L'Arlequin

The Arlequin is a cinema in Paris, noted for its spacious modernist main theatre and its former role as a showcase of Soviet film.

Opened in 1934 as the Lux Rennes, the cinema was situated in the building of its patron, the Compagnie parisienne d'électricité.

The art-deco, air-conditioned 500-seat theatre, with 12-metre screen and adjacent bar, was somewhat luxurious for the period.

In 1978 it was bought by a company specialised in import-export with the USSR, which changed its name to Le Cosmos and focused its programming on Soviet films.

[1]: 50 Two screens were added in 1998 with the incorporation of part of an adjacent cabaret theatre.