PARIS, May 17: Paris filmgoers became the world’s first to discover Hollywood’s The Da Vinci Code on Wednesday — with reactions ranging from bored to ecstatic — after the hotly-awaited movie’s disastrous reception at the Cannes Film Festival.

From the capital’s famed Champs Elysees Avenue to the Opera neighbourhood, the first audiences were sharply divided over the 125-million-dollar movie.

“It was totally fantastic. We just saw the Louvre yesterday so we had a real connection,” said Sardar Pathan, a 52-year-old Indian tourist. “It makes more sense to see it in Paris than anywhere else.”

Marla, a 57-year-old Californian tourist who said she had read the original Dan Brown thriller twice, described the film as ‘fantastic’.

“It was one of the best films I have ever seen. I consider myself privileged to have seen the film here in Paris,” she enthused.

But others were badly disappointed, such as Clemence, a 22-year-old Parisian.

“Totally flat, not interesting at all,” she said. “I had been waiting for this for ages, but it was really nothing special. You just sit there waiting for the end.”

Ricardo, a 27-year-old Mexican tourist, also found it ‘completely unrealistic, and disappointing at the end’.

“Not great,” was the verdict of Giselle Lesplingard, a 59-year-old history and geography teacher.

“The film brings out the worst sides of the book,” she said. “The book is what it is — a nice page-turning fiction — but the film is really confusing and muddled.”

“I think the plot is just too complex to be put on the screen,” she said in conclusion — summing up the view of many in the Paris audiences.

Suitcases in hand, a young French couple passing through Paris said they managed to squeeze in a viewing ‘two steps from the Louvre’, before catching a flight to Hong Kong.

“It was true to the book, but maybe the action was a bit quick for people to understand everything in one go,” said Sandrine.

“We did like the part about the Knights Templar, because of the Templar ruins where we come from in the southwest,” said her partner Jerome.

But Irish expatriate Philomena O’Connor, 29, a practising Roman Catholic, said she was delighted with the film.

“It was very good — especially Tom Hanks. I found it incredibly interesting and I certainly don’t think it is offensive. “As a Catholic, I find it quite innovative actually, and a challenge towards my beliefs.”—AFP