This summer, Food Fiction and The Maybourne Riviera are bringing cinema back to its most romantic form, with a series of open-air screenings overlooking the Mediterranean. It is film, champagne, sea air and sunset light, which is rather difficult to argue with unless one has completely lost the will to be charmed.
The Maybourne Riviera’s Cinema O’Clock x Food Fiction runs from July 9 to August 27, transforming the hotel’s spectacular setting above Monaco into an elegant outdoor cinema experience. At sunset, guests are invited to take their seats for cult films shown beneath the stars, with panoramic views across the Mediterranean doing a great deal of the supporting acting.
The concept is simple, but beautifully done. Food Fiction, known for creating immersive cinema experiences, brings its signature blend of film, atmosphere and food-led storytelling to one of the Riviera’s most striking addresses. The result is less ordinary screening, more cinematic evening with very good manners.
The programme includes a selection of cult films, with screenings taking place in VOSTFR. Doors open at 7pm, with projections beginning at 8.30pm, allowing guests to settle in as the sky changes colour and the coastline begins to glow.
There is also a suitably polished welcome. Adult tickets include the screening, popcorn and a glass of Billecart-Salmon Champagne on arrival, while the setting includes a champagne bar, signature cocktails, food and a relaxed lounge atmosphere. Children’s tickets are also available, making the series elegant without being impossibly exclusive.
This is where the idea works. Cinema has always been about escape, but on the Riviera, escape tends to arrive with a better view. At The Maybourne, the screen is not the only spectacle. The sea, the cliffside, the evening light and the gentle theatre of people arriving just before sunset all become part of the experience.
In a summer crowded with beach clubs, dinners and events all competing for attention, Cinema O’Clock feels refreshingly graceful. It does not shout. It does not need to. It simply understands that a good film, a warm night and a glass of champagne can still be one of the most beautiful formulas in the world.
For Monaco residents and Riviera visitors, it offers a softer kind of summer glamour: less nightclub, more moonlight; less performance, more pleasure.
And perhaps that is the real charm of it. In a region that knows luxury well, Food Fiction and The Maybourne Riviera are not trying to reinvent the evening. They are just reminding us how lovely it can be when someone gives it a little thought.
The Maybourne Riviera’s Cinema O’Clock x Food Fiction runs from July 9 to August 27. Doors open at 7pm and screenings begin at 8.30pm. Adult tickets are €80, including the screening, popcorn and a glass of Billecart-Salmon Champagne on arrival. Children’s tickets are €50 and include the screening and popcorn.