Place Marcel Aymé is just off Rue Norvins in Montmartre, the 18th arrondissement of Paris, and it's where you'll will find the quirky bronze sculpture of Dutilleul. Dutilleul is the man who possessed super powers in Marcel Aymé's book Le Passe-Muraille (the Passer Through Walls).
Le Passe-Muraille Sculpture in Montmartre, Paris
As you've probably guessed, Dutilleul's super power was to be able to pass through walls. This is a cool sculpture and worth a look when in Montmartre. On one of my trips to this area, I spent a fun afternoon with Helene, who happily shared the local history and her insider knowledge on le Passe-Muraille as we walked around.
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Marcel Aymé's Book Le Passe-Muraille
Le Passe-Muraille is the title of a story by Marcel Aymé, whom this place or square is named after, and it's a super famous story in French. Kids read this story at school, because while it is a fun story and as a kid you think it’s funny, it also teaches you that if you have special powers or abilities, you must use them for good, which Dutilleul, the man in the story did not do.
Dutilleul - The Passer Through Walls
Dutilleul was a civil servant from Montmartre who discovered his special power of being able to … you guessed it, walk through walls. So he was like, "What can I do with this power? I hope to do something cool with it”. First he used his power at work to drive a middle-management-level colleague crazy by constantly humiliating him and then he got more adventurous by deciding to rob banks and jewellery stores to have more money. He left signature notes with "Garou-Garou", roughly translated as "The Lone Wolf", for fun.
But he got caught by the police of course and he was put in jail. No problem though, he can escape very easily from jail. So he escaped and then he’s deciding how to use his power for the next few minutes, but he can’t think how to use it. So picture him walking the streets wondering what he can do with his power.
Suddenly he saw a very beautiful young woman and he fell in love at first sight with her. So, because she was married, he thinks he can use his power to see her secretly and still have a super nice time. He can easily see her behind her husband’s back passing through the walls of the house. They had a very passionate affair together until one day the husband came back home earlier than usual. So going to escape by passing though the wall as usual, on this day, he somehow got stuck in the wall and he immediately lost his power.
Place Marcel Aymé, Montmartre in spring
Bronze sculpture of Dutilleul - the Passer Through Walls
Le Passe-Muraille - the Passer Through Walls sculpture
Place Marcel Aymé, Montmartre - Le Passe-Muraille sculpture - The Passer Through Walls
So imagine the husband is coming back home and he's stuck in the wall of the bedroom, like "Hi." So that's pretty much how the story ends as the husband couldn’t even do much to him as his life was more or less finished as he was stuck in the wall. The moral of the story is great power comes with great responsibility.
Dutilleul - The Le Passe-Muraille Sculpture
It’s said that if you can touch his head, you will have luck for the rest of your life. You will easily see if you visit this sculpture how his lower hand is shiny from all the tourists taking pictures pretending to pull le passe-muraille out of the wall.
The funny thing is that if you really wanted to pull Dutilleul out of the wall you would need to pull him by the other hand which is much higher up, but, because the statue is larger than life, that hand is too high to reach. And getting good luck for the rest of your life is a bit hard too, as his head is even much higher in the wall. Good luck to you on even reaching his head!
This very French book and sculpture is not the average touristy attraction but rather a quirky, and I think fun, celebration of French literature. A true Parisian secret tucked away in Montmartre for the more discerning tourist. What do you think?
Other cool artwork to look out for in Montmartre that the locals know all about is Invader. Read about Invader, the French street artist who's installed his art secretly on the walls of Paris for the last 20 years and more.
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