for an enthusiastic tour guide, keen to show off the sights, sounds, accent and food of his home town. He takes me to the harbour-side restaurants and cafes where he spent his youth and still frequents, and we eat seafood, drink pastis and watch the diverse population go about its business.

We go out on a boat in the calm Mediterranean and Jimenez talks passionately of how essential the sea has been to Marseille and its people for hundreds of years. All of this went in to the atmosphere and tone of his film, which highlights both the Mediterranea glamour and the seedy underbelly of this historic city, the oldest in France.

Everywhere we go Jimenez knows people, and is greeted in the French-style - two kisses - by big, burly blokes who look like extras from The Sopranos. The cities may be twinned, but you certainly don't see that much kissing among men in Glasgow.

Jimenez laughs when I point this out. "In Marseille we have a specific way of thinking, speaking, being," he says in excellent but strongly-accented English. "We are hot-blooded people. Sometimes directors making films here overdo it."

The story clearly means a lot to Jimenez, and he admits it has been in his mind for years. He researched the events meticulously, speaking to retired police officers and gangsters, and bringing in Zampa's daughter, Celine, as a consultant.

Though he is keen to point out that his father, a glamorous figure in 1970s and 80s Marseille, was not directly involved in the events depicted in The Connection, it's a world that Jimenez understands. "I used to hear talk at family dinners," he explains. "And I had about 20 'uncles', friends and business associates of my father, some of whom were nicer than others, and some of whom were involved more than others. I remember how they spoke, how they moved, it was the music of my childhood. I understand their mentality. I remember all that and I put it in the movie."

We visit many of the locations in the film, from the city centre Palais de Justice where Dujardin's character, Judge Michel, spent much of his career, to the suburban site of his assisination, right outside Marseille's iconic Le Corbusier-designed block of flats.

It's clear that Marseille, which is home to 1.5m people, has changed considerably since that period. It became European City of Culture in 2013 - another accolade it shares with its twin, Glasgow, which held the title in 1990 - and you can see evidence of regeneration everywhere you go.

Bold new glass and concrete buildings, including one by star architect Zaha Hadid, share the seafront with old warehouses and traditional 19th century French apartment blocks, with their shutters and Parisienne balconies. Run down seafront blocks have been transformed into shopping malls, while the city's historic 18th century hospital is now a five-star hotel overlooking the old port.

The European City of Culture status is not the only thing Marseille shares with Glasgow, according to my tour guide.

"We have a strong identity in Marseille - it is a city that lives on its traditions, some good, some bad," Jimenez explains. "We are proud people - we are fighters. Marseille is moving on in a good way. It won't change because the world changes, it will change when it is ready. But some things will never change.

"I wanted to be honest about the way I see the place, what makes it what it is, without glossing over the bad parts and without getting into cliche."

We drive the Corniche, the picturesque coastal road that goes from one end of Marseille to the other, from the bustling suburbs through the old port with its characterful fishmongers and out along the seafront fringes of this sprawling city, with its overhanging cliffs and beachfront sports clubs.

Look upwards and churches, including the landmark Notre-Dame de la Garde, take their place atop arrid Mediterranean hills.

Though it is not far along the coast to Nice and Cannes, Marseille feels different, less touristy, more down to earth than these two bywords for French glamour. This is certainly no bad thing. What you get instead is a feast for the senses, as the many cultures that have influenced this city from its foundation by the Greeks in 600BC - Italian, north African, Corsican and most recently Vietnamese - come together.

Perhaps the most evocative part of town we visit is Le Panier, a short walk uphill from the old port, dubbed "Marseille's Monmartre" for its sloping streets and bohemian atmosphere. In times gone by it was the site of the city's main market, hence its name, which means "the basket".

Traditionally, a poor district that attracted immigrants, its narrow streets were a haven for resistance fighters, refugees, prostitutes, communists and Jews during the Second World War, all in their own way a threat to the German occupation.

Aware of this, the Nazis, aided by the French authorities, blew up the lower part of the district, rounding up 30,000 residents, including 2000 who were sent to concentration camps.

These days, its narrow streets have become gentrified, and are home to artists' studios, craft shops and cool little cafes and bars. But the chequered history of the district is remembered on every street corner and square, with old photographs and etchings depicting overcrowded and more dangerous times.

Not surprisingly, Le Panier makes a number of appearances in The Connection, including a key chase sequence through its ancient, cobbled streets.

Judge Michel's real-life assassination in Marseille in 1981 caused shock and outrage in mainstream France and resulted in a major crackdown on the city's underworld.

According to Jimenez, it also marked the end of a certain way of life and, eventually, the beginning of a new era for the city.

It takes a brave director to borrow the name of one of the greatest and best-loved movies of all time for his first big film -as well as sounding similar in English, both are known in France as La French.

But you get the impression this passionate Marsaillais, who still lives in the hills above the city, knew exactly what he was doing. "My film has a different story and is told in a very different way, which was why I wasn't afraid to choose this title," says Jimenez. "I have huge respect for The French Connection, but come on, it's a masterpiece, I'd be crazy to try and make it again.

"But it's cool that so many people still know and love The French Connection - hopefully it will bring more people to see my film and visit Marseille."

I highly recommend doing both.

The Connection is now on general release in the UK, and is showing at the GFT in Glasgow and Edinburgh's Cameo Cinema.

Ryanair flies to Marseille from Edinburgh during the summer season. Prices start at £42.99 one way. See ryanair.com