Lille I Love You

They say February is the month when love is in the air. In Lille, that feeling often arrives alongside snowflakes or gentle raindrops — right at the tail end of winter, just as spring begins to whisper its arrival. During Valentine’s week, I used to guide visitors through the city’s most romantic corners, places tied to stories of love in all its forms: tender moments between couples, a mother’s quiet devotion to her child, or other heartfelt connections woven into Lille’s history and streets. And of course, no tour of love in Lille would be complete without mentioning that it served as the backdrop for the 2014 French classic Blue Is the Warmest Colour (original title: La Vie d’Adèle), the beautiful and intimate lesbian romance film starring Léa Seydoux (known to many as the Bond girl from Spectre) and Adèle Exarchopoulos.