Disney disenchantment for Paris film-goers

It was supposed to have been a family treat as a group that included six adults and nine children made their way to a cinema in Paris to see a matinée performance of the latest Disney film "The Princess and the Frog".

But it ended up with the police being called in and all of them being escorted from their seats and eventually out of the cinema.

It all happened the weekend before last at the UGC Ciné Cité des Halles - let's not beat about the bush with this as it has been all over the media here - right in the heart of the French capital.

After having bought their tickets, the group happily made their way to the auditorium, not knowing what was in store, because before being allowed to take their places they were asked the age of the youngest child.

Now, little Gabrielle was just two years and 10 months, which according to the rules of UGC was below the age at which any child could be allowed into a cinema, no matter what the film.

There's a law that says as much...after all this is France, a country in which to many, there seems to be a regulation governing everything.

All right, so it dates back to 1927, but it's there in black and white; article 198 of the ordinance of the prefecture of Paris, "prohibits children under three years from entering all cinemas."

And that's the law the UGC followed - to the letter - shortly afterwards.

The group of course was told that they couldn't take Gabrielle in as she was too young, but they said there had been no problems buying the tickets (totalling more than €100) from the cashier and they hadn't been told about the age limit.

So they ignored the employee and took their places.

Moments later though, after the commercials had finished and before the film had begun, the employee returned with three police officers who then escorted the whole group from their seats and into the foyer.

Once there apparently as Eric Bordron, one of the parents explained on national radio, they were joined by several other officers, and while the children started crying the adults were reminded of the regulation and were threatened with being taken down to the police station.

The group had their papers checked and eventually left quietly.

UGC stuck to its guns in terms of having been right to enforce the regulations about the age limit in the first place.

"The noise level can be harmful for the ears of very young children," said Jean-Marie Dura, the CEO of the UGC group.

'The regulation is in place to ensure that comfort of the whole audience audience," he continued.

"And it can be very difficult for young children to concentrate for the duration of the film," he added.

While admitting that the regulations perhaps weren't clearly enough spelled out to cinema-goers ahead of a film, Dura said that signs would be put in place in all of the group's movie theatres so that a similar incident wouldn't occur again.

As to claims that the situation had been handled less than delicately, especially in the light of so many police being called in, the management of the UGC Ciné Cité des Halles, insisted that "usually such conflicts are resolved through dialogue, but here, unfortunately, that didn't seem to work."

And the lesson to be learnt from this tale - apart from the fact of course that in France "rules are rules"?

Wait for the DVD perhaps.