In “My Hanoi”, Poirier takes audiences on his journey of discovering Hanoi. After nine years in Vietnam, including four years as French Ambassador, Poirier decided to continue living in Hanoi. Jean-Noel shared: “I have visited every street, every corner of Hanoi, from the Old Quarter to the new areas of the city. I was impressed by the simple beauty of Hanoi. I want to share my view of Hanoi with others and take others to discover some corners of Hanoi that may have been forgotten by others. I know that many politicians have written books about Hanoi after finishing working here, but I chose making a film as my way of expressing my love for Hanoi.
 Former French Ambassador to Vietnam Jean Noel Poirier |
As shared by the Ambassador, today's Hanoi is busy and noisy, messy and creative, old and modern, reminding him of a Paris in the past. Hanoi is a city where every street is a lively, non-stop play, where workshops and cafes all perform on roadsides, and where the cooking odors from kitchens along the street spread in the atmosphere, and seemingly want to hold back passers-by. Mrs Ngo Hoang Anh, an audience member said: “Places that Jean has taken his viewers to visit through his film are very familiar to the Hanoian, but the interesting thing is the way Jean narrates his film, showing others of the hidden beauty of simple things in Hanoi. Jean has captured the soul of Hanoi and discovered the secrets of the city in the opening part of the film.”
The 52-minute film is a journey through many corners of Hanoi, with interesting insights into the capital’s culture, food, architecture, traffic and people as discovered by the diplomat. Le Manh Hung shared his thoughts after watching the film: “The most interesting thing to me is not the image of an ambassador eating pho noodles, and chatting with others. In the film, Jean has named many good street foods of Hanoi, which really surprised me. I think he is a real Vietnamese.”
Through the view of Jean, Hanoi, Paris, or Venice all have something in common, which are small alleys sandwiched between the old streets. Director Henri-Louis Marcel Poirier, Jean’s brother, was also the cameraman, going with Jean through every corner to make this film. Henri said: “Some days, we left the embassy after lunch and wandered around Hanoi with a camera. Jean has inspired me with his love and passion for Hanoi which helps me to capture the beauty of Hanoi together with the full motion of my younger brother.”
Former French Ambassador to Vietnam, Jean joked that: “I am a diplomat not a director, but this time I was working as an assistant director. When filming, the job of an assistant was very hard, I was a driver, driving around and packing a lot of stuff and handling other errands. Now I know that, making a film is actually much harder than being an ambassador.”
Jean said that the film “ My Hanoi” is his gift to the Hanoian, so he himself has carried out most of the stages of making the film from writing a script and working as assistant director, to doing the voice-over in both Vietnamese and French.