For movie-lovers, France may be among the top favorite places to be, as France is among the countries that have the largest art-house movie theaters! They usually focus on noncommercial movies or new and talented movie directors .

But you may be more surprised to hear that in most (if not all!) of these theaters, food or drink is not allowed!

Good or bad? It’s for you to judge. However, not drinking or eating allows for these small institutions to respect their philosophy of protecting the seventh art and the ones who enjoy it. By not sitting through a movie while hearing popcorn or snacks crunching or slurping and other drinking noises, the feature presentation is more enjoyable. It sure seems that France takes the art of film making seriously!

Moreover, as these small theaters are not concerned with making huge profits but rather just covering their costs, selling food and drinks is not a priority compared to being the source of bringing film to a higher form of entertainement. One can also imagine that avoiding food and beverage consumption in movie theaters permits their managers to save on cleaning expenses. Have you ever seen what sometimes a theater can look like after a feature is over? Due to the darkness of a theater, there are many spills and it is quite unpleasant.

We believe though, that the main cause would be to save spectators the trouble of maybe ending up with a loud-chewing-slurping seat neighbor. But if you are a well-mannered spectator, you can bring your own chewable noise-free snack so you won’t get caught!