All The Light We Cannot See Filming Locations
Last Updated on 3rd November 2023 by Sophie Nadeau
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If you’ve admired Anthony Doerr’s works for as long as I have, then no doubt you’ll have been awaiting in eager anticipation for the new Netflix adaptation of All the Light We Cannot see. As of early November 2023, the wait is finally over and the brand new series has arrived on our screens. And so, if you’re wondering where the series was shot, then in this article we’re going to detail everything we know about all of the All The Light We Cannot See Filming Locations.
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All The Light We Cannot See Filming Locations
The series takes place in WWII (namely during the 1944 Battle of Saint Malo) across various locations in Germany, and France. Taking place over four episodes, the show features Louis Hofmann, Lars Eidinger, Marion Bailey, Hugh Laurie, Mark Ruffalo, and Aria Mia Loberti.
The show was filmed in July 2022 and is based on the book of the same name and simultaneously details the stories of Marie-Laure, a blind French teenager who is fleeing Paris together with her father and a diamond that they want to keep from the Nazis, and Werner, a German soldier.
Saint Malo
A large amount of the story of All the Light We Cannot See takes place in Saint-Malo, and the walled French city was indeed used for the real filming of the series. Aerial shots and beach shots both feature in the series to set the scene.
Villefranche-de-Rouergue
However, when it comes to the actual scenes which feature the streets of Saint-Malo, the little southwest French town of Villefranche-de-Rouergue was used, including the main square which doubles as the main square of Saint-Malo.
Several streets in this sleepy little medieval town were dressed up to resemble 1940s France (including shop and other business fronts). Scenes shot in Villefranche-de-Rouergue include bombings and the liberaton of Saint-Malo.
Budapest
Although aerial and beach shots from Saint-Malo appear in the series, yet another large number of scenes which are supposed to be of Saint-Malo were actually shot on location in Budapest. This includes a scene where Werner runs across the wall to reach Marie-Laure during a night of bombing.
Budapest in Hungary also doubled to feature as some of 1940s Paris. No scenes were shot in the real Paris, France. Vécsey Street in Budapest doubles as the Champs Élysées in the series.
All of the scenes from the Natural History Museum in Paris were actually shot on a film set. Some Budapest destinations to feature as filming locations include The Festetics Palace, Zichy Castle in Sopoly and the Exchange Palace.
Berlin
Some outlets are reporting that filming took place in Berlin, but there’s no more details on where in Berlin All the Light We Cannot See was filmed.
Studio
Almost all of the interior scenes were shot in a studio. This included Etienne and his sister Madame Manec’s homes. Etienne’s house, in particular, took nine painstaking weeks to build, and an entire spiral staircase was built from reclaimed timber from an old barn.
Saint-Malo’s Hotel of Bees sadly doesn’t exist in real life and was also built for filming, as was the back of the boulangerie (bakery), the grotto, and the back of the bakery.
