Paris Je T'Aime

This entry was written last night hence the skewed references to 'tonight' etc..

 

Only getting one screening a day, I suspect 'Paris Je T'Aime' will finish its run tomorrow. I thought then that I'd take the opportunity to finally see it tonight.

 

It's an anthology piece, comprised of many (short) short films directed by and starring a mixture of European and American talent, form directors like Tom Twyker and the Coen Brothers, to stars like Americans, Nathalie Portman and Nick Nolte, and Frenchies like Fanny Ardant and Juliette Binoche.

 

Shorts can either be anecdotes or mood pieces and there is a predominance of the former here, with tales like the Coen Brothers's film with Steve Buscemi or Gus Van Sant's weak language joke coming down firmly on the anecdote side. Anecdotes entertain, but rarely go deeper. Some tales here do carry some weight though, examples being Walter Salles' tale of a child minder, and Oliver Schmidt's piece on an immigrant's Parisian experience.

 

I had read (I believe in <em>Sight and Sound</em>) that only Alexander Payne's entry comes close to the spirit of the title and I would agree with that. While there is nothing actually bad here, there's nothing truly outstanding either, despite all the talent on show. Payne's comes close though with his potent mix of what his own character calls 'joy and sadness, though only a little sadness'. It's a good end to a mediocre collection.

 

As an afterthought, for a cinematic hymn to the French capital, there have been less intentional, but more successful rivals in the past decade. Luc Besson's 'Angel-A', Leconte's 'The Girl on the Bridge' and even Jeunet's 'Amelie' all paint Paris in a flattering light (there are better examples, they just come to mind). For someone who directs like he really <em>loves</em> the city though see the Paris movies of Eric Rohmer ('Rendezvous in Paris', 'Full Moon in Paris'). Magical, but real, his is a Paris to really fall in love with.