As a hotbed of crime and intrigue, one would be forgiven for thinking the Cote d’Azur is, indeed, “a sunny place for shady people“, as described by author Somerset Maughan in 1941. Elton John’s video for I’m Still Standing (1983) quickly put paid to that notion and stormed to number 4 in the UK charts. Described as “super, super gay” by its direcor, Russell Mulcahy, the video is a colourful romp through the streets of Cannes and Nice, and pulls no punches with its obvious homerotic overtones. In the video, Elton pulls up in his Rolls at the iconic Carlton Hotel Cannes, the luxury 338-roomhotel, built in 1911 which dominates the Cannes seafront. Seen prominantly 36 years earlier in To Catch A Thief, the hotel takes on a whole new role in this music video as leotard-clad dancers and girls in leg-warmers jump around the Boulevard de la Croisette. At one point, during the filming of the video, Russell Mulcahy fell off Cannes pier and into the sea below, ending up walking through the Carlton Hotel looking like “a wet rat” Largely ad-libbed and created on the spot, the video was a huge success and it is perhaps no surprise that the hotel now has a suite named after Elton John.

The landmark Negresco hotel in Nice is also briefly featured. Classified as a historic monument by the French state, special permission was granted to film insde the huge glass dome of the hotel’s Salon Royal. Despite a 12 million euro renovation in 2010, the former majestic ballroom looks little changed today and serves as a fine example of Nice’s Belle-Époque architecture. Elton was a regular guest of the Negresco in the 1980s and purchased a villa in Mont Alban, near Nice, in July 1997.