Paris

Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It is one of the many ​​interests of Elizabeth, and is mentioned, and even seen, in parts throughout the game.

BioShock Infinite


When Booker DeWitt sees Elizabeth for the first time in Monument Tower, he witnesses her open up a Tear to an alternate version of Paris in 1983. The Tear is only open for a short time, as Elizabeth is forced to close it to escape an oncoming fire truck. Paris is mentioned frequently throughout the game, mostly by Elizabeth who has a romantic obsession with it. In her tower, she was exposed to Parisian art, architecture, literature, and fashion via books or by peeking through Tears. On the airship The First Lady, Booker tells Elizabeth that he is taking her to Paris.

Burial at Sea - Episode 2


At the beginning of Burial at Sea - Episode 2, Elizabeth experiences a dream where she is living in Paris circa 1912. She explores the sunny city, encountering unlikely personages such as famed artist Georges Seurat and even the fictional character Cosette from Les Misérables. The dream becomes outlandishly romantic as Elizabeth continues on. At one point she asks a bookstore clerk for a copy of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, but the clerk replies the book hasn't been written yet. A French song, La Vie en Rose by Édith Piaf, initially heard from a phonograph, is soon hummed or sung aloud by a crowd of French citizens and fills the air. It is even chirped by a bluebird that perches on Elizabeth's finger.

Elizabeth is then surprised to find Sally, who loses a balloon and runs after it. As Elizabeth pursues Sally, the dream rapidly deteriorates into a nightmare, as the sky clouds over, rain falls, and the city itself takes on an increasingly sinister appearance as the streets lie empty and in ruin. When Elizabeth finally catches up to Sally, she experiences visions of the girl locked in a Vent and screaming in pain as the heating increases. Elizabeth exclaims regret for abandoning Sally before reawakening in Rapture.

Behind the Scenes

 * There are a few hidden messages in the nightmarish version of Paris that foreshadows Elizabeth's future and events in the DLC, such as the Ace card which blows in front of her as she runs through the streets, profile silhouette photos of reoccurring characters from her past to reappear, a wind chime made of wrenches, a painting of Booker revealing the location of the Ace in the Hole, a billboard for lobotomy, and the Lutece twins' empty rowboat floating down the river.
 * As Elizabeth progress through the nightmarish version of Paris, the city seemingly closes off behind her if she chooses to turn back.
 * This is the first time in the series that live cats and dogs are seen, as only deceased ones can be found in Rapture and Columbia.
 * The song played in Paris in Burial at Sea - Episode Two "La Vie en Rose" was released by Columbia Records, a branch of Sony Entertainment. It is not known whether the song was deliberately chosen because it was released by a company named Columbia, which shares its name with the location featured in BioShock Infinite.
 * The paintings found in the beginning of the Paris sequence in Burial at Sea - Episode 2 belong to various Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists including, Georges Seurat, Édouard Manet, Paul Cézanne and Claude Monet. In fact, the first two painters that greet Elizabeth are Claude Monet (the man that offered the painting) and Georges Seurat.
 * In addition to the various Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists and paintings present in Elizabeth's Paris dream sequence, several scenes in this introductory level are meant to be reinactments of real life paintings. The recreations include Paul Cézanne's oil painting The Card Players, and Édouard Manet's paintings The Garden of Pere Lathuille and In the Conservatory.